Owner BB  Webb will be speaking at the Paulding County Chamber of Commerce Georgia Power Luncheon event June 6th at 11am in Paulding County.  Her talk, ‘Build Your Business. Find Your Twirl,’ explores key tenants she’s learned in building a successful business and with equal importance, how to maintain your passion in the midst of challenge and growth.  To register online click here and go to upcoming events.

Being an entrepreneur is easier said than done and in a challenged economy, all the more tenuous.  BB Webb shares colorful stories and lessons learned to help guide other business owners and their employees into creating successful, profitable enterprises that can prosper far into the future! Her talk, ‘Build Your Business. Find Your Twirl!’ will inspire both the seasoned and budding entrepreneur into a journey of new possibilities and empowered direction.  As a former actress, BB brings with her an energetic, unique delivery and hard earned experience as an entrepreneur!  With a spirit of creative fun and discovery she shares inspired ‘takeaways’ that will help you grow your business in new and profitable ways!

Key talking points include:

• Mining Your Assets, Rising Above the Rabble!
• Surrounding Yourself with the RIGHT People
• Cash is STILL King!
• Navigating the ‘Hard Stuff’
• Play to Your Passion.  Find Your Twirl!

BB will be speaking at four Wedding Market Expos this year.  For more information on where to buy tickets, contact: www.weddingmarketexpo.com

August 6-8, 2013 – Austin, TX – Palmer Events Center

September 10-12, 2013 –Lakeland, FL – The Lakeland Center

October 22-24, 2013 – Atlanta, GA – Gwinnett Center

BB’s topics include:

 ‘Building Your Business.  Find Your Twirl’ (description above) and ‘Mining Your Assets, Rising Above the Rabble!’

BB Webb continues her message of a self-empowered, professional focus as she shares stories of entrepreneurial near disaster and her inspired solutions to rise above the fray.  With both laughter and tears she’ll send you away with perspectives on how to muscle through the tough times and have you working on an action plan that will create greater abundance and focus on the possibilities available to you!  Be prepared to focus on your strengths while refusing to become a part of what BB calls the ‘Limited Laggard – Honey Boo Boo’ mindset, embracing the inspired, creative, forward moving professional you were born to be!

Key Talking Points Include:

• Making Things What They Are!
• The Importance of Relationship. Business IS Personal!
• If It COULD Work, What Would It Look Like?
• Who Do You Need To ‘Fire’ From Your Life?
• Your Roadmap For Change And Support Along The Way

To contact BB to speak at your next event, contact her at bbwebb@arrivingwithbbwebb.com  (photo by Derek Wintermute)

Written by Owner BB Webb, the article below will appear soon in Southern Distinctions Magazine!  (Insider tidbit…the event below inspired her to create her gorgeous grand ballroom….read on)!!!

I hiccupped in on a small plane from Atlanta to my hometown of Lititz, PA recently.  I was delivering a talk at my former girl’s school and spent time with my beloved Aunt Sue and Uncle Jack.  For 50 plus years I’ve visited them on their beautiful ‘farm’ which has been in our family for generations.  At one time it boarded horses and when I was young, a llama named ‘Pepito’, one of the Uncle’s strange and wonderful gifts to my Aunt Sue.   No, they aren’t your ordinary couple, and I always liked it that way!

We held many weddings on their grand estate over the years, my cousin Steve’s wedding one glorious June afternoon.  My Aunt Sue, a triple threat, beautiful, a savvy business woman plus, she had homemaking skills and talents to rival Martha Stewart, (minus the jail incident).  She could do anything!

A tenacious and exacting talent, she’d grown a rainbow of flowers around a gazebo, (which she probably built), where the ceremony was held, family seated in a semicircle to one side, as if fashioned for a magazine cover.  The sky was a perfect azure, not a cloud in sight.  Family members and friends entered the grounds and sat quietly as if rehearsed, while chamber music prompted the nearby willow trees to dance.   This was my proud and elegant ‘Auntie’ at her stellar best!

As a woman I’d admired for decades, Sue entered poised and flowing in her taffeta, ‘Mother of the Groom’ and sat down directly in front of me.  Everything was in order, the grass was coiffed and fashioned to ‘stay’, slick and perfect as the bridesmaid’s neatly combed and heavily sprayed locks. I remember a woman in pink reading a poem, another in bright florals warbled sweetly as a Nuthatch in spring.

