WIPA Q3 Event: Below Deck Conference

Every quarter WIPA Austin ( Wedding Industry Professionals Association ) puts on an eduction event but this quarter they did their first conference or at least the first since The Stylist Abroad has been a member. To put it simply I was blown away by the valuable education and of course loved connecting with our fellow wedding vendors.

There were three main speakers who delivered their education throughout the day. First up was Adrienna McDermott with Ava & The Bee. Her segment was titled “ Are You Ready For The Digital Vetting Era?”. While we have a strong online presence there was information that could make our presence better and more effective. Especially when catering to Gen Z couples planning their wedding and for our new home base of Austin Tx that we serve. The second educator was Shanna Skidmore teaching ”Smart Money Moves; How Top Wedding Pros Plan Their Finances like a CFO”. Money or rather numbers is not always the friend of creatives but she gave tangible, accessible steps that even the most cooky Aquarius could latch on to in hope they can better define what success means to them. The third educators were the duo James x Schultz teaching “ Success Looks Nothing Like You Think It Does”. During which they dove into the fact that just because a business has gained some success the work doesn’t actually stop. Instead of a landing pad there’s always the need for connection and drive.

WIPA President Jenny Demarco

Along with the speakers we had 2 breakout connection secessions with our fellow Austin wedding professionals. There were prompted questions and our answers were intended to create a shared learning experience. It’s nice to know that as a wedding hair and makeup team who are not in a salon we can still find camaraderie in our wedding community.

There was also a Legacy Panel of Austin Wedding Professionals who have been in the industry for decades to speak on longevity in the industry. The panel consisted of Skeeter Miller ( owner of County Line), Delores Crum ( owner of Premiere), Stacy Hoyt ( director of events at KMFA Classical 99.5), David Kurio ( florist - David Kurio Designs ) and Diane and Gary Smith ( Cresent Films). It was interesting and insightful to hear from wedding professionals who have seen so much.

A good conference would only be so good if there weren’t actionable steps. I, ( Ashley) am a copious note taker and throughout the event and days to come I came up with takeaways to implement to better serve you, the clients and to help future clients find us. We will be taking steps such as blogging more often to help Chat GPT find and recommend our services since it pulls different information that Google SEO. We realize couples are integrating AI into their wedding search and planning process so we’d hate for you to miss out because the AI did have enough data points on us. We’re also going to be adding more reviews and diversify the reviews between pages. We have OODLES of reviews but they’re focused on select pages. We’d like to make sure they can be found on any page you land on. Also we want to make sure your needs and concerns are address, so whether you’re all about the feels or a logistical maven there will be the voices of happy couples and vendors singing our praises for just that.

Connecting over lunch

I want to give a special thanks to all the wedding vendors who donated their services and time to make this day possible. It was hosted at The Line Hotel in downtown Austin. Paige Vaughn Photography photographed the event while 718 Creative captures all the video. Planing and design was provided by Hawthorne and Poppy as well as Seven 8 Seven Events.

I know it’s not typical, not expected for hair and makeup companies to go to events like this or be super present in the wedding community events. Which I feel is a huge miss! Not only do I gain education but I foster connection. If I was a client I’d want someone who was not only on the top of their game but also worked seamlessly with the other vendors I had hired. Personally I think it’s an undervalued asset for you the (potential) client.