Our Time At The David Tutera Experience
We recently had the pleasure of going to the David Tutera Experience in March, and it was incredible! Kristi and our lead designer, Erica, traveled to Orlando for this year’s seminar. The David Tutera Experience is for wedding planners and vendors to learn new ways to create events, be inspired, and connect with other vendors across the country. As a team, we believe in always growing and attending seminars and summits to always be on top of the trends. As wedding planners, we are all about creating personalized weddings that are unique to our couples.
After this incredible weekend, we are motivated and working to re-vamp our design process to be even better! We are also working to implement new ideas in our client experience! Today, we are sharing our experience at the seminar, and what we learned!
Day One at the David Tutera Experience
We started our first day exploring all the beautiful grounds at The Four Seasons Orlando. This hotel is absolutely incredible, with the most beautiful landscapes, and spectacular service. To keep it a safe event, all attendees received a covid test upon arrival - masks were mandatory for the event and on hotel grounds. We always felt super safe, which was incredibly important. Even the seating was spread out for social distancing!
The welcome event was called Bursting our Bubble. This was held outdoors, and had tons of color in the design, which we loved! We love using lots of color and texture in our designs, so it was so inspirational! The creative centerpiece was paint cans ‘pouring’ bright red roses onto the table. It was fun, festive, and unique!
Day Two Events
Day two started with yoga with Joey Toth outside before the sun came up. This was so relaxing, and let us start the day with a better mindset, and our bodies stretched and ready for the day.
David Tutera did an inspiring welcome keynote, that was filled with so much inspo! Next, we went to a hands-on session with Darin of Tailored Twig. Darin is such an incredible florist, who really works his creativity in a beautiful way. We created floral arrangements from scratch, and learned it isn’t so easy to be a florist! While we probably won’t become florists anytime soon, it was so fun to get our hands dirty and try it out.
After our time making a little bit of a mess, we went to our next seminar, which was about client experience. Victoria Angela Photography shared so many awesome details on how to up-level our client experience! Next, was a session with Steve Pastor on how to safely run an event during Covid. As New Jersey and New York wedding planners, Covid has definitely been a huge part of our events! We have had to work hard to replan postponed events and work with our couples to ensure all guidelines are met and followed.
Joey Toth closed out the day, with a motivating piece on becoming the person you believe you are. This event is not just about learning new trends, but also about business ownership, and stepping into your business!
From there we went into the evening event called Modern Madness. It was exquisite! Dark decor set the mood, and it was very grand. There was a live band that kept the vibe going, and there were so many fun photo ops, including a confetti cannon! It really showed ways to design a space with darker decor, while using music to keep the moody vibe consistent.
Day Three
Day three began with Yoga hosted by Joey Toth, which we loved! We are now going to be doing yoga every morning! There were so many awesome seminars, but there were two that really stood out. Jill Fratianne, who is a venue owner at Granite Ridge Estate in Norway Maine, gave us a lot of insight into what venue owners are looking for. They also showed us how to over come obstacles, and how we can better work with them as a vendor team. Our vendor relationships are so important to us! So we love learning new ways to create those connections. Her workshop was so unique. It opened with 3 minutes of complete silence, with the exception of her playing the violin. It was beautiful!
Another incredible speaker was Brett Culp, who was so inspiring. He told us his unique story, and how he got to where he is today as a filmmaker. There was not a dry eye in the room!
The final event was a secret, so we had no idea what to expect! They told us to dress for the occasion, and wear something formal! They loaded us into transportation, and we arrived at the Walt Disney Theater! We were served champagne and seated in front of a stage. The curtains dropped and a beautiful dinner appeared before our eyes! It was marvelous. They completely transformed the space, and it was amazing to see how a theater stage could turn into this immersive event. Shoshona Bean (who played Elfiba in Wicked) performed for us. Every single detail was on point! From the lighting to the sequined table linens, and incredible flowers. No detail was overlooked!
The David Tutera Experience
After an incredible weekend, we are so excited and motivated for the upcoming wedding season! We highly recommend the David Tutera Experience for any planner or vendor looking to up-level their business!
As Walt Disney said: “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
Vendors:
Host venue/catering- Four Seasons Resort Orlando @fsorlando
Off Site Venue- Dr. Phillips Center For The Performing Arts @drphillipsctr
Flower Supplier- Jet Fresh flowers @jetfreshflowers
Wines- One Hope Wines @onehope
Travel Coordination - Luxury Destination Travel @luxurydestinationtravel
Printed goods/signage/paper- Dogwood Blossom Stationery @dbsinvitations
Floral Artistry Class - Tailored Twig @tailoredtwig
Floral Artistry & Decor- Raining Roses @raining_roses_productions
Coordination- Whitney Carillon Events @whitneycarillonevents
Photography - Victoria Angela Photo @victoriaangelaphotography
Cinematographer- Luxecine' @luxecine
