WPIC

Are You Really *HOT* About What You Do?

By: Natalie Bradley

Are You Really *HOT* About What You Do?

One major aspect of business that most people or coaches seem to just glaze over is the whole piece about really loving what you do. You’ve got to not only like what you do, but really fall in love with what you do and be passionate about it!

So many of us (me included) go into the world basing our decisions on what we want to do or be in life based on how much money we want to make. Or, we go into it thinking that looks too hard … I’ll just pick something a bit easier. Well if you’re only in business to make a buck, I have news for you: you’re never going to see that paycheck or that wad of cash you’re longing for.

The funny thing is that when you truly fall in love with what you do, when you really get turned on about how you can help others, or impact someone else’s life in a positive way, things start to shift and fall in place for you. When you have a *burning desire,* as Napolean Hill points out in the book Think and Grow Rich, that’s where the magic happens.

What really makes you tick? What makes your soul shine bright? What do you long to do in your heart? Maybe it’s the same industry or business that you’re in now, but you just need to approach it in a completely different way. Or, possibly, you’re in the right industry, but you’re not quite tapped in to where or what you truly want to be.

It’s also quite hard to realize the desire in your heart when you’re so stressed out, worked up, and stretched to the limits in areas of your life that drain your creative energy. You see, people like me and you need to be able to focus on our brilliance. We need to have time to focus on what makes us extraordinary and what makes that fire within burn brighter than we ever imagined?

What would that look like for you in your life?

Imagine what it would mean for you to wake up with so much joy, light and love in your heart that you were about to explode. What would it feel like to know that you can totally change someone’s wedding day with your beautiful talents? What would that feel like? I think that it feels like heaven to be quite honest….

Your Bride Attraction Assignment:

“There must be something worth caring about - something remarkable, special, and precious enough to light the fire in your heart.” (Price Pritchett, You2) Get real with yourself and ask yourself some questions- what do you want to do in the deepest parts of your soul … even if you were told that you couldn’t, that you shouldn’t? What are you extremely passionate about? What would make you smile bigger than ever before and make you so excited to get out of bed, you could hardly stand it? … that’s what your focus should be!

© 2008-2009 Soirée! Ltd.

Natalie Bradley, The Bride Attraction Mentor, is creator of the Bride Attraction System, the proven step-by-step program that shows you exactly how to attract more brides, make more m.o.n.e.y., and have more freedom in your business...guaranteed. To get your F.R.E.E. audio course: "5 Ways to Recession-Proof Your Wedding Business" and receive her weekly marketing & motivation articles on attracting more high-paying, ideal brides and drastically increasing your income, visit www.BrideAttraction.com

Marketing Predictions for 2011

By: Melissa Nowakowski of Marketing Unveiled

With the year just starting, I thought I'd share my wedding marketing predictions for 2011:

 
ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WILL GET EVEN BIGGER

We've already witnessed the upsurge of Social Media, Blogging and Online Advertising among the wedding industry and most of us have adjusted our marketing to accommodate this new wave of online movement. In the New Year more and more wedding professionals will be shifting their marketing budgets to online mediums for the mere reason that online is where the bulk of their audience is. While print marketing is not about to bow out by any stretch of the imagination, most wedding professionals are going to realize the need to mix their Marketing Campaigns with Online Marketing Campaigns in order to get the most bang for their marketing bucks.

In 2011 we'll see more wedding professionals jumping on the Social Media bandwagon as they'll have a better grasp of what Social Media is. Those who just didn't "get it" this past year will be trying it out in the new year. (In other words, if you're not on Social Media, you might want to get on that).

You will also begin to see more career paths dedicated to Social Media Marketing (meaning you'll see more wedding professionals assign or hire team members for the sole responsibility of listening and researching in social media communities, social gaming and social video as well as handling marketing in these areas on a day to day basis). As a result, wedding professionals will seemingly be everywhere all at once.

As well, more educational opportunities will be popping up both in formal educational institutions and informal seminars for wedding professionals (or any professional really) to gain more knowledge on how to best use SMO for their marketing practices.  That said, that excuse you've used all of 2010 that you just don't "get" Social Media will be tossed out the window my friend.

SEO AND SMO WILL EXPAND AND COMPETE EVEN MORE

In the past couple of years wedding professionals have been focusing a lot of energy on increasing their SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and well I'd certainly hope so as it's pretty much been the number one way of getting found by your target market. However with the emergence of other search engines as major contenders like Bing, MSN, Ask, etc it's become not just about being on the first page of Google anymore it's about getting on the first page everywhere. So guess what? Now your SEO is on-par is more important than ever.

Then you have social media like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more which provide new ways to be found online. Toss in Mobile Searches and Geo-Location Searches and voila -- you have so many more places into which you have to get your brand.

Acknowledging that there is so much more than just Search Engine Optimization on Google is the first step to increasing your brand's profile. Embracing the new practices and using them is the next one.

STAGING WILL BECOME MORE PROMINENT

It works for the real estate, fashion and culinary industries and while it's was embraced rather slowly in the wedding industry it's usage is anticipated to pick up speed in 2011. 'Fashion shoots' are no longer only for the fashion industry. These days wedding professionals - from cake designers and decorators to caterers and wedding planners -- are styling, staging and photographing tabletop designs, theme decor, food and more in classic 'high-fashion' style as a way to showcase their talent for design and detail in their portfolios, blogs and as a gateway to the media.

While 'staging' in the wedding industry is definitely not a new concept, fashioning and photographing wedding concepts in 'high-fashion' zine-like style for self-promotion is. Gone are the days of simply setting up a table yourself and taking some photos with your own camera or hoping that a high-profile magazine will offer to do a shoot for you. While it can be costly, these days wedding professionals are hiring or partnering with other professionals in the industry to put together full theme concepts (aka their 'vision') and having established photographers skillfully capture it. Everyone who participates essentially wins with equal promotion and let's face it, it looks so much better than if we did it with our rinky-dinky point-and-shoot.

Staging has become the newest form of collaborative partnership among industry professionals and can be expected to increase in the New Year.

MOBILE MARKETING HAS A RUNNING START

With the success of the iPhone and the introduction of the iPad and Google's Android, Smartphone technology is booming and so mobile marketing has sped up from a light jog to a full on run.

In the New Year mobile marketing won't just be about texting, emails or applications. We'll see an escalation of new applications, new devices (ahem...the new iPad anyone?) and an increase in technology making our networks that much faster and technology that much smarter. That said, our marketing efforts will expand to Smartphone technology services like location-aware programs, mobile games and applications that will feed interest to our consumers and send them in our direction. Where will you see the most wedding professionals in 2011? You'll see more wedding professionals develop their own 'Apps' for their services or making use of Wedding Apps that already exist like iWedding and more.

ONLINE VIDEO WILL GET EVEN BIGGER (YES IT IS POSSIBLE)

One thing that stood out in 2010 was the increase of numbers of people watching online video. With an abundance of video sharing sites like YouTube, Loomia and Woomu and video hosting sites like Hulu.

While using video for marketing purposes is not a new concept,  (promo videos, 'trailers', recorded interviews, etc. have been used for the last three years in practically every industry from entertainment to publishing to fashion and more) there has been a dramatic increase in using video for marketing among wedding professionals as a result of this increase in what's being referred to as 'Social Video'.  From 'wedding trailers' to 'video testimonials' you can expect to see more promotionally-aimed videos coming from the wedding industry than from the wedding couples themselves.

PERSONALIZATION AND CUSTOMER SERVICE WILL BE EVEN MORE OF A KEY FOCUS

More wedding professionals are realizing that 'personalizing' their marketing efforts are getting more personable results meaning that by tweaking their marketing to capture the interest and needs of their 'target market' they see a stronger presence of that specific audience in their ROI (Return on Investment).

In 2011 you'll likely see more wedding professionals 'getting personable' with their target audience as well (and not just with direct marketing methods). More conversations will be sparked by wedding professionals in online social communities, more wedding blogs will surface (but more importantly more wedding blogs will reflect and attract specific audiences) and more attention will be paid to how customer service is handled.

Speaking of customer service,  2010 proved that consumers don't want to wait for an answer to their question or a solution to their problem. Everything had that "I want it now" mentality. Some professionals labelled this mentality as "demanding".  Other professionals saw this mentality for what it was -- a desire for real communication in real time.

As a result, in 2011 you'll find that many companies will be providing 'real-time' customer service to engage and appease their consumers in this fast-paced era. Consumers now have more than one option of obtaining customer service. (ahem...remember the good ol' days of waiting on hold for what seemed like eternity?)

In 2011 you'll likely see a decline in the use of online forms as a way of obtaining customer service and instead you'll see more direct email options and direct phone numbers. You'll also likely notice an increase in the use of Live Online Chat or Messenger Boxes for customer service which  provides the highest level of 'Real Time' Customer Service.

These predictions don't mean that we've looked into some magic crystal ball and are telling you what you must do in 2011. These predictions are the marketing trends that we anticipate will impact the wedding industry as a whole in 2011. And as a wedding professional your key to success will be to develop a marketing plan for 2011 that will reap the most benefits for your business.

AND IF YOU'VE NEVER DEVELOPED A MARKETING PLAN, GUESS WHAT YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION SHOULD BE?

*Copyright of Marketing Unveiled

Melissa Nowakowski is also a certified Wedding Coordinator and Instructor with The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada. She also has also worked within the wedding industry for many years as a reputable wedding planner and Creative Director for Et Løfte Events. She is WPIC's "Go to" girl for anything to do with marketing.

WPIC 2010 Year in Review

A Message from the founders of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada, Danielle Andrews Sunkel and Tracey Manailescu:

To borrow a line from Master Wordsmith, Charles Dickens: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." 

What a busy year we have had!  We've had disappointments, surprises, accomplishments and many proud moments.  We've been imitated, (but never duplicated) time and again.

2010 solidified our International reputation and focus of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada. Students travelled from Germany, Belgium, Mexico, Hong Kong, St. Lucia, Barbados, Jamaica and many other places to join our classes and association.  There are now over 2900 WPIC certified Wedding Coordinators worldwide.

In February, we were invited to visit the County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland where we stayed in a different castle every night! We also attended a Wedding Show in Dublin. Read about our Irish Wedding Adventures here, where we profile the various castles (such as Crom Castle, Belle Isle, Lough Erne Golf Resort, the National Trust Properties, etc) and what they offer to couples who wish to wed or honeymoon in Fermanagh.

In March, we travelled to Bahamas to train and certify 46 people from the Bahamas Bridal Association, which included members from the outer islands, the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, the Wedding Coordinators at the Atlantis, Sheraton Nassau, Wyndham Cable Beach and British Colonial Hilton Resorts to name but a few.

Photo courtesy of: Dominic Duncombe Photography

In June, we were invited to train and certify all of the on-site Wedding Coordinators from Palace Resorts in Mexico.  We brought 10 WPIC Alumni with us to tour the resorts in the Mayan Riviera to see what they offer our clients.

All thoughout the year, our alumni were offered opportunities to visit Jamaica, Bahamas, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Mexico on various FAM trips arranged through our travel partners; Sandals Resorts, SuperClubs Breezes, Palace Resorts and Air Canada Vacations.

WPIC was sought out by the Media on numerous occasions to share our expertise and opinion for newspapers, bridal magazines and television shows.  We were also able to extend several Media opportunities to our members at WPICAlumni.

All throughout the year we ran full-page, national ads in Today's Bride and Weddingbells magazine, encouraging couples to seek WPIC certified Wedding Professionals.  To further publicize the accomplishments of our Alumni, we instituted The Wedding Planner of the Month, which publicly showcases and profiles a successful WPIC Wedding Coordinator at the beginning of each month.

During the summer we aquired and renovated new offices with more space to accommodate our growing number of support staff and to better & more efficiently support the members of WPICAlumni.  When we were finished the renovations in September, we of course had a party to warm the offices. 

During the year we spoke about Wedding and Destination Wedding Planning at the Wedding MBA Convention in Las Vegas, and several Wedding Shows.

We practised what we preach about Continued Learning and we attended wedding and event seminars and conferences in Grand Cayman, Ireland, Mexico, Bahamas, Canada and all over the USA (Las Vegas, New York, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach).

