The Wedding Technology Workshop is rapidly approaching. If you haven’t already, be sure to Register Now for the upcoming workshop.

Wedding Technology 101
November 18, 2009 9am-4pm
Get Married Studios, Atlanta GA

Register Here

Join Stephanie Hunt, The Wedding Technista, as she shares must-have technology solutions at the First Ever Wedding Technology Workshop.This full day workshop is designed for wedding industry professionals to gain technology tools and solutions to take your wedding business to the next level.Brides and Grooms are becoming more and more tech savvy everyday. Learn tips on how to stay ahead of emerging tech trends and grow an innovative wedding business.

This workshop is for wedding professionals who understand that time is money.  During this workshop, we will identify which tools will bring you the fastest results; outline and implement your personal internet strategy, and show you how to save time, money and attract clients. You don’t want to miss this ground-breaking event. Some of the tech tools that will be shared during the workshop are:

• How to Win Clients from the First Click
• Strategies for Optimizing Business Operations
• Establishing a Virtual Client Interface
• and Much More……..

**Continental Breakfast and Lunch is provided
**Laptops welcome and optional
**Please bring 50 business cards for Registration Check-In

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

Well, I’ve been away from the blog for a few weeks now and hope that you all will accept my sincerest apologies. Sometimes life just happens!! Normally, the blog focuses on great information to merge the Wedding and Technology Worlds in an effort to help all of you better your businesses with technology. But today I felt the need to share my experiences over the past few weeks, hoping that it may help one of you.

Almost ten years ago, I lost my mother to Colon Cancer, and was told that I should start screening at the age of 25. I decided to start a family and really didn’t think about the screenings. After having two children, and approaching my 30th birthday, I decided to ask my Primary Care Physician for his referral to have the exam. He was aware of my family history, and didn’t think it was necessary. He mentioned I was healthy and wasn’t having any problems, so there was no need for the exam. I asked my physician numerous times, and was given the same answer. Then I decided to call my insurance company to see if a referral was even necessary to see a specialist. It was not. I then called a Gastroenterologist, and finally got around to scheduling my first colonscopy a few weeks ago at the age of 32.

Preparing for the colonoscopy and then going into the hospital for the exam was surreal. I wondered was this how my mother felt when she went in with three beautiful daughters at home to care for. I knew I would be fine, and I would receive a clean bill a health in the end. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The news I received was that I had two Large Colon Polyps and had I not come in for the screening I would have had full blown Colon Cancer within a year. Unbelievable!!! A week later, my lab results confirmed that both polyps were pre-cancerous and I had a 100% risk of developing Colon Cancer.

I consider myself to be healthy and live a pretty heathly lifestyle. I had no symptoms and no signs that there were any issues with my body. I am perfectly fine now, and am so glad and blessed to have found this when I did. I needed to take a break from things and unfortunately from the blog as well. But I’m back in action, with a new perspective!!

As I mentioned earlier, this is not my personal blog, and I make it a point not to write about personal things. But I hope by sharing my story that it will encourage those reading it to listen to your body and your instincts, and get checked. I appreciate all of you who read my blog, and encourage me in my pursuit with the iMatrimony Brand.

Early Detection Saved My Life!!!

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

I am so pleased to be invited to speak, and join the array of great wedding industry professionals at the “Maximize Your Brand” Wedding Symposium in New York City. If you’re in NYC, this is an event you don’t want to miss.

When: Monday & Tuesday, October 19-20, 2009 Where: New York City in the chic and modern boutique hotel, Ravel 808 Queens Plz S, Long Island City, NY 11101{ view map } Cost: $250 for both October 19th and 20th; $175 per either October 19th or the 20th Maximize Your Brand is a wedding business symposium targeting wedding and special event industry professionals who are serious about taking their business to the next level. Whether you’re a planner, designer, florist or photographer the educational programming will provide practical, in-depth and engaging information to help transform your business. Speakers for MYB09 include: Stacie Francombe founder and president of GetMarried.com Natalie Bradley owner of Natalie Bradley Events and Bride Attraction Bernadette Coveney Smith owner of It’s About Time Events Christopher Duggan owner of Threshold Visions Xochitl Gonzalez founder of Always a Bridesmaid Stephanie Hunt founder of iMatrimony Weddings & Technology Katie Martin owner of Elegance & Simplicity and founder of the Green Wedding Consortium Ross Oscar Knight owner of Ross Oscar Knight Photography Linnyette Richardson-Hall owner of Premiere Event Management Harmony Walton founder of The Bridal Bar Alan Berg VP of Local Strategic Solutions and Director of The Knot Market Intelligence MYB 2009 will shed light on best practices for staying on top of the industry in spite of the economy and will offer invaluable networking opportunities with other vendors and planners. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to partake in a safe haven for learning and networking within the wedding and special events industry. Media panel comprised of Industry leaders including Co-founder and President Stacie Francombe of Get Married. For more information please visit www.maximizeyourbrand.com. We are offering a special limited-time promotional discount of $50 until October 18th. To register for this event please visitwww.maximizeyourband2009.eventbrite.com. You can also follow our blog atwww.maximizeyourbrand09.blogspot.com for weekly speaker spotlights and continuous updates to the conference agenda!

