Preparation is key to a smooth wedding day

When I am not involved in charity events and not planning weddings for couples, you can usually find me on the field playing ultimate. Yes, ultimate frisbee. Some might say it is the greatest sport ever invented by man.

I’ve been playing since 2007 and I love it! I play all year round in a league called Toronto Ultimate Club; outdoors most of the year but indoors in the winter.

Here’s a fun photo of my team, Hammer Hawks, winning the TUC Fall Indoor Tuesday League! Photo credits: Ed Kung.

People who aren’t familiar with the game may think it is for the dogs or not needing much skill, but to those who play, you will know that it is an intense sport! It requires the cutting and agility of football with the stamina and sprinting of soccer. It requires a fair amount of athleticism to be played well. To get an idea of the kind of intensity that can come out of ultimate, take a look at this highlight reel from 2011 or to view a full game, check out the men’s National finals with Vancouver vs Toronto.

I have realized over the years that there is a really delicate balance between being game-ready and feeling like utter garbage. Preparation plays such a major part in my game.

To give you an idea of what I mean:

- Yesterday night at the game I felt like I was on drugs (what I think it would feel like, I wouldn’t know!) because I had a big latte before I played. My heart was beating out of my chest and my fingers were shaking. Now I know better – no caffeine before a game!

- I also have a rule of thumb to not eat 3 hours before a game, or I feel like throwing up.

- On days where I don’t get enough sleep, my legs feel like jelly.

- When I went on vacation and didn’t play for a week, my lungs and legs took a while to adjust again. One week without playing made such a difference.

- If I don’t allow enough warm up time, it will take me half the game to get warmed up.

Ok so maybe I am more sensitive than most, but I can still generalize and say it takes a lot of prep work to bring your “A” game, even before the game starts. The items listed above are all things in my control that directly effect how I perform on the field. For the sake of numbers, I would say that about 70% of my game is preparation (mental and physical) and the other 30% is actual in-game execution. If I have not done my part in getting enough sleep, not eating too much and warming up, chances are I won’t play my best. At about $11 a game in the indoor season, it really sucks to waste a night by feeling not up to par. In any sport really, it can be said that practice and preparation are important ingredients to a good performance.

Preparation is also key when it comes to your wedding day. To ensure a smooth day, there is a lot of homework to be done. It is a lot of money and energy spent on your wedding day for it to NOT go how you want it to go!

Being prepared on your wedding day can mean many things.
Here are some things that I would recommend close to the big day:

1) Draft your wedding day rundown early (about a month in advance is good) and continue to fine tune it. Envision walking through your day and fill in the blanks of the small and big details. It is good to use Excel for this for easy edits.

2) Communicate with all your vendors prior to creating the wedding schedule to know when things will be delivered, when vendors will arrive and letting them know of final details.

3) Meet with your wedding coordinator prior to the wedding day to go through vendor details, expectations and the rundown of the day. This is especially important if the coordinator is only the “Day-Of” coordinator and hasn’t been involved in the planning process.

4) Regularly communicate and remind your bridal party and helpers of their responsibilities, deadlines and final details for the day.

5) Prepare all your final vendor payments and set reminders for yourself to pay them on time.

6) Identify helpers from your family or friends who may be able to help with small but often overlooked tasks on the wedding day like being in charge of the money box or pinning flowers.

7) Make sure you have all your important documents in one place, whether it is a binder, folder or excel file. Keep your contracts in one place and tag your wedding emails with a label. When you need to find something, you should be able to find it.

I cannot tell you how thankful I am as the wedding coordinator when a couple has over-prepared and have been thorough in their preparation. Managing the day becomes much easier when I am not picking up the slack from work not done in advance.

Every wedding will have its own intricacies, but one thing is certain with any wedding day – the more prepared you are, the smoother your day will be!

