Engage 08

Last week I attended a High-Impact Wedding Symposium for Wedding Professionals in Orlando. Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce of Engaging Concepts put on, HANDS DOWN, the most spectacular, educational and FUN wedding industry events I have ever been to. I came home refreshed, energized and with a wealth of knowledge about marketing, "being brilliant" and staying on top of your game in the wedding industry.

Tuesday morning started off with a presentation by Rebecca Grinnals which offered a very insightful outlook on marketing to the Generation Y bride and groom and how to navigate this strange economy. I think I took about 4 pages of notes in just the first two hours!




The next presentation was from a very amazing man, Simon T. Bailey, who recently wrote and published "Release Your Brilliance", a book about the four steps in transforming your life and revealing your genius to the world. This was a great presentation and Simon offered EVERYONE at the conference 45 minutes of phone consulting following the conference. I have already scheduled mine with him; he is amazing and so inspiring.


The Ritz Carlton in Orlando hosted the conference and what a lovely and yummy lunch we had. (This property is truly wonderful. The service was perfect and the property is just beautiful). The gorgeous linens at the lunch were provided by a new company, La Tavola, in California and Emarie Chernivakas of La Tavola was there as an attendee. Their linens are just gorgeous, make sure to check out their website!


Following our lovely lunch, we saw Kim Bee, from wedding bee, Jill Meister from CBS's Morning Show and Eda Kalkay, a PR WHIZ from New York whose client, David Tutera, is one the most esteemed wedding consultants in the US. Also there were Carley Roney and David Liu from The Knot who offered a very candid take on the wedding industry and their website which changed the wedding industry as we know it.

The exciting afternoon started with a candid talk with Sean Low, the President of Preston Bailey Designs. He shared with us strategies on pricing and taking our businesses to the next level. THEN, the coups de grace was Slyvia Weinstock, Cake Baker Extrordinaire. She unveiled her new chocolate wedding favors (YUM) in conjunction with Godiva Chocolates.




I met many friends and had such a great time at this event. Oh and CHECK OUT the amazing swag bag we received. It truly was a TOP NOTCH event. Can't wait for Engage 09!




Here I am with my new friend Emilie Sommer who is an amazing photographer in New England. Make sure to check out her website and blog. Her work is genius!