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I’ve tried to write this recap about 4 times and every time I come to a point where I’m at a loss for words. To put it bluntly, Engage! was the best experience I have had thus far in the wedding industry. With a hefty price tag ($2400 for registration, plus flight & accommodations), this conference was something I really had to plan for, but was also something that I had on my list of goals for personal & business growth. For the past three years, I’ve said “next year I will go” - so this year, I made it happen and signed up. And like I said last week, the experience was so amazing, I went and signed up for the winter session while I was still in Vegas. That’s how monumental this event was for me. Here’s a little bit more insight from my perspective, fabulous parties & swag aside, peppered with some of my favorite quotes that I heard through the presentations..

As many of you know, I’ve been working in the events industry for almost 10 years. I got my start in weddings fresh out of college, and I was hooked. I wasn’t sure how to make this passion of mine in to a career, but I knew, I just knew, that this was something I was meant to do. After years of planning special events in the corporate world, and putting my business marketing/communications degree to work, I finally had the chance to plan the event of a lifetime - our own wedding. It was then and there that the spark was re-ignited. I hate (strong word but I seriously hate) when people say the cliche “oh so you planned your wedding now you want to be a wedding planner?” That is so not how it happened for me. But you know what? It is how it happened for some people, so I really can’t stand when people knock it. Those who have started their own business know it’s about a lot more than pretty flowers & decor - it’s a ton of work, LLC filing, trademark filing, annual reports, book-keeping, etc. But for me, planning & designing my wedding (from across the country) was the best experience I’d had in a long time. I remembered what it felt like to love something so much that I wanted to do it every day. I blogged daily, sometimes a few times a day, about my experiences. I read up on all the wedding “trends” and news and what was happening. I wanted to live, breathe, sleep, eat, and drink weddings 24/7. I had a crazy no-one-can-stop-me passion to get my butt in gear and start my business rather than daydream about it. I remembered that feeling I had working weddings almost 8 years prior - and I knew this industry was for me. Lovely Little Details was born, and there was no turning back. And you know what? There’s something that no one in this industry ever talks about - and it’s about having a full-time job and managing your own business. Do you know how many people do that? A ton. And no one talks about it, because they don’t want you to a) think you can’t handle both, b) judge you because you can’t take the leap to make your part-time biz in to full-time, and c) because it’s not too much fun talking about powerpoint presentations that are due on Monday vs. flower orders that are due on Saturday. And for a long time, I was doing both. I had a great career in the corporate world, planning events and marketing plans for amazing clients. I learned so. much. That corporate world experience has been so incredibly beneficial for me both personally and on a business level, and being able to provide my clients with that insight and knowledge has been instrumental in getting LLD where it is today. But back to the story - I was also getting up at 4am for trips to the flower mart for my LLD events, then coming back with my orders to prep the blooms prior to my 7:30am conference calls for my corporate job. I would have days full of meetings, followed by afternoons & evenings devoted to Lovely Little Details clients, designing place cards or rendering tablescape mockups. Then I was trying to fit in quality time away from the computer. And it became too much for me to handle - I could never admit that I couldn’t do it all - but one day, I finally gave in. I was scared to say goodbye to the corporate world - but something had to give and that light inside me that made me smile like crazy and tear up at sentimental songs while driving to the flower mart at 4am and made me happy told me that I was making the right decision. I gave my notice to my corporate job and it was time for LLD to be my full-time gig. And my passion and drive and excitement and huge smile and swollen-day-after-working-a-wedding-feet have not slowed down since. But my ability to shut down the computer at 5:30 and cook dinner and take walks with my husband and dog has returned - and that is so important to me.

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, because it gives context to my experience at Engage!. For so long I had been living the corporate America life - working Monday-Friday and traveling several weekends for events, but I never had that feeling of belonging. I put 110% in to my work and had a great career - I loved my colleagues and made some great friendships. But I didn’t have that feeling. I actually didn’t know what that feeling was until my first trip to the flower mart. I didn’t know any vendors at that point and I felt silly asking a question about peonies to one of the guys working that morning. That guy is now one of my favorite people - he and his team are my “colleagues” now. As are my ladies at Paper Source, and my favorite peeps at Flax, and my friends at the farmers market. I suddenly had that feeling of belonging - like this is exactly where I was supposed to be, and what I was supposed to be doing, and it was OK if I didn’t know all the answers all the time. Unlike the online world where it is so easy to judge someone, in the real world, we are all in this together, and I found that there are like-minded individuals out there who are going through the same experiences as me, and who speak my language. These people are the exact people I was surrounded with during my experience at Engage!. From poolside chats with a new friend to nodding my head in agreement for presentation after presentation to a hilarious day by the pool with my new LA BFF - I finally felt like I belonged. I felt like my actions were justified - I had a great conversation with Abby Larson after lunch one afternoon and having her say “you’re doing a good job” made me believe it. I suddenly dropped my worries of who was saying what on twitter, or who blogged this and that. I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be, doing what I loved, and my drive to give my clients the absolute best experience was increased by about a thousand.

I’m not saying that Engage changed me because I believe it is up to you to change yourself - but I do know that I went in to the experience ready to absorb every piece of information and make changes based on what I saw fit, and how I understood the advice given to me. I treasured every single connection that I made and I can’t wait to work with some of these people in future events. Most importantly though, as star-struck as I was when I arrived, I realized that so many of my mentors and people I admire felt the same way as me. To have Elizabeth Messina say “follow your instinct even if you don’t know what that means” made me realize, we are all striving to be our best, and that standard is constantly evolving. To have Sharon Sacks (LOVE her) walking us through her client approach and so many others sharing their recipes for success made me realize - in a world full of duplication, there really is only one you. The resounding theme of the entire week’s presentations echoed that very sentiment - be you. Be the best you you can be, and don’t compare yourself to the person you think you should be.

So yes, the registration cost is high. And I’ve had several wedding pros contact me since returning from Vegas to see if it’s worth it. For me, the answer is a resounding yes, and you can bet my clients will benefit from my experience as well. As the sweet Sylvia Weinstock said, “your name is as good as your last party”. I’m striving to make sure every party I create is nothing short of awesome, and my clients’ experience is unforgettable.

Thank you Rebecca and Kathryn for pulling together the experience of a lifetime - can’t wait to see you all again in December :) If anyone has questions or wants more information, feel free to email me!