Choosing your wedding colours

Along with the task of finding inspiration for your wedding day, a few brides I work with have needed some help with choosing their wedding colours. Sometimes they have no clue where to start and other times they have too many ideas! Choosing wedding colours are a great place to start to draw inspiration for the rest of your planning. It will dictate the mood, your attire and the decor. Here are a few places I would start looking if I were you:

Preston Bailey’s Colour Palette Picker

If you have a main colour in mind but need to figure out complimentary colours, consider this great tool. Preston takes the whole wedding into account from your style to the venue to the lighting, then out pops a unique set of colours that could suit your day. Don’t like what you get? Play around with different combinations and see the different palettes that come up. He not only gives you one complimentary colour but often four, so you have some other shades to play around with in your bouquet, attire and decor elements.

Martha Stewart Weddings – Perfect Wedding Colour Palettes

If you are a bride who needs to see examples so you can picture it, this is a great place to look. Martha and her team have already put together sample colour combinations and give great ways to use those colours, from table settings to bouquets to escort cards. If Martha says it is a “perfect palette”, you can’t go wrong! MSW and Preston Bailey both provide “palettes” of colour, giving you a few colours to work with that compliment each other and not just one main colour.

The Knot’s Wedding Colours

The Knot has a hybrid of the colour picking tools. They break their colour palettes down very simply – Choose your main colour out of their list (only basic colours here! no canary yellows or lilacs here ladies). Then they give options to compliment the main colour, or you can choose to view photos of wedding elements in your selected colour. You won’t get the different tones and shades as you might in the first two tools but it is an easy way to visualize what you are looking for if you have a main colour in mind.

Your wedding colours get reflected in many elements of your wedding day, so don’t have any regrets and be decisive about it early on. Whatever colour(s) you end up choosing, explore many options and in the end, make sure you love it!

Live simply and give generously.

Wow have I really not posted since the first week of January?? This month flew by really fast. Chinese New Year came and went, and at work there have been three big events taking up my time. Today’s post will be all about charity, my charity to be specific! As you may know, I’m the Manager of Special Events at a Toronto charity called Yonge Street Mission. They have been working with people living with poverty since 1896 (115 years!) and they do great work in the city.

We had this really unique opportunity for 17 CEOs/execs to visit our charity and be called to action, initiated by Prince Charles himself, called the Seeing Is Believing tour. I helped with event logistics that day and managed the catering for breakfast. There is always so much pressure when VIPs are involved! Thankfully the event went without a glitch and it was really well received.

Two days after, it was prep time for the Longest Underground Clothing Drive and Sale, and all along, there has been promotion for the Coldest Night Of the Year walk in February. Oh, and did I mention I have 8+ weddings to plan??

Just this past week I’ve had two site visits (to two BEAUTIFUL O&B venues – Jump and Malaparte) and worked a week-long clothing drive along the PATH downtown Toronto. I am SO excited for both of these weddings.

The Longest Underground Clothing Drive and Sale is a week-long event that takes place all along the underground PATH in Toronto. You may have seen the signs if you work downtown! Each of the 14 locations had their own specifications for setup and loading, each requiring their own volunteers. It was quite an undertaking and I really wasn’t sure what to expect! The experience was tiring but quite rewarding overall. I met so many wonderful and committed volunteers, experienced the generosity of Torontonians first-hand and have memorized the PATH map like no tomorrow.

It reminded me that if we live simply, we can give more. If you are reading this on a computer in a home, you are well beyond blessed and have so much to give.

Today is actually the last day to donate along the PATH, so make sure to do so while you are downtown. If you want to donate any other time of the year, you can do so by contacting Double Take directly.

On February 25, I am coordinating the Coldest Night Of the Year walk. It is a 5k and 10k walk in Toronto in the frigid winter weather to experience a taste of living with poverty. It is a really fun fundraiser for teams and groups! Not to mention we have some awesome prizes to give away for top fundraisers. We have our friends at Starbucks sponsoring the event and you may have heard our promotion on Classical 96.3 FM or AM 740, our radio sponsors.

It is not too late to sign up so head on over to www.coldestnightoftheyear.org and sign up under Toronto. If you cannot come out, at least sponsor me!

