Chateau At Forest Park To Botanic Gardens & TDCJ Beto Unit To Parker County Jail…
While laughing with my twin sister yesterday upon realizing a trade I took for Event Services two years ago was a Flop, we prepared for our second radio interview with Michael Yorba with CEO Money on IHeart Radio.
My twin sister, Cindy Daniel is hilarious and quick whited. Her natural ability to find hilarity in our adventures was put to good use a few years ago when I added Pawning Planners Apparel to our line up at Texas Twins Treasures.
Customized #Cindyism Quote Pawning Planners Apparel funds Pawning Planners Clients who have nothing of value to barter their event services. Yes. We tied every bundle to address any client! We are a TwinTeam.
The last time we spoke with Michael was in the studio but, due to our current schedules and wedding season, yesterdays interview was by phone. If you missed the interview, here’s the link– Wendy Wortham and Cindy Daniel- CEO Money With Michael Yorba.
I’m certain if the radio audience had been able to see us, they would surely have been shocked to find the Texas Twins looking like we had been out on the farm all day. Why? A trade I had taken of four tires and rims for a Volkswagen Jetta had given my niece, Stephaney Mahaney “an idea” while walking through my workroom last week.
Cindy and I are normally “polished and presentable” but yesterday, we were both covered in tire grime and sweat trying to solve the tire problem.
Stephaney had needed four new tires (or used) and since the tires were already on rims and 15″ as opposed to the 16″ tires on her Honda Accord, thought that we could simply “swap” the tires.
At 10AM, my son and niece loaded the Jetta tires into my Santa Fe SUV to travel to Weatherford. It was already hot when we arrived to unload the tires while my son put the Honda on a jack. After the first fire though, my son asked me to take him to buy a rolling jack “or we will be here all day mom.”
By 12:15PM, Cindy had run to Tyson Middle School to pick up her granddaughter, Maryssa from school. At about the same time, my phone rang regarding being slotted to air LIVE with Michael Yorba and CEO Money on IHeart Radio. Apparently, the scheduled guest had canceled.
Checking my watch, I was certain that the tire swap would be finished by 2PM and that Cindy and I would have time to visit from my SUV and Bluetooth with Michael on a few of our latest Treasure Hunts with Pawning Planners Clients as well as a few surprise requests for Texas Prison Weddings that included a Death Row Wedding at TDCJ Polunsky Unit.
Yes. I’ve had 4 requests for bookings on Death Row Weddings the past month after publishing a blog regarding marrying a Death Row Inmate. If you missed it, here’s the link– Texas Prison Weddings & Death Row Inmates- Til Death Do They Part?
Last week was another chock full schedule of events that also brought us to sweet Mildred who wanted to barter event services for her grandson’s high school graduation. If you missed the blog, here’s the link– The Pawning Planners On Location- Trash, Treasures & Good Times.
The people we meet are from every walk of life that you could possibly imagine from four unique businesses that work together to make Dream Events a Reality.
My businesses gave my family and I the opportunity to meet the most amazing people in the world! Over a thirteen hundred families later, our journey continues to surprise and delight us.
When Clients couldn’t find an amazing bouquets for their wedding a few years ago, Cindy and I decided to start making our own custom Brooch Bouquets.
We now sell hundreds of custom orders worldwide via special order at Texas Twins Treasures.
Finding what clients needed or wanted took time. Event Photography needs were evident within my first few gigs years ago.
To solve the problem, we bought camera equipment while friends donated a few more cameras and created two photography teams. Affordable Event Photography bookings exploded!
Many of my “traditional” clients from Texas Twins Events are shocked when strolling around my website to find a link to TDCJ Weddings on my home page. “You perform Prison Weddings?! Why? I don’t believe Prisoners should be allowed to marry.”
Hmmm, well let’s face it, not everyone supports Prisoners marrying or LBGT Marriage. Opinions don’t deter me though and if I lived my life and operated my businesses based solely on others opinions, I would have never rebranded by merging Texas Twins Events and Texas Twins Treasures to create a barter option with The Pawning Planners and much less, expand Texas Twins Events services to include Texas Prison Weddings either.
