As President of the Orlando Chapter of Wish Upon a Wedding, I am thrilled to share this exciting news!

Six-month old nonprofit organization Wish Upon a Wedding announced on July 22, 2010 that it will broaden its scope of services, in order to assist more couples in need. Although its primary focus continues to provide weddings for terminally ill individuals regardless of sexual orientation, the organization will soon help those faced with other personal burdens, such as serious emotional, physical or other debilitating issues.

Due to a significant number of requests, Wish Upon a Wedding will now provide a limited number of weddings to inspirational couples that have experienced these catastrophic life-altering circumstances.

Additionally, Wish Upon a Wedding was featured in this wonderful Today Show article

Wish Upon a Wedding is now accepting applications from:

* Couples where at least one individual has terminal diagnosis of less than FIVE years to live

* Couples faced with situations that have caused serious emotional, physical or financial stress (approved on case by case basis)

* Married couples seeking vow renewals, who have faced serious life-altering circumstances including but not limited to terminal illness (approved on a case by case basis)

All applicants must be over the age of 18 and legal U.S. Citizens

Mission Statement:
Wish Upon a Wedding is the world’s first nonprofit wish granting organization, providing weddings and vow renewals for couples facing terminal illness and life altering circumstances, regardless of sexual orientation.

To fill out an application, click this link: Apply for a Wedding Wish

To get involved locally see my post on Upcoming Events! To find the chapter nearest to you, please click here: Chapters

Donations: We are able to take wish granters, airline miles, cash donations, auction donations on our website http://www.wishuponawedding.org – under the tab “how to help” you’ll find listed many ways you can get involved.

Please help us get the news out by forwarding this post via Facebook or Twitter: We are ready to grant wishes today throughout Florida and beyond!

We’re counting down! Only 19 days until the Wish Upon A Wedding Launch Event which is aptly titled as “Give It Up For Love!”

This premier event is being held on Thursday, May 27th, 2010 at 6pm. Central Florida’s finest wedding and event professionals will be in attendance as well Orlando’s business elite!  You’re welcome to join us too – the more the merrier!  We want to get the word out about this fabulous organization and share information about how everyone can get involved to locally!  Wish Upon A Wedding anticipates granting dozens of wishes per year with the possibility of that number reaching into the hundreds.  Currently there are 18 Chapters across the US and the organization’s goal is to offer Wedding Wishes in every major city across the country.

This VIP event is taking place at Tavern on the Lake – located at 6996 Piazza Grande Avenue – Orlando FL, 32835 (Metrowest area)

For all the latest information, visit the Wish Upon A Wedding – Orlando Facebook page!

**Sponsorship opportunities are available

Welcome to 2010!  A whole year has elapsed since I last blogged about the importance of keeping your website content fresh and relevant.  My previous post – Website Tune-Up – focused on strategies to keep your website current and favorable to the search engines.  Today, I hope to share some equally important tips to optimize your website and online presence this year.

1.  Make the most of social media. Over the last twelve months I’ve enjoyed a significant increase in traffic to my website and blog as a result of social media.  Active participation in Facebook and Twitter has reinforced our web presence and generated many new leads and relationships.  If you have social media profiles, be sure to link those profiles to your website.

2.  Blog! Blogging offers great benefits due to easy to index regular content. Add a few basic SEO skills and you’re ready to go! Take your blog a step further: Host your blog on your own website instead of using a free hosted blog. Why? When you host your own blog your blog posts supplement the content of your website, thus increasing the quality and vibrancy of your site. Adding an RSS feed button to both your website and blog will make it easy for readers to subscribe to your feed and keep up with your posts. Additionally, RSS features can help make your online (internet) marketing strategies more effective.

3.  Don’t be anonymous. One of the primary goals of your website is to build trust and credibility. Does your website give potential customers the information they need? Is your name, photo and contact information prominently displayed? If you are a service provider you should make every effort to make a personal connection with your visitors.

