September 2024 has been an exciting month for the luxury events industry, with the inaugural RSVP Club American Symposium taking place in New York. As a British wedding planner in the US attending the event as a member AND speaker, I’ve been reflecting on what a wonderful thing it is to be a part of – and everything I learnt and gained from the experience, all of which I can apply to planning weddings in the future of my own business.
RSVP Club is a networking organisation for planners, suppliers and venues in the luxury events industry. It provides regular opportunities for us to connect, collaborate and learn from one another, and since becoming a member I have built incredible relationships with some of the industry’s most outstanding players. Being involved in RSVP has really helped the growth of Elegante by Michelle J, and so too has the club grown – now into the American industry.
I was privileged and honoured to be invited to attend the RSVP New York symposium as a speaker (the only British one!), and they really outdid themselves with the venue, theming and decor. When the event industry hosts, they really do it well! Held in the prestigious Rainbow Room at the top of the Rockerfeller Centre, the event was themed for The Beatles with the dress code ‘a touch of Carnaby’. As a Brit in New York, this was pretty special! Views of the Hudson River and iconic Manhattan were our backdrop.
Each speaking session was interactive, with a 20 minute session followed by 10 minutes for Q&A – but these sessions are not about how to plan a wedding, rather about how to improve the way we run our businesses and look after ourselves while doing it. It’s all about ensuring we are (and remain) the best in the business. The session I hosted was all about preventing burnout, which is a hot topic in the wedding industry. We regularly work on events that run until the early hours of the morning, oversee big builds and complex logistics and timelines, and don’t get many days off during the season. It’s easy not to look after ourselves and end up getting burnt out.
We also tend to lose sight of what we need to charge and how we need to grow our businesses, and part of my message is that success doesn’t need to be measured by how stressed and burnt out we are, and it shouldn’t be glamorised. I talked about how to handle this, including building a great team, putting in place systems and processes, and making sure we take time out for self care and wellbeing. These are all things I have implemented at Elegante by Michelle J in order to continue to grow without detriment to my mental or physical health.
There were also speaking sessions on the growth of social media content creators and how they should be integrated into a wedding, something that is more developed in America, as well as the power of saying no and not taking on weddings that aren’t a good fit. There was even a session on meteorology and how this has now become a service available for the wedding industry. I heard and learnt about so many things that I can take from the US wedding industry and apply to my own business and UK events at large.
On day two we were invited to the gala dinner, which was a real masterclass in event build and design. Themed around the Met Ball, everyone dressed glamorously and began the event by walking the red carpet. Designed by Jen Gould and produced by Norma Cohen and Colin Cowie, no detail was spared and the whole thing was awe inspiring. Not only was it incredible to see, it also showed the contrast and differences between US and UK events. For example, the whole flow of the evening is different with a big emphasis on the bar and entertainment, whereas in the UK the food takes more of a starring role at a wedding.
For a British wedding planner in the US it was fascinating to see the similarities and differences in the way we host, structure and design events – all of which can be applied to weddings. I learnt so much from my American colleagues and now feel well-connected with the best of the industry across the pond, and can bring so much of this knowledge and way of doing things to my couples’ weddings here in the UK.
You can visit my Instagram page @elegantbymichellej to see more of the RSVP Symposium. With huge thanks to all the wonderful speakers I shared the stage with, as well as everyone involved in putting together this show-stopping event.
Images by Anastasiia Photography