And then, as if God were issuing a reminder, one lone grey cloud danced its small self across the sky and stopped directly above the ceremonial gazebo.  The rest of the sky continued its stunning blue display but ‘Mr. Grey Cloud’ instantly began a downpour as the ‘I dos’ began beneath ‘the gazebo of joy’.

 My most vivid memory was my soon-to-be new cousin, Lesley, laughing with ecstatic joy in her eyes, a knowing perhaps that, ‘s— happens’ and then my Aunt Sue’s head falling to her chest, her carefully planned event now a deluge of wet!  I swear I heard her distinct Pittsburgh accent muttering, ’oh for God’s sake!’…..and indeed it was, reminding us that life is perfect in all ways, the ups, downs and turn arounds, all in divine order!

We all ran for cover under a large tent with buffet food teasing our taste buds and cheerful flowers in every corner.  Our playful cloud had quickly dissipated, having performed its task and lesson for the day….

We truly have so little real control.

With matted hair and extra wrinkled linen clothing, there was no more perfect day or memorable wedding, and I’ve seen a few! (and this the event which inspired me to build our Carl House ballroom for our ever popular ‘rain back up plan’!!

Joi de vivre!  Live for the day!…..it’s the best medicine I know!

There is lots we are celebrating this year at Carl House…foremost, our first full decade in business with lots of plans for growth moving forward. With a solid team of dedicated and passionate professionals with an extraordinary new chef in the ‘wings’, we continue ‘on the grow’ with development plans for our off premise catering, talk with investors for a possible second venue and overnight facilities behind Carl House, expanding our floral division and so much more.

We continue to develop solid relationships with our vendor partners, extraordinary professionals who complete the very special events we develop with you. We’re also planning a variety of events for the public in 2013 including owner BB Webb’s favorite, our Pup and Cat Co. Animal Fund Raiser on Feb. 8th, raising money for the continued education on the care of and fostering of animals in Barrow County. Our wine dinners will take a new twist with a variety of entertainment and dancing to accompany them and themes to make each event unique and fun.

We’re grateful to boast a variety of awards in 2012 including BB Webb’s Barrow County Business Woman of the Year and her selection of one of the top 10 Savvy and Successful Business Women in North Atlanta. In addition, Carl House was thrilled to be selected as 2013 The Knot Magazine- Best of Wedding Venues 5 Star Award, 2012 Best of Gwinnett Magazine, 2012 Wedding Wire Bride’s Choice Award, and 2012 mywedding.com True Love Award.

Please stay tuned as we roll out a calendar of exciting events at Carl House, both in house and off premise where we endeavor each and every time to create for you the most extraordinary, memorable events!!

Kimberly Yoak, Marketing Director

Reprinted from Huff Post, Weddings

Sharon Naylor Bridal Guide expert; Author

While the idea of getting a super-pricy wedding element for free sounds fabulous, some wedding freebies are to be avoided at all costs: unwise ‘cheap-outs’ usually turn into wedding disasters. Like Uncle Charlie, who promised to shoot your wedding video for nothing, then didn’t get any footage of your First Dance because he was outside talking on his cell. Or Aunt Sally’s homemade wedding cake that melted and crashed to the ballroom floor because she didn’t know to put supports inside it. Or Grandma slaving over a hot stove during your cocktail party, a sweaty mess with burns on her hands…and still not churning out pigs in blankets fast enough for your crowd.

With the average wedding cost soaring over $20,000 these days, every bride out there is looking for ways to save on her wedding budget, while still having the perfect dream day. And, scarily, there are some brides out there who go way too far with the price-cutting, inviting catastrophes with the ultra-regrettable theory “If it’s free, it’s for me.”

But free is a dangerous game when it comes to your wedding. There are just some things you should never try to get for a big, fat $0 in your wedding budget spreadsheet. Because the adage is true: you really do get what you pay for. And it gets worse: some freebies with $0 attached lead to huge expenses when you have to undo the disaster, if not utter heartbreak when your day is ruined.