I don’t live my life to try and please others whose opinions aren’t important to me. My husband is my number 1 fan. A few months ago, my daughter in law Anne told me “I cannot believe you’ve made this all work and continue to grow and thrive.” It’s true that we’ve had our fair share of successes and setbacks but what business hasn’t?
My twin sister once told me that “you’re like a weed growing through concrete without any water. I’ve never met anyone as determined as you are.”
Part of my success is due to being a twin. Two halves make one whole. We enjoy each other’s company and work better with each other than anyone else in our family.
I don’t care what “Conservative Christians” opinions are regarding my businesses or my client base. Realizing that not everyone “believes in LBGT Marriage or Prison Weddings,” their opinions don’t dictate my goal of giving anyone a Dream Event.
I love my clients from four unique and diverse businesses. Many become lifelong friends.
My entire family joined me three years after starting Texas Twins Events because quite frankly, my twin sister Cindy and I were so busy juggling existing clients and new bookings years ago that we couldn’t accommodate everyone coming to us for help.
“You were so busy with clients contacting you for services that you were forced to expand your staff?” A reporter couldn’t believe that everyone wanted to book with Texas Twins Events and found it incredible that my family and I were not only LBGT Friendly from the start but also priced FAR BELOW our competitors AND willing to help anyone regardless of their income.
Well, friends my goal was to create a business to help couples and families that no one else in this industry wanted to help.
Whether these Clients were viewed as “different” by being LBGT or biracial or interfaith or even because “they were too poor to afford to book with us,” these families found us and, the rest is history!
I was never trying to compete with other vendors. What I did set out to accomplish was helping people that needed help but could never afford to book with other vendors who were “all about the money.” They didn’t care about the struggles of these families but, we did.
Someone recently asked “How in the Hell did you wind up on the Dallas Morning News AND CW33?”
I laughed because CW33 and Jeff Mosier with the Dallas Morning News contacted me regarding an interview. I never sought them, they sought me.
Jeff Mosier was researching a story regarding Same Sex Marriage becoming legal and googling LBGT Friendly Event Companies.
Like many of my LBGT Clients, Jeff was having difficulty finding anyone publicly marketing the LBGT community and on top of Google was Texas Twins Events.
Jeff Mosier called me while I was en route to a meeting with a same sex couple who had been waiting on the ruling to decide whether they were going to plan a Unification Ceremony or a legal marriage to discuss an interview.
Like other reporters and production companies, Jeff wasn’t sure whether I would be willing to discuss a client base that was compromised of (at the time) 40% LBGT Couples with 40% traditional couples and a mix of biracial or interfaith clients seeking wedding Officiants, Coordinators, Floral Designers and Photographers.
The CW33 Interview wasn’t planned either. My twin sister and I had been invited to a No Hate Campaign Open Photo Shoot with Adam Bouska in Dallas.
When two sets of twins go anywhere together, people stare. The reporter was interested in learning whether or not my twin sister and I were LBGT? We laughed because this reporter didn’t notice that we were twins with twins.
After explaining to the reporter that I owned an LBGT Friendly Event business and that we were there to support our current and previous LBGT Clients, the cameras started rolling and we wound up on the evening news.
A few months ago, I read an email regarding being featured on CEO Money/WFN1 News with Michael Yorba regarding “bartering event services and Texas Prison Weddings.”
Of course, I was honored for the opportunity to share our successes and setbacks beside my partner, Cindy Daniel who was my very first Texas Twins Events Team Member.
If you missed our first interview with Michael Yorba, here’s the link– A Twin Team- Wendy Wortham and Cindy Daniel- Paying It Forward The Pawning Planners.
Although I’ve never considered myself or my businesses to be “controversial” or even “unique,” Passion pulled the plow that literally “made gravy outta water.”
My idea to help anyone took my twin sister and I on a wild ride of rebranding and expanding while flying here, there and everywhere for Destination Event Services when not driving through the back roads of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas Missouri and Kansas to meet Pawning Planners Clients at Appraisal Appointments.
When Clients can’t afford to pay for our low cost options at Texas Twins Events, we offer a barter option. In order to adequately appraise prospective trades, we need to literally “walk a trade.”
