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In 1999, after a
career spanning nearly ten years as a professional wedding
consultant, Linda Kevich launched SuperWeddings.com - a popular
on-line wedding planning resource - in response to the lack of
accurate, reliable information about weddings available on the internet.
The internet was
home to many sites offering wedding-related content, some which were
very high profile, heavily backed by investors, and well recognized.
However, what visitors to those sites often failed to realize was
that most were started and operated by individuals who had no
professional background whatsoever in the wedding industry, and
no significant knowledge base on the subject matter prior to spotting
an 'opportunity' to cash in on the internet explosion which was
taking place in the late '90s and the highly profitable $45 billion
dollar wedding industry, by marrying the two. This lack of background
or qualification was apparent in the content of these sites to those
who were slightly more well versed on the subject matter.
Knowledgeable,
experienced wedding specialists - the people who REALLY KNOW weddings
and who have made them their life-long careers - were often taken
aback by the misinformation, inaccuracies, or blatantly bad advice
they saw on many sites. The publication of such content seemed
grossly irresponsible, given that the subject matter pertains to what
is generally thought to be no less than the most important day in a
person's life - a day when getting the details right is of dire
importance to the average bride-to-be.
It was this factor
which motivated Linda Kevich to bring SuperWeddings.com to the
internet as a source of quality, authoritative, accurate and reliable
wedding information and expertise which could be trusted. As an
accomplished leader in the wedding industry, weddings had been her
business long before the internet was even heard of. She
combined factual content with unique wedding ideas and inspiration,
and suddenly planning the perfect wedding became within reach for the
thousands of brides who flocked to the site each week.
In her role as
editor of SuperWeddings.com, Ms. Kevich was frequently contacted by
aspiring wedding consultants, as well as established consultants,
from all parts of the globe who sought her professional advice and
guidance. They often described their struggles and challenges in
finding adequate training and/or leadership in the still relatively
new wedding consulting profession. It became apparent to her that
even in the full ten years which had passed since she had launched
her own career, the field still lacked an appropriately intensive,
highly effective, and practical training program for wedding
consultants. Ms. Kevich was by that time a business consultant within
the wedding industry and had a successful practice providing
cutting-edge 'coaching' and marketing services to help existing
wedding professionals who needed guidance in making their businesses
stronger, more successful & effective. It was a logical
progression, then, that Linda Kevich formed The Professional
Development Division of Superweddings.com and, with a waiting list of
students already in place, launched the SuperWeddings
Certification Program for Wedding Consultants in 1999.
The program was
immediately a success. Embraced by both newcomers to the field and established
consultants who sought to improve upon their businesses, it provided
an indepth explanation of the concepts, methods, approaches, business
practices, and procedures required to succeed in establishing and
operating a wedding consulting business - many of the approaches
taught in the course were developed by Linda Kevich herself, and were
therefore highly unique to the training program. Throughout the
program, Ms Kevich shared her own personal cutting edge strategies
for success in the wedding consultant business in easily digestible,
bite-size pieces designed to literally draw a 'road map' for the
student. The intention: to make it virtually impossible for
any student who appropriately follows and applies the principals and
methods put forth to fail to establish an operational wedding
consulting business upon completion of the program.
With the number of
students enrolled in the program steadily growing, The Professional
Development Division of SuperWeddings.com was evolving into a strong
entity in and of itself. The need to establish an institution solely
devoted to the training, support, and ongoing professional
development of wedding professionals was soon recognized. One year
later Linda Kevich founded The International Institute of Weddings,
through which her training programs are now administered.
The entire focus
of the Institute in developing the training program, and later the
professional association, was to provide what every other
organization lacked, and to succeed where they fail. The
intent was to make the training material very precise in leading the
student through each and every essential step in establishing a
wedding consulting practice, building a solid reputation, and
providing exceptional service to clients. In addition to that, Ms.
Kevich recognized that there needed to be a strong element of
interactivity between student and instructor, so that the instructor
could become extremely familiar with the student's background,
objectives, local market situation, and their intended approach in
order to provide necessary suggestions, feedback, input, and guidance
in helping the student become established. The result is that this
program goes beyond being just a "course". Students
essentially have a business "coach" working with them,
monitoring what they are planning, and guiding them through the
process. The program has been very strategically structured to
literally lead the student through all of the most important stages
of becoming established WHILE they are learning, and while they have
the guidance and involvement of the instructor. Instructors review
the student's intended business approach - everything from the
services they plan to offer, what they plan to charge, how they plan
to promote, etc. The instructor also reviews with each student the
statistical data for their local market, making sure that their
business concept is appropriately tailored for the precise market
they are in to ensure the highest likelihood of success.
As the popularity
of the training program grew, we frequently heard from consultants
who felt their needs were not being met by existing professional
associations. The determination was made that the time had come to
provide consultants and wedding professionals with, not merely another
option, but a new option when it came to a professional
affiliation. The International Institute of Weddings Professional
Association offers fresh, young, progressive cutting-edge leadership
for wedding professionals who aspire to excellence and expect results
from their industry affiliations. The association is differentiated
from the rest by the very same qualities and factors which set the
training program apart from the rest - practical, powerful, in-depth
and easy to apply guidance, information, and leadership. We call it substance.
We feel strongly
that an industry association should be more than a logo to display
beneath your name. It must have the ability to build your confidence,
expand your knowledge, equip you with the tools you require for
success, prepare you with practical advice or information, and
empower you to grow your business. It should deliver tangible,
practical benefits which translate into results.
Today's
up-and-coming wedding consultants, the ambitious rising stars of the
industry, are progressive thinkers. They won't be passively satisfied
with "all talk and no action" from their professional
organization. They're asking, "Where's the substance?".
They're finding the answer with the International Institute of
Weddings. The wedding industry's professional association of tomorrow.
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