| » | Just Announced: WeddingWire World 2013 |
WeddingWire is excited to announce our second annual WeddingWire World!
Save the date! The one-day conference will be held on July, 29, 2013 in Washington, DC. Come and learn about the latest trends & tools for your business from industry leaders, get one-on-one advice on how to grow your business, and network with wedding industry peers!
Be the first to know! Sign up to stay informed about WeddingWire World 2013 registration, and special access to early bird discounts.
| » | WeddingWire Networking Night Charlotte |
Last night, local Wedding Pros gathered at the Levine of Museum of the New South for WeddingWire Networking Night Charlotte!
At the Networking Night, Pros from the Charlotte area had the opportunity to network with other local Pros across all service categories, meet members of the WeddingWire team and listen to a brief educational presentation. Other networking events have been held throughout the country, with many more to come in 2013!
Thank you to all the wonderful Pros who joined us! We’re excited to share highlights from the event including the educational presentation, the WeddingWire Education Guide, and great photos from the evening (as seen below).
We would like to say a special thank you to the great event partners who helped make the evening possible:
Finally, congrats to Lisa Pleasant of Lisa Pleasant Weddings; the winner of a WeddingWire prize pack!
| » | WeddingWire Happy Hour Raleigh |
Yesterday evening, Wedding Pros gathered at the Solas for WeddingWire Happy Hour Raleigh!
Thank you to all the wonderful Pros who joined us! At the event, Wedding Pros from the Raleigh area had the opportunity to network with other local Pros across all service categories and meet members of the WeddingWire team. Other networking events have been held in Orlando, San Francisco, Miami, Phoenix, Boston, Minneapolis, New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Richmond, St. Louis, Providence, and more.
We’re excited to share photo highlights from the event below, and our WeddingWire Education Guide.
We would like to extend a special thank you to the fantastic partners who helped make the event possible:
Finally, congrats to Brian Mullins of Brian Mullins Photography, the winner of our drawing who will receive a WeddingWire prize pack!
| » | How to Manage Your Clients Online |
| » | Celebrating Our Partnership with N.A.M.E. |
Attention members of the National Association of Mobile Entertainers (N.A.M.E.)! Did you know as a N.A.M.E. member you have access to receive a special discount on select WeddingWire memberships to provide business tools and premiere online advertising exposure on the largest Wedding Network?
N.A.M.E. is the largest Association for working entertainment professionals in the U.S. Members now have the opportunity to save up to $150 for Spotlight and Featured premium packages on WeddingWire for new or renewal business, gaining exposure across the full network, including: WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Brides.com, Project Wedding, Weddingbee. Additionally, premium members receive access to industry leading business management tools and educational articles, webinars and more!
| » | Inside WeddingWire: Crash Courses |
At WeddingWire, we know that great people make a great company. We have an innovative and one-of-a-kind corporate culture, and a great Human Resources team who is always dreaming up the next valuable employee benefit!
Our newest employee program is WeddingWire Crash Courses, a set of diverse training courses created to enrich the work experience and advance the knowledge of WeddingWire employees. Each course falls into one of three categories: mind, body or soul. Then, more specifically, courses focus around several types of beneficial knowledge, including: job training, skill development, entertainment, wellness and personal economics.
Additionally, this is an employee-led program, presented throughout the year, with the option for any team member to attend to learn more about the specific course. They can bring in a guest leader (such as a certified nutritionist to explain a balanced diet and health strategies) or host a self-lead course in an area of expertise (such as a mid-afternoon yoga break on a long Monday lead by a team member who is a yoga instructor).
Upcoming courses that the team is looking forward to include: Advanced Photography, the Benefits of Gmail (over Outlook), Holistic Skin Care and Holistic Fitness.
So far, the team has enjoyed coming together in small groups to learn more about a specific interest, area of personal improvement or about a program they are not experienced in. We are all looking forward to learning much more through Crash Courses this year!
| » | WeddingWire Mix & Mingle San Antonio |
Yesterday afternoon, local Wedding Pros gathered at Biga on the Banks for WeddingWire Mix & Mingle San Antonio!
At the Mix & Mingle, Pros from the San Antonio area had the opportunity to network with other local Pros across all service categories, meet members of the WeddingWire team and listen to a brief educational presentation by WeddingWire Education Guru, Alan Berg. We love hosting networking events throughout the country, and have many more exciting events planned this year!
We’re excited to share highlights from the event including the educational presentation, the WeddingWire Education Guide, and of course, some great photos from the afternoon (as seen below).
Thanks to all the wonderful Pros who joined us, and we would like to extend a special thank you to the great partners who helped make the event possible:
Finally, congrats to Heather Wittneben of Swanky Affairs; the winner of a WeddingWire prize pack!
| » | Announcing Our Partnership with ABC! |
WeddingWire has joined together with the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC), the largest group of wedding planners in the world!
We are excited to provide all ABC members a special $100 discount on select premium WeddingWire memberships to access leading marketing and client management tools, top education resources, plus guaranteed placement across our #1 Wedding Network (including WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Brides.com and more)!
For full details about this new partnership, click here!
| » | Inside WeddingWire: Housewarming! |
This Wednesday was WeddingWire’s 6th birthday! What better way to celebrate than to throw a party in our new WeddingWire Headquarters and cheers to the many great accomplishments over the past six years?
We celebrated by inviting some friends to our official WeddingWire Headquarters Housewarming reception. We loved sharing our new space with the local Washington, DC area community, and reflecting on the company’s growth – from a living room set-up with four employees to an entire 25,000 square foot floor with over 200 employees – in six exciting years!
At the reception, WeddingWire CEO, Timothy Chi, was honored to accept a certificate of celebration from our local Montgomery County Executive, Isiah Leggett. After quick remarks, guests and the WeddingWire team enjoyed mixing and mingling over light fare and some bubbly, while giving office tours to get a full view of the new space. Guests viewed our event-themed conference rooms, got a feel for our open floor plan and the Executive Suite, and of course, checked out our popular WeddingWire Café for grab and go snacks and drinks! All guests left with fun party favors including a WeddingWire cookie from Kalorama Cookie Company and a packet of Forget Me Not flower seeds to say “thanks for helping us grow!”
Check out some photo highlights from the reception and an inside look at our Headquarters, below!
| » | It’s Our 6th Birthday! |
Today is WeddingWire’s 6th Birthday! As we celebrate this important day at the new WeddingWire Headquarters, we want to extend a huge thank you to all the amazing Wedding Pros who helped us reach this exciting milestone and have been part of the journey!
We look forward to a fun day celebrating our accomplishments over the past year with the team and friends, and will cheers to all of our wonderful Pros at our champagne toast this afternoon!
Interested in more birthday fun? Last year, we celebrated our 5th birthday with an infographic that showcased our transformation over the years!
| » | The “Real Deal” Behind Deals |
Wedding season is almost here and clients are looking for great deals, so here are a few Pro tips and suggestions if you consider creating deal for your WeddingWire Storefront!
Deals are created in your business Storefront by selecting the Deals tab. When adding a deal, make your deal title is something that’s going to catch the attention of engaged couples. Try using the words “free”, “savings” or “percent off.” These phases can jump out to a client looking for a good deal, encouraging them to act and contact you for more information. Another tip: always make sure you are following all Community Guidelines when creating your title.
· When considering how interested parties can redeem your deal remember to think of what is easiest for your clients. Consider how many potential clients may be reviewing your listing on their mobile devices or who may not have easy access to a printer. Printing a coupon can be difficult; consider using a personalized promo code such as WeddingWire2013 or WWPromo. This way they can act fast and send the code in their email to you, or mention it on the phone, and you will easily know they found your deal on WeddingWire!
· Additionally, all deals must have an original value. For example if you are doing a percentage off a specific package, be sure to include what the base price of the package would be. For example, if you are offering 20% off a photoshoot, be sure to include your standard rate before any discount is applied. This helps to showcase the great deal that the potential client is taking advantage of!
In your deal description, be sure to provide all the details your client should know, and what they may ask Tell them exactly what you are offering, any restrictions, and again how to redeem it. Additionally, it is helpful to add an image (especially if your deal is a tangible item). Finally, expiration dates and deal limits are great because they drive urgency and will encourage the couple to take action to get the deal before it expires!
Need some deal ideas? Here are some examples that Pros like you are using:
Venues:
Beauty and Health:
Catering:
| » | An Inside Look: New York Bridal Week |
Kim Forrest is one of WeddingWire’s editors. She manages content creation on both WeddingWire and EventWire. Kim has been writing about weddings for nearly a decade, and has been quoted as a weddings expert in the New York Times, Washington Post, Slate, and more.
The WeddingWire team had a fantastic time at New York International Bridal Week! As a group, our team saw over 700 wedding dresses and nearly 50 Spring 2014 designer collections – that’s a lot of gorgeous gowns! If you’re a wedding fashion fanatic, like we are, Bridal Week was truly the place to be.
Pier 92 served as our home base for the weekend. Our WeddingWire Lounge featured a Power Station where our designer and retailer friends were able to charge their phones and tablets (a much needed amenity given the number of photos attendees were taking!) as well as re-charge their bodies with a snack, a bottle of Honest Tea, and, of course, some WeddingWire swag!
We also used our booth to stage an exciting photo shoot for some of our designer partners. Hair, makeup, models, and a fabulous photographer – it felt like a dress-up fantasy come to life.
At the Piers, as well as other venues throughout the city, we had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at the wedding gowns that will hit stores this fall – and share them through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. We loved being able to get up-close and personal with these gowns – to see the amazing details, touch the fabrics, and watch them glide down the runways.
In terms of trends, the word on everyone’s lips this season was “Gatsby” (as we predicted!). Gowns inspired by the 1920s were all over the runways, and we expect that brides will be clamoring for these glamorous dresses, especially after the Baz Luhrmann film hits theaters in May. We also saw lots of other fun trends, including: unique lace, coverage options, black and white styles, interesting back details, and embellished illusion necklines.
Additionally, we made sure to check out the newest bridesmaid styles (lots of dark-colored lace) and accessories (yellow gold and Downton Abbey-inspired headpieces were everywhere!).
Be sure to check out our Fashion Ideas page to view all of the collections, as well as trend reports highlighting what’s new in bridal fashion, and below is a preview of some favorite dresses from the event!
Dresses by (clockwise from top left): Monique Lhuillier, Amsale, Reem Acra, Kenneth Pool. All photos by Dan Lecca.
Check out some additional photos from the WeddingWire Lounge and the WeddingWire photoshoot at the Piers by Robert Mitra.
