On Tuesday this week, President Barack Obama backed up his challenge to Americans this past February to take charge of our future by creating opportunity through higher education.

In a speech at Macomb Community College in Warren, Michigan, the President announced the American Graduation Initiative, a $12 billion commitment to strengthen community colleges that gear curriculum for the needed jobs of the future with a goal of graduating an additional five million people with degrees and certificates in the next decade.

Later that evening, students at Macomb Community College attending the summer session of The Wedding Planning Institute’s Certified Wedding Planner course met with their instructor Lisa Smith, owner of Gabbi Grace Events, to take charge of their future and continue their journey to making their wedding planning business dreams come true.

Certified Wedding Planner Student at Macomb CC

Every year, the wedding industry continues to grow as more and more people are getting married and more couples are seeking professional help to plan their perfect wedding day while maintaining a reasonable wedding budget. Certified Wedding Planners are trained to do exactly that and are strongly positioned to succeed in the economy of today and tomorrow.

If you have dreamed of planning weddings for a living or are just curious to see if you have what it takes to succeed in this rewarding field, take a tour of our online and classroom course curriculum at www.cwptour.com. Your future as a Certified Wedding Planner awaits!

Over the past couple months, everyone at The Wedding Planning Institute has been dedicated to upgrading our online curriculum and migrating to our new elearning server. For the most part, the work is done and the transition was a success. We want to thank all of our students, instructors, graduates, and vendors for their understanding and participation during this process.

To introduce our new format and allow prospective students to gauge whether becoming a Certified Wedding Planner is the right career choice, we have developed an online tour of our wedding planning certification course. To take the tour, simply click the image below or visit:

http://www.weddingplanninginstitute.com/tour.html

Please continue to give us feedback on how we are doing here in the blog comments, through our websites, or by email at admissions@weddingplanninginstitute.com.

Over the next couple months, we will continue to upgrade our websites and roll out new wedding planning continuing education courses and a new online community for our students, graduates, instructors, and partners.

So please take a few moments and take a tour of the new wedding planning certification course!

Apparently, even Kevin Jonas may not be safe.

The Original Jonas Brothers

While Disney, in addition to offering buyouts to 600 of its theme-park executives, is considering “right-sizing” the Jonas Brothers singing group, record numbers of layoffs continue in every state in the country. The Bureau of Labor Statistics just reported the national unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent, on the backs of nearly 600,000 newly lost jobs, in January. Over the last 13 months, the United States has lost over 3.6 million jobs. It is estimated that over 11 million Americans are currently out of work.

While the government attempts to help through economic stimulus, revamped health insurance rules, expanded layoff notification laws, or misguided business advice, it is ultimately up to each of us to bring enough value to our employer, our clients, or our career choice to survive the current recession. For current and aspiring Certified Wedding Planners, the value you bring to your client will determine your business results today as well as your business referrals tomorrow.

Job Losses in Recent Recessions

On the job seeking website, Career Builder, the advice given to help recession-proof a job can be directly translated into similarly protecting your wedding planning business.

1.      Seek out additional responsibility: An employee will take on different responsibilities and get involved in long-term projects. The Certified Wedding Planner business owner will offer a diverse menu of services ranging from simple to complex and insure she is responding to her clients’ every need.

2.      Be a team player: While an employee will proactively share information and resources to benefit the work of others, the CWP business owner will create a system of open communication with her clients to avoid any details being overlooked.

3.      Offer up ideas: Proposing cost-saving or revenue-enhancing ideas makes an employee invaluable to a company. Implementing cost-saving and value-enhancing wedding planning trends and techniques makes a CWP business owner invaluable to her clients.

4.      Toot your own horn: For the employee, it makes sense to highlight the accomplishments and contributions of herself and her peers. For the CWP business owner, it makes good business sense to satisfy clients to the extent that referrals and positive word-of-mouth buzz results from each event.

5.      Stay positive: Employees should ignore rumors and stay focused on their work. CWP business owners should recognize local and industry challenges and stay focused on improving their business offerings and results.

And Sometimes a Layoff is an Opportunity...

Whether you are an employee trying to avoid or survive a layoff or an employer trying to avoid making layoffs, the value of the relationship will determine the outcome. Whether you are a veteran Certified Wedding Planner or you are just learning how to become a wedding planner, the value of the relationships you create and maintain with your clients will determine the outcome of your business dreams.

Sacramento, CA – January 14, 2009 – Lovegevity’s Wedding Planning Institute (LWPI) provides a free wedding planning service that employs its graduates, saves brides and grooms money, and increases local wedding vendor business. Certified Wedding Planners are paid through partnerships with professional wedding vendors and offer their event planning services at no cost to engaged couples.

