The Wedding Pro CEO Podcast: Episode 178

With Brandee Gaar, Jeri Solomon and Edna Dratch-Parker

How a Chance Meeting Led to the Creation of a Game-Changing Wedding Planning Book: Guide To Smart Wedding Planning

As Wedding Pro CEOs we can forget that for the client, wedding planning is a time-consuming and often stressful task! Our couples are looking for, and deserve, guidance and support to ensure that their special day goes off without a hitch!

With so much misinformation out there, our clients will drown in a sea of information searching for reliable advice!! Enter Edna Dratch-Parker and Jeri Solomon, two veteran wedding planners from the Boston area, who decided to take matters into their own hands.

On the podcast, we will explore how these two wedding professionals met, how their friendship and professional relationship developed, and ultimately how they came to write their game-changing wedding planning book: Guide To Smart Wedding Planning!

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Meeting Through Networking

Like many successful collaborations, Edna and Jeri’s story begins with networking. They both belonged to a referral networking group in the Boston area called the Boston Wedding Group, which has been in operation for over 28 years. This group proved to be an essential part of their professional lives, providing them with valuable contacts and support.

However, their friendship went beyond mere professional networking. They found that they had much in common, including growing up in neighboring towns, having fathers in the same profession, improbable instances that were more than coincidental!

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Combining Professionalism with Friendship

As they got to know each other better, they shared with each other the tough conversations they would have with their clients. They often encountered couples who were frustrated with the lack of reliable information available to them.

Their couples always had similar questions they would find themselves answering over and over again. They knew that they had a wealth of knowledge and experience to share and were passionate about making that information accessible.

“How can we get reliable information out there? And we kind of went back and forth and still to this day, we don’t remember exactly who said it first, but someone said we should write a book. And the other person said, yeah, we should write a book!”

The Idea for a Book is Born!

One day, while discussing these frustrations, they hit upon the idea of writing a book. They knew that they had the expertise and the contacts within the Boston wedding industry to make it happen.

They were convinced that they could provide the kind of information that couples needed to make their wedding planning process more manageable and less stressful.

“What really drove us was that we felt like there was so much misinformation out there. A lot of the information was being given by the editor of a magazine who recycled the information from another editor or from the woman who planned one wedding and is like, I have all the answers!”

Jeri Solomon

Driven by the Desire to Fix Misinformation

One of the determining factors for their decision to write a book was their concern about the terrible misinformation that was circulating in the industry.

Recycled blog articles written by people with no industry experience or the friend of a friend that planned one wedding and is now a self described expert in the art of wedding planning, so much poor advice floating on the inter-webs!!!

It lacked credibility or experience! They wanted to be the ones to provide reliable and trustworthy information that would help couples plan their dream weddings.

“We both felt very compelled that we needed to fix that misinformation. And we thought at that time, cuz it was a while ago, we thought that the best way to do that was to write a book. And so we, we embarked on that!”

The Wedding Pro CEO Podcast #178

Writing a Book is Not as Easy as They Thought

Of course, writing a book is not easy. At least writing a good book is not easy!

Despite their initial enthusiasm, Edna and Jeri quickly discovered that writing a book was much harder than they thought. Even comparing it to pregnancy and giving birth to a baby!

However, they persevered, drawing on their experience and their extensive network of industry contacts to create a book that would become a game-changer in the wedding planning world.

“There are crazy stories and we all know them and we all have them in our back pocket. But this isn’t about the crazy stories. This is about you wanting to plan a wedding, let’s talk about what’s realistic and what’s gonna work and how to make it less stressful!”

Edna Dratch-Parker

Listen to Episode 178 of the Wedding Pro CEO Podcast For More!

The story of Edna Dratch-Parker and Jeri Solomon’s collaboration is an inspiring one. It shows how chance meetings and networking can lead to fruitful partnerships that have the power to change an industry.

Listen to this episode of the Wedding Pro CEO podcast and hear their passion for providing reliable information and their commitment to making the wedding planning process more accessible and less stressful for couples.

Because of there incredible work they now have a book that has become a go-to resource for those planning their weddings and will carry on a legacy of proper expectations for generations of wedding pros after them.

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