Wednesday 22 January 2020

The 1 Thing for Your Event Success: Data Analysis

Your event last year was a smashing success. Is it possible to duplicate? No, forget duplication, you want to make it even better. How do you outdo yourself when planning the next event? Whether you’ve done a great job and have had success or know you’ve done your best despite the results, it may feel as though you’ve hit your peak and you’re not sure how to make your next event any better.

You met your company goals for the event, there’s no doubt about that. But what about your attendees? What is your competition up to? Who was at the event and why? Tailoring your next event around what attendees want and need as well as being on top of industry trends can help make your event next level. How can you do that? This one thing is what you need to go next level—event data analysis. Ok that sounded a little click bait-y and although the essence of it is true, it’s a little more involved than that.

Diving deep and swimming through a sea of data from past events might feel like a recipe for drowning, but don’t write your last will and testament just yet, it’s not has horrible or difficult as it may sound. Let’s zero in on what’s important to capture and why.

The data you need to know

Informational needs will vary from business to business, industry to industry, and between various event types, but here is a general outline of what kind of data you might want and what you might need to know.

  1. Was there an unmet demand? Or in the biz you might call it the supply-demand gap. Did you find one within your event offerings? Was what you were offering in hot demand or were there other sessions/booths/trends that had people flocking to them like seagulls around dropped french fries? What did they have/offer that you didn’t? Using data analysis to find out what was trending at the event can give you a leg up when it comes to knowing what people want, what attracted them to your competition, and allows you to develop strategies for what you can do or offer next time to close the gap and give the competition a better run for their money.                                                                                                                                                                       
  2. Buyer demographics. Who comes to these things? It’s important to know the specifics so you can target your marketing in a more specific way. Besides age, gender, occupation, and other general demographic information, you can also gather info on where people are from. People from different regions may respond to different or have a different set of needs. Oh, don’t worry, you won’t have to talk to every attendee and try to gather all this information yourself—ask event management partners or those involved in registration to help out with the demographic data they have on file.                                                                                                                                                                                  
  3. How is my attendee retention rate? Just like with customers or clients, it takes less money to retain attendees than to gain them. We’re not talking a little difference; this is a significant monetary difference. Of course, you don’t want money to be dribbling out of your pockets for no good reason, especially when you can stop the waste (and save it for something important like ice cream. Or your business. Either is acceptable). Data analysis in this area can help you find out if and how many of your attendees are jumping ship to the competition and help you start to find out why so that going forward, you can improve relationships to build loyalty and make them last. Have no fear, just know that it is normal to lose some attendees, but it’s important to know how you rate compared to the competition. Is your loss rate similar to the competition or are you losing attendees faster than sand draining out of a screen? Data will help you see where you are and how much better you could be doing.                                                       
  1. Know what your competition is doing and where the industry is shifting. What categories do your competition represent and are they repeats at events? Is there a pattern among successful competitors that shows industry trends and shifts that you aren’t on board with yet?

 

  1. Where did you excel? It might seem like something obvious to look at, but don’t be afraid to wade deep into your numbers and stats to find out where you did best, how you got there, and how you can keep it going in the future.

 

  1. What are your attendees telling you? E.E.D.B.A.C.K. Look at it, listen to it, learn from it.

Why it’s important

Oh, let us count the ways! Data analysis might not be your jam, in fact it might make your eyes glaze over as your brain goes to a faraway place without numbers and demographics and information. But knowing and understanding why it’s so important might just help you snap back into the thick of it.

  1. It can go a long way to increasing your ROI. Ding, ding, ding! This might be the winner. If you aren’t looking for better return on your investment, what are you even doing? Isn’t that the fundamental point of all your hard work? Data analysis can help you to think smarter, strategize better, and market more effectively to see those returns go up, up, up.
  2. You don’t want to get left behind. Your competition is doing it and guess what, they are seeing results for their efforts. It also means that anyone who is planning and marketing based on broad understandings and generalization of their audience or potential clients is going to get left in the dust. More nuanced and targeted efforts are becoming the norm, and so potential clients et al are expecting more personalized efforts from you and to get the most return out of their time and effort. If you can’t give that to them, there are plenty of competitors who will.
  3. The need to create loyalty and long-term professional relationships. Whatever interaction you had with attendees at the event is great, but how much of it turned into anything? It’s not enough to simply interact with attendees, then it’s been just another social event. You want to get them on board with your business or brand and having lasting professional relationships (remember, retaining customers > acquiring customers). Analyzing data is important for finding out how you are doing in this area and how you can improve.
  4. Be at the forefront of trends. But you have to know what they are first. And if you are waiting to see what everyone else is doing in order to find out, it’s already too late. Careful analysis of marketplace, event, and competition data can help you not only see where the trends are going, but they will give you eagle eye vision to spot up and coming opportunities from a mile away, allowing you to get on board before everyone else.
  5. Get the most for your time, effort, and money. Unless you have an unlimited event and marketing budget, time, and resources (and if you do, yay! You win!), you want to maximize your efforts to get the most out of what you’ve got. Closely following some of our other reasons, this might just sum it all up. Data analysis helps you target and become more efficient with what you are trying to accomplish, wasting little and leaving you wanting for less.