These client meetings can be funny and occasionally sad when not surprising for my sister and I. Why? Some clients have nothing of value while others try to dictate the value of the item.
Watching Cindy explain why the value isn’t always what the client might expect it to be is often hilarious. Supply, Demand and the condition of the item are all key factors in flipping items at Texas Twins Treasures.
Cindy and I have been appraising items well over thirty years as salespeople and brand ambassadors as well as weekend “junkers” flipping for a profit. It’s hard to “pull a fast one on us” but, it’s happened.
We aren’t nearly as familiar with tires, boats or mechanical setbacks as we are with furniture, antiques, jewelry, furs or couture clothing and because of our lack of knowledge, have had our fair share of Flops.
Bartering is risky. You might make a lucrative flip one day and find out you flipped for a flop that costs you money the next day. Nobody wins all of the time and, we don’t either. You can’t “always make a profit” when you barter but, without risk- there are no rewards!
To barter your Event Service, visit this link- We Barter Event Services-The Pawning Planners.
Bartering Event Services was unheard of when I decided to rebrand and expand but, after years of Texas Twins Events Clients claiming to have no money to pay for services, Cindy and I sat down to discuss an avenue that would force the folks crying poor mouth to effectively “put some skin in the game!”
Appraisal Appointments are a REQUIREMENT for anyone requesting a sponsored event. Why? We have an opportunity to go into your home and dig through your stuff to see if you have anything of value.
If you don’t have anything if value to barter, we often choose to sponsor your event at our own expense based on your circumstances and/or request for Event Services.
Since I’m always asked what the event services we offer might be. I will explain. There are no real limits on event requests. A few of our creative requests have nothing to do with the event services listed at Texas Twins Events but, I’m open minded when reviewing a request.
From Wedding Officiants to Funeral Celebrants to Event Coordination, Floral Design, Estate Liquidation, Princess Parties, Family Reunions, Brand Promotion and just about anything you can think of, we’ve had a few requests that were surprising.
Two years ago, I had a request for a wedding Officiant at a Texas Prison. At the time, I had no idea that Prison Weddings were legal. Diving into this creative Request, I became a Texas Department Of Criminal Justice Approved Officiant.
Misty had told me that by helping her, my business would boom with more requests for a Prison Wedding Officiant. At the time, I had no idea how right she was.
Within months, my Texas Prison Bookings by far outweighed my traditional event bookings. I was shocked by this “boom to my business” and even today find myself surprised at the sheer numbers of others wanting to marry an inmate.
To date, I’ve performed so many weddings in Texas Prisons, Jails and Federal Units that it continues to shock and amaze me of just how right Misty was about helping Brides and/or Grooms wanting to marry an inmate.
If you missed the original blog about Misty at TDCJ Estes Unit, here’s the link– Rev Wendy Wortham- My First Texas Prison Wedding.
The controversy of LBGT Marriage had finally died down for me when a blog regarding a Same sex biracial prison Wedding raised a few conservative eyebrows. My blogs are a diary of clients and events that document our unique journey.
Cindy and I are working on our book, “The Pawning Planners- Paying It Forward” that will share the successes and setbacks of how we rebranded and expanded over and over and how we made my initial idea of helping families no one else was willing to help work.
As usual, I was shocked to find a new slew of emails regarding Officiating Inmate Weddings from the “Conservative Christians” who not only didn’t believe in LBGT Marriage but, also wanted to express how disturbed they were that I had performed a LBGT Marriage at a Texas Prison with a biracial couple.
I found nothing unusual Inmate Weddings as it was an “ordinary” day of business bookings for me although a Prison or Jail is definitely a “different” location for a Wedding Ceremony.
I do not allow discriminatory comments regarding my unique client base on any public posts and diligently check to see if I need to delete a comment someone hatefully posted on either an LBGT Wedding or Prison Wedding. Why? To protect my clients.
Over the years, I’ve found that the internet has inadvertently created a slew of bullies who love to comment on many of my Wedding Posts. I quickly delete any negative comments which is also why comments are closed on any Wendy Wortham Website. Haters may hate but, I don’t have to allow public comments and, I don’t to protect my clients.