Here are eight wedding freebies to avoid:

1. Free Photos and Video: Pro photographers and videographers have top-quality equipment and editing prowess, and they know how to be everywhere during your wedding, capturing every magical moment. Uncle Charlie isn’t trained in the art of wedding photography and video and is likely to be at the bar. You don’t want to end up with 75 photos because Uncle Steve thought that was plenty, or all of your ceremony photos gone because he messed up his upload. You won’t miss any important footage or photos with a pro on your side.

2. Free Catering: Pro caterers know how to create a menu that pleases all of your guests, and they have the best suppliers for top-quality ingredients. They know how to perfectly time their food prep so that the filet mignon is pink in the middle, and your phyllo cup apps come out hot and tasty — not charred or cold. Grandma shouldn’t have to play “Top Chef” for your wedding, and you definitely don’t want to have the food run out a half hour into your cocktail party. An amateur could food-poison everyone, and create that ‘where’s the food?’ nightmare during your celebration. The artistry, timing and skills of a caterer are all-important now.

3. Free Wedding Coordination: If you have a friend who’s planned her own wedding, that doesn’t make her a trained professional. Accepting her offer to plan your wedding for her ‘portfolio’ (since she now wants to be a wedding planner) is like having someone who once cut their own hair cut yours the day before your wedding. Event planning takes a lot of expertise, and the greatest wedding coordinators know all the best vendors, sites and suppliers in town. They can lead you to the best and away from the worst. So don’t be someone’s practice wedding. Stick with a pro.

4. Free Wedding Gown Alterations: I don’t mean the free alterations offered at your gown boutique. I mean your aunt’s offer to alter your gown, since she makes her kids’ clothing. Freebie alterations just don’t work, since the fabric of most gowns is slippery and challenging, best left to expert hands. Freebie jobs leave you with fallen hems, split seams, and bulges in your dress that guests will think are bulges in your body.

5. Free Beauty Treatments: The Kardashian sisters might wax each other, but waxing, bleaching, self-tanning, facials and other beauty treatments conducted by a friend — to save money — will almost surely send you right to a salon for an expensive fix, as well as ripped skin in the worst places, breakouts, streaky tans and other disasters, especially bad if it’s just days before your big day.

6. Free Entertainment: Let your brother’s garage band stay in the garage. Only trained and experienced deejays and bands know how to read a crowd to adjust their playlist and keep the dance floor packed. They also have top technology with backup equipment to prevent any potential problems with the music.

7. Free Wedding Cake: Don’t wind up with a messy, gloppy-sided nightmare that looks like a teen made it in Home Ec. Hot days pose softening challenges for cakes, and tall cakes need the proper dowel-inserted support…not to mention a safe and experienced ride to your wedding site. Pro bakers can work magic even on a budget cake, and get it to you in perfect condition.

8. Free Anything From a Bridal Show Drawing: Without checking the company out fully first, that is. Some truly excellent professionals display at bridal shows and expos, offering free photography packages, free tuxes, free entertainment, and more for big-ticket wins if your ticket is drawn. But some beginners or shady types may be there, too. Never accept a free anything, no matter how big a value placed on it, without investigating the company, meeting with the owners in their shop, viewing their products, and — important! — asking your other vendors if they know that company and trust them. Those free tuxes could be 10 years old, frayed, over-rented, ill-fitting and made from crappy fabric. So treat that win as an invitation to check the company out thoroughly before you sign anything. You can always throw out that freebie voucher and avoid a wedding nightmare.

So where do good wedding freebies come from? Quality pros include terrific ones in their wedding packages, and top wedding coordinators and floral designers often have cases of pretty votives and lanterns in their store rooms. They’re all too happy to give them to you, when they like you. So hiring vendors is the best way to score some great freebies, and putting your wedding into experienced, accredited hands is beyond priceless. Other freebies can be décor items borrowed from recently-married friends, or found for the asking at your wedding site (like outdoor couches and tables, or bistro tables, candelabras, and more.)

Make it your philosophy to score smart, disaster-free freebies, and you’ll find lots of little $0s in your wedding budget adding up to a surprisingly and delightfully large amount, helping you achieve your dream wedding for far less than expected.

