Remarks from My Speaking Engagement in London for the UKAWP Convention
Monday, March 19, 2012 at 1:31PM 
I've got to admit it's been difficult coming home to Southern California. I mean, it's a beautiful place to live and all my amazing friends, family, and clients live here so there is certainly much to love and be grateful for. But a part of my heart always remains in London every time I come home from a visit. I don't know what it is about that city but I just love the hussle and bussle, the history, the architecture, the lively city life, and of course, the accents :) I haven't been in 4 years and I was pleased to discover that foodies have really taken over the city and opened fabulous restaurants and pubs at almost every corner. While I haven't always loved the traditional English faire (although their Italian and Indian restaurants have always been stellar) this time I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed.
It was wonderful to have been asked to speak with the Annual UKAWP Convention and my assistant Nida and I decided to spend a full day there. We heard from wonderful speakers on Bridal Gowns and Accessories, a Computer Programer who was in the process of creating new software just for wedding planners, a Makeup Artist who gave us a great demo, a Party Rentals Company who showed off all the latest trends to hit the UK, a Coach who had a lot of wonderful advice on running a successful business, planning an efficient calendar, and prioritizing, and then finally I was the final speaker of the day.
I shared some background information on myself and on Wish Wonder Dream. I then talked a bit about how the company runs, how our packages are designed and priced, what the common conceptions and misconceptions are about wedding coordinators here in The States, and then I got to what I think was most interesting to everyone is attendance, which was upcoming trends for 2012 weddings. I felt the entire room shuffle and reach for pens and paper as soon as I introduced that topic so I knew it was going to be a popular one. What I was told by the coordinators there is that trends usually hit the UK market about 3 years later. So what is popular here now will be popular there in about 3 years. I also learned that most couples don't use coordinators in the UK because they are perceived as "only for the posh."
It was lovely meeting all the women in the organization and a very special thanks to Bernadette (President of UKAWP and owner of Dream Occasions for inviting us and showing us SUCH a lovely time and to Isabel (owner of Isabel Smith Weddings) for her amazing tour of the English Countryside. I don't know what we would have done in a car with manual transmission, a drivers seat on the right hand side, and driving on the opposite side of the road. So thank you Bernadette and Isabel for sparing us from what would have otherwise been a total disaster :)
Bernadette was kind enough to share some links to blogs from some of the UKAWP members. It was amazing to hear their feedback and I'm so happy that I was able to act as a helpful resource to them. It was an honor to travel to England as a representative the US Wedding Industry.
Here are a few:
http://www.just-bespoke.com/2012/03/19/pearls-of-wisdom-us-wedding-trends/
http://www.idodesignerweddings.co.uk/wedding-planning/ukawp-wedding-planning-excellence-seminar/
Reader Comments (2)
Congratulations on your talk in London! How wonderful to be able to share your ideas and experience in wedding planning -- and of course enjoy a fascinating city, too!
It was a pleasure driving you round, it gave me the chance to gossip about all things to do with weddings and catching up on what U.S shows are still being made or have been ditched! If I ever get the chance to come to California perhaps you can return the favour? Love Bernadette xx