TV programs such as “Say Yes to the Dress” do all they can to show brides the pitfalls of taking family and friends to choose your wedding dress. Week after week we see brides with a large entourage of the aforesaid family and friends ‘umming and arrghing’ at the dresses picked by the experts. OK, understandably the experts are trying to meet their sales targets but the brides still insist on relying on the advice of family and friends instead of listening to the people with the knowledge for the needs of their clients.

In my capacity as an English Toastmaster and On-the-Day Coordinator, I have seen some absolutely beautiful brides but on the other end of the scale also seen many wedding dress disasters.

Many brides are driven to buy dresses that do not suit them because ‘fashion’ dictates it. They buy a dress because they have read in some wedding magazine that someone who has a figure like a model says that it is trendy and the height of fashion. I know that the same applies to everyday life, with some people wearing things that do not suit them because they have been told that item is fashionable.

Some of these brides do not realize that their wedding day is probably one of the most important days of their lives and will be recorded forever in photographs and video. You can rely on your Wedding Photographer to capture the day, but you can’t rely on your Wedding Photographer to make your dress look better using Photoshop if they have not got the ammunition to start with.

Brides please take a long hard look in the mirror before purchasing your wedding dress. Make sure that YOU look at it from every angle before you buy.

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Since moving to New Orleans I have been contacting various Wedding Professionals with the hope of getting the ‘English Toastmaster’ name known in the city and surrounding areas.

I met last week with two very charming ladies, who are the Editors of the ‘Weddings in Style’ magazine, where I was treated to the most gracious hospitality at our very lengthy but informative meeting. The Wedding in Style magazine is in my mind one of the best in New Orleans and I look forward to working with these two ladies in the future.

At present I am collecting information and putting it together to make a video presentation to show on my booth at the upcoming ‘Weddings in Style’ Wedding Shows.

We are now firmly ensconced in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where the weather is warm and sunny at the moment but will get humid and warmer over the new few months. Getting to know the area a little and finding out where things are has not been much of a challenge as I have been researching for a few months using Google Earth to get around the place.

We both have iPhones now and are busy downloading Apps to make our lives easier and to stay in communication with everyone. Skype though, has been a boon for keeping in touch with family, friends and clients in the U.K.

I have added two more websites to the Toastmaster family as SE grabbers…. they are…. The English Toastmaster in the USA and The English Toastmaster in America

I am going to try to keep this Blog fresh now that the dust of our arrival has settled…. so more later