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

I recently had a consulting client who was in need of assistance with her company’s internet identity. She runs an internet based e-commerce site, and the website is pretty much, “The Business”. After gathering more information about her company, and their website presence, I was amazed with the issues she was having with her web developer. The web developer had total control over her domain name account, hosting account, and all of her website files and code. She had no information to access any of these items. Anytime she needed to address her website, she relied solely on her web developer. And when asked, the web developer refused to give her access to her own company website. My client was afraid to do anything fearing the developer would crash her site, ruining her entire business. Unbelievable!!

There has been a lot of talk about whether or not you as a business owner, actually own your website files, or if your web developer does. It is in your best interest as a business owner to own all aspects of your website, so you have complete control and the right to do whatever you want. Here are a few things to remember:

1. Obtain a Written Assignment of Copyright for your website design, content, and code.
2. Using images that aren’t your own? Get a Release, or something in writing from the owner of the images that permits you to use them on your site. Always give credit for the images as well.
3. Use a CMS (Content Management System) to manage and maintain future changes to your site
4. Have your web developer sign a release, or “Work Made for Hire Agreement”

Remember, do your research and make sure you ask these important questions regarding who owns your website, use of the website, and all rights to the website.

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

Ciara Daykin of The Rockstar Wedding Planner kindly invited me to join her as her special guest for the upcoming teleseminar.  I will be sharing tips on “How to Use Technology Effectively and Efficiently in Your Wedding Planning Business”with the Rockstar Wedding Planner members. The call is open to all Rockstar Wedding Planner members and takes place TODAY 1:00pm PST/2:00pm MST/3:00pm CST/4:00pm EST.

Special Thanks to Ciara Daykin for having me!!!

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

The more and more Twitter becomes popular, the more apps are becoming available for multiple Twitter uses. I just came across this cool app and thought I would share. Digsby is one of the top twitter applications receiving over 233,000 unique visits a month (via Compete.com)

With Digsby, you can combine your Instant Messaging, Emails, and Social Network Platforms all in one desktop client. Pretty sweet!! I haven’t seen anything else out there like it. If you use multiple platforms to market your wedding business or communicate online, this is the app for you. Digsby has an online demo that explains it all, and shows just how powerful it can be.

Here are just a few features available with Digsby:

Customize the look with application skins
Manage your email accounts in one place
Get alerts and keep track of your Social networks
Put a widget on your blog, website, or profile to chat with friends
Manage multiple conversations with drag and drop
Multitask with popups you can reply from
Get alerts and keep up with social networks
Put a widget on your blog, website, or profile and chat with friends

and yes, it’s available for both Macs and PCs.

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

“The perfect computer has been developed. You just feed in your problems and they never come out again.”?

-AL Goodman

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

Your website is the first impression of your company. It’s important to keep your site up to date and reflective of your brand. Many times, you just want to change a photo, or update a new event, and feel techsavvy enough to handle it yourself. This is where a Content Management Systems (CMS) comes into play. A CMS, can be used specifically for web content management, allowing you to change, edit, and manage your website content at your own discretion with very little technical knowledge.

Wordpress is a great CMS tool for managing web content. Just as you would manage your Wordpress powered blog, you have complete control over updating and keeping your website current.

In addition to WP, there are many other tools on the market for CMS. If your interested in implementing a CMS to your current site, it may be best to contact your web team to handle that task and recommend a tool that best fits the type of site you have. Not one who wants the hassle of updating your own website? Then you should definitely outsource those tasks to your web development team, and agree on a content maintenance package that fits your needs and stray away from paying for each individual request.

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

Using Twitter is becoming easier and more convenient everyday. I recently came across a new app that allows you to tweet from Microsoft Outlook. If you’re an Outlook user, odds are you have it open all the time. TwInbox, is a Twitter client that allows you to tweet directly from MS Outlook. No need to download or use another Twitter app. It has great features that are comparable to many of the other Twitter clients out there. It’s free and very user-friendly. Check it out!!

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

- Thomas Edison

© 2009, iMatrimony Wedding Technology Blog. All rights reserved.