For most of my life, I’ve always wanted the perfect holiday. For my entire life however, I’ve never had a perfect holiday. I’ve given up on my concept of the “perfect holiday” and I’ve accepted that a “halfway happy holiday” with my family may be as close to being “very merry” as I may ever get. Accepting this, I’ve moved on.
It’s difficult to “be merry” when your Unit is on Lock Down but, rest assured that eventually, your Texas Prison Wedding will happen. I look forward to meeting you somewhere in Texas soon.
Leigh Ann is still booking Christmas Mini Photo Sessions. If you’re interested, book quickly. Mini Sessions are our 20 minute photo sessions in Parker and Tarrant Counties. Further distances incur a travel fee. One hour bookings are available in January but booked out in December. For more information, visit Leigh Ann’s FB Page– Maddie & Me Photography/Texas Twins Events.Thanksgiving and Christmas are short months at TDCJ Units. Because of this, of your wedding is stacked with other Clients, it’s imperative that you are a minimum of fifteen minutes early. I may have up to ten weddings at the same Unit and being late will upset my schedule with other Clients.
I also have a new site on my main website, Texas Twins Events to address TDCJ Weddings. The reason for this is that over the past two years, my Client base has shifted significantly due to Prison Weddings. Here’s the link– Texas Department Of Criminal Justice Officiant Rev Wendy Wortham.
Prison Weddings are scheduled Monday- Friday 8AM-5PM. My weekends and evenings are spent handling traditional Client needs. Because I work 7 days a week, please be patient if you have called or emailed. I return calls and emails every few hours based on my booked schedule. I.E. if I’m not available, I’m with another Client or on location. Your email or phone call will be returned within a 2-4 Hour Window unless of course, you are emailing or calling after 9PM or before 6AM.
I answer every email and phone call because I have to be due to a melting pot of Clients from Texas Twins Events, The Pawning Planners and Texas Prison Weddings as well as Texas Twins Treasures.
Bartering Texas Prison Weddings has a few variations for a number of reasons but the first is distance. When I expanded by merging Texas Twins Events and Texas Twins Treasures to create The Pawning Planners, my “plan” was to address Client needs within the DFW Area. Since I live in Fort Worth, travel is not only time consuming for me but also greatly affects my schedule as I’m often at more than one Event on the same day hence the term “stacking.” My schedule is almost always “stacked.”
If your location is outside a 2 hour radius one way from Fort Worth, a barter most likely isn’t going to work. The reason for this is that my commute going to your location as well as the time spent appraising your item on location as well as travel time back to my location take up most of the day for Cindy and I. Since the location of the Unit is often a minimum of three hours from my location, factoring the distance and time at the Unit at 1-2 hours as well as commuting back home to Fort Worth can and does take up an additional day of my schedule.
Bartering rarely works with my TDCJ Clients because of mainly distance. Occasionally, the barter doesn’t work as there must be a market to flip the item and the condition of the item is an important aspect as well. Refurbishing or reupholstering any item is a hefty investment. My twin sister and I are experienced appraisers. We know the market and we know what will work or won’t. Occasionally, we’ve “taken a hit on a few trades.” Because of this, we are cautious about boats, trucks, & trailers.
We do not take livestock, firearms, moonshine or other items that aren’t “Ebay Friendly.” If we can’t flip items on EBay, we don’t take the item in question. Ebay is and always has been our #1 selling outlet. Cindy and I have been Ebay Power Sellers since 2003 for her and 2009 for me. We also sell worldwide.
If your Prison Wedding is at Estes, Allred, Bridgeport, Hodge, Beto, Coffield or other Tennessee Colony Units, you are open to submit a trade as these Units are within 3 hours of my location. If your Prison Wedding or your own location are outside a three hour window, the distance and time involved simply won’t work.
I’m very sorry about this but, 99% of Pawning Planners Events take place in Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas, Mansfield, Weatherford, Denton, or other DFW based locations.
Pawning Planners Clients also DO NOT HAVE A VENUE. The reason for this is expense. We do not rent venues as a barter option to anyone for any reason. If I or anyone on my team are on location at a venue, the Client has either booked us through the venue or booked through Texas Twins Events and paid the venue on their own. Pawning Planners Clients use free locations like parks, Prisons, Jails, backyards, and other no-fee based locations. Many parks require you to rent certain areas for a very small fee of up to $50 so, please research by contacting City Parks and Recreation.
Pawning Planners was created to offer a variety of event services including Officiants, Photography, Event Coordination, Estate Liquidation, Floral Designs, Pawning Parties, Consignment Options and other services. We do not sell or consign items for others without a Consignment Contract. We also do not buy or Pawn items from others. The “Pawn” aspect of The Pawning Planners is actually a pun on bartering not a literal Pawn Store meaning or description. We do not own a Pawn Store and therefore do not pay people for items.
Liquidated items are sold at Texas Twins Treasures. All items go through an extensive refurbish process if necessary prior to being listed on EBay.
Because flipping items takes time, all Pawning Planners Clients must submit a trade and schedule an Appraisal Appointment thirty days prior to their Event Date.
Today, I reviewed a prospective trade of a four wheeler in Palo Pinto County. At the time the trade had been submitted, the vehicle hadn’t been flipped and effectively, damaged. The prospect failed to disclose this prior to my appointment which would have saved us both a lot of time. I cannot take a wrecked or non running vehicle in barter for a few reasons but, I will go over them. First, I’m not a mechanic and the expense of hiring a mechanic is significant. Secondly, I don’t own a body repair shop either and body damage is also a fairly expensive endeavor. To solve this problem, I suggested the prospect sell the vehicle as is and contact me after doing so.
Many times I’ve only had to give people contacting me advice or insight to solving their problems. I’m happy to do so but, I’m not in a position to do the work for you because you don’t have time to do it yourself.
My advice is to put forth the effort in order to see real results. If you are contacting me because you wish for us to liquidate your storage unit for you, you might assume that we find volunteering fun.
We volunteer for charitable organizations close to our hearts and are therefore unavailable to volunteer to solve your problems. My staff and I are happy to evaluate liquidating your storage unit for a fee. Such tasks are time consuming and can take up to 3 weeks of our time.
Due to my schedule, I’m unavailable for such long term investments of my time. Because of this, I’m happy to give you insight or even suggest a public auction however, I won’t be in attendance.
I’m also very selective regarding Event Coordination Bookings because these types of services are somewhat long term. What does that mean? It means that coordinating can take months of my time. I Officiate up to 25 weddings, baptisms and funerals a month which is why I’m incredibly selective about taking on a Client who will require far more of my time than I have to give. Event Coordination bookings are by referral only. Meaning a previous client referred you to me.
Unusual Questions, Comments or Concerns: You haven’t booked with me or my staff but want to borrow our inventory? I’m sorry but, the inventory that I created was a large investment made specifically to address the needs of our Clients not someone else’s.
Please ask YOUR Officiant, Photographer or Coordinator to borrow bouquets, flower baskets, ring pillows, cake stands, pillars, props and other items. I can assure you that they don’t have these items on hand and if they did, they wouldn’t loan them to strangers.
This “asking for an apple and expecting a pie” scenario had come up so frequently that I’m yet again addressing it directly. I’ve made my Clients a priority. If you are someone Client, you aren’t MY PRIORITY.
Creating an inventory to specifically save my Clients the expense of providing items themselves sets us apart from ANY OTHER VENDOR as does the barter option. We are different and, we like it that way. We aren’t trying to be like everyone else. That market was saturated years ago.
Texas Twins Events was created to specifically address Clients who weren’t affluent. My goal was to create a family friendly “People Over Profit” based business to help people no one else in this industry was interested in helping. True Story. I don’t HAVE to work. I ENJOY working and am therefore, selective about my bookings.
We already have an Officiant but, we can’t afford a photographer and heard you help people. We need two photographers:
Some of you may be shaking your head wondering who the heck had the audacity to ask this question. Calm down kids. It’s been asked over and over again. I couldn’t make the things people have asked me up in a million years. No one could. A lot of folks want something for nothing or free but, that doesn’t mean they are going to get it.
We do not offer FREE PHOTOGRAPHERS to anyone other than Pawning Planners Clients or Texas Prison Wedding Clients. Complimentary photography is specifically for booked clients. Photography booking requests outside barter or Prison Clients is through Texas Twins Events. No, it isn’t free.
If you haven’t hired my staff or I in ANY CAPACITY, you aren’t a Booked Client. “Not my luggage- not my trip.” My suggestion to ridiculous or outrageous requests like these is to contact other businesses who might have time to get a laugh but, don’t have time for dealing with a moocher.
For those of you who often ask how Cindy “comes up with Quotes” for our Pawning Planners Apparel line, the answer is that I have no idea. It’s a gift I don’t posses although we are identical twins.
Others have asked why we created an Apparel line? The reason was funeral expenses and requests. No one expects death. Many times, no one can afford flowers or a celebrant or Officiant. Pawning Planner Apparel funds these families. We volunteer services in cases of death and use proceeds from sales of our apparel line or bartered items to help these families who often have no one else to turn to. We help people who actually are truly needy.
Since I’ve been asked about Cindy’s holiday quotes this year, I’m including them in this blog. We love to help people and while we wish we could help everyone, traveling, tires, gasoline and car repairs aren’t inexpensive. I drive easily 3-5k miles a month. When we need two suvs, Cindy also drives.
Please be aware that while we are committed to changing the wedding and events industry one family at a time from Fort Worth that we also must put the Clients who entrusted with their Event needs as our first priority…
Comments by Wendy Wortham