Instructor Spotlight: Heather Porcella at University of Akron

Heather Porcella considers it an honor to create a spectacular wedding that brings her client’s vision to life. As the owner of Truly Your Events (www.TrulyYourEvents.com), Heather was voted the “Best Wedding Planner for 2008” in the Akron/Canton Ohio area by the MyFoxCleveland.com Hot List. Her company has coordinated numerous events of various sizes, budgets, and styles.

After graduating from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design and a minor in Business Administration, Heather worked in Residential and Commercial Interior Design, as an art teacher, and as a floral designer. Her experience planning showers and weddings for friends combined with her education led her to create her own event planning business in 2003. Truly Your Events offers the latest in wedding planning trends including eco-friendly designs, full event coordination, and free initial consultation to provide clients complete planning services to help them save time, money, and alleviate stress.

After becoming a WPI Certified Wedding Planner in the spring of 2008, Heather agreed to share her knowledge and expertise with The Wedding Planning Institute’s (www.WeddingPlanningInstitute.com) certification course students at the University of Akron. Heather will be teaching aspiring students how to become successful wedding planners by bringing personalized attention and creativity to every client’s occasion.

“In today’s busy world, trying to plan a special event can be very stressful and time consuming. By providing solutions to the demanding needs of event design and coordination, you can allow the client to enjoy a stress free celebration,” Heather writes.

Candidates for the wedding planning certification course at the University of Akron can register by calling Cheryl Beckwith at 330-972-6460, Jennifer Redford at 330-972-7837 or by visiting their website at http://www.uakron.edu/ce/schedules/WeddingPlanCert.php. The Spring 2009 session is scheduled to start on February 11, 2009 and will meet Wednesdays from 6:00pm to 10:00pm for ten weeks. Tuition is $795 and includes classroom instruction, textbook, six months online curriculum and support access, and post-graduate job placement assistance.

Instructor Spotlight: Nancy Hoffmann-Allison at Austin Community College

Nancy Hoffmann-Allison has turned a lifelong love of art and cooking into a successful business that began as Hoffman & Company Catering and then evolved into Allison’s Events, a full service wedding and event consulting and design company that has won awards from The Knot Magazine, Austin Wedding Day Magazine, and the International Special Events Society of Austin, Texas. After studying Art and Art History at the University of Arkansas, Nancy began her career by learning banquet and club management while working for Hilton Hotels.

Turning that experience and her mother and grandmother’s cooking lessons into Hoffmann & Company Catering in 1989, Nancy spent most of the next two decades planning, designing, cooking, and presenting her catering menus at thousands of events. Along the way, she mentored students from local high schools and culinary arts schools. Many of her employees started their careers as her apprentices.

Currently enjoying her first term as an instructor for The Wedding Planning Institute’s How to Become a Wedding Planner Certification course at Austin Community College, Nancy has an impressive resume of experience and expertise in the special events industry. After joining ISES Austin in 2002, she served on the Board of Directors as the VP of Allied Partnerships, the VP of Education and Programs, and was recently elected President of the Austin chapter of ISES through 2010. Nancy is also a lifetime member of Leading Caterers of America, a Certified Professional Wedding Planner, and has continuously contributed to the community by donating her business’ services to several local charitable organizations.

Nancy continues her taste for giving back through her work with WPI classroom students as well as her articles and weblog in which she shares her knowledge as a caterer and event planner. She believes weddings are “an affirmation of love, caring, family, friends, and hope for the future. They are the perfect opportunity to show a couple’s love, affection, and gratitude by giving their friends and family a day they will never forget. It is a compliment to everyone who attends your wedding and reception to plan out a beautiful, fun, and interesting event.”

To brides and grooms considering whether to hire a Certified Wedding Planner, Nancy writes, “You will be faced with decisions you probably haven’t even thought of or anticipated yet. Many of these decisions may even come as a surprise to you. Today’s most sought after wedding planners know where to find answers, know where to find inspirations, and know who the vendors are that you need to turn to create your dream event. Most importantly, they know how to make the right decisions and that will make your wedding day a dream come true.”

The fall session at Austin Community College began on September 15, 2008 and meets each Monday and Wednesday from 7:00pm to 9:00pm over ten weeks. Tuition is $795 and includes classroom instruction, textbook, six months online curriculum and support access, and post-graduate job placement assistance. Candidates for the upcoming Spring 2009 classroom session can learn more by calling 512-223-7813 or visiting the Austin Community College website at:

http://www.austincc.edu/ce/cp/wedding/

Instructor Spotlight: Stephanie Kass at Foothill-De Anza Community College

In an ever changing and fast-paced world, Stephanie Kass is proof that good choices and thorough planning equal success. After a few years planning events for the United States Navy, America Online, and Hewlett-Packard, Stephanie created Aphrodite’s Event & Meeting Planning (www.AphroditesEventPlanning.com) in the San Jose, California area. As the owner of an independent event planning business, Stephanie has successfully coordinated corporate and private events ranging from intimate weddings, her specialty, to large speaker platforms for over 10,000 attendees.

Stephanie draws from the age-old tradition of exceeding expectations without exception while utilizing up-to-date procedures and strategies, cutting-edge technology, and current styles and trends for event planning that ensure maximum efficiency while minimizing the possibility of errors. Through consistent professionalism, Stephanie teaches her staff and her students to provide worry and hassle-free events at reasonable prices while giving clients the individual attention they deserve.

One piece of advice Stephanie would like to give her Wedding Planning Institute (www.WeddingPlanningInstitute.com) certification students is; “It is better to have time than need time. Time management is fundamental in this business. A certification course is an excellent avenue to take in order to learn this and many other helpful techniques.” Stephanie enjoys passing on the tools for managing amazing events to her students.

As a community business member and a certification instructor, Stephanie believes in a quality and service-oriented approach to her work with clients and students alike. She carries her business’ reputation for meeting deadlines and delivering creative, efficient event planning solutions into the Foothill-De Anza classroom to teach students how to become successful certified wedding planners.

Candidates for the wedding planning certification course at Foothill-De Anza Community College can register by calling 408-864-8817 or learn more by visiting the college website at:

http://www.shortcourses.fhda.edu/catalog/business/business.html#065

The fall session began on October 06, 2008 and will meet each Monday and Wednesday from 6:30pm to 9:00pm for ten weeks. Tuition is $795 and includes classroom instruction, textbook, six months online curriculum and support access, and post-graduate job placement assistance. Registration is available through the third week of October.