Michelle and Tamara at Fab Fete Event Planning

Posted on November 4, 2020November 5, 2020 by admin

Garine: Hello! My name is Garine, I am the social media and marketing manager at Chair Decor. I wanted to first start by asking you a couple basic questions. What is your name, and the name of your company?

Michelle: Michelle Garber and Tamara Niyazov- Fab Fete Event Planning

Garine: How long have you both been in the industry?

Michelle: We have both been in the planning industry for 15 years

Garine: That is an amazing amount of experience, you must have seen so many different fun trends! What have your experiences been during COVID?

Michelle: It has actually been very busy during Covid and especially during lockdown. We weren’t busy coordinating actual events, but we were very busy moving all of our summer weddings to later in the year or to 2021/2022. Each and every one of our weddings has at least 8-10 vendors which need to be contacted, confirmed and moved to the new date. That kept us quite busy during the 6 months of Covid! Luckily we are back to planning and coordinating beautiful events.

Garine: It has been quite a ride, I could only imagine the immense amount of concerned couples needing help with everything. What do think the long term impact of COVID will have on the wedding/event industry? What does this mean for the future of the event industry?

Michelle: We think that there has been a bit of a silver lining with Covid. Many people thought they needed to have this uber luxurious, large weddings but with Covid causing events to downsize in terms of guest counts, we think it really gave people a new perspective of the way weddings can be celebrated. Smaller, micro weddings have proven to be just as or even more stunning then the uber large weddings. There is something to say about an intimate wedding with everyone you are closest with. It has certainly given us more of an appreciation for those types of events and we truly love planning and coordinating those micro weddings.

Garine: I know what you mean! It is a lot more intimate and has a different type of beauty that we have all come to enjoy over the past few months. Are there any exciting new projects you’d like to share?

Michelle: We actually started to offer backyard movie experiences for our past clients and new clients. We have large inflatable screens that we rent out along with popcorn machines and a dedicated Audio visual tech who comes for set up, stays during the movie and breaks it down. It has proven to be a big hit for our clients. People are doing it for bachelorettes, birthday parties or just fun movie nights for kids and/ or adults. There are some amazing add-ons that we have offered as well- snow cone machines, blanket/pillow takeaways for each guest, muskoka chair rentals, smores stations, ice cream carts, catering packages. It’s definitely something that has generated a buzz and we have been really busy with that.

Garine: Thank you so much for sharing! That is such a fabulous idea; Thanks for joining me today, and I am so excited to see all the fun exciting things you have planned come to life!

Rebecca Chan at Rebecca Chan Weddings & Event

Posted on October 17, 2020October 17, 2020 by admin

Garine: Hello! My name is Garine, I am the social media and marketing manager at Chair Decor. I wanted to first start by asking you a couple basic questions. What is your name, and the name of your company?

Rebecca: My name is Rebecca Chan, and I’m the owner and lead planner at Rebecca Chan Weddings & Events.

Garine: How long have you been in the industry?

Rebecca: I’ve been planning weddings since 2009, and was in the non-profit sector planning events prior to that.

Garine: Non-profit sector, that is such an amazing place to start in this industry! What have your experiences been during COVID?

Rebecca:

Early on in March and April when the pandemic was declared, we spent a lot of painstaking hours discussing rescheduling plans with our couples who were immediately impacted. We had a couple destination weddings that were supposed to happen at the end of March and mid-April who had to figure out new plans really quickly. Shortly after, we had to figure out rescheduling plans with all our other couples, as all our clients started to realize this pandemic was here to stay and not just a short term issue. I later held a workshop on dealing with issues with your venue with my lawyers (it was very well attended, which just shows the frustration that a lot of couples were facing!).

Once we had a handle on putting out fires and rescheduling fiascos, our team started brainstorming how we could still offer our services during the impending quarantine time. That’s when we came up with the White Glove Wedding Delivery service for couples who wanted to celebrate or elope. It was a turnkey service that offered flowers, cake, bubbly and an officiant, and it was quite popular as a gift and for couples who wanted to tie the knot. I also held online workshops for industry professionals for business development, along with group fitness classes for industry friends to keep active.

It seemed like every few weeks we have had to pivot our services and packages, depending on the government restrictions. The small wedding delivery packages were keeping us busy for a bit. We are now putting a focus back on traditional planning services, but especially for micro weddings. It’s been a whirlwind of a summer, but it’s been rewarding to be able to help couples celebrate despite it all.

Garine: It has been such a whirlwind experience, for everyone involved. So happy to see you continue to help couples in a safe way. What do think the long term impact of COVID will have on the wedding/event industry? What does this mean for the future of the event industry?

Rebecca: It seems like the virus will be around for a little while, so I suspect micro weddings and ever-changing wedding plans will be the norm. Additional measures for health and safety will likely be the new standard moving forward, as well as virtual event offerings. In terms of the industry, I think the creative and resourceful businesses will adapt and survive. Not everyone will make it through. I also think it will take a few years for the industry to get back to the way it was pre-covid.

Garine: With your previous responses, it is clear you have taken a very creative approach on this situation and will easily adapt and thrive through this pandemic. Are there any exciting new projects you’d like to share?

Rebecca: Earlier in the summer we ran a contest with Miller High Life to help three couples Canada-wide with their weddings. Two of the weddings are happening in a couple weeks, where one of them has had to change their 100-person wedding to a 25-person wedding with a drive through for all the other guests. We will begin to see more of these unique and out-of-the-box events as we move forward, and I am excited to see what happens. We are always working on something new! You’ll have to stay tuned to find out.

Garine: Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today! You always create the most beautiful events; we are excited to see all the new things to come!

Veronique Caron- Rebecca Chan Weddings & Events

Posted on October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 by admin

Garine: Hello! My name is Garine, I am the social media manager and marketing manager at Chair Decor. I wanted to first start by asking you a couple basic questions. What is your name, and the name of your company?

Veronique: Veronique from Rebecca Chan Weddings & Events

Garine: How long have you been in the industry?

Veronique: I have been in this industry for 6 years

Garine: You have done so much during that time as well! What are your experiences with Chair Decor?

Veronique: They are very detail oriented and anytime I have an event with them it’s always seamless. If ever anything isn’t perfect they are always there to problem solve to help make it better.

Garine: We are so happy to hear, we do absolutely everything we can to help our partners have the ideal experience! What do think the long term impact of COVID will have on the wedding/event industry. what does this mean for the future of the event industry.

Veronique: The longer team impact would be that there will not be any weddings larger than a 100 people, I think the new norm will be micro weddings for 50-100 people. I think that if the guest count does increase I think people will be very hesitant to go, without their being a vaccine.

Garine: Yes of course, Especially due to the recent spike. Seeing micro events are what is the new norm, are there any exciting new projects you’d like to share in order to celebrate in a creative/safe way during this pandemic?

Veronique: Our team is doing/ have been doing a white glove delivery service, it’s a turn key service to help clients celebrate their wedding in the comfort of their own home. We’ve also started an on location service and have partnered up with different venues so for those that would like to get married at a venue, we’ve created some packages for those as well.

https://www.rebeccachan.ca/white-glove-weddings/

Garine: Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with us today! We are so excited to see you continue to grow and help couples enjoy their wedding in a safe way!