Wedding Planner Pro Files
CWP Society is proud to produce the "Wedding Planner Pro Files" podcast!
Laurie Hartwell & Krisy Thomas, award-winning Master Certified Wedding Planners and Industry Educators from the CWP Society, discuss the real lives of wedding planners and professionals, dispense business tips, and share ways you can elevate yourself and your career in the wedding industry.
Visit the CWP Society website for more information: www.cwpsociety.com
Wedding Planner Pro Files
Wedding Industry News | Triumph Over Tragedy; Pop Up Weddings; Cake Cutting Considerations
When Brianne Ackerland, a seasoned Master Certified Wedding Planner, faced a sudden cardiac arrest, it changed not only her life, but the way we think about emergency strategies in our bustling industry. Our latest episode is a wakeup call, detailing the harrowing account of Brianne's experience and the critical lessons in preparedness it offers for wedding planners everywhere. We dissect the chaotic spectrum of potential crises, and underscore the indomitable spirit needed to navigate such unpredictable terrain.
Embarking on a career in wedding planning is no small feat, and safeguarding our well-being is as paramount as ensuring a flawless event. This episode is a heartfelt exploration of self-care, where we dive into the practicalities of building a robust support system and the innovative planning tools that keep us poised for the unexpected. Join us as we express our deepest gratitude for Brianne's insights and look forward to the strides she's poised to make in the year ahead.
The episode takes an unexpected twist as we recount a pop-up wedding that commandeered a local coffee shop, examining the chaos it created with insights from Laurie Hartwell. Transitioning to a sweeter note, we sift through the logistics of wedding desserts. It's a reminder that the devil is in the details, especially when it comes to ending the night on a high (and delicious) note.
This episode is rich with stories, strategies, and the encouragement needed to conquer the wild world of weddings.
www.cwpsociety.com | info@cwpsociety.com | IG: @cwpsociety | FB: @cwpsociety
Welcome to the Wedding Planner podcast brought to you by the Certified Wedding Planner Society.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the Wedding Industry News, where each episode covers something old, something new, something borrowed and some news. It's February 2024. I'm your host, aisha Garnett, owner of Sharia More Weddings and Event Planning Master, certified Wedding Planner and Certified Educator with the CWP Society an industry membership for planners, venues and pros. Let's jump right into our first segment. As a certified wedding planner, I feel I can speak for all of us that one of our goals is to collectively work together with our fellow wedding professionals to create the most memorable celebrations for our clients.
Speaker 2:Wedding days can be the most glorified, glamorous experiences. However, even on the most beautiful days for our couples, unexpected emergencies can and do happen In the wedding industry. Being prepared for a potential crisis is essential to making sure there's a smooth and unforgettable experience for the couple and their guests. So many things can go wrong, ranging from the smallest of things to a disaster that is completely out of our control. For instance, there's the chance of unpredictable weather, where the event can be heavily impacted, especially for outdoor weddings. There's the vendor mishaps, wardrobe malfunctions and the familiar family tension that can cause chaos during the planning process and on the wedding day. Then there's the health and medical emergencies, such as a sudden illness or injury to the couple, their families or their guests, and this takes the emergency to a whole new level of stress. But what about the health and medical emergencies that happen involving the wedding planner, the person that is set to execute and coordinate the entire day from start to finish?
Speaker 2:Joining me to discuss her personal story is Breanne Akerlin, owner and master certified wedding planner of Stress Free Weddings Inc. In Iowa. She is also a certified educator for the CWP Society, primarily specializing in educating our wedding pros on emergency strategies. And just recently, drum roll please she received the CWP Society's 2024 Wedding Planner of the Year Award. Welcome to the show, breanne.
Speaker 3:Thank you, aisha. That's such a great introduction Well thank you.
Speaker 2:Let's get right into my first question. Can you tell us a little bit about your company, as well as your personal story, to let our listeners and viewers know what happened the day that changed your life completely forever?
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. I've been planning weddings here in the Iowa area for over 15 years, a little more than that. I got certified with Certified Wedding Planner Society in 2015. And they really just kind of steamrolled my love and passion for planning. I had two kids in two years and wasn't going to go back into the corporate world, so it was a great opportunity to do something I loved but still be able to stay home with my kids, and I really enjoy being able to do it full time and still allow me the opportunity to do a lot of freedom and things with my kiddos.
Speaker 3:My medical emergency, as it happened two years ago, I had just completed a full client, a wedding event. They were a full service client. I was there from 9am till 12.30, bag and linens, you know and the next day I asked my daughter hey, what do you want to do? And she's like let's go to the pool. She was 10 at the time and my husband and my other daughter went off to do another activity and we were just sitting by the side of the pool and for me, the next thing I know it was Tuesday and I was in the hospital. The information provided to me afterwards was that we were on the side of the pool, my daughter was reading me Laffy Taffy jokes and I just slumped over. Thankfully the staff there at the pool started CPR right away. 911 was called and obviously emergency services came. They stabilized me enough to transport me to the hospital. They again not knowing this, but I read the medical records. They didn't know what was wrong with me, so they just ran test after test after test, not on any medication, no prior health history. So for two days I was in a medical induced coma, to keep you know, just to keep my body calm, until they can kind of sort out what was happening.
Speaker 3:And then, after two days, they brought me out of sedation, not knowing for sure, you know, what would have happened. What I endured was a sudden cardiac arrest, which means that your heart is not pumping effectively to circulate the blood and oxygen in your body. So basically it's just quivering or just pumping so fast that nothing viable is happening. So that's when you see, like on TV, they get the defibrillator, like the paddles out. That's what they needed to do for me. Because your heart isn't such a bad rhythm, then it's safe to use those to create a better rhythm. So like a heart attack would be something entirely different.
Speaker 3:So after a week in the hospital, I was sent home, still not knowing for sure what the cause was, and so I had to wear an external defibrillator, so it was like a weird vest with electrodes and like a heart monitor on it Turns out. Also I had a paralyzed vocal cord because I fought the intubation while I was in the hospital, because anytime they would try to take me out of sedation I would, you know, try to pull it whatever was there. So it was a very scary, scary time and greatly affected. Obviously I had events, it was summertime, I just finished an event, so it greatly affected not only just my family and my health but my job and my work, Because most of us wedding planners are a single person, we don't have a team, and so it just overall really changed the momentum and direction of how I operate. In the Cliffs Notes version.
Speaker 2:Wow, that is pretty scary. That had to be pretty scary for you, your family, just everyone. So in being a wedding planner, I was just saying that on those wedding days we're always thinking we're going to be at the wedding. You know, if the photographers doesn't show up, the baker we're going to be there. But in this case this was an emergency where you could not be at the weddings that you had following this emergency. So how did you navigate that? You know for your company, what were you able to do?
Speaker 3:Part of the process, I know, but yeah, Well, thankfully my husband listens to me, so he was good. They were getting phone calls from clients that I had appointments with my sister-in-law posted on my social media please call this phone number if you've got questions. You know they would. Basically they would update, but they didn't have any information. And I had worked with some other wedding planners in our area, some that were interested in becoming planners, that became certified wedding planners as well and that had worked with me as coordinators and assistants. And so my husband looked in my phone and found a name that was familiar and it turned out to be Lisa with Cherish the Day Events. That's also here in Iowa, and because she had worked with me for enough time, she knew kind of my procedures.
Speaker 3:So at some point my husband handed off the binders of the events that I had. I remember trying to like send people to like, hey, can you go here for me? But I couldn't talk because of my paralyzed vocal cords, so I felt like I was going to pass out trying to tell them what to do. But they all had it handled. Lisa contacted Timeline Genius, which is one of the programs that I utilized to create my timelines. They gave her access to my timelines. They contacted Lori, you know, with the Certified Wedding Planner Society. So that way my events were handled.
Speaker 3:But it was hard to not want to be involved or at least explain to my clients why I couldn't be there. They all understood 100% and wanted me to do better. But when the other members participated and took on the work that I couldn't do, it was such a blessing because then I could focus on my health and not worrying about those clients. But again, if you don't have someone that halfway listens to you, like my husband does, it's important to think about who would know what to do, who knows where your stuff is at. Because if I didn't have a person, that really could have stalled my business 100%, because then nobody would know what to do or who to call or what actions to take next for sure.
Speaker 2:For sure. Well, thank goodness for your husband and absolutely thank goodness for the CWP Society, because I know when you were going through this, lori was on our forum and she mentioned everything and just everyone that was so supportive. I know I was sending prayers your way. You were in my thoughts, my prayers, and then I know a lot of our other planners were readily available and they actually made themselves available to come in and just take over and just really be there for you so that your celebrations and the clients that you had, they didn't miss a beat. So I truly appreciate our society for that and just to the level of what they were willing to do, it kind of speaks to the kind of person that you are.
Speaker 2:You are amazing because you just don't go above and beyond for anyone. So I'm glad you're here to tell your story with us and I also wanted to get into. You know, we all know, and for those who don't know, wedding planners hold the third most stressful profession in the world. It is a lot to deal with. Wedding planning is not for the week, so it's imperative that we take care of ourselves. So what changes have you made to ensure that you are taking care of your health and taking care of yourself.
Speaker 3:Well, obviously my health is now an ongoing issue, so I have doctor's appointments and different things that I have to kind of keep on top of or just be more mindful of how long I'm on my feet or did I drink enough water, just basic things like that. But for my own self care, during my busy season I am getting massage like every other week, because that's my time to mentally check out. You know, a lot of it is just physical upkeep, eliminating myself to how many events I take. I used to try to, and I did last year. You know there'd be weekends where I was. I tried to only do, like, keep one weekend open a month, but sometimes that means it's Labor Day and Halloween, so that didn't work out so good for me. So sometimes the good intentions I had weren't still working well for my health. So, like this coming year, I'm only taking three events, no matter what, per month, and that's it. So that means it adjusts my workflow, obviously, or even just the type of work that I take on. So that way, you know, I can still be there for my clients but still take care of myself physically. And then one of the tried and true things that Lori's always told us is turn that stinking phone off. I do not have text alerts on my phone, you know. As far as messages for clients after five o'clock, you know I only do evening appointments certain nights, not on the weekends. So just making sure that I enforce those items with myself.
Speaker 3:My vacation I took last week no Wi-Fi, nope, I wasn't paying for it, and it was so nice to not have a phone call or an email to respond to. And guess what? When I got home, everything was fine. Yeah, there was no emergencies. So you know, when you communicate with your clients like I'm not going to be available, you know they'll respect that. And guess what? The world didn't fall apart because they could not reach me for seven days, and it was. You know that it's important to take care of ourselves and our family and you know that comes first, before the business. And so being able to, you know, being forced to do it isn't awesome, but you know, definitely now I prioritize that, more so than I used to, for sure.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and, as you mentioned, communication is key, especially when it comes to our clients, because things do happen and some of them we just don't have control over. So I wanted to give you what advice you would give wedding professionals so that they are prepared for emergencies similar to your experience or any other emergencies to this magnitude.
Speaker 3:Well, it's not a matter of if it's going to happen, but when it's going to happen. So not everybody's going to go to the pool and die. You know that's not going to happen to everyone, but I have had my father die on the day of a wedding. I've had a grandparent pass away on the day of a wedding, so it's important to have protocols in place so that way you know that you can step away and leave this in good hands. So, number one network Be a part of a group you know that has similar I'm trying to think of the word, but level of commitment to their jobs, same level of services provided in the. In this case, the benefit is that the planners that helped out were also other certified wedding planners, so I know that they would know the typical things I would utilize, definitely using, you know, software like Mary for the layouts timeline genius. So all of the vendor contact information is already there in addition to the timeline, so being able to have access to that.
Speaker 3:I also use Rock Paper Coin, which is not just for payments, but my clients can upload their contracts there, so I actually have them do it two places. I have them email them to me, so I have a folder, you know, in my you know hard drive, but also that way, online. If someone need to have access to my clients contracts, they could log into my account, be able to, you know, download anything that they might need to be able to see and have their content and contact information to. Definitely have started creating like a spreadsheet, like with passwords and the websites or things, and obviously having it written down somewhere. So that way, if some, if I can't access my files or somebody needs to do it, I have a paper version. But then having access to you know, log into things is helpful and then obviously making sure somebody knows where that is is also super helpful.
