Woman@Work is  a great initiative undertaken by two very dynamic ladies, Toni & Tanya who have been friends for over 20 years.  Woman@Work is a society for woman who run their own businesses or who just want to meet people.  They have a big get-together on the first Wednesday of every month.  It creates an opportunity for all these ladies to network and promote their companies.  The idea of this group is to form bonds and to use someone within the network whenever you need something done.

Let me tell you a little bit about these two dynamic ladies.  Toni is involved with the estate agency Firzt Realty in the South of Johannesburg.  She also manages The Rietvlei Zoo Farm. which has now become a lifestyle center: they have Sinzinani Day Spa (which Toni and Tanya own), a cute little Tea Garden called Tree
House, an after-care centre called Edu-Kids, a nursery called Keen-Gro, a children’s play and party venue area called Camp Candy and much more.  They also cater for weddings, conferences, year-end functions and team building events.  The farm now boasts loads of activities such as Bush-walks, Putt-Putt, Pony Rides and a farm yard for kids to pet and feed the animals.  It’s the perfect place for friends and families to spend a great day in the outdoors on a picnic…

The first Woman@Work function was therefore held at the Rietvlei Zoo Farm with their in-house catering company called Esgodlweni doing the decorations and catering. The hall looked fabulous in shocking pink (quite suitable for a ladies evening I would say) and the food was great.  The motivational speaker
was Tasha Smith from Papillon coaching.  She is a life coach who assists you in facing up to every decision in your life and helps you to succeed in your short- and long term goals.  I thought she was quite inspirational cos I’m one of those people who just procrastinates and does everything at the last minute.  Leilani from the brand new magazine “My Week” was also there and I’m sure it’s all going to be in the next issue…

We of course, photographed the event and had a few of our photographs and products on display. It was good exposure for our business and we made a lot of contacts! It was good to see that we are surrounded by a lot of dynamic businesswomen here in the south and an event like this unites us. We get to share ideas, support each other emotionally (after all we are women!) discuss how we all manage to balance families and work and social lives and have fun at the same time!

Every lady was given a goodie bag full of all sorts of goodies like a squeeza water bottle from Firzt, a sample of Montego dog food and flyers and goodies from the companies being represented at the event.  What would an evening like this be without a few sponsored prizes??  They even had the new editor of the GET-IT magazine, Sonia, sing a Frank Sinatra song for one of the prizes, and boy does she have a voice?!  It was great fun! Ahava skin care range sponsored a hamper worth Over R1000 and Sinzinani Day Spa sponsored a few free massages and treatments.

There were over 80 ladies at the first get-together and they’re hoping for more than double that at the next networking event next year in February. This is one initiative which is going to be really successful.  All the ladies really enjoyed the evening and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for next year!

Riani

Yip, it certainly was a successful event. But then who would expect anything less from these two wonderful ladies…. they really are dynamic, successful and driven women.

Networking and building long-lasting friendships is just second nature to them! Congratulations Toni and Tanya – I am honoured and grateful to call you my friends. Here’s to another twenty years of success and friendship…. Weez

Your wedding is one of the greatest days of your life. It’s no wonder then that most brides put so much time and effort into the details of the wedding preparations. You want a great venue for your wedding ceremony, a beautiful cake, an experienced professional wedding photographer, and much more

But if you’re still hunting for a Cincinnati wedding DJ, keep reading for four great tips that will help you track down the ideal person and entertainment company for your wedding.

Get Thee to a Wedding Expo

You can find a whole conference center full of wedding DJ’s (and photographers, caterers, dressmakers and more) at three of the Cincinnati area’s top bridal exhibitions – the Dayton Bridal Expo, the Cincinnati Bridal Expo and the annual Veils and Cocktails event at The Madison.

The Cincinnati Bridal Expo is typically held at The Manor House Convention Center, while the Dayton Bridal Expo is held at the Dayton Convention Center and is probably the largest in the state. Veils and Cocktails at The Madison is an annual event that combines hors d’oeuvre and cocktails with the opportunity to meet 50 of the city’s finest wedding vendors.

While a bridal show can be overwhelming, it’s also the perfect opportunity to meet multiple, prospective Cincinnati wedding DJ companies in person and not only obtain a quote, but also get a feel for their personality. Remember, the DJ sets the tone for the entire evening and also takes on some MC duties, so you want someone who meshes with your own personality.

Ask on Local Message Boards

A local message board or online forum is a great place to cull referrals and recommendations. You can find bridal forums with special Ohio or Tri-State sections on popular bridal sites like The Knot (theknot.com) or One Wed (onewed.com), or you can just check a local message board.

Remember, word-of-mouth advice can often be trusted and is typically a reliable way to find a great service provider for an even better price.

Avoid Companies That Do Everything

Have you ever seen ads for companies that handle all the videography, photography and DJ services? Ever wondered how they can do so many things well? Normally they can’t. Instead of investing in a wedding warehouse, look for someone that is a professional DJ and does what they do well. Remember, DJ’ing is a skill and it goes beyond having the right equipment.

