I am on the steering committee for the Association of Bridal Consultants Greater Los Angeles Chapter and Beth Helmstetter and I are responsible for putting on educational workshops bi-monthly for wedding vendors. Beth planned the last workshop on blogging at Andaz with Liene Stevens of Splendid Communications and I headed up this month’s workshop with Mary Dann.

The fabulous Viceroy in Santa Monica was our host venue this month, and it was a treat! We were in the Bristol Room with the patio attached and we started off the evening mixing, networking, and listening to the fun tunes played by DJ Martin Felipe of Invisible Touch Events (Salt-n-Pepa’s “Push It” was my guilty favorite for the night). The Viceroy fed us well and we settled in for an inspiring evening with legendary coordinator Mary Dann of Mary Dann Wedding and Party Coordinators. Mary’s topic was “The Art of Delegation” and she spoke about the ways to grow your team by bringing in interns, assistants, etc. The Q&A session after the DVD she presented was unanimously the best part of the evening. It seems like almost all of our 55 attendees were able to ask some really meaty questions that were beneficial to all of us.

The whimsical and fun flower arrangements were provided by the incredibly talented Susan Tom-Wellis of Peony and Plum. Her work is fabulous and she is a dream to work with!
Images were captured by the talented and vivacious Ellice Schwartz of ES Photography and a five minute video of a wedding that Mary Dann had recently done was shown by videographer John Goolsby of Orange County Video (he is also the 2009 Co-Director Inland Empire Association of Bridal Consultants).
It was a great evening and we all had a good time catching up with friends, making new contacts, and learning ways to grow our team in order to better serve our clients. Thank you to the vendors who donated their time and a huge thank you to Alison Montgomery of the Viceroy for making this happen!