Paper Me Wonderful

Collaborate, Design, Inspire then Educate

Lisa R. Zachery — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:30:41 +0000

“Having a great idea and not selling it well is like sitting on a pig and hoping for a ham sandwich!” Very well said Sam Harrison. This weekend, the Atlanta Wedding Creative is hosting our first education event, A Planners Workshop. This is not your regular sitting in the room sipping water listening to people talk type of workshop. Michelle Gainey of Lemiga Events and Brian Green of F&G Weddings have spent quality time putting together an intensive itinerary filled with interactive sessions including some of Atlanta’s top Wedding Industry Professionals. I am most excited about the tablescape photo shoot each attendee gets to do with amazing photographers Janet Howard of Janet Howard Studio and Jeremy Harwell of Harwell Photography. What a fabulous start or enhancement to one’s portfolio! Speaking of tablescapes, check out this behind the scenes video by Inije Photo from AWC’s first photo shoot with Ross Oscar Knight. It’s not too late to register at http://awcworkshop.eventbrite.com/.

Special thanks to I Do Linens, MM Ink, Edge Design Group, Jackson Durham and Unique Event Management.

AWC Planners Workshop Speaker Spotlight: Michelle Gainey {Lemiga Events}

Lisa R. Zachery — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 18:36:16 +0000

Tom Peters of Fast Company said, “A brand is a promise of the value received.” Michelle Gainey, Lead Designer of Lemiga Events, has built her brand believing that statement. I had the privilege of meeting Michelle just before she opened StudioWed and remember thinking, this young lady is really going to change the Atlanta wedding industry. Michelle has successfully built her own brand and had a hand in taking the StudioWed brand to another level. For those of you unfamiliar with StudioWed, it is an exclusive collection of Atlanta’s wedding vendors representing the finest wedding professionals that service the Atlanta area. This is a hip and revolutionary concept in local and destination weddings in Atlanta: a stylish and sophisticated planning studio where the area’s best vendors come to you. Meet with a photographer over coffee in the morning and enjoy a glass of wine as you chat with a florist in the afternoon. Best of all, there’s no cost to you to use StudioWed’s services, so you can feel free to spend an entire day — or as many as you need — planning your big day. Michelle has built a great balance between the two businesses and an awesome staff to help her maintain them. As Lead Designer and Planner of Lemiga Events, Michelle is a girly girl. She loves shoes, dresses, makeup and everything about being a woman! Michelle loves a challenge. She’s always looking to do things differently than how they’ve always been done. Lemiga Events is a premier event design boutique specializing in stylish and glamorous affairs for a discerning clientele. They are passionate about creating unique and exceptional moments that will be remembered for a lifetime. Their love for design and intricate details is what defines our signature event style. Enchanting venues, sumptuous fabrics, stunning florals and captivating stationery are some of the elements that make our events spectacular. I love working with Michelle. She is the epitome of a wedding planner. Her glamorous style and attention to detail ensures that each and every client feels appreciated, her service is valued, and the wedding is amazing!

What I love most is that Michelle, like me, is a mom! She is married and has two adorable daughters. I know that she is setting an example of how to be successful in every aspect of life. Kudos Mrs. Gainey!

Michelle has a passion for educating and inspiring fellow associates in the wedding and event industry. You can hear her share her knowledge in an intimate setting and speak with her personally at the Atlanta Planner’s Workshop at StudioWed happening February 18-19, 2012. For more information and to register, please visithttp://awcworkshop.eventbrite.com//.

AWC Planners Workshop Speaker Spotlight: Brian Green {F&G Weddings}

Lisa R. Zachery — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:00:11 +0000

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”

I am so excited to be working alongside two of the most incredible wedding and event planners this side of heaven! Fast friends and passionate partners, The Atlanta Wedding Creative, brought us together to educate and inspire this industry with amazing design! One of my partners is Brian Green of F&G Weddings. Brian, known as Chief Dream Maker and Creative Visionary of F & G Weddings, is an award winning event planner with many years of experience in creating the most fabulous weddings for clients. I have embraced the honor of providing custom stationery for many of his brides over the last several years. Each time we meet I am totally blown away by the level of creativity he brings to each wedding. Brian is known for the “best friend experience” and I can truly attest to his passion and overwhelming desire for each client to have the most fabulous experience as they prepare for their big day. Wedding planners are not created equal. You may find some who concentrate on logistics, others who concentrate on design, but Brian is the complete package. He prides himself on taking your vision and creating that fabulous factor for every client in a way that speaks to who they are and what they want for their wedding day! With an amazing creative team to support his design and his ability to execute flawlessly, Brian Green works tirelessly to ensure love is always in the details.