Ask Your Venue or Photographer

Every weekend, your venue or photographer is either at a wedding or is hosting one. Thanks to that incredible wedding experience, they’ve also been able to witness and evaluate possibly hundreds of local Cincinnati wedding DJ companies. So, put some trust in your other wedding vendors and ask them for referrals, recommendations or tips on who to avoid.

” Cheers boys cheer! The holidays are here! ” Ryan sings that at the start of every holiday and has done so since we first met 18 years ago. His gran used to phone him and his brothers at the start of every holiday and sing to them and so she started a kind of tradition that has been passed onto Ryan and his brothers and now my children… It brings back special memories for us and hopefully will do the same for our children one day!

So, now that it’s holidays, what do you do with your children? Why not bring your children for a family photoshoot – it’s the perfect time of year to capture some precious memories and you can even use some of the family portraits as Christmas gifts for friends and family. Come have fun in our studio, let your children bring their favourite outfits and toys or props and accesories and get some candid, natural photos that you will treasure for years to come – create yor own holiday memories and traditions…..

Products that we offer as christmas gift ideas:

canvas prints, box mounts, photo puzzles, coffee table books, photo mugs, personalised photo calendars, etc

Photo shoot Gift vouchers also make a wonderful gift for Christmas or any birthday, anniversary or special occasion.

Two hearts coming together and begin a life long journey is the truest essence of marriage. There are friends and relatives who gather to bless the couple in this eternal union and during this celebration some stand up to make a speech for the bride and groom. Some are asked to do so and some volunteer to give a wedding speech. Given here are some interesting quotes that can form the anchor for the entire heart-stirring speech on the special wedding day…

Having short wedding speeches is always appealing to the guests and the maid of honor wedding speech is not any different. One should keep the speech brief and refer to the wedding vows made in the ceremony. The maid of honor wedding speech is brief because the audience still has to listen to other speeches after yours just as they have already listened to other speeches before yours. A maid of honor wedding speech should be lively, enthusiastic, and sincere. Saying something favoring the bride is advisable. Writing the maid of honor wedding speech beforehand allows someone have time to go through it and make some corrections. After writing it, you can ask someone else to read it and offer his or her opinion. Having a written speech prevents someone from mumbling and stammering as one looks for words to fill their speech. If you do not want to have a sheaf of papers that you are trying to get in order, cards will work out well too. A maid of honor wedding speech example is as follows.

”Ladies and gentlemen, my name is ______. _____ and I have known each other since college. Since then we have shared memorable moments and her wedding is no exception. _____ has always been there for me. I remember one time when… When she told me she was getting married … Her wonderful nature and patience are some of her wonderful characteristics… I would just like the groom to know that in _____, he has found a worthy companion who will honor her wedding vows and…As I end my speech, I leave with this quote ‘may the roof above you never fall in and may you both never fall out’.”

A good maid of honor wedding speech tries to incorporate all the positive things about the bride but this should not be exaggerated. Keeping a light tone during this short wedding speech will not bore people.

Remember, giving a wedding speech is a great gift you can give to the bride and groom. This is an opportunity for them to hear how much they mean to you. So, follow the suggestions above, get help if you need it. But, overall, have fun and don’t be afraid to give wedding speeches. If you are feeling under pressure or nervous about writing a speech that you so want the bride to be proud of, find out more information on wedding speech format and there are great resources available at http://weddingspeechesforyou.com/

You’re planning your wedding with high anticipation of your lifetime together. The costs are going to be hard on your pocketbook when you take into account reserving the venue of your wedding ceremony, hiring a professional wedding photographer, and the myriad additional wedding preparations you’ll need to harness.

So given the overall expenses, are there ways you can reduce them without sacrificing quality? Yes, you can consider the option of wholesale wedding favors.

You don’t have to spend inordinate sums of money on expensive items in a local craft store or bridal bouquet. Instead, you can buy your favors wholesale and keep that money for other things like your photographer, DJ or flowers.

For hot wedding favor ideas that you can do with low cost products, read on.

Sugared Almonds

Sugared almonds are a classic and traditional wedding favor. Tradition says that five almonds are placed in a box or wrapped in fabric to symbolize happiness, health, wealth and fertility. It’s also said that a sugared almond is also bitter sweet, much like the bitter sweetness of married life.

What’s great about this favor is that you can pick up wholesale sugared almonds at most bulk food stores. At $10 or $15 a pound, you will have enough almonds to provide classic favors for every wedding guest. Then, pick up a few yards of tulle and ribbon at a local fabric shop and you have your packaging and wrapping. Simply, wrap five almonds in a small circle of tulle and tie with a ribbon.

Candles

White candles make great wholesale wedding favors because they can be purchased very inexpensively and easily customized. You should be able to find a box of 50 white candles for as little as $5.00, with most brides spending no more than $10 to $15 to furnish their entire guest list with favors. You can also order votive or fancier candles from a wholesale supplier and still save money.