The program is designed to help aspiring and existing wedding planners start or grow their career while boosting local wedding businesses and reducing costs for brides and grooms. LWPI graduates work with bridal clients to select the best vendors to create their dream weddings. The Certified Wedding Planner is then paid by the vendor, allowing marriage-bound couples to stretch their wedding budgets further.

The Wedding Planning Institute’s Certification is internationally recognized by The Association for Wedding Professionals International and is offered through hundreds of accredited colleges as a classroom and online course. Students are trained by professional wedding planners and given the opportunity to assist at real weddings, tour venues, and network with wedding vendors.

“With the economy in crisis, it is imperative that companies such as ours innovate to help our clients and business partners. This program will save engaged couples an average of $1500 in wedding planning costs, insure that their wedding is planned professionally, and give our graduates a successful start to their career,” says Cho Phillips, founder and CEO of LWPI.

Wedding vendors and couples who are interested in working with the Free Certified Wedding Planner Program should visit www.Lovegevity.com. Individuals interested in becoming a certified wedding planner can enroll at www.WeddingPlanningInstitute.com.

The Wedding Planning Institute is a division of Lovegevity, Inc®, a national event planning agency. Founded in Omaha, NE in 1997 by Cho Phillips, Lovegevity has administrative offices located in Roseville, CA. The company helps thousands of couples each year plan for their wedding through a national network of Professional Certified Wedding Planners in an estimated 600 markets. Lovegevity’s Wedding Planning Institute exists to improve the skills of wedding and event planners with education and certification and provides opportunities to those seeking a career in the wedding planning industry.

For more information, contact Jerry Madson, at (877) 597-8166, ext. 912 or pr@lovegevity.com.

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Certified Wedding Planner (CWP) Career Track

Defined as the willful misappropriation, by a trustee, of a thing which had been lawfully delivered in confidence, this particular breach of trust concerned trusting brides- and grooms-to-be, their wedding money, and the owner of a wedding planning business named Custom Events.

In Jackson, Missouri yesterday, Michael Erzfeld, the wedding planner arrested in December on five counts felony credit card fraud, briefly appeared in court to waive his right to a preliminary hearing. He will return to court at the end of the month on separate felony charges of check fraud.

While Mr. Erzfeld’s alleged crimes involve stealing from customers of his defunct real estate class business, a half-dozen engaged couples have had to file lawsuits seeking the return of their wedding planning deposits when they should be spending their time preparing for their big day.

For the Certified Wedding Planner, there is no greater trust than that which is given by a bride- and groom-to-be. Beyond the trust of directing tens of thousands of wedding budget dollars, recommending the right goods and services to create their perfect wedding day, and handling countless wedding planning details, bridal clients trust with their hearts that the memories of their most important day will be handled in good faith.

They must rely on the planner’s word that the vendors and venues have been vetted. They need to believe that the planner is both competent and ethical. And they are potentially scarred for life when their trust is violated.

In a business where dreams are turned into reality, without trust there is nothing.

As promised yesterday, here are more pictures from the graduating Certified Wedding Planners at Delaware Technical Community College. Throughout their coursework, students presented their completed assignments to classmates to share their ideas and learn from each other, as well as from their instructor, Marlo Greene.

Presenting the Signature Wedding Theme

Utilizing the Design Board

Wedding Stationery

Wedding Decorations

Wedding Cake

Fun in the Classroom

Today we send out congratulations to our graduating Certified Wedding Planner students at Delaware Technical Community College! WPI Instructor Marlo Greene, owner of Regina Lesley Event Artistry, provided us with pictures of her most recent graduating class and some of their classroom presentations.

Delaware Tech CC Fall 2008 Graduating Class

From left to right: Taisha Ellington-Johnson, Erica Smith, Kishayra Lambert, Marlo Greene (Instructor), Rose Dagg, Pauline Ferzetti, Kathleen Rossiter, and Tracey Walker. Not pictured: Christy Dutkiewicz.

Taisha Ellington-Johnson of www.EllingtonEvents.com

Erica Smith at eesmith3@verizon.net

Kishayra Lambert of www.DreamRealEvents.com

Rose Dagg of www.TwoHeartsEvents.com

Pauline Ferzetti at caitlinkellyweddings@yahoo.com

Kathleen Rossiter

Christy Dutkiewicz

Tomorrow we will post more pictures from Marlo’s class, including shots of class projects the student’s created toward earning their Certified Wedding Planner designations.

Congratulations to all of our Fall 2008 CWP Graduates from around the world!