Sharon Naylor’s new book is “The Bride’s Guide to Freebies: Enhancing Your Wedding Without Selling Out.“

We’re thrilled to be offering up this season our select and custom designed sea pearls and crystal jewelry….affordable, elegant and the perfect gift for your spouse, bridesmaids, mother or YOU! Ask our team to take you to our third floor showcase. Our designer, Sarah Zinn Vogel, from Shanghai can custom design a piece to fit your personality and style.

Enjoy our holiday decor, sweet treats from Sugar Kneads bakery, have a photo taken in our Carl House Photo Booth and shop, shop, shop this evening, 12-12-12! A night to remember. Whether you are still looking for that perfect gift for your fiancé, soon to be mother-in-law or just want to enjoy our holiday decor, sweets and a warm hot chocolate, we welcome you this evening.

We’ll ALSO be featuring our BB Brand Jewelry, unique sea pearls and crystals and introducing you to the fine ladies at Blend Custom Parfum Studio and Rodan + Fields Dermatologists who specialize in skincare. Enjoy also the fine music of the extraordinary Tod Peavy from Peavy Entertainment. A night to remember for sure!

Photo: Sarah Eubanks Photography

I’m a people person….I always have been.  I like making connections, seeing people enjoying themselves and watching others around me expand and excel at what they love.  I enjoy the same, expanding my potential through the projects and interests I enjoy.  I went into business for a similar reason, to create extraordinary experiences for my clients and to create an environment for others to excel at what THEY love, be it my team or vendor partners who help complete the events we host at Carl House.

A bride’s special day is beyond ‘special’…beyond words really….it’s the event of a lifetime and the details matter GREATLY….all the details.

I learned early on when starting Carl House, that I’m only as good as the people I surround myself with, my team, the vendors who work in tandem with us to serve our brides and other clientele.  In the nearly 10 years since Carl House opened, I think we’ve got the finest in-house team yet and a roster of vendor partners who we are proud to partner with at our events.  They bring more than just their specific trade expertise to the table, but so much more.

That ‘more’ is in the details, caring, going the extra mile, assuring that our brides are fully supported, that WE at Carl House are supported, as well as the other vendor partners who help make each event over-the-top and EXTRAORDINARY.  We are truly a team and THAT I’ve found, makes ALL the difference in producing an EXTRAORDINARY event!

I’m excited as we move into 2013 as to the memories we all might create together, the special moments that we’ll look back on and smiles we’ll create through taking the time, caring, assuring that our client’s have been heard and their visions conceived…..with attention and love.

At the end of the day, to me, what matters most, is that we at Carl House, my entire team, and our very special vendors, have done all we can to listen, communicate and effectively make our client’s dreams happen.

A toast to the upcoming new year and the possibilities it holds.  Please join us at our next Bridal Event December 2, from 1-3pm. Meet my wonderful team, taste Chef Max’s scrumptious cuisine and consider new options for the culinary choices at YOUR event!

I invite you to come meet our fabulous vendor partners who make it all happen with style, grace and great care. (P.S. Lots of prizes too)!  Brides attend for free and Carl House brides can bring one friend at no cost as well.  Click HERE for more details.

I hope to see you!

Warmly,  BB Webb

(Owner BB Webb was recently selected as Barrow County Business Woman of the Year and one of 10 top Savvy and Successful Business Women in North Atlanta by Points North Magazine).

(photos: Top photo: Kristy Odom Photography, Lower photo: Sarah Eubanks Photography)

Let Carl House take care of the planning for you!

Whether you book your Holiday Party at Carl House or let us bring the party to YOU…

Consider our Holiday Decoration, Floral Services and BB Brand Jewelry items for that special person in your life.

Click here

See Atlanta and Company’s host Christine Pullara interview BB Webb.

Hear about all things ‘BB’ as they relate to Carl House, brides, wedding trends, her outlook as an entrepreneur and other writing and speaking projects she has cooking!

Click here

We’re delighted to share our new e-Brochure, (available in hard copy through our office). Please scroll through the pages to learn about not just Carl House, but our select vendor partners, listed in the back of the publication. We’re honored to have them all featured in this beautiful publication.

http://epubs.hawthornpublications.com/carlhouse/

For a list of our Hawthorne preferred vendors, please view our CarlHouse2011PP!