This morning the President of The Wedding Planners Institute of Canada, Danielle Andrews Sunkel, was asked to appear on Canada AM to discuss the importance of hiring a Certified Wedding Planner.
(Click image to watch)
The Interview request was in response to a Non-WPIC Wedding Coordinator going bankrupt and leaving more than 30 couples stranded on their wedding day.
Our official response is:
"What a shame this happened to so many couples, but this could have been avoided, had couples done their research on Wedding Coordinators. Couples need to exercise their own Due Diligence and make sure they are hiring a Certified Wedding Coordinator. There is only one regulatory body over Wedding Coordinators in Canada and that is the Wedding Planners Institute of Canada.
"Our members are required to sign a Code of Ethics prior to taking our course and are held to these Ethics, or else they will lose their certification. If couples do not hire a WPIC Certified Wedding Coordinator they have no fallback if something goes wrong, their Coordinator becomes ill or can not perform their contracted duties.
"We have made the search process very easy for couples, all they have to do is visit our website www.wpic.ca and we have listed all the Certified Wedding Coordinators who are in Good Standing and who constantly improve themselves through further training and education. Each of our graduates has access to our free Association where they can ask each other questions, research one of the over 30,000 Wedding articles, continue their education, attend conferences and most importantly have a fall-back if they get sick, hurt or just need some help.
"Had the Coordinator in question been Certified and active in the WPICAlumni Association, this situation never would have happened. Our members Volunteer with each other on a regular basis to help each other gain experience and better their businesses. A suffering business owner can rely on the help of Volunteer Assistants so that the couple still gets what they contracted and paid for, and the Wedding Coordinator does not need to pay overhead expenses. Just this past summer there have been over 100 weddings where the Wedding Coordinators used the help of volunteer assistants (not due to a suffering business, but having extra hands while providing experience to their Alumni).
"WPIC training happens at all major Universities across Canada (in Toronto at U of T Scarborough & Mississauga campuses and George Brown College) and recently we trained all the on-site Wedding Coordinators for the Sandals Luxury Resort chain in Jamaica. Students choose between 10-week night school or intensive 22-hour weekend lecture series and then have two weeks of home study before they write an intensive qualifying Certification Exam. Upon becoming certified, students are expected to continue their education through the many seminars, conferences and training opportunities WPICAlumni provides."
More information is available at www.wpic.ca
Congrats on your media appearance, Danielle. You did fabulous! And well written response – thank you for sharing and all you do for WPIC
So true Danielle on how important it is to do your research and hire someone certified.Otherwise, you just never know what you maybe getting?
Thanks:o)
This was so great for all WPIC. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for someone to hire a wedding coordinator or decorator who cancels last minute. Being part of a national association gives so much moral and business support. So many WPIC members are successful due to being a part of WPIC.
I watched this! Great job Danielle! Thanks for legitimizing the Wedding Planning industry for us all. It is so important to choose a certified planner…especially ones certified by WPIC 🙂