Brian has a passion for educating and inspiring fellow associates in the wedding and event industry. You can hear him share his knowledge in an intimate setting and speak with him personally at the Atlanta Planner’s Workshop at StudioWed happening February 18-19, 2012. For more information and to register, please visit http://awcworkshop.eventbrite.com/.

Announcing…The Atlanta Wedding Creative

Lisa R. Zachery — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:00:32 +0000

The Atlanta Wedding Creative is a collaboration that seeks to educate, design, and inspire the wedding industry through seminars, interactive workshops and luxury bridal events. TAWC brings together three of Atlanta’s widely sought after wedding professionals including Wedding and Event Designers, Michelle Gainey of Lemiga Events and Brian A.M. Green of F&G Weddings, along with Lisa R. Zachery, Customer Stationer and Branding Artist of Papered Wonders, Inc.

We are ecstatic about this collaboration and look forward to sharing more purely wondrous inspiration with you through this venture.

More details coming soon at www.theatlantaweddingcreative.com.

2011 Holiday Cards

Lisa R. Zachery — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:40:03 +0000

Atlanta Custom Stationery, Custom Holiday Cards,

StudioWed presents The Inspired Bride

Lisa R. Zachery — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:20:57 +0000

Green with Envy

Lisa R. Zachery — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 19:28:30 +0000

Sometimes we allow fear of consequences to keep us from speaking truths regarding situations we deal with daily. Everyone tip toes around certain subjects and it appears “taboo” for one to call others, including ourselves, to the carpet about certain issues. Anyone who knows me, recognizes almost immediately that there is not anything that I’m afraid to say. Are there times we should keep our mouths closed and mind our own business? Of course! However, today, I’m saying enough is enough.

I’ve been in the wedding industry for over ten years and have never witnessed the things we are being exposed to today. As Marvin Gaye said best, “What’s Going On?” I consider getting married one of the most sacred times in a couple’s life that should be reverenced with honor and celebrated in grand fashion at the same time. It should be a time when a couple can share the things they love most about each other in a ceremony and celebration. A good friend and fabulous wedding planner, Brian Green, of F&G Weddings says, “A wedding is the first opportunity a couple hosts a party together as husband and wife.” If this is true, why is there so much chaos in the wedding industry?

Some days I feel as though our industry could be traded in for the TV slot of The Young and The Restless or All My Children. Planners are fighting caterers. Caterers are fighting designers. Designers are fighting venues. Who has the best interest of our clients, the bride and groom, in mind? Every industry has competition. That’s the way the world goes around, but competition is only as competitive as you see it. Sean Low, Founder and President of The Business of Being Creative, LLC, said once, “keep your blinders on and focus on what you need to be doing for YOUR client.” Well, that brings up a different subject that I won’t address today. {Do you really know who YOUR client is?} I have witnessed so much bickering back and forth between vendors that I’m sure clients have had second thoughts about who they hired. Vendors are undercutting each other to get the business and the sad part is they think that no one knows. {WE KNOW, BOO!} Vendors are going around town pretending to have interest in business relationships and instead are seeking information and sharing negative information about one another. Are you serious? If we spent less time trying to figure out how she opened a new studio or how he booked the client you met with and more time serving our clients, the Atlanta wedding industry would be everything everyone THINKS we are. I love when vendors from other states call and want to come visit. From Facebook and Twitter, they see how much we network and party and celebrate each other, but what they don’t see is how we use one other, back bite and gossip.

What about the newbies coming into the industry? Why are we so afraid to share a few minutes of our time to help them learn? I didn’t say you had to be a mentor or give away all of your trade secrets (if there is a such thing!), but a cup of coffee to help Suzie decide if she really wants to be a planner wouldn’t kill you. If they are calling seeking advice, that means you must be doing something right. We shouldn’t be threatened by or intimated by new people joining the Atlanta market. I personally would love to have a network of stationers that met and shared creative ideas from time to time. If I’m busy or on vacation, I would love to have someone I could trust to refer my clients to for a one time job, etc. However, that’s almost unheard of here in Atlanta.

We’ve all been a part of a negative conversation, whether we choose to admit it or not. We are all human and sometimes we just need to vent, but when it turns into a serious plot to put people out of business, we need to check ourselves. The word of God says in James 3:16 “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” Stop being envious of another planner for booking seventy weddings a year. You don’t know what they have to do to maintain that schedule or what level of service they are providing. Designers, start charging what you’re worth and not $500 below your competitor just to book the business. Stationers, please develop your own style and stop copying other designers. All inspiration has to come from somewhere, but this is a creative business. Be inspired to create your own designs.

I don’t believe that Rodney King knew how life changing his statement was years ago, “Can’t we all just get along?” Unfortunately, it seems to be impossible, but I am a firm believer that if we all spent our time servicing our clients to the best of our ability instead of worrying about what other vendors are doing, we would create the best wedding industry in America. We have the talent. Stop hating and get to work.

“To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self” ~ Joan Didion

Paper Me Wonderful!

Lisa R. Zachery — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:31:47 +0000

When we first started our blog, we chose the name “CreateMePapered” because we thought it embodied so much of what we strive to accomplish everyday at PWI. We want all of our clients to understand the need for papered memories for every special occasion and endeavor in their life. We love sharing our papered creations as well as the milestones that we reach in business. The CreateMePapered blog has certainly been a source of inspiration for our readers as well as for ourselves. However, in our tenth year of service, we discovered the need to enhance the branding side of our company and felt that the name “CreateMePapered” was a better brand for our design services rather than our blog. Therefore, we are pleased to announce the new name of our blog, “Paper Me Wonderful”. Everything that we do on paper makes us feel wonderful and we want to transfer that feeling of purely wondrous inspiration to our readers. So we hope that you like the new name and that you will continue to find information and inspiration that tickles your fancy and papers you wonderful!

Happy Reading!

If you are interested in learning more about our CreateMePapered Brand Offerings, please contact lisa@createmepapered.com. We’d love to hear from you!

Six Months Down, Six Months of Purely Wondrous Inspiration to Go!

Lisa R. Zachery — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:38:36 +0000

What an incredible year this has been! As you know, we began the year in anticipation of our 10th Anniversary Celebration. We decided that it was only fitting to celebrate this occasion all year long and we have done just that. Our 10th Year of Service has not been just about a great party, but it has been a recommitment to service and a strive to become excellent in every facet of our company. Our creativity has soared and we have been blessed to unveil some purely wondrous designs for our clients. In February, we reintroduced our branding side, in the form of CreateMePapered Services. We seek to help all businesses look excellent in print and design. In March, we celebrated with ten of our most loyal clients in an intimate dinner setting that proved to be a magical night for everyone who attended. In May, we had a whirlwind of weddings and helped to make brides’ papered dreams come true. We enjoyed every minute of creating the stationery for these wonderful couples and wish them much love and happiness throughout their marriage. In June, we had breakfast with some of our favorite Atlanta planners and helped them to better understand the PWI process. We also sponsored the marketing collateral and conference materials for the 5th Annual Faith and Fiction Retreat in Jacksonville, Florida.

These are a few highlights of the magnificent year it has been and we know that the latter portion of the year will only get better. We look forward to sharing with many more brides in the months to come. We look forward to the tenth birthday of PWI’s first inspiration, Kennedy Renee, daughter of Lisa. Her tenth birthday helps us to remember why our tenth anniversary is so special. This company has been a blessing to so many over the years, but none greater than the owner herself, Lisa Zachery. We anticipate hosting an even greater Christmas event for our Lending a Hand, Helping a Life endeavor and encourage you to take part in this opportunity to bless someone else during the season of giving. We look forward to the night where we will culminate our 10th Year of Service Celebration and share with our many clients who have made these last ten years possible and pleasurable. We also are excited about a milestone birthday for Lisa as she celebrates the fabulosity of turning 40!

We are eager to share with many more brides and grooms, parents to be, graduates, entrepreneurs and anyone else who desires custom design and unique stationery. More importantly, we patiently wait to see what God has in store for Papered Wonders, Inc. Therefore, to us, the year isn’t halfway over…it’s just the beginning!

Weddings Unveiled Summer Soiree

Lisa R. Zachery — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:41:33 +0000