by Heather DeClavasio, of Wisdom Weddings, WPIC Niagara/Hamilton Regional Representative
So on Tuesday night I had the pleasure of hosting my first WPIC Niagara Regional Event…and it was great! There were a total of 8 lovely planners who came out for the event, we had two guest speakers, an amazing dinner and a beautiful atmosphere at the Edgewater Manor Restaurant.
The night started off with a little “get to know each other” session. We went around the table, introduced ourselves and told each other about our companies but we already had the feeling of knowing each other from seeing everyone posting on our WPIC Alumni Forums and as well as social media. That is a great thing about WPIC, even if you haven’t personally met some other planners, you already have a sense of who they are!
Peter, the Owner of Edgewater Manor, personally came up, welcomed our group and talked about his lovely venue. As I have said before, and will continue to say, Edgewater Manor is truly as hidden gem, a restaurant that opens its services to Weddings and other functions. Edgewater Manor can host up to 110 guests for a wedding in their Main Dining Room but also has the ability to host smaller weddings or other functions. With their fitting room names such as the Capone Room, The Alexander Room, couples are sure to find a room to suit their needs. Edgewater offers exclusive use of whole venue if couples are looking to have the whole place to themselves. With exclusivity to the venue, this allows the couples to have more freedom as to what to do with each room. Rooms can be held for indoor ceremonies, as a place for cocktail hour (although usually cocktail hour is outside on their patio overlooking the beautiful Lake Ontario), and even a children’s room to entertain the younger guests while the adults enjoy the dancing and cocktails downstairs. Whatever you want, Edgewater can deliver. They truly bring the elegance to the party and really embrace with working couples to making their day special. Also, Edgewater Manor loves to work with Wedding Planners, they love you to bring your expertise to the front of the house and to the couple, well they bring their expertise in the back with food prep, timing of serving and creating efficient and quality service.
We had the chance to taste their food, we were served it as it would be served to guests on the night of a wedding. We were each given a small typed out menu with a Soup of the Day, a choice one of two salads, a choice of one of three mains (including a Steak, a Chicken and a Salmon) and of course a dessert option. The food was amazing, so much, that honestly I forgot to take a picture of all that yumminess on my plate. LOL, my brain saw the food, my mouth ate the food and then there was nothing left to show…silly me! So you’ll just have to go check it out for yourself. Yum!
Next up on our itinerary was the wonderful Stefanie from New Town Images. Stefanie came to talk to our group about Wedding Photography, and gave an amazing handout of some great questions to ask photographers. I have worked with Stefanie in the past, we have become great friends and honestly not only is she an amazing “life” photographer, she is amazing person. Her laid back personality just allows you to talk to her about anything, she is calm, cool and collective, and she just knows how to make you feel at ease even if she’s behind or in front of the camera lens. Thanks again Stef for coming out and putting on a great talk about wedding photography!
Our last guest speaker was Andrew DeClavasio, yes there is a name relation…he is my husband! I’m always chatting his ears off about weddings and WPIC, as is he to me about Sales, so I had an idea to collaborate both our worlds for once! Andrew is one of the Sales Managers for Oakville Chrysler. He has definitely found his niche in life, and he literally has put his heart and soul into getting to where he is today. Andrew came to speak to the wedding planners to give more insight in the sales world. He gave us a system “Steps to the Sale”, to help us create a better rapport with our clients, as well as ideas for overcoming hurdles we may come across and also tips on how to increase the chance of closing our sales. As Andrew says, “You can’t learn everything about sales in 25 minutes”, but we definitely go off to a great start and we can now each concentrate with our own business’ and reflect on the areas we can improve on! So thanks for being a part of this great night!
To finish off the evening, we had a site tour of the venue, we asked questions, took some pictures and overall really fell in love with what this venue has to offer. I am so happy that my first regional event was well received and I can’t wait to start planning my next one! Hmmmm….what to do?
Looks like a very nice place to get married.
Thank you!