Speaker 3:But really it's just kind of making sure that you are thinking of those things happening. And then you'll start thinking about, okay, if I couldn't be there, who would I trust to take over my event? Who could help me? You know, and again that's down to communication when my dad got sick, we knew it was terminal, so I had already told my assistants that worked with me or the other planners that I networked with that, hey, this could be a situation that happens, and then it sure did.
Speaker 3:Like I called my assistant that day as I, kate, I got the call. We're going to have to kind of play, touch and go today. You know, here's where I'm going to need you to step up, here's all the information you know, and so just having that communication ahead of time, if you can, you know, then it was a much easier transition as opposed to obviously not showing up because you can't talk and you're in the hospital. So, you know, putting protocols in place and I'll be talking more about it in my blog post that are coming up Just there's a lot of different scenarios that are emergencies for us as wedding pros in general, and most of us, again, are independence or by ourself. So we need to make sure that we have things in place to keep our events operational, even if we can't be there.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well, Brian, these are all great, great words of advice, and you know I truly appreciate you for joining me today and sharing your powerful story with us. I am grateful that you are here and my prayers and thoughts are with you always and, of course, I can't wait to see all the blessings that come your way for 2024. So thank you so much.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. Aisha, no problem.
Speaker 2:Now onto something borrowed. In this segment we feature information from an alternate source that I feel you would be interested in. According to Fox Business, one Indianapolis coffee shop gets an unexpected surprise when a pop-up wedding takes place in the middle of their establishment during business hours on New Year's Eve. Mansion Society co-owner Anna Lasama said that the couple walked into the coffee shop and held a wedding ceremony, completely disrupting business. Lasama stated that she first heard about the couple in the first week of December when the building's leasing manager reached out to let her know that a couple would be inquiring and making a reservation for a party of six to simply sign wedding documents. Fast forward to New Year's Eve. She was shocked when she saw the bride, fully dressed in her wedding gown, veil and all a groom, a fissiant photographer and guest, show up for what was going to be a wedding ceremony instead, lasama states that the guest started showing up asking about the wedding and she explained that they didn't do reservations. But the leasing manager gave a heads up and they reserved a long-style table for the small group. Soon after more guests started to arrive, making it difficult for customers to order, and even potential customers were left outside, deciding to avoid the crowd.
Speaker 2:After the ceremony. Wedding guests were leaving their personal items around, treating the place as if they'd reserved the entire space. Lasama refrained from interrupting the couple's nuptials at the time, but after the pop-up wedding ceremony, the leasing manager reached out to the bride to explain that the coffee shop wasn't prepared and staff weren't aware that a wedding would be taking place. The bride seemed to understand and offered to donate $200. However, the coffee shop team responded to the bride, letting her know that the donation didn't meet their minimum consumption requirements and they were requesting a $500 payment instead. The bride's response was that's unreasonable. Mansion Society took to their social media platform outlining everything that took place that day, which caused this story to go viral, by the way, and they have now urged future customers who want to hold special events in their place of business to properly schedule their events in the future. Joining me to discuss this a bit further is Lori Hartwell, ceo and founder of the CWP Society. Thank you for joining me today, lori Well hello, how are you?
Speaker 1:I am good. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm great Thanks for your time in the chatranton teams. Now this is a lot to unfold, so let's get right into it. I know you've had your experience with working closely with and training venues, especially when it comes to reserving their space for an event. In this case, there was no planner. In hearing a little bit about this story, would you say the venue handled it well.
Speaker 1:This was a hard one. When you're talking and you're telling me this story, I'm like, oh, my heart it hurts. I think the owner probably felt as though she wanted to do the very best she could in that really awkward situation. Considering the limited information she was given, she was put in a situation where you're not always exactly sure which way to go. I have to give her a little bit of credit for trying to be nice. Yes, giving them great Right, but at no time should a leasing manager. In my opinion, aisha, I don't think a leasing manager has anywhere to make arrangements on behalf of a store owner.
