August 2023: a labor of love

My musings…

 Last month I did not send a newsletter. This month I thought about skipping out, as well. In the frenzy of our season of down-time-but-down-time-didn’t-actually-happen, the importance of staying consistent (at least with our newsletters) moved down the priority list.

In that same vein, I have so much to write about that I can’t think of anything to write about. And so I’ve entered into a state of existential reflection in this newsletter about what it should be and if it makes sense to write about my random musings going forward or if I should stick to just venue and event-planning-related topics.

Our venue is a labor of love for Mike and me. It’s not just a passion project but a venture into which we pour our creative energies, on which we spend our quality time, and through which we connect with amazing people in our community. We’ve sewn elements of our passions and identities into the fabrics of the venue’s tapestry, and as such, I often think of our newsletters as no different.

If someone books our venue, I think that at least a small part of it is because of the (hopefully) personalized tours and individualized attention we provide to wedding couples and party hosts who visit us. Afterall, planning a special event like a wedding requires hours of time with us and other vendors, so hopefully hosts like the service providers they’ve hired.

These newsletters have been a platform for me to not only write, which I greatly enjoy doing, but also to provide a glimpse into us and our venue and give a different perspective to prospective clients on who exactly it is they’re signing up with.

However, I realize that this kind of content isn’t exactly what people are looking for when they’re excitedly narrowing down their list of venues as they begin the event or wedding planning process. I have so many tips and pieces of advice for planning an event or wedding that I could start sharing more of (outside of #ThreeTipsThursday, which I plan to bring back for this upcoming wedding season). I could also do a better job of sharing more updates on the venue.

I could I could I could…all that to ask: What do you want to see in our monthly newsletters? In a sea of unending emails, I want this content to be relevant to our audience. Can you please fill out this survey to help us provide you with content that you want to see? (We do not collect email addresses and you do not need to sign into Google to complete!) Thank you in advance!

 

Updates for TheGoWM…

This month, we plan to:

  • Continue to work on some of the projects we have around the venue, such as the Live Oak Bar and the Woods Tribute Library, both of which are almost done (this is still here because the past two months have been SO hot, SO humid, and SO rainy!)
  • Officially launch our new website along with some amazing resources and materials for party hosts and engaged couples
  • Brainstorm ideas for hosting more community events in 2023 + 2024
  • Add in a pavilion at the entrance for our valet services
  • Add in a storage unit in the back to hold more of our rentals
  • Share more tips and advice on our Instagram page
  • Get our Pinterest page back up and running (this has been on here for MONTHS…any Pinterest tips out there for someone who is dragging their feet on this?!)

Our Asks…

This wouldn’t be a community space without the help from, well, our community! If you can assist us with any of the following, we’d greatly appreciate it.

  • If you have been to our venue and enjoyed your experience, a review for us would go a very long way! If you feel inclined, these are the sites on which we get the most traffic: Google, Wedding Wire, and TheKnot.
  • Please follow us on our social media pages: Instagram (@thegardenswm) and Facebook.
  • Please engage (share, like, comment, save) with our posts on social media. Let us know if there is any content you’d like to see more of from us!
  • Help us brainstorm events we can host in our space outside of private parties (e.g., wellness events, art galleries, concerts, gaming events, etc.).
  • Book a tour if you’re in the area and would like to see our space!

Thanks for tuning in this month!

-Emily, Co-Founder, The Gardens of Weber Manor