BIRTHDAY PARTIES
January 2023: the wedding march
My musings…
Happy holidays and cheers to 2023. I am coming into the new year on very high note. Maybe I’m more floating into it on cloud 9.
As I reflect on the past 12 months, I realize they have held some of the most challenging times and some of the best moments in my entire life, but because it’s a happy time (I did just get married!), I will stick to the positive highlights for this month’s newsletter.
Around the time of Christmas 2021, Mike made the goal of booking 25 events in 2022 (not necessarily hosting 25 events that year but getting 25 reservations for the venue). When he said that, I looked at him as if he had sprouted a second head. I mean, we barely had a viable venue, let alone a venue that actually looked good.
However, as is usually true, Mike predicted well, and we finished the year with a total of 29 bookings, 13 of which we hosted in 2022. While we have many more plans and projects for the venue, I am quite proud of this accomplishment. I thought ours would be the first wedding, but we were number 11.
I can’t begin to describe how grateful I am to all of the brides, grooms, and party hosts who have trusted us and saw our vision, even when there wasn’t much tangible to see. To the vendors who have given us their time, efforts, resources, and tips, we could not have done this without their help. And to our family and friends who have contributed in countless ways, we are so happy that you are our village.
Photo Credit: Michelle & Pete Photo & Film.
In addition to an overall excellent first year in business (in my humble opinion), Mike and I also just celebrated our wedding on New Year’s Eve. It was perfect. Magical. Heartwarming. Filled with tenderness. I loved all of the imperfectly perfect moments. Everything about it blew my expectations out of the water.
I could go on and on about our wedding, but for this newsletter, I am going to keep it sweet and simple since this is the last day of the kids’ winter break with us.
That, however, leads me to something exciting we’re launching later this month. With the suggestion from our marketing team, Mandale Magazine, we are going to start issuing an additional blog post each month highlighting a wedding or celebration that took place in our venue
The idea behind this is to share insight, resources, and guidance for future party hosts. For example, if a couple comes to us and has the vision for a bohemian wedding, we could direct them to posts that highlight bohemian weddings hosted in our venue. And I like any excuse to write more. That will start to be issued on the 2nd Thursday of the month, and I will start next week with our own wedding!
Updates for TheGoWM…
This month, we plan to:
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Continue hosting regularly scheduled open houses and tastings
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Finish Live Oak Bar (our new bar) that sits between our cocktail and reception hosting spaces
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Host a birthday party and two weddings
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Brainstorm ideas for hosting more community events in the second half of 2022
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Issue the first newsletter highlighting previous weddings and events (starting with ours next week!)
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.
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Share our tastings with any newly engaged couples or party hosts you know in the South Florida area!
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Please subscribe to this monthly newsletter if you haven’t and share if you like what you read!
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Please follow us on our social media pages: Instagram (@thegardenswm) and Facebook.
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Please engage (share, like, comment, save) with our posts on social media.
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Help us brainstorm events we can host in our space outside of private parties (e.g., wellness events, art galleries, concerts, gaming events, etc.).
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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
“You will find that most times you have a vision of what it is that you want to accomplish and that’s most important. It allows you to work backwards and make cuts and changes that will still reflect the overall outcome you wish to achieve. What good is splurging on one particular item if it doesn’t result in the overall outcome you were trying to create?