Speaker 1:I know that in hindsight, everyone probably is saying that the owner should have kicked everyone out or insisted that they pay the proper fees. But honestly, until you're put in that position, you have no idea how you're going to really handle it or how you would react. I think for many, your empathy kicks in first, and I think that's probably what happened with this store owner. I think she was instantly like oh okay, this is someone's wedding, I just don't want to mess this up. This is their one and only shot. For other people that's not empathy. Probably isn't the first thing that would pop up. For some people it's instant anger Get out, but I just really feel like no one knows what they're going to do in any given moment until they're actually in there. I really feel like this poor woman's venue was hijacked and she was just doing her very best.
Speaker 2:Yes, when I first saw this story, I went straight to their social media because they had the video up and I'm looking at it like, oh wow. I did give kudos to the owner for at least allowing them to go on with their wedding ceremony, even though she was blindsided. What advice would you give to venue owners and venue managers when it comes to a few standard procedures and protocols that they may want to enforce, especially when it comes to booking their space?
Speaker 1:Yeah, this is a great question. I feel like once the owner was informed by the leasing manager, she really should have reached out then to the couple. First she should have told the leasing manager never again, don't do that. But then she should have reached out to the couple to get more information and ask some really specific questions. I would also make it very, very clear what our policies are and have policies in place. My recommendation would be to speak with the couple, put the details in writing and have the clients sign it so that everyone's on the same page. That means literally any groups we have to first discover and figure out.
Speaker 1:As a venue owner especially this little tiny coffee shop she probably never thought she'd be put in this position she needs to figure out. What does she have in mind? What constitutes a group? Is it more than eight people, 15 or more? It's going to be different for everybody.
Speaker 1:Once those policies are in place, the agreement needs to include what the max number of people are going to ever be allowed to attend at any event, what the consumption minimums are, what the rental fee is and what, if any, cleanup fees will cost. There's, of course, a lot of other things that need to be in that agreement. It's really just never wise to just hope for the best. I also don't recommend taking anyone's word for anything, because there are many people who have absolutely no problem lying just to get what they want. Don't make assumptions and think that everybody's got really great intentions. We don't take people's words as fact. Make sure that you have an agreement in place, because weddings are fluid. You never know what you're going to get yourself into. Both parties definitely need to be on the same page and we all need to have a better understanding of what each other's expectations are.
Speaker 2:I completely agree with you. I know in reading this story, even though she reserved for six, more than 20 or almost 20 people showed up, it was just complete chaos. Like you said, people will downplay exactly what they want and need just to get what they want. I agree with you 100% there. Aside from certified wedding planners, which in my opinion is the number one vendor that needs to be hired for a wedding or event, next in line, it would, of course, be the venue we got to have a place to hold this celebration here. I know, when it comes to the CWP Society, our certification doesn't just appeal to wedding planners. Venue owners, venue coordinators and managers can also benefit from the certification. Can you speak a little bit to this and how our certification can be beneficial to wedding professionals?
Speaker 1:Absolutely happy to. I'm a big advocate on education all the time and knowing, of course, as much as you possibly can about any given subject that pertains to you, your business or the industry that you do business in. Most people don't even realize that 30% of our membership consists of those who either work at or own a wedding venue, and Chrissy and I. Chrissy's the vice president of the CWP Society. She and I are so excited because later on this year we are actually creating a unique wedding venue management certification program that is going to be incredibly robust, like we are on the edge of our seats. She and I are so excited.
Speaker 1:Planners and venues have usually around 20% of work overlap, but that means 80% of our jobs are completely different. So it's really, really important and very wise to know that 20%. What we always what I mean to say is that 20% we need to know what that includes and then how to master that other 80%. So if you're a venue, you need to really have a good understanding of all the things that can go wrong, all the things that can go right, how to work with the proper people, what's the best way to do a site tour there's like a million things and knowing what policies you should or shouldn't have, or what you can and cannot do. Most people just don't know. They're kind of flying by the seat of their pants. So, either way, whether you want to get certified or what have you, you can actually join the CWP Society right now, no matter what industry category you follow, because we have a free wedding pro membership and it's very useful. It includes monthly free education, along with other amazing, terrific benefits.