That’s it for me folks. Come find me downtown today or even better, sign up for the CNOY walk! There is no better feeling than to be give back and be a part of life change. Give generously! I’d love to see you out.

Tips on planning an awesome road trip: Online tools

My last blog post before the holiday season was about planning an awesome road trip and finding unique (and affordable) accommodation. This post is about something that is equally important for planning, and that is using online tools at your disposal to make planning easier. I’ll use a trip I took to Montreal last year as an example.

1. Google Maps
Being a recent Android convert, it is suiting that the first two items on this list are Google related =) On short road trips, I like to make use of my visit so that I’m not wasting any time thinking of what to do next. “Winging it” has its place, but not when I am only spending a few days in a city. I start by creating a list of places I want to see, restaurants I want to eat at and routes to get there. I like using Google Maps and marking all of these plotted locations on a saved map. Saving the map allows you to go back to these plans at any time, and you can share it with those you are traveling with. I like to colour-coordinate and use different icons to differentiate the types of places they are. If I really have time on my hands, I might add the phone number, address and website into the plotted location’s details. I like to start with plotting the locations on the map, so I can plan my route accordingly based on where things are located. Also with Google Streetview you can practically visit the location you will travel to ahead of time to know what to expect.

2. Google Docs – Spreadsheet
While I am plotting my map locations, I am simultaneously making a spreadsheet of the places I want to go to. There is something really magical about columns and rows of neatly organized information! When planning a trip, you often are planning with other people, and here is where Google comes in handy with their Google Documents. You can create a spreadsheet (or word document, powerpoint, etc) and share it with other people. It gets updated live as you change it, and it centralizes all your planning efforts. This is the second place I would throw in all the details like phone number, address and website, in case I don’t have the Google Maps handy.

3. Gas Calculator
If you notice on my spreadsheet, I also like to monitor how much I am expected to spend on the trip in a separate column. Online gas calculators are handy to let you know how much gas money you will be spending if going on a road trip. This will be good to know if you are splitting it between passengers. This image above was pulled from www.ontariogasprices.com.

4. TripAdvisor
Finally (sometimes I do this first), before I make final decisions on where I will be spending my time on a trip, I like to double check what other travelers have to say about it on www.tripadvisor.com. Hearing someone else’s good or bad experience firsthand is a great way to tell if a place will be worth visiting or not, especially if it is a big ticket item like accommodations. This is also a great place to start if you don’t know where to go or what to eat, since you can look up the top rated things to do and places to eat.

Tips on planning an awesome road trip: Accommodations

Preface

As the winter rolls in, I start to feel my itch for travelling again. I love taking mini trips to quaint destinations, whether it is warm or cold outside. In the last two years I’ve enjoyed short trips to Port Colbourne, Niagara-On-The-Lake, St. Jacobs, Collingwood, Montreal and Wasaga Beach to name a few!

I obviously find a lot of pleasure in planning anything… and trips are at the top of the list! I’m starting a new mini series for how to plan an awesome trip, walking through the steps I would take to plan on my own trips. Note that when I travel, I consider myself more of a budget/local/experiential traveller than someone who seeks luxury experiences, so know that this will taint the kind of tips I will give.

Getting a good deal on accommodations

Anyone can book a simple hotel room at regular rates, but did you know there are other options? These are some of my favourites when I am looking to travel to a nearby destination:

Bed and Breakfasts:

Emerald Falls B&B in Niagara Falls. My friends and I booked the whole place for a bachelorette and it was like having our own private house! Best part was the great breakfast we woke up to.

B&B’s usually involve booking a room within the building/house and having a host who serves you a scrumptious homemade breakfast. A unique part of this is that if there are other travellers staying at the same place, you will likely eat together. It is a much more personal experience, allowing you to interact with others in a home setting. Sometimes if you are travelling in a group you may find a B&B that has enough rooms to accommodate everyone in the group, so you all stay in the same house (like the photo above).

My favourite place to check out B&B listings is www.bedandbreakfast.com as I like to take advantage of their “hot deals” and discounts throughout the year.