November 1-5, 2010 we held our 6th annual Wedding Professionals Conference in The Bahamas to much Media Acclaim.  Our keynote speaker was none other then Colin Cowie.

The other fine speakers included: Mary Dann-McNamee, duo Jung Lee & Josh Brooks, Tom Haibeck, Peter Merry, Andy Ebon, Richard Emanuelle and Megan Cole-Karagory. 

Esteemed sponsors included Destination Weddings & Honeymoons magazine, WedLock Magazine and The Bahamas Tourism Board to name a few.

In order to get ready for 2011, we refreshed and rebranded the look of WPIC with our new logo, added a Facebook fan page and dedicated time each day to uphold our Twitter presence.  We will continue to update this Blog at least every Monday and Thursday, and more often if we have interesting news that just can't wait ;)  Just as we are rebranding and energizing the look of WPIC, we will be putting our energies into refreshing the inner workings of WPIC and helping our Alumni be the best they can be.

2011 is going to be an amazing year for WPIC!

Thanks for reading!

Danielle and Tracey

 

Only 1 week till The Wedding Professionals Conference in The Bahamas!

Only one week until the Conference of the year!

Colin, Cowie, Mary Dann, Jung Lee, Josh Brooks, Peter Merry, Tom Haibeck, Wedding Wire, Andy Ebon, Richard Emanuelle, Bahamas Specialist & Sandals Specialist Certifications.  Oh My!  

So much to do and so many great people to learn from!  Producers Tracey Manailescu and Danielle Andrews Sunkel have outdone themselves once again!

With so many amazing speakers at the top of the industry, and attendees from all over North America, this conference is great for any Wedding Professional, but the added bonus of going to four different venues and hopping on a plane for a Wedding Tour of Out-Islands is a Destination Wedding Planners dream!

For more information about the conference, visit www.weddingconf.com

Why are Kickbacks and Referral Fees Illegal for Wedding Coordinators?

 

 by Danielle Andrews Sunkel

Let me first preface this article by stating that I am not a lawyer, if any legal advice is needed, please contact a lawyer. 

Definiton of Kickback:  An illegal, secret payment made in return for a referral which resulted in a transaction or contract. (source: www.investorwords.com) 

There is much confusion as to why Wedding Coordinators taking Kickbacks, Finder's or Referral Fees from vendors is illegal, while Event Planners can legally take kickbacks.  I will do my best to explain the difference to you. 

The practise of taking Finder's Fees or Kickbacks is very prevalent in the Events Industry and is basically "Standard Operating Procedure". If you are operating an Events Firm, hiring and signing all contracts with vendors and paying them on behalf of your client, in effect creating a package for your corporate client, then you are in fact up-selling, not taking kickbacks. This is completely legal. 

In Wedding Coordination, it is the client who signs all contracts and makes all final decisions on the choice of vendors.  You, the Wedding Coordinator, are hired as the person to consult about their choices and coordinate the vendors and the couple's day. Due to your role as a financial & emotional counselor, the trust this requires, and the fact that your job is to suggest the best vendor for your client, taking a Kickback or Finder's Fee from the vendors you suggest is considered Fraud. You are not suggesting the best vendor for your client, you are suggesting the vendor who pays you the most. This is misrepresentation of your business affiliation. This type of fraud is illegal. 

Some Wedding Coordinators work solely on kickbacks. This means they do not charge the clients anything for their services. Rather than being paid by the clients, they are paid solely by the vendors. The client understands this and therefore there is no fraud and the situation is completely legal. 

What to do if you are offered a Kickback?

If you have suggested a vendor based on their merit and the client decides to go with that Vendor, ask the vendor to give the amount to the client as a discount.  This is how Wedding Coordinators get their discounts and save clients money!

Hope that helps!

"Pay It Forward" High Heels Party...A Smashing Success!!

 By Angelina Raykova

Well ladies, I wouldn’t have expected anything less!

Thanks to Jacquie Swadi’s fabulous creation and organization of the Pay It Forward seminars and Kim and my own decor skills, Wednesday night’s “High Heel Party/ Pay It Forward” event captured and dazzled the WPIC spirit!