4. Never underestimate the power of a well designed website. If your website is more than two years old, a revamp alone could boost your SEO ranking. HTML and CSS are the most common technologies used in making web pages, but there are also other ways to go. Flash is known for it’s excellent multimedia capabilities but is generally believed to be less search engine friendly than CSS. Some businesses have even abandoned traditional websites in favor of blog-based sites.

5. Use high quality images. Website images should be carefully selected; ideally they should represent your own work and style to help you connect with your audience (target market). Some vendors may use stock photography as part of their start-up promotions, but in the wedding and event industry I’d advise moving away from this option as quickly as possible (or risk possible damage to your reputation). By the same token, amateur photos will not adequately show even your best work – so select images with a discerning eye.

5.5 Upgrade to Video! If a picture is worth a thousand words than video is worth a million. Video is fast-rising as the newest ‘must-have’ feature because it helps build brand, it’s more engaging than static, printed text, and it’s easier to effectively demonstrate your product or service.

There is virtually no cost associated with these tips – especially if you have the ability or capability to edit your own website. Many resources and tutorials are available online if you need additional information. Otherwise, consider hiring someone to assist with migrating your blog or updating the look of your website – it will be money well spent.

© 2010 E. Delgardio All Rights Reserved

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The fact that I’ve not posted a blog entry since April has been a major source of frustration for me! Especially since I so enjoy writing; but it seems that all I’ve had time for is quick little posts on twitter and facebook!

In the past few months, some amazing and wonderful things have transpired! We have completed some extraordinary weddings and special events, one of our special projects has been nominated for a 2009 Orlando Wow Award, and a few other special projects are ‘in development’. It’s no wonder I’ve not had the time write! Fortunately for me, no shortage of things to blog about going forward!

I’m excited to share everything we’ve been up to!

I don’t even know where to begin…. I’m feeling pretty badly about the fact that my blog is withering in the corner like an unwatered plant! It’s certainly not for the lack of things to write about…. It’s actually just the opposite.

During the past six to eight weeks I’ve had the pleasure of working on some really spectacular projects! I spent a number of weeks working with the Director of Events at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management assisting with the development of the 2009 Grande Hospitality Gala. It was very exciting to be invited back as Assistant to the Event Producer, as I had a phenomenal time assisting with the 2008 Grande Gala!

Fall wedding season is keeping me quite busy! I was fortunate to squeeze in a post on an event that took place early in October. Subsequently, I’ve been posting little blurbs on Facebook regarding my recent adventures with weddings and events.(Be sure to check out the A Flair for Affairs fan page if you are active on Facebook!)

During October I was also busy planning a wonderful event for the Central Florida members of ABC. With the help of my ABC LNG Co-Director, Kerline Docteur, we organized a luncheon at Casa Feliz and had the privilege of having Rebecca Grinnels, President of Engaging Concepts as our guest speaker! She gave an outstanding presentation to our group and I continue to receive raves about her and endless compliments on the event. It was a great day! (I could’ve and should’ve written a full blog on this alone, but alas, the days just keep flying by!… I may try to recap it more completely after I catch up…).

ISES’s monthly event was held at IKEA in October; the event centered on a Table Top Design Competition using preselected IKEA merchandise and featured well known ISES member Ira Steiman as our speaker. Teams of ISES members and guests created about a dozen amazing tablescapes which were judged by the IKEA managers. It was an incredible treat to be part of an event that has NEVER been done before!

Looking forward to December, there is a huge industry luncheon on the horizon…! I’ve been attending committee meetings for this event on behalf of ISES and ABC and I’m really excited about the holiday theme that’s taking shape! This event will take place at the stunning Ginn Reunion Resort on Dec. 4th – can’t wait!

Let’s see… Let’s see… what am I leaving out…? I think I forgot to mention the chihuahua puppy (!) who joined our family about 5 weeks ago. His name is Baci – which I believe means ‘kisses’ in Italian. He’s the cutest little thing and seems to be adjusting to his new life; overall he’s been quite good and we love him!

Whew! – I’m suddenly feeling much better!

© 2008 E. Delgardio All Rights Reserved