SHANNON CRONIN PHOTOGRAPHY

WIPA Education Event

Carmel Valley Ranch

At the time of this event, I was working at Carmel Valley Ranch as their Senior Wedding Sales Manager, overseeing the wedding subset within the Catering Department. Also serving on the board of directors for our WIPA SFBA Chapter, I knew Carmel Valley Ranch would be the perfect host venue for one of our upcoming education events.

The Venue

Sitting on 500 acres, Carmel Valley Ranch provides multiple indoor & outdoor venues to choose from, a newly released Weddings-inspired Activities Program, a truly farm-to-table culinary experience, and a unique Carmel Valley Ranch Artisans Collection. A match made in heaven!

The Process

To head up the design for this beautiful springtime event, I looked no further than my dear friend Eileen Lacey, of E Events Co. Her aesthetic and eye for detail fit perfectly to transform a standard ceremony location into a fun and festive strolling reception. In addition, Eileen and her hand-picked team transformed a corporate-prone ballroom into a lush and beautiful scene fit for any wedding event professional to spend the day learning about how to optimize their company's digital footprint.

To maximize all the wonderful highlights Carmel Valley Ranch has to offer for weddings & events, I collaborated closely with numerous divisions of the resort, ensuring all guests would enjoy not only a fun & educational WIPA event but really experience all that the resort has to offer. We provided special rates for attendees to stay pre & post-event, provided unique (nightly) gifts for all who wished to stay over, as well as special rates for enjoying the spa & golf while in town.

Additionally, since we are located 2 hours south of San Francisco, I enlisted neighboring resorts Quail Lodge and Hyatt Carmel Highlands to create a multi-day set of events, as well as set up transportation to and from each location. With making the drive down, it was extremely important to me that attendees have the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the area.

Event Day

We welcomed over 100 industry professionals to spend the day with us and it couldn't have been more magical. We curated house-crafted cocktails and live-action food stations featuring our house Artisans, enjoyed lounge vignettes & lawn games, and we even had a relaxation station set up where the amazing spa staff performed neck and hand massages.

Once it was time for the educational portion of the day, we invited attendees up to one of the ballrooms, where everyone enjoyed a farm-to-table family-style luncheon and heard from our Keynote Speaker, Julie Novack of Partyslate.

Afterward, we launched Wedding Wars, a brand-new set of wedding-inspired activities created by the Carmel Valley Ranch Activities Team. Not only was it a perfect way for industry leaders to let loose and have some fun, but a perfect way to have these professionals be able to experience the activity for themselves and in turn promote to their future couples.

Positively a once-in-a-lifetime event!