The night’s festivities began as 25 WPIC alumni from the GTA and WPIC staff filled the rooms of our new office.

The entrance to the new office displayed a unique grass and flower adorned “live carpet”.  (See more "Red carpet" pics below) Upon entering the new WPIC office, attendees were inspired by the hot pink and black mock table.  The chair covers were tied in the back with a bling band courtesy of Bimera Events (www.bimera.com).  

A gorgeous three tiered red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and fondant with a red heel on top sporting the WPIC logo was displayed in the foyer and tasted later.  The cake was compliments of the fabulous ladies Adrienne and Cat from We Bake in Heels (www.webakeinheels.com) – yes they actually bake in heels – we asked!

 Sparkling “Pink Panther” cocktails, Nyotaimori (naked sushi!!), red high heel cupcakes and yummy hors d'oeurves adorned our boardroom table. 

 Dulce, our Nyotaimori model, graciously wore an array of sushi scattered on small plates on her body, wearing only a bathing suit. The display was very tasteful and unique, creating an extraordinary feel. Who has eaten sushi off a person before?! LOL, we all have now! Chatter and laughter now filled the once empty halls.

A delicious array of truffle chocolates and bons bons from Fielding Group Ltd was displayed by Lily Fielding for our viewing and tasting pleasure.....YUM! The evening commenced with a smart and insightful seminar by Shannon DeSouza, speaking about the courses she will be teaching in our office in January, stressing the importance of continuous education for the bettering of one’s self and one’s business.

Danielle, Tracey, and Kim continued with their seminar, highlighting points of importance in ethics, education, networking, ideology, and key concepts of how to improve your mind, body, and business.

The night continued with fabulous giveaways of Colin Cowie’s Extraordinary Weddings to 8 lucky ladies who won the following heel themes: Hottest Stiletto Heel, Highest Heel, Best Retro Heel, Best Classic Heel, Most Divalicious Heels, Best Retro, Most Kicking Open Toe, and Best Funky Heels. Three door prizes were given as well in a raffle.

The festivities concluded with the cutting of the “Red High Heel” cake, warm exchanges, and a feel of a successful Pay it Forward night come to an end.

So cheers ladies, to your health, success, and love for oneself! Here’s to many more of these parties to come! Thank you for attending and making the night special. Looking forward to seeing you in all our future events!

More "Living Carpet" Pics:

 
 
  

  

Come see us at The Wedding MBA Convention!

For the third year in a row, The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada, will be sponsoring this amazing convention, jam-packed with Wedding Industry Marketing tools and tips.  Last year, there were more than 1000 Industry Professionals in attendance.  This year, the Convention will in be in the fabulous Las Vegas again and an expected 1500+ Wedding Professionals from all over North America will attend!

Danielle Andrews Sunkel and Tracey Manailescu of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada will be delivering the seminar "So you want to work with Destination Weddings?" at the convention.

 

Industry Gurus such as Alan Berg (The Knot), Andy Ebon (The Wedding Marketing Network), Peter Merry (Author, "The Best Wedding Reception...Ever!"), to name but a few, will be sharing their knowledge and expertise.    

Be sure to visit our booth at the Vendor Fair where we will be promoting the 6th Annual Wedding Professionals Conference taking November 1-5, 2010 in the fabulous Nassau, in The Bahamas!

If you are WPIC Certified, be sure to check the boards, your Alumni have a few events planned for the evenings while we're in Vegas!

See more details about this convention here: Wedding Merchants Business Academy

How to become a Wedding Planner

by Danielle Andrews Sunkel, President of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada

Photo courtesy of Red Umbrella Photography

It's easy to become a Wedding Planner, but it takes time, education, experience and perseverance to become a successful one.  

Its important to know that over-night success does not happen in the Wedding Industry. Clients aren't going to bang down your door just because you register your business and set-up a website.  It will take at least 1 1/2-2 years before your business will be able to sustain you as your primary income and that is only if you really market yourself and persevere.