AirBnB:

Rented this entire apartment in Montreal from Airbnb for $70 a night!

Newer to the accommodations scene is a site called www.airbnb.com. It is a site that helps you find vacation rentals, private rooms and sublets in the city you are travelling to. You can even find a couch to sleep on if you wanted something real cheap. You don’t have to be an established bed and breakfast or hotel to rent your space out, so you can find some really interest and unique spaces.

This year, they implemented a number of great safety and security features for both hosts and guests, showing their commitment to what they do. For example, money is transferred through the airbnb site, and the host receives payment only after a successful stay.

On my second trip to Montreal last winter, I stayed at a private apartment suite (kitchen, living room, 2BR!) for just $70 a night! It was like I had my own place, it was really awesome. This is a very economical option if you are travelling with a few people and looking for a place where everyone can live together. Also it is a great way to find a home-away-from-home, allowing you to cook your own meals if you wanted to and go in and out as you please.

Priceline

One of my successful bids from “Name Your Own Price” on Priceline on another trip to Montreal. It was likely $50-60 a night, which is pretty sweet!

If you opt for a hotel, consider using www.priceline.com to find a hotel at a discounted rate. With the “Name Your Own Price” feature, you get a chance to bid on hotel rooms usually with 40-60% off the regular price. Similar to Hotwire, hotels stay anonymous until you successfully bid and buy it, so there is a bit of risk in that you don’t know exactly what you will get.

However you choose the general area it is located in, the star rating and how much you are willing to pay. Also www.betterbidding.com will give you a glimpse of successful bids in the same city/area from other users, so you can get an idea of what hotels are available for the bidding and what they paid for successful bids. If you aren’t too picky about the hotel specifics, this is a great way to get a deal on a room.

Easy holiday recipes that I made myself

Over the holidays I got to try out some good recipes to treat my family and friends to. If I can make them, anyone can! They also taste and look great. What more can you ask for!

Red Velvet Trifle
After my first and last attempt at cake pops, I had some leftover cake still. I was about to throw it out until a friend mentioned I could make something out of it. So I did some searching online for a recipe and found this! I made a tasty trifle out of it and brought it to my family gathering. It was messy but darn good! I guess I can’t really claim to have ‘made’ it, but I did assemble it! I used the recipe below as a starting point. I ended up using packaged vanilla pudding mixture and CoolWhip, and the cake was excess wedding cake from my friend Jenn from Sweet Escapes. All borrowed or premade.. but hey, it was still a hit!
Find the recipe here.

Caramel Cashew Popcorn
I’m heading to my friend’s place in a couple days for a games night so I was thinking of what I could bring. I don’t even know how I stumbled across this recipe but I am so happy I did. It is a really easy caramel corn recipe that I added cashews to an added yummy factor. I have a popcorn maker and kernels at home so it was pretty simple to prep. I melted the caramel candies just as I did with the chocolate over a pot of boiling water. I made more than enough too, so I will have a snack to eat at home or at work. Let me tell you – it is SO DELICIOUS! I will definitely make this again. Note: Do not overcoat the popcorn. The popcorn will stay crunchy with 1/2 to 2/3 of it covered with caramel. Once it has too much caramel, it will be too chewy.
Find the recipe here.

Peppermint Bark
This is a holiday classic and is pretty easy to make. After my not-so-satisfactory attempts at cake pops, I ended up with bags of chocolate that I had nothing to do with. So I made some of this! I like how pretty it looks, and it is tasty. This would be great for a winter wedding favour, packaged with some nice ribbon and cellophane.
Find the recipe here.

The honest truth about starting in wedding/events, Part 3: Keep your day job

My last three blog posts have been about an interest topic – how to become an event or wedding coordinator and some hard truths I’ve learned along the way. My first post was about getting educated, my second post was about it being a very people-oriented job and the most recent one was about your job and vocation. Now I get to the nitty gritty. A lot of people have asked me whether I would do weddings full time or not, and even more have asked me if one can make a living off it. Here are some thoughts from one who works weddings part-time and events full-time.

