Bonus Post: WHAT’S YOUR BUDGET?

Feb21
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Tuesday is typically blog day, but I couldn’t resist making this information available to my beautiful Jamie Lynne Creative brides as well as all the recently engaged couples who are working on setting the date and determining their wedding budget. I cannot wait to begin working with you to design the wedding stationery of your dreams…within your budget! Your day. Your style. Your budget.

Wedding Budget Worksheet

A wedding budget may {sound} like a lot of money until the costs begin to accumulate. It’s then that you realize what seem to be small expenditures add up quickly. Smart brides take steps to manage the money before costs get out of hand.

1. Choose either quantity or quality

A huge wedding with a lot of guests or a small event with only closest family and friends? A low budget for the former will require a creative venue choice and buffet or other value-priced choice of catering. Go the latter route and you can spend more per guest and still stay within a limited budget.

2. Take time for a reality check

It’s too easy to get caught up in the glamour of possibilities and begin to want, Want, WANT!! When the “gotta have it” mode kicks in, take a step back and remember what counts is the relationship and what it means, not the material things. Then take a deep breath and make meaningful choices without breaking the bank.

3. Evaluate creative talents for DIY

You, your family, and other volunteers can choose to do pieces of the wedding yourself. Centerpieces, favors, food station, the card box, photo booths, and other decorations are candidates.

4. Arrange for professional services as gifts if possible

Even the tightest budget weddings require professional services. Coordinators, photographers & planners, florists, caterers, DJ’s, officiates, and bakers all add value to wedding memories. If you are lucky enough to have any of these in your family or as friends, they may want to offer their services as gifts. Or, someone may offer to pay for one or more wedding professionals.

5. Split the costs

While more couples are footing the entire wedding bill themselves these days, splitting the bills is still an option. Parents, other relatives, friends, and others contribute to wedding costs as well.

6. Keep track of expenses all in one place and 7. earn a return on the money you spend

By charging everything to a cash back or other rewards credit card (then paying it off when the bill comes in). An example of this type of card is Discover, which gives you at least 1% back–with 5% back on specific categories each quarter–on everything you charge to the card. Just make sure you PAY IT OFF WHEN THE BILL COMES IN! 😉

Love Don't Cost a Thing

COLOR MATTERS.

Feb20
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I’M ADDICTED TO COLOR. I love color theory and could spend hours playing around on https://kuler.adobe.com/.

Color evokes emotions. Certain colors can trigger certain feelings. All things to consider as you are establishing your brand and we build out your logo.

Many of the largest brands in the world are immediately identified by their colors. Think about Target’s red bullet, McDonald’s golden arches and UPS’s brown/gold shield. The colors of business’ logos instantly identify the business, and are associated with meaning and a message—without having to use words. Your brand’s color and logo should be consistent and recognizable across all your marketing materials, from your website and blog, to your handouts, promotional items and signage.

Check out this awesome infographic I came across on Pinterest regarding color and what those colors say about your business!

Enjoy! <3 J

True Colors: Color Matters

 

 

I’m Starting a Business, Now What?

Feb13
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Welcome to the first blog posting coming from yours truly at Jamie Lynne Creative! My hope is you’ll find inspiration, resources, and become better educated on the various aspects of design as well as wedding stationery. Please be patient…I’m a designer, not a writer, so hopefully you can make sense of my rambling, then we can all laugh at the fact that I’m {slightly} OCD when it comes to consistency within brands and wedding stationery!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out what I have to say! I look forward to sharing more with you in the future!

I’m starting up a business, now what?

Great question! You have this unbelievably creative idea and you’re looking to kickstart your business. You’ve come to the right place! Jamie Lynne Creative can help brand yourself! No, I’m not going to pull the iron from the fire and mark you all up (ouch!)…when I say brand I mean this: Corporate branding is the practice of using a company’s name as a product brand name. It is an attempt to use corporate brand equity to create product brand recognition (Thanks Wikipedia!). This doesn’t mean I’ll just set you up with a unique logo (although that’s part of it), but I’ll also work with you on establishing advertising, stationery, and packaging. Customer service, employee interaction, and quality products and services also play into your branding (and if you need help with that, I can refer you to a talented consultant!). Really, any means by which the public will come into contact with a specific brand constitutes as a component that can ultimately affect the perception of your brand.

Now, as previously mentioned, I’m a designer, still not a writer, and definitely not a business major, so I’m not going to offer up and advice in that aspect, but I will share this with you: clear the name you would like to use as your company name BEFORE anything else. You want to make sure the chosen name is available in your community/state/region before hiring me to design your logo, print your business cards, etc. The best way to accomplish this first task is by starting here:

http://www.sba.gov/content/how-name-business

A few things to think about…How will your name look (on the web, within a logo, on a social media site)? Is your name too corporate or not corporate enough? Does it reflect your philosophy? Are you appealing to your target market? Is it unique (do a quick web search and domain name search to find those close calls).

Speaking from experience, you do want to consider all the above. When I threw out the name JAMIE LYNNE CREATIVE, I was thinking it was something that could stick with me for the long-term (being as I started this ‘hobby’ while I was still single). Had I done a quick search, I would have learned there was a Jamie Lynn Creative (no E on Lynn) based out of Chicago. Close call, but a simple typing error in a google search sends her my potential business!

The best piece of advice I can offer, if you’re just starting out, and confused as to where you should begin, reach out to someone who’s been in your shoes. Talk to a professional. Research online. The State of Michigan has resources available to help you out: http://www.michigan.gov/lara.

Once you’re in the clear with your company name, lets get to work on establishing that brand and building recognition!

(Information compiled from Wikipedia.com, SBA.gov)

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