This will be ‘the’  first BIG Wedding Professional mixer of the year!  At Las Vegas Wedding Network you will enjoy the opportunity to visit with old friends and make new ones!  As we head into our busy bridal show season, this will be a chance to refresh and enjoy each others company at an event hosted at the fabulous Cili Restaurant.

• Where:  Cili Restaurant at Bali Hai
• When:  January 4th
• Time:   6pm to 9pm

BE PREPARED TO PLAY….. WHOSE FACEBOOK LINE IS IT ANYWAY?

(so watch what folks are saying on FB over the next week…this could be interesting and Prizes for Winners!)

Kathy Dyke, our Hostess, will be dazzling us with an Amazing array of Hors D’ouevres for our Cocktail Mixer

Additional Sponsors for this Event

• Flora Couture by Floral 2000  for the floral centerpieces
• Jovani Linens  for the dazzling linens
• LED Unplugged for the ultimate in illumination
• Knight Sounds Entertainment for spinning the fun tunes
• Artistic Imaging  for capturing the memories
• ShutterBooth of Las Vegas for providing a place for you to ham it up!
• Bridal Spectacular for prizes and the hard working staff who puts this all together.

Early Sign up is $25 on line only

If you missed this event on May 4th at Canyon Gate Country Club, you missed a lot of fun! It was an amazing fundraiser for Wish Upon A Wedding with a “Kentucky Derby” theme created by Shelly Sampson. Thanks to everyone who contributed their time and funds to help out this awesome organization. Many thanks to Memory Lane Video for capturing the essence of the event in video and to Orange Soda Photography for photo images in Animoto slide show below.

LVWN Promo May 2011 from Memory Lane Video on Vimeo.

Photo Montage with photos provided by Orange Soda Photography

Las Vegas weddings are planned at The Bridal Spectacular, come meet Memory Lane at the next show.

This July 6th Las Vegas Wedding Network presents Marc McIntosh with a subject that will be of value to anyone in the wedding industry. “The Myths of Selling to Brides”

Marc McIntosh - The Myth of Selling to Brides

You hear lots of things in the industry press and from self-proclaimed wedding marketing “experts”. Everyone who sells advertising paints a rosy picture of the bridal market. How do you cut through the clutter to find out what REALLY matters to the bride-to-be? In this no-nonsense presentation, you will learn why selling to a bride is different than selling to any other type of customer, and discover what works and what doesn’t when selling to today’s bride. Find how to better target the bride and maximize the effectiveness of your advertising dollars. What you thought was working just might be missing the mark and costing you business.

The event will be held at Bear’s Best Golf Club at 6pm. The cost will be $35 per person until July 5th.

Register Here

Marc McIntosh has produced bridal shows for more than 15 years. He produces shows in Baltimore, Richmond, Houston and the Washington D.C. metro area, including some of the largest and most attended bridal shows in the country. Marc is a hands-on producer who believes in treating his exhibitors as partners, providing them with outstanding customer service and helping them become successful marketers. Marc brings a unique perspective to the industry, having exhibited in dozens of bridal shows prior to producing them. He has spoken at Wedding MBA and done a national speaking tour with Andy Ebon. Marc is a charter member of Bridal Show Producers International, the industry trade association. In 2003, he was awarded the BSPI Director’s Cup, the industry’s leading honor. He is a member of the National Association of Consumer Shows, the Professional Show Managers Association, and the National Association of Catering Executives, where he received the 2006 “Member of the Year” award.

Marc McIntosh and Debra Hansen, Co-founder of LVWN and producer of the Bridal Spectacular served on the board of Bridal Show Producer’s International together for over 10 years.

 A big thanks to all the Las Vegas Wedding Network professionals who came out last week to support the local chapter of Wish Upon A Wedding.  The “Kentucky Derby” themed event held at Canyon Gate Country Club was a smashing success with almost 80 people in attendance.  From the Derby hat contest to the “horse race”  and sipping mint juleps around the pool, the Las Vegas Wedding Network committee members and sponsors out did  themselves on this one!

