As you may or may not be aware, in addition to planning luxury weddings and events across the UK we also cover parts of Europe. Last month Cranberry Blue was invited to take part in an exciting event called the ‘Destination Wedding Planners Congress, 2014’ (DWP) which took place in the beautiful Grand Resort Lagonissi in Athens, Greece. This was a strictly ‘by-invitation’ only event for up to 100 premium Wedding Planners from all over the world involved in destination weddings.
I arrived a day early to make the most of my time there, and certainly wasn’t disappointed as my room was an enormous bungalow on the beach which had beautiful views. The hotel complex is an exclusive luxury resort set in 72 acres of a lush green private peninsula, with numerous sandy coves encircled by the blue waters of the Aegean Sea. Within the resort there are a variety of venues that would be very well suited to different aspects of a wedding or celebration, from the rehearsal dinner, pre or post wedding pool party and BBQ and of course the wedding day itself. My favourite spot was the Veghera Club situated at the far end of the island on two levels. The overall vibe is what I would describe as quite ‘Ibiza-esq’ and the décor is based around being on the bough of a large yacht.
Image by Cranberry Blue
Images courtesy of Grand Resort Lagonissi
The congress got off to a brilliant start when I headed down for breakfast. The hotel was surprisingly quiet as it was so early, but to my surprise tennis player Novak Djokovic made an appearance which absolutely made my day as I’m a huge fan!
The action-packed two day event included a welcome drinks reception, keynote presentations & panel discussions on a variety of topics such as future trends, cross cultural celebrations and the hottest destinations for weddings this year to name a few. We got to meet and network with an array of superb suppliers to the wedding and event industry who were all of a very high standard, and our focus was on Italy and France. It was also a great opportunity to meet and socialise with fellow Wedding Planners such as Diann Valentine and David Beahm from the US, Christina Holt from South Africa and of course some very well know faces in the industry from London.
Images courtesy of Grand Resort Lagonissi
It wasn’t all hard work though, throughout the event we were thoroughly looked after and had some superb ‘working’ lunches on the terrace, and on the last night the hotel held a gala dinner with a Greek theme. The restaurant was in an idyllic location on another peninsula of the island and we were entertained by fireworks and an authentic Greek band and dancers. It didn’t take long for a huge ‘gaggle’ of Wedding Planners to join in and the party continued until late into the night!
Images courtesy of Grand Resort Lagonissi
The result of the event was that we’ve developed some existing contacts as well as made new ones, and we have already arranged a research trip to Paris in September in conjunction with the Four Seasons George V. I’d like to say a very big thank-you to the team at QnA International and the Grand Resort Lagonissi for organising such a good event and we’re looking forward to the next one!
If you’re considering a wedding abroad then do get in touch and we’d be delighted to discuss your ideas so far and how we could help. Feel free to email us at enquiries@cranberryblueweddings.co.uk or call 0207 947 4088.