From the pregnant bride to the bride with bad teeth to the biracial couple to the LBGT Prison Wedding Couple, a few of these comments took me by surprise but, I’ve learned to either block or delete crass comments from my posts on LinkedIn, Instagram, FB, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus, Tumbler and more.
“You should’ve refused to Officiate the marriage of the pregnant bride. She should’ve been married months ago!” I found such a comment undereducated and offensive.
Since the Groom was out of the country serving in the Military, he was quite excited to finally be home and marry his beautiful Bride as was her family.
The Groom scheduled the wedding with me and booked my niece Leigh Ann to handle the photography.
Every Bride is different. From the tattoo bride to the pregnant bride to the toothless bride, for me anyway, all of my brides are beautiful.
A large percentage of clients from Texas Twins Events AND The Pawning Planners are Military Members.
I offer year round discounts of 20% off all services for Military, Fire, Police, First Responders, Teachers and LBGT Couples. I’m questioned regarding why LBGT discounts are offered frequently but, there is a very good reason.
Our LBGT Clients are not only a joy to work with but also refer their friends and family members to us for services. When I started Texas Twins Events years ago, nearly all of our bookings were LBGT.
The LBGT community accepted and promoted us long before we became popular across the board. Military Clients love us because if they can’t afford services, we provide them at no cost. God Bless America and all of our veterans Active or retired.
Military Couples don’t have the luxury of planning a wedding on a timeline like non military couples. Because Active or Deployed Military Family Bookings are often on short notice, if I’m unavailable, someone on my team is always available to ensure no Client is left behind.
The back stories are far more interesting than “only what you see” in a photo posted to my social media accounts.
My greatest gift was a kind heart. Cindy is also a softie although her quotes can be taken both ways. Sometimes saucy and occasionally cynical, Cindy has something to say about everything.
We are dedicated to changing the wedding and event industry one family at a time and while our story is unlike everyone else’s in the events industry- we help the people our competition chose not to help because we cared about their struggles and we chose to create a window for anyone to enjoy a Dream Event.
I was interviewed while Officiating an inmate Wedding at Parker County Jail last week and am adding the link for ya all in the event you might have missed it– County Or State Inmate Weddings With Reverend Wendy Wortham.
As always, if you have other questions, comments or concerns regarding any service we offer including County Jail Weddings, Texas Prison Weddings or Federal Prison Weddings, simply use the contact us link on Texas Twins Events, The Pawning Planners, Texas Twins TV or Texas Twins Treasures.
Running around to Prison Weddings most of last week with a booked weekend left no time for a visit to my PCP when pain in my right side became nearly unbearable Saturday at my 6PM booking in Fort Worth.
UPDATE: For those clients panicking about upcoming events, have no fear. My surgery and treatments options have been scheduled around current bookings. We have a full staff to address existing clients and I have never rescheduled or missed a booked event. You are in good hands.
It’s unusual that after all of the Cancer Remission Parties I’ve sponsored or fundraisers over the years to find myself facing an issue with the “C” word but, I’m blessed with very good insurance and a very good team dedicated to giving me a clean bill of health.
I want to personally thank all of my cancer surviving previous and current clients for their support and kindness during this unexpected health crisis. 
I have an excellent treatment team at Baylor Healthcare and look forward to getting this current issue resolved.
I took time between medical appointments to write a blog addressing any and all of our client concerns today. This health issue was caught early and there will be no problems or short staff at your upcoming event.
The pain that started last September was misdiagnosed as a kidney stone but, it wasn’t. I continued to work through the pain as my calendar was far too busy for me to see a specialist but, I’ve now made the time to seek treatment between my bookings and look forward to feeling better soon.
For those of you who missed the UPDATED blog regarding my current health crisis, I’m adding the link– Sickness & Setbacks Won’t Affect My Schedule.
We have an entire staff to address any need and for the clients who gave booked me as an Officiant, Coordinator, Floral Designer or all three, rest assured that your orders will ship on time and I will be at your event early with bells on. I really appreciate all of your prayers and well wishes and am touched by the hundreds of clients reaching out to check on me.
Wendy M Wortham