Special Thanks to the following people:

Canyon Gate Country Club and Shelley Sampson for hosting the event and for spearheading the theme and special events of the night. The food fit the theme perfectly and was enjoyed by all the guests.

Faith Chapin of Faithfully Yours for hours of work collecting items for the Chinese raffle and Silent Auction.

Gabriel Ortiz of  All Events Disc Jockey’s  for providing music and announcing the horse race.

Desiree Ledesma of RSVP Party Rentals for providing all the essential party items, dance floor, and furnishings.

Randi Garrett of Naakiti Floral for the Kentucky Derby Hat floral arrangements and for bringing in the horse and creating the winner circle’s garland!  Your talents never cease to amaze us.

John Sanchez of Memory Lane Video for filming the event – we can’t wait to see the video.

Alicia Purdum of Orange Soda Photography for the event photos and Derek and Rhiannon Eddy of Digs, A Studio of Photography  for the special photos of the guests with the horse.

Thanks to the jockeys who ran themselves hard and fast to win the race and raise funds for Wish Upon A Wedding.  Randi Garret of Naakiti Floral, Adam Frazier of Artistic Imaging, Derrek Eddy of Digs Photography, and Shelley Sampson of Canyon Gate.  And the winner was……..Shelley Sampson.

Special thanks to the Bridal Spectacular team for the work leading up to the event and for purchasing the Ipad for the raffle.  The winner was   Kevin Cordova of DJ’s For You. Thanks to Julie Pickrell and Sue Gestring for running registration, selling raffles and being so busy you did not even get to sample the awesome food.

Erin Ward from Hard Rock Cafe was the winner of the Derby Hat contest, but ladies you all outdid yourselves!

Thanks to Brittney Belanger – Cravin’ Cake Bakery for the delicious desserts.

With all the contributions and hard work by everyone, we were able to raise over $1700 for Wish Upon A Wedding.  Thanks to everyone for the items they donated to help raise this money.

Don’t miss our next LVWN event scheduled for July 6th at Bears Best Country Club.

All Photos Taken by Orange Soda Photography

This post is the fourth of a recap series about a meeting of the Las Vegas Wedding Network. Seven brides spoke and answered questions about their wedding planning experience.

Jazmine told a story about a vendor she met a bridal show who took the time to look up her Facebook profile, find out a little bit about her, and connected with her. The vendor was able to look her up, using the email address she provided.

One of the meeting attendees was aghast and agitated, shouting out her question: “Isn’t that stalking?”

Calmly, Jazmine responded with the following… paraphrasing:

“At the time, my profile was public, so anyone on Facebook could have seen my complete profile. I have since made much of my profile less public, until I’ve made a friend-connection. I thought it was ‘sweet’ that the vendor took a little time to learn a little about me, see I had a child from a previous marriage, and more. It showed me they were interested in me.”

More than once, during the evening, Jazmine pointed out the importance of people remembering names and faces, particularly at bridal shows and showcases. She remembered a specific instance where one exhibitor at a bridal show had shoved a business card at her, three separate times. Other people, seeing her on multiple occasions, remembered her by name.

Opinion – What to make of this: First of all, it’s not stalking. Not by a long shot. If some approaches you to friend them on Facebook, if you don’t want that to happen, just press ignore. If they persist, and annoy you, it’s one click to BLOCK them.

If you approached 100 brides via Facebook to follow your business group page or connect as a friend, some percentage would connect with you and others would not. Your approach might go like this:

Dear Jazmine,

Enjoyed meeting you at the Bridal Spectacular. I know you’re still in the decision making process, and thought you might want to follow my business fan page, and learn more about what my company is about, and see what we’re doing. Hope you’ll become a fan.

Andy

That’s a pretty benign approach, and, again, some brides will become a fan, others won’t. Don’t over analyze it. Having a soft Facebook strategy is a perfectly reasonable marketing move.

It’s important to remember that what YOU prefer as a customer, is not relevant when you are the business owner. Don’t project your likes and dislikes on the bride. This is an opt-in approach. Those brides that choose to follow you are exercising Permission Marketing.

Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog