I am sure most of you are reading this blog post because you want to know what the heck a “CWEP” is, am I right??
CWEP stands for “Certified Wedding & Event Planner.” Over the spring semester, I completed a course with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) & Lovegevity Wedding Planning Institute (LWIP) to receive my certification. I successfully passed this course and am VERY excited to announce that I am now a CERTIFIED Wedding & Event Planner- WOOHOO!
Let me tell you- this was quite the process. I am having PTSD just thinking about this class. It was a LOT of work- especially on top of working full-time, running a business, and trying to maintain some resemblance of a social life lol. I know most of you can relate- life is just CRAZY sometimes. It was all worth it in the end, though!
Below is a pic from my first day of class 🙂
What was really awesome about this course, was that I was able to learn from other professionals in the industry and devote some much needed time to better develop components of my business and services. One component of the course that I enjoyed was our design project . Event design has been something I have wanted to further develop and this course really helped me to hone in on my creative abilities and how I can present an event design to clients. There is actually an Event Design Certification course offered by VCU & LWIP, which just might be the next item on my educational bucket list 🙂
As part of our design project in this course, we had to design a wedding for a “real” client. We were each partnered up with a classmate. I ended up being paired with our instructor because we had an odd number of students- no pressure or anything, guys! Within this project, we had to create mood boards for every aspect of the wedding from Anticipation (ie: everything leading to the event- invitations, welcome boxes/bags at hotels, save the dates, etc) to Attire, Atmosphere to Appetite, and Amusement to Appreciation (ie: how you will show your appreciation to your guests or they to you- favors, thank you cards, memory photos or chair for loved ones, etc). These are called the 8 A’s.
Below, is a sample of a series of mood boards I designed for each element of her “dream wedding.” (pro tip: click on the gallery below to see each individual mood board)
This design was created solely off of what she described to me. As you can see, she wanted something that was classic and timeless in black & neutrals. She told me that she loves moss and natural stone so The Mill at Fine Creek, pictured above, was obviously the best choice of venue given those elements. She loves modern typography, which is reflected in the signs & invitation suite. CoCo Chanel is a big fav, hence the perfume and table number design, and she said she loves Italian food and anything “mini” or bite sized. I died when I found the spaghetti & meatball bites- they were perfect!! The curve ball she threw me was that she loves skulls. I was SO excited when I found a garter with gold skulls on it. She actually met her love while on a haunted hay ride at the Ashland Berry Farm and this garter was the perfect way to tie their first date to their wedding day. I really enjoyed being able to take what was in her head and make it come to life and I cannot wait to do it with my KW Clients!
Now- I will say, this was a “faux” wedding and my partner was already married…but she loved my design so much that she wants to use it for her 20th wedding anniversary party!! SCORE.
I really enjoyed taking this class and what it showed me more than anything is that I have the ability to take this business as far as I want to…I just gotta GO FOR IT. All.
Photo creds go to my lovely co-worker + bestie, Jillian Carpenter 🙂
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