Andy and his guest, JoAnn Gregoli, discuss how she educated herself to speak the language of her vendor team, how she approaches destination weddings, how she approaches marketing for her services, and much more on this episode of The Wedding Biz.
JoAnn is the owner of Elegant Occasions by JoAnn Gregoli. She has been included in Modern Bride Magazine as one of their Top Trendsetters of the year and was recently recognized as one of the top twenty-five most influential wedding planners in the World. Elegant Occasions creates events that tell the story about the couple.
Listen, as JoAnn shares how she was obsessed with weddings in her twenties, the wedding she did for Rupert Murdoch’s daughter, and why she has been called the Godmother of destination weddings. JoAnn speaks about how she creates a team for destination weddings and her process for local and destination events.
JoAnn discusses her company’s business side, how she determins how to price the events she plans, and her strategy for using social media. JoAnn says to stay relevant she goes to conferences, to continue her own learning, and isn’t afraid to reinvent herself and her business.
JoAnn speaks of her grassroots effort to make sure anyone who needs a face mask has one. She started sewing masks, then reached out to some women’s groups to help her, got some of her brides got involved, and now they have shipped out over 50,000 masks at no cost. Her main focus has been providing them to homeless shelters and to battered women. They have been sewing for over seventeen weeks with no plans to stop until the pandemic is over.
JoAnn is an amazing woman. She doesn’t sit back when something needs to be done; she jumps in with both feet. She did it for brides that lost their venue during 9/11, and she is doing it now with the pandemic. This is an episode you don’t want to miss.
Are you a creative who wants to turn your craft into a business or take it further? Head to the Wedding Biz Network and listen to The Business of Being Creative podcast with Sean Low. Sean discusses the power of being niched, pricing strategies, metrics of success, and so much more.
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Show Highlights:
[02:38] Welcome to the show, JoAnn!
[03:13] JoAnn shares how her childhood determined the path she would follow.
[05:05] JoAnn speaks about being obsessed with weddings in her twenties.
[08:11] She discusses the wedding she did for Rupert Murdoch’s daughter.
[10:12] She is known as the Godmother of destination weddings.
[11:13] Listen, as JoAnn shares how she put a team together for her first destination weddings.
[13:05] JoAnn speaks about her process when she plans weddings.
[15:46] What other events do you do besides weddings?
[17:38] JoAnn discusses how she view’s the business aspect of her company.
[19:56] JoAnn discusses her pricing philosophy.
[22:36] What is your strategy for using social media?
[24:18] Listen as JoAnn speaks about reinventing yourself constantly to stay relevant.
[26:10] JoAnn shares how to market to different generations from baby boomers to GenZ.
[29:04] JoAnn discusses how she decided to “re-prioritize,” rather than “reinvent,” and got started sewing face masks and the women’s groups she got to help.
[32:16] To help JoAnn and all her helpers to keep making masks, please go www.sewingangels.org and click the go fund me link for frontline sewing angels.
[35:25] JoAnn believes that this pandemic makes people stop, slow down, appreciate what you have, and help the people who can’t help themselves.
[37:36] JoAnn shares what she wants to do once the pandemic is over.
[39:06] Thank you so much for being on the show!
RESOURCES
JoAnn Gregoli:
Elegant Occasions with JoAnn Gregoli
@joanngregoli
@joann_gregoli
@elegantoccasionsinc
Video – Hightail
Arielle & Ian’s Wedding Trailer
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Title Sponsor: This episode is sponsored by Kushner Entertainment
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- Diana & Mark Wedding
