Today we’re talking about Engage, the luxury wedding business summit that happens twice a year in breathtaking locations around the globe. I’ve been a couple times, and they are definitely an experience like no other. The swag and gifting experience by itself are stellar and the over-the-top wow factor of each meal, each breakout, and each painstaking design detail are unmatched.

I’ve always wondered how it all comes together. How do you put on event that wows people who put on ultra-luxury events for a living?

Let's find out from Tara Fay, Dublin-based wedding planner who has led the vision for two recent Engage Summits.

What happens when couples inquire (we get the inquiries!), but we’re not booking as many weddings as we want? Or what if couples are only wanting to book our smallest packages?

Today we're talking to Ideaction Consulting's Sam Jacobson, who gives us 4 reasons our inquiries are NOT converting into clients.

A couple weeks ago, we went to The Merrimon Wynne Winter Wedding Showcase. The Merrimon Wynne is a historic home in downtown Raleigh that’s been converted into a gorgeous wedding venue. Inside the house and in the carriage house outside, engaged couples were walking around looking for the right wedding vendors for their big day. And if they looked like they might be willing to answer some questions about their wedding vendor search, we asked them to come on the show.

As much as we all love the events industry, one major challenge is that we’re service based. We need to physically be doing something to make money. Planning the wedding, DJ’ing the bat mitzvah, taking the headshots. And when every event is over, we need to keep moving on to the next one. In the service industry, there’s no real way to make money while you sleep. Or is there?

TikTok is a platform I have not invested my time in outside creating my profile because it’s yet another app that I feel like I have to check, and to be honest, TikTok just feels like one more thing I have to do.

But I keep hearing about how great it is - from other educators that I love and respect, from wedding pros, and from my hair person… obviously - and not just for funny videos or going down weird rabbit holes. There are recipes, packing hacks, how to videos galore, and so much more - so they tell me.

But more importantly, because there are many people like me who are a little intimidated by TikTok, right now it’s an untapped market for ads.

So let's find out all about TikTok ads from Mark Chapman, President of the I Do Society.

The Unraveling series, where amazing and inspiring entrepreneurs share the unraveling of old habits and mindset that holds us back, and the rebirth of new. Today we feature Brian Green, Chief Event Architect and Creative Visionary of By BrianGreen LLC based in Atlanta.

Many of you are running your own business, and that’s something you should be extremely proud of. It takes a lot of guts to step out on your own and take your vision for a company and turn it into your reality. It doesn’t matter whether you’re side hustling for extra spending money or you have dozens of employees - you’ve taken the risk and I applaud you for it.

Megan and Jason Gillikin talk about their wins for 2022, their failures, word-of-the-year, and goals for 2023. Tune in and reflect along. Share your 2022 reflections on social media @weddingsforreal.