Photo credit: Sweet Pair Photography

The stats

As glamorous as an event or wedding coordinator life seems, it is not easy to rely on it for a full-time income.

The jobs out there for a full-time salaried event coordinator are few, and only organizations/companies that are large enough to be able to afford and value a coordinator will hire for one. More event jobs out there are contracted than permanent (from my observations only, not a fact).

For weddings it is a bit different because you can work on your own. The more effort you put into advertising, promotion and networking, the more jobs you should get (ideally). On the flip side, you can be an amazing coordinator with out of this world skills, but if no one wants to book you, then tough luck.

I think the statistic is about 20% (or less) of coordinators are doing weddings full-time in Canada. With over 2000 coordinators nationally, that’s not a lot. That means the other 80% are only doing it part-time, and to what extent part-time (two weddings a year? ten weddings a year?) likely varies a lot as well.

Full-time coordinators suggest one could likely start doing weddings full-time 3-4 years from the time they start, and obviously this will depend on a lot of things.. the quality of your work for referrals, your networking and promotion, the city you work out of and the saturation of other coordinators, etc. It all depends on your own goals and how hard you will work to keep at it.

Being realistic

I compare wedding planning to acting.. it is great to get a gig when it comes around, but make sure you have another job to pay your bills. Like any other self-employed business, if you don’t have clients, you don’t get paid. With so many automated bill payments these days, you can’t afford not to do work. That’s pretty scary!

You would need a ton of weddings every season to have it pay all your bills. You can see my prices listed under my services here on my website. You can do your own calculations to get an idea of how many day-of’s, partial planning contracts and full planning contracts I would have to do to make a decent living.

Let’s do the math. If I wanted to make, say, $50,000 a year. If I only did full planning contracts (for the sake of this example), that would be about 16 weddings at my current starting price for full contracts. I would need to book more than one full time planning contract every month. We all know that weddings don’t often happening in the winter time, so from April to October, I’d have to book about 2 full time wedding contracts every month. If I did fewer, I’d have to do a couple day-of’s or partial planning contracts to make up for each I didn’t do. All the while, I could be juggling 10-12 clients at any given time, helping them plan their wedding with unlimited consultations. Then I need to make time for initial meetings to discuss the possibilities of booking someone new, because, you know, you have to keep booking clients if you want to make a living off of it. Usually it will be a mix of all types of contracts, not just full. But, man, that is starting to look like a lot of weddings and a lot of insanity! And that’s only if I am able to book enough clients.

Weddings full-time?

At the rate I’m going (and I don’t consider myself to be doing poorly) it would really take a LOT more weddings for me to do it full time. I’d also have to work my butt off so that I have a consistent amount of weddings every season to support myself.

Also quite honestly, I might get bored living and breathing only weddings all year-round, so it works for my temperament that I plan events for charity 9-5 and plan weddings 5-9. It keeps things interesting for me and they both inspire me in different ways.

Did I mention I also like to have some sort of social life on top of my work life?

When and if weddings keep me busy enough that I can even consider doing it full-time will be another day and another discussion! But for now, it works well for me.

My one word of advice – Keep your day job. Oh, and get experience.

Many coordinators who are starting out are encouraged to volunteer their time to get experience and give big discounts to industry standard rates so that couples will give you a chance. It is like starting fresh in any other industry. Don’t expect to rise to the top with no hard work and no experience! With my event experience, I was lucky that I had a handful of weddings to coordinate immediately following my certification in my first year (I wouldn’t say this isn’t the norm).

It’s not that doing weddings full-time cannot be done, but don’t expect it to happen overnight, especially if you are just getting your feet wet. If you have dreams of starting your own wedding planning business, keep some sort of day job first and find a way to build up your experience. Set realistic goals for each year in business, have a marketing plan and put in 110% effort!

If you are looking to get started in events, if you have zero experience, you’ll have to get some somehow. No one is going to hire an event coordinator with no event coordinating experience. Volunteer and do some events on your own! Get a taste for the work and time involved. If you have transferable skills, you may be able to land some sort of assisting role that is events-related. I can’t tell you how the job market will be or how easy it is to get a job, only time will tell!