Speaker 1:But it's something that I feel like we need to do by bringing wedding venues together, helping wedding venues understand what they're allowed to do, because I think up until now, aisha, a lot of them are like, oh, you mean, I can have approved vendors. I'm like, oh my gosh, yes, begging. And what we recommend is talking to whether your favorite wedding players find out who's on their list and then recommend a lot of those similar people, because a lot of times, what wedding venues may not be aware of is that if you guys, as a venue, have a preferred list, there might be some people that we refuse to work with, and so that means that now the venue and the planner can't work together. So it can get a little interesting.
Speaker 1:So smaller venues like this that you would not think is actually a wedding venue, because you know, I'll be honest, aisha, coffee shop's not a wedding venue. That's between you and I. But there were this couple. It seems to me they were clearly thinking this is a really cute place, I don't want to pay for a specialty venue, let's just walk in there, let's just get married, let's tell no one and let's just lie to this leasing manager and tell them we're just wanting to sign documents, when really they had ulterior motives and it put this particular coffee shop owner in a very precarious situation and I think that this situation probably taught her an enormous amount. But what we'd like to do is maybe figure out how we can help other venue owners and just store owners learn from that same experience. So you know, I feel for everybody involved.
Speaker 2:I really do Same here, lori. And just to piggyback on the CWP Society's Wedding Pro membership that has just launched this year for all wedding professionals and I was on the first wedding pro workshop, which was amazing, by the way, I'm just going to put that out. There there was a ton of information about all vendors just a wealth of knowledge. So I I for one can vouch for the CWP Society's mission to really trying to make sure that wedding professionals are on one accord and that we're working together not just for ourselves but truly to make a huge impact in the wedding industry. I agree, thank you, love. I appreciate it, no problem. Thank you so much, lori, for joining me today.
Speaker 1:No problem, have a great one, my sweet Aisha.
Speaker 2:Next up is our old and new segment. This is where I'll be discussing an old trend and what's replacing it. We've all seen the articles telling us about the latest and greatest trends of 2024, what's in, what's out and, in my humble opinion, what's coming back around again. But in doing my research, what stood out to me was how couples are opting out of having a traditional wedding cake, which leads to the cutting of the cake not really being a huge component when it comes to the wedding festivities. Now, I'm sure we all remember that era when the cake cutting was kind of an anxiety builder on wedding days. Well, someone's face gets smashed with the cake, creating a whole other fiasco on the big day. Thank goodness this phase is over.
Speaker 2:Now couples are looking at all their options. Some do cake cutting alone while their guests are enjoying cocktail hour. Others are completely doing away with the tiered wedding cake and instead they are having cake in the back ready to be served. Others are getting rid of serving cake on their big day altogether. Those who are wanting to skip the public cake cutting are instead providing custom to-go boxes for guests to simply grab on their way out. What a way to end the night sending guests home with a sweet treat to put a cap on their late night cravings. Many couples are wanting to have a dessert bar or a themed treat, a candy station, for their guests. Some are doing ice cream bars and with their favorite toppings, or, for those healthy conscious couples, they're incorporating organic treats or fruit displays.
Speaker 2:While all of these are tasty options and I'm here for all of it, by the way, as a certified wedding planner you still want to make sure you are walking your couples through what incorporating these options look like. You still want to discuss quantities, delivery and setup of all of these items, making sure you have the space for these items, packaging options or deciding whether this will be a self-serve or a man's station. You also want to discuss with your couples the restocking of the desserts or whatever special treat they choose, if it's needed. Those discussions are important and be sure to connect with your caterers in the process as well, because this could entail an additional cost.
Speaker 2:So, however your couples decide to incorporate for literally the sweetest element in the day whether it's sticking with the tradition of having their wedding cake, cutting and serving it, or if it's incorporating the alternatives cake ideas be sure that you are giving them every detail to consider when it comes to the execution of it all and remember, whatever idea they throw your way, encourage them, educate them and keep it sweet. That wraps up our February 2024 wedding industry news. We appreciate you for joining us, whether you are listening via a streaming platform or tuned in on our YouTube channel. We look forward to you joining us here next month on the Wedding Planner podcast.
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