2. Istria Weddings Meet Up brought together people from the Croatian wedding industry
On April 21, at the Park Plaza Histria Hotel, a conference entitled 2nd Istria Weddings Meet Up was held. Co-organized by the Istria County Tourist Board and Weddings in Istria by LF, the conference brought together many people from all over Croatia to bring them closer to the concept of Indian weddings and how to publish fashion editorials. This is the second conference in a row, a niche product of the tourist community that has recognized the potential of the wedding industry and, within that, the development of Istria as a wedding destination.
For the first time, Meet Up had an international character, so the lecturers even came from America to share their many years of experience. Under the expert guidance of the moderator Jelena Vitasović, Istra Weddings Meet Up was opened by the director of the Istria County Tourist Board Denis Ivošević.
The introductory speech was followed by Velka Šuran, owner of the Weddings in Istria by LF brand, who shared with the audience her vision of the project, how it came about and thanked all the people who supported the project and got evolved.
Velka was followed by an American lecturers Denise Lillie O'Neal, a famous designer with more than 20 years of experience in planning events, specializing in Indian weddings, who according to Brides magazine was named one of "America's best wedding planners" and Erica Jones, award-winning international event decorators whose is a specialization in Indian wedding design. Over the past twelve years, her work has been featured in numerous publications including the famous Harper’s Bazaar Bride, Maharani Weddings, the New York Times, HuffPost Weddings, etc.
They included in the presentation all the important parts in the planning and organization of an Indian wedding. In seven steps, the so-called 7 steps to a successful south Asian wedding, they introduced us to various segments of Indian weddings: food, flowers, clothes, photos, music, etc. Another great thing that happened at Istra Weddings Meet Up is the presentation of DWP (Destination Wedding Planners congress) in which the director Lisa Viegas participated, who presented the possibilities and benefits of participation and cooperation with the prominent congress. Their team includes hundreds of people from the Emirates who have recognized Istria as a wedding destination and have expressed great interest in working with people from the Istrian wedding industry.
After a light lunch, the presentation was given by Joy Strotz, a famous fashion photographer who collaborates with a large network of fashion magazines such as Elle Arabia, Glamor Bulgaria, Harper's Bazaar Vietnam, Arabian Moda, Gloss Magazine, Today's Bride, Inside Weddings, Fashion Daily, Vogue, and has realized more than twenty covers in international fashion magazines last year alone. At the recent One Eyeland Awards, Joy was named the # 2 fashion photographer in the world. She talked about her beginnings in photography, what is needed for stylized photography and how to publish such editorials. Also, Joy was one of the photographers at the event that took place in the Arena the day before, so she showed some of the photos of "behid the scenes".
With this project, LF Weddings has opened the door to new markets that are just getting to know Istria as a wedding destination. This important conference was held with the support of the Istria County Tourist Board, the Tourist Clusters of Southern Istria, the Croatian Tourist Board - Croatia Full Of Life and the Pula Tourist Board, without whose support this entire project would not be possible.
After the conference, colleagues continued their networking at Cocktail Hour at the Histria Hotel.