Ready to jump in?

I’ve learned a lot these past few years and I’ve made my mistakes. But honestly, it has been really rewarding too. I love being a part of someone’s most important day and I get to put to use my creative energies and take-charge attitude. I also love being a part of so many different events at the charity I work for, knowing that my efforts are for a worthy cause. It has been a blessing to do what I love and get paid for it. Who doesn’t want that right?

If you think you have what it takes and the freedom to ‘try out’ a line of work without the pressure of making money right away (that is what it is right?), go for it. If you’re not sure if you should jump right in, try volunteering at an event or help out at a wedding/event of someone you know to get a feel for it before putting all your marbles in one basket.

This concludes my mini series on getting started in the business. Thanks for following along! I hope it sheds a little bit of light on this relatively new line of work. Feel free to drop me a comment if you have any questions. Good luck and have a very Merry Christmas!

Update: CNBC Calls Event Coordinators #6 on the top 1- most stressful jobs in America!

Really last minute gift ideas under $100

Are you like me looking for last minute gift ideas to give to your parents or loved ones?? Here are some ideas for your last minute shopping to hopefully get your creative juices going.

Tassimo® Hot Beverage Machine – $79.99 at Sears
These instant beverage machines are all the rage right now. We gave one away as a raffle prize at my charity gala in October, thinking not much of it, and now I see them in every store! They come in all shapes and sizes, some making cold and hot beverages (usually the more expensive kind), but they are really neat to get as gifts. The only bad part is that you need to keep buying the little cups to keep using them in the future. But hey, if you love the drinks, it beats running to Starbucks when you can make your own for much less! If you’re feeling generous why not buy an extra refill kit (maybe of different flavours?) to go along with what is included?

BedandBreakfast.com Gift Card – Get a $25 card for every $100 you spend!
Does your loved one need time to relax or really enjoy travelling? This is a nice encouragement to go out and spend a bit of time on yourself. BedandBreakfast.com is actually running a promotion where you get a free card for purchasing a gift card, so everyone wins! There are 4000+ registered BedandBreakfast.com places to choose from and there isn’t anyone I know who couldn’t use a mini vacation. I love staying at B&Bs instead of hotels, it makes for a more authentic travelling experience. Because it is so last minute, you won’t be able to get a gift card shipped to you but you can print it off the website after purchasing and it is just as good. Maybe package the “gift card” printout with a bin of other goodies that represent travelling and relaxing like slippers, scented candles and a bubble bath jar to make it more festive.

Cuisinart EasyPop Popcorn Maker – $69.99 at Canadian Tire
Fun appliances are always a great gift. If your loved one like to snack, this makes a great batch of fresh popcorn with no oil needed. I got a popcorn maker from a friend as a house warming gift earlier in the year and it gets a lot of use! It’s also fun if you like hosting people and need a snack to serve them. Waffle makers, panini presses and fondue sets are also great hosting gifts.

Night-time Fuchsia Pierced Earrings – $85 at Swarovski
You can’t go wrong with a beautiful piece of jewellery! A girl can always use another classic pair of earrings. These earrings from Swarovski are not only understated beauty but have a great boldness to it in the bright colour. Perfect for going out during the holiday season to add a pop of colour to an outfit.

Happy shopping everyone! Whatever you get, make sure to ask for a gift receipt. I’ll be venturing out to Eaton Centre shortly for my last minute shopping. Not looking forward to the lineups!!

The honest truth about getting into wedding/events, Part 2.2: Your job and your vocation

I’ve started a mini series about getting started in the wedding and events industry and I’ve touched upon some of the more practical steps like getting an education and having the soft skills required.

Before touching upon making money in the business, I wanted to take a step back and reflect upon something that I’ve come to terms with the last few years.

After a trip to a conference in the states called Urbana, I came back with a book called Courage and Calling. It is a faith-based perspective on the ideas surrounding your vocation in different times in your life (vocation as a defining purpose or mission in life). I read this book at a pivotal time in my life—in my last year of university—and a couple things really stuck with me since.

One idea in particular was that your vocation is not always about finding a job doing what you love to do (though it can be). Let me explain.

For a single mother looking to feed her children, her vocation may not be tied with what she does in the 9-5. Her mundane job may or may not be something she has a passion for, but it allows her to do what she is called to do first and foremost – to be a provider for her children. Does it mean her life is not fulfilling or meaningful because her job is mundane? Not at all! But in that specific time in her life, her calling was to her children.

For someone starting out in their career, especially in North America where we have so many options available to us, most of us dream of getting a job in a field that we have some dying passion for. But the reality is, once we get our first job how many of us can truthfully say that we have a burning desire to audit financial statements or to fix people’s cavities as a dentist? Ok for some of you, it is, and good for you, hurray! But for most of us, a job is a job.

A lot of people I know dream of doing something different than what they are currently doing but let’s look at the facts. If your job is something you have the skills for, it pays your bills and you’re not miserable doing it, you’re probably ahead of the pack . What this job allows you to do is to do ‘life’, whether that is to explore hobbies, to volunteer for the homeless, to travel the world or to enjoy simple pleasures like eating out with friends. This job allows you to explore your vocation, whatever that may be, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be connected with your job (and that’s ok!). You can very well be someone who works a mundane job, but you can be living out your passion by volunteering your time doing weddings and events. Your calling does not necessarily have to be your job.

A choice

For others, your job is your calling, where you do what you were created to do in the 9-5. Some people tell me I’m ‘lucky’ that I get to do what I love to do (and I definitely count it as a blessing too!) but I also see it as a choice. I choose to make a living doing something I love to do. Maybe I was lucky in that I inherently knew early on what I loved to do and I could identify it. However now that I have made this choice, I know that this line of work does not pay as well as being a doctor, dentist or accountant, but I am ok with that. I get to do what I love and I get paid enough that I can put some savings aside, and I’m content with that.

Media always glorifies people who have been made rich from doing what they ‘were made to do’, be it singing, acting or sports. But these are the exceptions, not the norm. The term ‘starving artist’ comes from somewhere! My point is that doing what you love does not always pay well but you get rewarded in the doing itself, and that is a choice that you make.

So all that to say… If you are considering being an event or wedding coordinator as a career, know that it is likely the latter that you are choosing. You run the risk of maybe making money doing what you enjoy. For some, it is worth it and for others it isn’t. Just know your own life goals, reflect on your risk tolerance and be realistic in your expectations. Also know that your job does not necessarily have to be your calling, though it can be.

Phew, that was a lot to get through. Are you still with me? Next I’ll answer one of my most FAQ about making money. Stay tuned!

Brave the cold with me on February 25, 2012!

As some of you might know, I work at a great charity in Toronto called Yonge Street Mission. We work with people living with poverty in the city, and have been doing so since 1896!

I am coordinating the Toronto location of the Coldest Night Of The Year walkathon on February 25. It is a non-competitive 5k and 10k walk around downtown Toronto, supporting the hurting, hungry and homeless. This is an event that is managed by the same guys who bring you Ride For Refugees, so I am anticipating a great event and we are so excited to be the Toronto location of it.

We are looking for enthusiastic and energetic Team Captains to join us and start a team to walk for us! All this means is you bring on friends, coworkers and family to join us team to raise funds together and walk on February 25. Your main job is to recruit an army of people who will walk for hope it the city! I am challenging all of our teams to raise $2000 and to bring on 6-9 people (the more the merrier!). Most people can raise $250 on average, so $2000 isn’t that difficult with a lot of people. This is a great thing to do as an office or church group, and it is equally rewarding with a group of friends.

Are you with me??

Alternatively if you want to do more of the fundraising and join as an individual, you can sign up as an individual with Team Yonge Street Mission online.

If and when you are ready, you can sign up a team online at www.coldestnightoftheyear.org. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions!

I hope you will join me this February for this amazing fundraiser!