Finding the right employee in any business is challenging, but it's a unique challenge in the wedding industry because it's "so glamorous". And they can be, but working a wedding involves long hours and sometimes difficult clients.  So how do you find the right hires?   Gina Johnston, Senior Wedding Coordinator at A Southern Soiree and Megan's luckiest hire, comes on the show to discuss the hiring and onboarding process (and mistakes made) at A Southern Soiree.   Megan Gillikin and Gina Johnston, A Southern Soiree (image by Ginny Corbett Photography)   A Southern Soiree on Social Media: Instagram: @asouthernsoiree Facebook: @asouthernsoiree twitter: @asouthernsoiree   Weddings for Real on Social Media: Instagram: @weddingsforreal Facebook: @weddingsforreal twitter: @weddingsforreal

 

Wedding Education Seminar February 4th from 9:30am-12pm at The Umstead Hotel in Cary NC. Purchase tickets by following this link.

In this intimate and educational seminar, we will cover two distinct topics relevant to purposefully growing your event business! Jason Gillikin will cover digital marketing and SEO tips for helping your ideal client find YOU,and Megan Gillikin will cover the client experience from start to finish.

This seminar is ideal for wedding vendors that have a high touch relationship (multiple interactions) with their clients such as: planners, venues, caterers, photographers, videographers, DJs, bakeries, florists, hair and makeup artists, and stationers.

Whether you're an up and coming vendor or a veteran member of the event industry, you are certain to walk away with an increased knowledge on digital marketing and gain invaluable insight from this seminar on how to best serve your client.

Get your tickets at Eventbrite!

 

We have a new sponsor for 2019, MyPinkPartyBox.com! Vendors, if you’re looking for gifting ideas, this is perfect because these boxes are just gorgeous, and they have them specifically for hotel welcome boxes (like below). Plus they have bachelorette boxes, birthday boxes, and more. 

 

Engaged Couples, on Sunday January 27th from noon to 4PM, come check out the Carolina Inn Showcase in Chapel Hill NC! Eat some sample desserts, check out some of the latest designs, and meet some photographers, planners, DJs, and other vendors. Also, for a future episode of Weddings for Real, Jason and Megan will be walking around the Carolina Inn talking to couples to get their perspective on what planning a wedding has been like so far, so we’re very excited about that. Tickets to the showcase are just $15, and you can find them at CarolinaInn.com.

If you're a wedding vendor, go get Honeybook! At A Southern Soiree, we’ve been using Honeybook since February 2015. I think we were one of their very first clients, and it has truly been a life changer. They make proposals and contracts super easy to use on both our side and the client side. I think before Honeybook I would send proposals and contracts by email, and the client would have to mail the contract to us or fax it by efax. Proposals were in no way streamlined either, so this has made our lives so much better. As a consultant, whenever I sign up a vendor client, one of the very first recommendations I make is Honeybook. No need to complicate things – it works, it’s great…just get it. And if you follow this link, you get 50% off your first year of Honeybook, which is nice, but not nearly as nice as all the time you’re going to save. And if you have any questions about my experience, feel free to send me an email to megan@weddingsforreal.com. 

Music for this episode by https://www.bensound.com.

The host of the show is Megan Gillikin, owner and lead consultant at A Southern Soiree Wedding and Event Planning.  She's also available for wedding and hospitality business consulting and can be reached at megan@weddingsforreal.com.

Weddings for Real is edited and produced by Jason Gillikin for Earfluence.