WPE '11 – what happened?
On the 4th & 5th March we held our 3rd annual seminar for wedding planners, WPE 11. I think all attendees would agree this was the best yet. We listened to feedback from 2010 and made some key changes including having a central London location and the flexibility of attending just 1 day.
There are so many reasons why we love holding this event:
- Meeting fabulous speakers who are willing and enthusiastic about passing on their knowledge to you the planner. Some of this year’s speakers travelled great distances to attend and were delighted with the intelligent questions asked by the planners, no-one was shy on the day!
- Catching up with colleagues we communicate with over email and Twitter, some who live across the breadth of the UK. We love exchanging the joys & tribulations of being a planner, the highlight of which is the Friday night dinner which always ends in some outrageous behaviour!
- But mostly we feel proud of the planners that take time out of their week to attend WPE and expand their knowledge. The planners who attend WPE are serious about the growth and sustainability of their wedding planning careers – we delight in seeing their growth, year after year.
Testimonials
“Focusing on business aspects was really helpful, with wedding planning bits popped in to break it up, allowed me to focus really well” Helen Carter
“Can’t wait to get started putting everything I’ve learnt into place” Kathryn Kirkpatrick
“Good to keep the 60% business, 40% wedding speakers ratio” Isabel Smith
“I feel really motivated following the sessions and am excited about transferring these new skills into my business.” Lisa Sabin
“I have lots of ideas now, lots of useful tips & tools – now to make the most of them!” Stacey Marie-Chalk
We already have some fabulous ideas for WPE ’12 and can’t wait to start working on them. If you missed WPE this year we hope you can join us next year.
Speakers
We couldn’t hold WPE without the dedication of our speakers so would like to say a special Thank you to:
Cloud 9 – for his motivational advice and tips, there are not many men who would brave a room full of creative women!
Siobhan Craven-Robins – even though Siobhan is one of the most established planners in the UK she still takes time out of her schedule to pass on tips to newer planners.
Sternberg Clarke – for showing how with some imagination it is possible to creative truly unique entertainment for clients.
Diamond Insurance – for showing us how serious the issue of insurance is, public liability isn’t enough when running a business.
Bellissimo Weddings – one of our members and a former solicitor, Melanie gave some very straightforward legal advice which was incredibly informative.
Dream Occasions – one of our directors Bernadette passed on some tips on how to plan a proficient marquee wedding
Options – despite a technical hitch they gave a great demonstration on how different table designs can be.
Enthuse Marketing – the lovely Tamsin is always welcome at WPE with her easy to understand marketing & branding advice.
Distinctly Digital – we all knew SEO was important but Tom showed us some ways to improve SEO for our businesses.
Wise Productions – we got to meet the team behind Wise and understand how lighting can transform a venue.
Love my Dress – the wonderfully inspiring Annabel talked to us about the history of Love my Dress and why blogs are vital for the wedding industry.
Alicja Gilroy – the superintendent registrar from Oxfordshire was incredibly informative with her presentation and happily answered questions that our planners were asking.
Zoe Clark Cakes – talked to us about scenarios to avoid when choosing the design for a client cake.
Mustn’t Forget
Lloyd Dobbie for taking some wonderful images throughout the 2 days.
The 8 Dutch planners who attended on Saturday as part of their educational trip to the UK, they belong to an organisation called BWPN and we hope this is the start of a new relationship with them
10:11 Carlton House Terrace and Food Show Ltd for the wonderful dinner on the 4th March
Euphoric Flowers for providing the flowers at the dinner, unexpected but much loved!
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Thank you so much to the UKAWP directors for organising such a wonderful, inspiring and informative couple of days! It is important that we never stop learning especially in an industry that is forever developing! It was also great to let the hair down on the Friday night too with fellow planners! : ) x
Outrageous beahviour on the Friday night – I don’t know what you’re talking about….
On a serious note though, thank you so much ladies for all your hard work – I think this year’s WPE was even more inspiring than last year’s – and here I am a few weeks on and I am still sticking to my new plans/regimes!
So looking forward to next years!
I’d like to echo Stacey-Marie’s and Isabel’s comments – thank you so much for organising such an inspiring and useful 2-day seminar.
I’ve already started implementing some of my plans as a direct result of some of the talks, but I have lots more to be working on over the coming weeks and months. It was great to be able to learn from the expertise of so many great speakers, as well as to bounce ideas and experiences off other planners. 🙂