Giving Birth to a New Baby

For months you sit there and think to yourself "what on earth have I gotten myself into?" When the time finally comes for you to take action and bring this new life into the world you begin to panic. But then you remember to breath. Four counts in, four counts out. LET'S DO THIS THING!! And there she is all shiny and new and beautiful. That's how it feels launching Pretty Little Parties. I know it's not the most original analogy but hey I'm a mom. This is what I know!

So let's take a few steps back. After sitting down to Skype with Marie Ramos of Lipstic Logic (thanks again for everything!), Erin & I did some strategizing and planning. First things first, branding ourselves. Who are we and want face to we want to present to the world? Well from the last post I think you may have a good idea about all that. But how to show that to people who don't yet know us through our products and our online presence? Great photos and a killer website and a unique logo! Now we are working on the logo, developing the website and today we had a session with Lauren of LaLa Photography to take great shots of the sneak peeks you've been seeing on Facebook.

Let's call this "The Anatomy of a Photo Shoot". You pick a location, hire a photographer, set it up and shoot, right? Well fortunately due to my years in the wedding industry I do know it isn't quite that simple. Thank goodness for that! Not that it kept me from having complete anxiety about the whole thing. If we get this wrong we have totally messed up our launch!! What if we get there and we are told we can't shoot? Why did we decide on an outdoor location again? Do I have enough to shoot? (And my all time biggest worry...) are the products we are offering good enough?

*sigh* a big long deep *sigh*

Well they don't call it a "Leap of Faith" for nothing! So I took a deep breath and said to myself (and probably Erin too) "LETS DO THIS THING!"

Themes were planned. We decided on Superhero Cityscape, Vintage Lamb Baptism, Glam Rock Guitar Girl, Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens, Alice in Pretty Little Wonderland, Night Owl Sleepover, Butterfly Garden & Secret Agent Spy plus a couple others that got tabled for now. (We can do this again, right?)

Products were developed. This is the part I LOVE!! I love deciding on the colors, developing the graphics & picking fonts and finding the inspiration!! This is the part I feel that sets Pretty Little Parties apart from other party planning services. We personalize it. We want to birthday kid to feel special and unique, so everything is created to be one of a kind. Although we do plan on having the "standards" that we sell on Etsy and have in stock for last minute parents. And this is where the lifetime of being crafty comes into play! Not to mention being able to use our handy dandy brand new Cricut machine!

THIS is where the anxiety really set in! Did we rush the design process? Are we actually ready to take this step? Lots of restless nights in my house. All kinds of heartburn. Mini panic attacks that the husband & daughter just didn't quite understand although they desperately tried. (Breathe)

So to help resolve the anxiety, lists are prepared, trips to the supply store are made and everything is triple checked.

The day of the photo shoot, I wake up extra early after not being able to fall asleep the night before. The cars are packed full of set-up supplies and off to meet Lauren I go! We arrive and unpack. First thing we discover is that we forgot the main table so we are limited with where we can set up at. In the end we got it all worked out and I am actually quite happy with the final location.

Set up, photograph, tear down, & repeat 8 times. Yep we managed to do all that in the wind (we had to postpone the banners this time because Mother Nature still hates me from my Eiffel Tower days... Don't ask!) with shifting sunlight but everyone was a trooper. Including my extremely bored 4 year old. Lauren was able to get some great shots of the set-ups. (She also sang with my daughter to help keep the geese away from the cupcakes LOL). I simply cannot wait to get them posted and launch the website so that you guys can share in my excitement too!

Pretty Little Parties is definitely a labor of love. I want to take special care of her and see how she grows up in the crazy world!

I'm sorry there aren't any new pictures this time for you, but next week we should have some great shots for you!

Hugs and much love!
-Ali

PS - Next week Erin will dive into the world of party etiquette!