Say hello to Wendy

Ask Wendy...

Ask Wendy...

Say hello to Wendy, our new on-line bridal consultant. Do you have a question you just can't find the answer to? Well Wendy will help! We will have weekly updates to Wendy's page to start, updated every Monday. Get your questions in at least by Thursday evening so that she has enough time to get your answers. To submit a question just send it to info@kraldavetiye.gen.tr and put Wendy in the subject line.
So who is Wendy? I'll let her tell you...
"I have had my fingers in the wedding / special event industry for close to fifteen years. Here is how it happened:
While working as a mailman, sorry, mailwomen just does not sound right, my mother and the chef from our local hospital became partners in crime and purchased a café. My mother at the time was the catering supervisor for the same hospital. They had become known far and wide for their talents and the hospital began to market them out after hours for private affairs. After doing this for some time they made the decision that if they were going to work fifteen hours a day it was going to be for themselves and not the hospital. Enter the café.
I had previously helped Mom on catered events while she was still with the hospital. I couldn't, and still can't, boil water, so my interest was focused on the coordination and overall appearance of the event. After helping here and there for several months I knew I was ready to make the major
decision to quit my secure, well paid post office job and become an entrepreneur.
Our café held it's own nicely while the catering side of our business increased daily. After three years we made the decision to expand our building to include a banquet room. I dove headfirst into the new
addition. While my family worked away in the kitchen, I became a marketing queen. My sole purpose in life was to promote, organize, and oversee over function held in the banquet room and off premise catering company.
It soon became apparent that while our café was job security, it was limiting us to the events we could book. After many family discussions we closed our little café. It was the first time in nine years that we had Sunday's off.
I need to back up here a bit. Shortly after our banquet room opened up my father retired. Mom became jealous of his "free time" and she was soon to follow into retirement. That left us three "kids" to run the place. And I don't use the term kids lightly. My sister was nineteen, my brother was twenty and I was a ripe old twenty-seven. But we survived and grew by leaps and bounds.
Around this time I was approached by a property owner whom was interested in opening up their "backyard" to the public. They live on fifteen acres with a man made lake and three bubbling brooks. I knew it would be a hit without even thinking twice. Our agreement was that we would lease the
property from them for a per event price. The rest was up to me. Once again I put on my marketing hat and within six months I had every weekend of the upcoming year booked.
This is where my coordination skills were really put to the test. Weddings are in a classification all their own because of the emotion that is added. Add to that the uncontrollable outdoor environment and you have your hands full. I've carried off events in the rain, the wind, the horrible heat (112), without water when the well went dry, without power when seven of the western states went black, with hysterical brides, with intoxicated grooms, with demanding vendors, with unreasonable parents,
with gun toting secret service men, with fighting cowboys, and unwanted, uninvited guests. And through it all I have had the blessed ability to remain calm and take control. I have had the pleasure of working with brides that have had dream budgets, and those whose budgets truly gave
me a challenge. I even had a bride that modeled her entire celebration after that of Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson. And then there was the bride that gave me a figure and said she and her groom would show up but wanted nothing else to do with the planning!
And while all this was going on I was volunteering to be on community committees for annual fundraisers and banquets. I have had the fun of entertaining two and the overwhelming feeling that a crowd of 10,000 brings.

What a book I could write!"