Iowa wedding planner

Branding elements- Part I and Giveaway Winner

brandingelements1

Today I’m starting a series in which I talk about the various parts of my new brand. As a business owner, it’s important to communicate what your brand stands for which should be who you are at your core.  We’ll start by looking at the colors used and what each of them means.

Coral and navy are at the core of my brand color story; throw in some touches of gold and lots of clean white space and you’ve got a Madelyn Ridgeway Events beautiful, delicious smoothie of sorts!  To be frank, I’m not quite sure how the colors came to be.  It’s almost like I woke up one day and just knew these colors were supposed to represent my business.  I’ve always had a special place in my heart for the color coral.  I even used it for my first wedding; the one I was planning in my head before my then boyfriend (now husband) had even proposed.  Picture it:  a beautiful, southern soiree where the bridesmaids wear long, flowing black dresses and carry a bouquet of striking, coral roses.  When he FINALLY proposed I thought my bridesmaids might be too hot in black dresses so I ditched the idea.  Needless to say, coral has long been special to me.  According to the Pantone Institute, the most noted authority on color:

lighter shades of orange (peach, apricot, coral and melon) have the most pleasant word associations. They’re nurturing, approachable, tactile colors —velvety peach and delicious melon, healthy and flattering to most skin tones. Soft oranges are sophisticated and very eye appealing to the upscale affluent market.

Navy is a neutral in my book.  Much like black it looks good with just about any color and is always in style. There’s something about navy blue that just reads classic and chic to me.  The classic look of a crisp, white shirt and navy blazer on a man or woman won’t ever go out of style. I’m also a fan of complementary colors (colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel e.g. red and green).  The contrast of the different colors such as coral and navy against a white background really gets me excited.  Of the color navy Pantone says:

Blue is a cool calming color that shows creativity and intelligence. It is a popular color among large corporations, hospitals and airlines.  It is a color of loyalty, strength, wisdom and trust. Blue has a calming effect on the psyche. Blue is the color of the sky and the sea and is often used to represent those images. Blue is a color that generally looks good in almost any shade and is a popular color among males.

I think the feminine softness of coral paired with the strong, chic navy blue make a great backdrop to build a strong brand!

What about you, what colors are you drawn to? In the next part of the series I’ll be talking about the core of Madelyn Ridgeway Events; the law of love.

Lastly, the winner of the launch giveaway is Heidi!

Screen Shot 2013-11-25 at 12.34.21 AMContact hello@madelynridgeway to claim your prize!

 

It’s finally here!

I can’t believe today is finally here!  For the past couple weeks I’ve tried to figure out what I would say when the time finally came to write this post and to be frank, as I sit here typing, I’m still not completely sure what will come out.  Today is the culmination of many years of work.  If you mix together lots of starting, stopping, some fear of failure, lots of ah-ha’s, dreams, ideas, support from family, friends and some great professionals, praying and a great desire to walk in a God-given calling and use my gifts, you have what you see before you today; the new Madelyn Ridgeway Events website & blog! I finally have a place I’m proud to call home for what I think of as my third baby, my business.

Here is the brand board that started it all:

MRE inspiration

 

I worked with Tara & Kathleen, sisters and the masterminds behind Braid Creative to take all the ideas I had floating around inside my head and heart and craft a plan for my business & brand using their braid method. The wonderfully awesome, Kate Baird, of Katelyn Brooke Designs created my new brand identity that included a beautiful, calligraphy logo, by Moya Minns  of MM Ink.  I can’t say enough good things about the lovely ladies I worked with to make this day come to pass. Not only were each of them professional and good at what they do, each of them was fun to work with too!

Join me the rest of the week as I share other pieces of my brand and what each part means.  One thing I’ve learned throughout this process is that a brand is not just a logo but a set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships at it’s very least.

To celebrate the launch, I’ll be sending one reader a sweet little package filled with some of my favorite things! Check back tomorrow for more details.  In the meantime, grab a glass of sweet tea and browse around the new website.  There are a lot of fun touches I’m so proud to share with y’all!

Welcome to the new Madelyn Ridgeway Events!