Education

The first step to becoming a Wedding Coordinator is education.  Not only do you need to know Bride and Groom Psychology, Event Management, Coordination, and Day-of problem-solving, but there are many laws and regulations that Wedding Coordinators need to be aware of.  As well, you need education in what you can and should expect from Vendors, their contracts and their expectations of you.  You need to know about different religions, their requirements and ceremonies, Wedding Ettiquette, Budgeting, as well as Business and Marketing in the Wedding Industry.

We, of course, are proponents of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada's Wedding Coordinator Certification Program, Canada's only in-class Certification training.

A true Wedding Professional knows that their education is NEVER finished, so consistently attending workshops and yearly Wedding Industry conventions and conferences is a must. Photo courtesy The Wedding Professionals Conference 

Inspiration

You can never have enough Inspiration.  Constantly immerse yourself in the world of Weddings.  Watch all the TV Shows, movies, read the Magazines and attend the Wedding Shows.  Find out who the major players in the Wedding World are, read their Blogs, follow them on Twitter.  

Networking

Get to know your local key Wedding Players, go see the venues, meet the vendors.  You can never know too much about your local market.

Become a member of a Professional Association.  This association should offer additional and extended learning and training opportunities, a job shadowing or volunteer program, networking opportunities, as well as business information and a network of support.  

Canada only has one national Wedding Planner Association, called the "WPICAlumni Association", it is 2500 members strong and membership is FREE with WPIC Certification ;)

Experience

Through your Association you should be able to gain experience by working with an established Wedding Planner by volunteering your services on the Day of The Wedding.  In return, you will gain priceless hands-on experience and learn invaluable tips and tricks of the trade.

Photo courtesy of Red Umbrella Photography

Be Professional

Once you have gained your Certification and gotten some hands-on experience you can begin to set-up your business.  Remember that everything about you and your business needs to be professional. Walk the walk, and talk the talk. Use proper business etiquette in all that you do. Dress professionally and appropriately.  Be what you picture a Wedding Planner to be.

The Wedding Industry is a very small world and Word of Mouth can make or break you.  So remember to stay ethical, treat your clients well, always give 110%, play nicely with others and give other Wedding Professionals the respect they deserve when you are working together.

IncentiveWorks 2010

by Guest Blogger, Carolyne Allen, WPICC of Simply Fabulous

Who knew that a trade show targeted at Meeting Managers would be so valuable for Wedding Planners?  I certainly didn't when I registered.  The only reason I registered for IncentiveWorks is because I have been working as a Meeting Planner for the past few years (weddings is a new direction for me). 

So, early on the morning of Tuesday, August 18th I went to my first workshop at IncentiveWorks. Great workshop, but I was still wondering if I should even be there.  Then… I saw 2 familiar faces walking ahead of me. It was Danielle & Tracey!  

I was so excited to see them; I forgot their names for a moment!  But, I am so glad I spoke to them because I left our conversation feeling very encouraged and pumped to visit the rest of the event. They let me know I was definitely in the right place and it would be great for developing my business. So, I'm going to share some highlights with all of you.

First, I must mention an amazing keynote speaker - Simon Sinek - who spoke on Tuesday morning.  Session topic - “Start with Why?” As I walked into the auditorium, I wondered, “Why What?”  I left thinking, “Oh Wow!”  Here's the gist of his presentation.  We need to find out why we do what we do - right from our core - in order to then figure out how we do it, and what exactly we will do (our “product” so to speak).  So, in context relevant to us, why have we chosen to work in the wedding industry as planners, decorators, etc.?  Why do we put so much time, energy and love into our careers? If you really sit and take a moment to think about it, the answer isn't really that easy.  So, there's your homework…why?  If you'd like more information on Simon and his message, visit www.startwithwhy.com 

The second day of Education sessions another amazing keynote speaker -  Gary Vaynerchuk  - brought down the house with his hilarious and down-to-earth presentation about the way Social Media has changed the way we must market ourselves.  

Décor Trends: We are seeing a lot of leopard print accents; purples, reds, mixing metallics; the roaring twenties, the 50's, pinups, boudoir photo shoots (great for bachelorette parties); lots of bling!  Designing Trendz was showcasing their new mini pancake maker!