Of course, you can’t just hand each guest a plain candle, but you can easily customize them all. Start by writing your name and marriage date on a small piece of paper or ribbon and then wrapping each candle with your customized band. Alternatively, you can use ribbon to attach a small note that thanks your guests for attending your marriage ceremony.

Bottle Your Own

If you live in Vermont, you could bottle your own maple syrup. If you live in California, you might bottle your own wine. If you live in the South, you may want local preserves.

You can either purchase wholesale bottles, direct from the manufacturer, online or look for preserve products and jars at your local bulk store. For less than $0.50 a container, you get a personalized favor that reflects both you and your home.

So, before you splash out on expensive wedding favors that say little about you as a couple, consider saving money with wholesale wedding favors that you can personalize to match your colors, styles and personalities.

Wondering what to get the grandparents for christmas???  Well look no further! We offer professional studio shoots from as little as R650 for a 30 min photoshoot. It’s as easy as 1 2 3.

You come in for your studio shoot for 60 mins or whatever time your package includes.  From there we do all the work, you just have to view the pics and decide what you want to give as a gift. A canvas print, boxmount or maybe a personalised photo calendar or jigsaw puzzle?  All our products come in std photo sizes like A4, A3, A2 and so forth but you can also have a custom size made, get a little creative and make your own custom layout on your wall.  The possibilities for great christmas presents really are  endless!! Have you ever noticed that your kids seem to grow inches every week.  Last week they still had little baby faces and this week they suddenly look like a toddler!  I’ts quite scary to think about it.  When I was a small child I used to think grown-ups are crazy cos every time they saw me at a reunion or function the first thing they would say was  something in the lines of look at how you’ve grown.  But it really is true, we do not feel like were getting older but if you look at your kids, you notice how fast time goes by… As a photographer I would recommend taking your kids to do a fun family photoshoot at least once a year.  If you’re a scrapbooker you can even pick up a few tips on photography from your photographer while your busy with your shoot….  Photos are truly priceless.  I’m crazy about photos, they don’t even have to be of my family or someone I know.  I truly enjoy studying their expressions, wondering what they were laughing at or what they were thinking at the exact moment they were photographed. I’m already organising a photoshoot for my brothers 3 boys to use as treasured christmas gifts for the grandparents!!

So email us at info@louisedieselphotography.co.za or give me a call to find out more about our amazing christmas gift range!!!

Have you ever been down to the club at Emperors Palace called Monsoon Lagoon for a cocktail?  Iv’e been there a few times and it had a great vibe and good music. Unfortunately
Monsoon Lagoon didn’t make enough money as a club so it has been turned into a great function venue. I never realized how perfectly laid out it was for big corporate functions.
The sound system is already up, there are VIP booth’s from which you can view the stage and can be used as the smoking section.  There are bars upstairs and

downstairs

and you also have a platfrom in the middle above the bar which serves as a great vantage point from which to take photos of whatever is happening on the stage. You could easily fit enough tables to seat a hundred people.  So if you’re looking for something different and funky for your year-end function, Monsoon Lagoon is an ideal venue. A company called Iskhus power (a greek word meaning conserving energy)  asked us to photograph their first ever Energy Efficiency Awards 2008. It’s an awards function where Iskhus power awards Large-scale companies like Emperors Palace, Vodacom, Carlton centre, Simonsig wines, Willards, BMW, Inergy, Henkel (Pritt), IBA, Distell and many more for making their companies energy efficient.  It’s a real inspiration to me when I hear about companies
like Iskhus helping out with our energy crisis.  As corporate photographers, Louise and I were commissioned by them to photograph their Energy Efficiency Awards 2008.  They had drapings strung all over the place and it looked all smokey as they had a smoke  machine running for the lasershow.  Having welcomed everybody all the power suddenly went out, just as the guests were starting to think it might be loadshedding a spectacular
laser show ensued.  The lasers were dancing all over the club and were all green to signify looking after the earth and it was just amazing. Leanne Manas was the MC and boy is she good.  One of the companies who got an award is a hospital called Little Company of Mary and as their representative was walking off the
stage after receiving their award Leanne joked: ‘Send our regards to Mary…’

We often go to a lot of different functions and I have to say that Leanne Manas really is a good MC, she’s personal, she’s funny, she’s witty and beautiful too. There was another laser show after the award ceremony in which they displayed every company’s logo with the lasers. it was brilliant and very professional. We had to ask them to play the lasershow again after the guests had left to make sure we captured every logo.  Only then when I could take the time to admire the lasershow and not just look through lens could I fully appreciate how cool it looked!  Let me tell you a little something about photographers, when I’m taking photos it’s like I go onto a completely different planet where all that matters is that I get the perfect shot… We really enjoyed doing this shoot and look forward doing many more like this!!