Engage! 13 Re-Cap

Hey Ya’ll,

Engage! 13 in Ashville, North Carolina just wrapped and I have to say it ranks as one of the most fun times I have ever had.  The location of the Biltmore Estate could not have been a more picturesque and ideal location for a luxury wedding summit and this was by far, LUXURY!
The wedding summit took place from Sunday to Wednesday morning and was made up of speeches from top industry professionals like my friend Ceci Johnson who I have featured many times on my blog who does incredible invitations among other things, my friend Marcy Blum, who is a both hilarious and an incredible wedding planner out of NYC, just to name a few.
You can also go to the Engage! 13 website for a list of speakers and of course the list for the next Engage! event, http://www.engage13.com, which takes place in Scotsdale, AZ at the Montelucia.  If you are a wedding planner, photographer, or somehow involved in the wedding industry this is the premiere event to attend.

For a group of people in the event industry, we are treated like royalty, there are incredible gift bags and branded goodies showered upon us the entire time. It is almost like you are having a birthday for four days.

Many of the goodies were provided by http://www.giftsforthegoodlife.com.

I got a bow tie (above) in my welcome bag and decided to try my hand at tying it for the second evening event which is a dine around where the guests are each assigned a different speaker to dine with which is an incredible opportunity for more networking and more personalized conversation.

Each evening there is a party that are all about networking, socializing and making new friends.  The final night party was the party to end all parties…

Karen Tran who did the flowers on Shedding for the Wedding created a Gatsbyesque party full of lush flowers that would blow any bride away.

Of course, the setting, a tent next to the historic Vanderbilt mansion was not too shabby a location for a spectacular evening.

My friend Josh Friedman from Elan Artist (he also provided the incredible band for my birthday party back in September!) put together an evening of the best talent including burlesque dancers, cigarette girls, singers and a woman who pretty much stripped to not much and powdered herself with a giant powder puff!

Everyone, well mostly the women, were dressed for the theme and if you take a look at my pictures you can see that they were spot on with their decor inspired costumes.  Then, to top off an already extraordinary night, there were fireworks…

Cheers! To the two hostesses with the mostest (below) who organized this incredible experience Kathryn Arce and Rebecca Grinnals of www.engagingconcepts.com.

I had such an incredible time, I am back home now and require some much needed sleep after staying up until 3am Sunday night, 2am Monday night, and 4:30am on Tuesday evening after the party just enjoying the opportunity to get to know people who are competitors and now we are colleagues and friends. So many great memories made.
-Brian

Exciting Announcement!

Hey Ya’ll,

I’m excited to announce that I’ve been asked to speak at the upcoming “Engage! 12” luxury wedding business summit at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Las Vegas.

This special event brings together the wedding industry’s key influencers and thought leaders from around the globe to exchange ideas, network and inspire each other to reach new levels of success. I’ll have about 22 minutes to speak… which is where ya’ll come in handy! The one thing that I have in common with each of the other speakers is that we all share the same client – just at different points in the wedding planning process. With that said, what do YOU think I should talk about? Let me know in the comment section below. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. I know that with your suggestions, I can help make this event an extraordinary experience for everyone in attendance!
-Brian