Destinations:  Many resorts and tourism boards were present, which provided great contacts for Destination Wedding Planners including several WPIC friends and Partners such as:

Gina Tsirmpas, from Sandals

 

Debbie Cotton-Burinski from Air Canada Vacations

 

Steve Koth from SuperClubs Breezes

and Juan Carlos Calderon of Palace Resorts (here w/ Danielle & Tracey)

Venues: There were several great venues from all over Canada at the trade show, who were really excited to find out that there were also Wedding Planners in the crowd. Some venues in Toronto that stood out to me are:

The Fifth (formerly Easy on the Fifth) in downtown Toronto. With its rooftop terrace, and several different private rooms, you can get really creative using the space.

Bram & Bluma Appel Salon - who would ever think of going to the Toronto Reference Library for an event? They recently (in the last few years) opened a great event space that is definitely worth checking out.

Berkley Church - what a cool venue, that allows you to byob. And, for small events of about 10 guests there is a tree house that overlooks Taddle Creek.

As of now, I'm just compiling a list of all the venues I really liked, with contact names. The three I've listed are not even the tip of the iceberg! It may take a few weeks to finish, but I'll be happy to share it with anyone interested.

So, if you have not been to IncentiveWorks I strongly recommend checking it out next year. It's great not only for building relationships with vendors, but the workshops are very much worth your while.

Signature Drinks and Why We Love Them

by Tracey Manailescu

In the spirit of Canadian summers, I felt it necessary to write about something memorable that we can all benefit from.

Cocktails...

For years, couples have used Signature drinks to personalize their Wedding Receptions and often to save money.  (You only need to rent one style of glass, buy one kind of alcohol, etc)  It is still a great option.  You just choose your favourite drink and give a name personal to the couple.

I decided it would be fun to test out some of the summers trendiest recipes and rate them. (Someone's got to do it, right?)  All of those couples in need of recipes for signature drinks at weddings and anniversary parties need some inspiration!

*All photos were taken by me

Watermelon Mojitos (Recipe from the Mojito Company)

Tip: The LCBO is giving a muddle stick with select bottles of Bacardi :)

4 ounces fresh watermelon, seeds removed, and cut into small cubes 3/4 lime, cut into 3 pieces, 5-6 fresh mint leaves, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 ounce simple syrup, ice cubes, 2 ounces light rum, 3 ounces club soda       

Muddle watermelon, lime, mint, and sugar in the bottom of glass. Add rum and simple syrup.   Fill the glass to the top with ice cubes.   Top with club soda.  Cover the glass with a cocktail tin or transfer to a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously for 2-3 seconds. Serve with straw. Garnish with melon wedge and sugar cane stick. 

Sangria (Recipe from allrecipes.com) 

1 orange, 1 lemon, 1 lime, 1 medium all purpose apples, pared, cored and sliced1 cup pitted cherries, 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks, 3/4 cup brandy, 1 bottle dry red wine, 1 (12 ounce) can lemon-lime soda to taste, 1 cup orange juice to taste.  

Slice the orange, lemon, and lime into thin rounds. Place the citrus in a pitcher with the apples, cherries, and pineapple. Pour in the brandy and refrigerate for 2 hours of more. Chill the bottle of red wine, lemon-lime soda, and orange juice at the same time. Gently crush the fruits with a spoon, then stir in the red wine, lemon-lime soda, and orange juice. Add additional brandy or orange juice to taste.

SATC Cocktail (Recipe from  Cocktail Making Co.)

Seriously, could I have taken a better shot in New York City? Perfect!

1 shot vodka, 1 splash grenadine, 2 shots triple sec, 2 shots pomegranate, crushed ice, 2 splashes of southern comfort, 1 splash lemon juice

Crush the ice and blend with the southern comfort. Add one shot of vodka then the shot of Pomegranate with a splash of lemon. Blend together with the triple sec and then finally splash a dash of grenadine on the top. A glass full of class! 

Key Lime Martini (Recipe from a bartender at P.F Chang's)

1.5 oz. liquor 43, 1 ounce lime juice, 3/4 ounce half & half, 3 swirls of whipped cream, graham crackers, slices of key lime

Mix Liquor 43, lime juice, and cream together.  Rim glass with crushed graham crackers and top with whipped cream and lime garnish.