Engage!12 :: The Breakers – Recap: Day 1

19 Dec 2012

Last week, The Breakers hosted engage!12 :: The Breakers, the 10^th anniversary engage! event. The luxury wedding business summit – founded by the amazingly talented duo Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce of Engaging Concepts – brings together 250 of the wedding industry’s elite for three days of engaging, inspiration and excitement.

We shared the wrap video already and posted like coverage on our Twitter and Instagram– but there is a whole lot of fabulous to recap, so we’ll start with Day 1…

Day 1 of engage!12 kicked off with Registration in the Gold Room, Opening Session in the Mediterranean Ballroom and a Southern Chic Welcome Party on the Ocean Lawn.

:: All images by Elan Artists, Scott Clark Photo and Chellise Michael Photography ::

The Breakers Gold Room served as the “Wedding Lounge” for attendees to register, pick up their engage!12 bag full of incredible goodies from Gifts for the Good Life, relax and enjoy some Tangerine Tango-inspired treats.

The Opening Session was held in the Mediterranean Ballroom, where each attendee received an orange clipboard with a stack of special paper for taking notes, jotting down big ideas and sketching inspiration.

Rebecca and Kathryn started engage! in June 2008 and have since hosted nine sold-out events, bringing together a combined total of over 1200 luxury wedding professionals attending from 45 states and 23 countries including across the US, Canada and the Caribbean and countries such as Australia, Great Britain, Ireland, Turkey and Mexico. Also sold-out, engage!12 :: The Breakers celebrates their 10^th anniversary event.

Celebrity Eventiste Marcy Blum kicked off the engaging with her advice on how to change and adopt. Our favorite: “You can’t keep doing what you’ve always done and have the same results. The world has changed and you gotta change with it.” On maintaining great relationships with vendors: “You have to share your knowledge with friends in the industry! There will come a day when you can’t find something online…”

Former Editor-in-Chief of Town & Country Magazine Pamela Fiori spoke about how TCM adapted over the years: “When we started featuring more diverse people, we began to receive more diverse [Real Wedding] submissions.” Pamela also gave each attendee a copy of her new book, “The Spirit of Palm Beach.”

Legendary Wedding & Event Planner Harriette Rose Katz of Gourmet Advisory Services spoke about passion: “Ask yourself what you absolutely love doing – that’s your signature. Our passions strengthen out work, make your greatest strength the distinguishing factor of your business.” Harriette also said The Breakers is her “absolute favorite place to work” – we are ever so honored!

CEO of The Party Goddess, Marley Majcher (left) told the audience that failure is not final: “To survive failure you must acknowledge it, face it, glean the message and help some else!”

Internationally recognized speaker Simon T. Bailey (right) spoke on inspiration and possibilities: “Marley is right, failure is not final. Failure is feedback — and feedback is the breakfast of champions.” He ended with a great message to all attendees: “I love you and I believe in you…”

Attendees celebrated Day 1 with boots and bowties at the Southern Chic Welcome Party! The party was held on the Ocean Lawn under an incredible clear tent, built by our partners at TentLogix. Inside, the tent sparkled thanks to the lighting experts at Hy-Lite Productions.

Click here to see all the fun Step-and-Repeat & Where Ya’ll From? shots & tag yourself in our Facebook gallery!

No Southern Chic Welcome Party is complete without specialty cocktails, delicious food, a Step-and-Repeat and a fun way to answer: “Where Ya’ll From?” Special thanks to Josh Friedman (top left with The Breakers Joan Bever) for supplying engage!12 with incredible entertainment from Elan Artists.