What does successful analysis require?

You’re convinced and ready to analyze your little heart out. But you wouldn’t bake a data cake without having all the ingredients laid out first, would you (the answer is no, no you wouldn’t)? For your recipe to a successful analysis you’ll need:

  • Measured objectives—A solid and well-defined list of goals for your analysis.
  • More than a sprinkling of critical thinking—If you threw your critical thinking cap in the garbage on your way out of graduation, it’s time to go get it back. The data you have won’t analyze itself. Your critical thinking abilities are needed to help effectively identify the data that will be most useful to you and to achieve…
  • Perfectly baked (as opposed to half-baked) strategies to reach your objectives—Hope you didn’t think you could tuck your critical thinking skills away again after the last point. That data won’t do any good sitting there on a page, just minding its own business; it needs to be used to reach the goals.

Using the Data

Once you gathered the data you need, its important to see how it all fits together, not just as a compilation of unrelated individual facts. Start creating a whole picture by putting the puzzle pieces together. When you do, you’ll find gold nuggets of data such as:

  • Overall attendance and the demographics of attendees (which demographics depends on which data is important to you).
  • How popular each session/activity/event/exhibit was by your chosen demographics
  • What session/activity/event/exhibit was the most attended, by whom, and when
  • Peak number of attendees for the whole event, each session/activity/event/exhibit, each day, each time period.
  • How many repeat attendees and why were they there?
  • Repeat competitors (repeat event showings indicate they are successful. Why? Find out what trends you need to catch up to).
  • How did each of these data points compare to other years?

Data such as this can give you a head’s up on trends and what your competition is up to, as well as attendee needs, wants, and behaviors. Of course, there is plenty more to be gleaned from your analysis, but what and how much is up to you.

Putting your critical thinking to good use will help you strategize based on the data you found and can help you with forward or out-of-the-box thinking that will put you ahead of the competition. But you also don’t have to go it alone. Multiple brains and different angles are always better, so gather your ace team and look over the data, analyze, and discuss together to come up with surefire solutions and strategies.

It also means that you might have to do something difficult—scrutinize and be critical of your own event. This can include listening to attendee feedback, even if it makes you want to shrink into a hole. We know, no one loves to have their shortcomings in their face, and our natural instinct might be to justify or rationalize why we might have fallen short (“It’s a bad economy!” “The cloudy weather chased everyone away!” “I was having an introverted day and didn’t feel like schmoozing very much!”). Put those back in the lame excuse files and then burn them—you won’t progress without full honesty; it’s critical to your ongoing success.

You may have already grasped the new reality of event participants—they need to wear a lot of skill hats and as technology progresses, you are going to need to put one more on—data analysis. That includes gathering, identifying, understanding, and properly using the event data available. It takes time, attention to detail, critical thinking, and might just be a skill that has to be learned but putting in the effort is going to pay off.

The post The 1 Thing for Your Event Success: Data Analysis appeared first on Brass Animals.

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Thursday 9 January 2020

How to Tell Your Brand’s Story at Your Next Event

Once upon a time there was a brass band. It played a variety of musical genres really well. Lots of people danced at the events where they played. The End. If you are still awake after reading that, you know it wasn’t a very compelling story. It wasn’t very informative either nor did it have an ending beyond the words The End (so cliché!). That’s ok, because there was no story to even resolve with an ending.

That story told you very little about the band and what they do. Heck, it didn’t even mention the band’s name (even though you probably could guess by the website you are on). You don’t know their story, you aren’t engaged with their brand, there was not even a remote hint that they know their audience (you) or really care to capture their attention—just a few bland words in black and white.

We’re sure that this so-called “story” did very little if nothing to sell you on their services or their brand—and if you are reading this, you most likely already know why that is a total fail. Hard sells and information blasts are marketing dinosaurs; in terms of branding and marketing, the biggest business skill you can have is storytelling (it’s so hot right now!). This is true whether you are telling the story of your band on paper, in digital land, or at an event (the main focus of our article today).

So how do you plan an event that effectively tells your brand’s story? It’s something vital every company or brand needs to know in this new age of marketing. But before you come up with an event plan that tells the brand story, it’s really important to have a firm grasp on what this means.

What is a brand story?

Well, it’s kind of what it sounds like, the story of your brand. How it came to be (the events that led to its start up), challenges or obstacles faced along the way, how all that has affected and created the brand seen today, and how it affects your brand mission going forward. Oooh, sounds like it will be exciting; we can’t wait to hear it!

How do you make that story exciting? If you just spew out facts about your brand in a robotic manner (such as in the opening of the article), it’s not much different than reading a dictionary or encyclopedia (nobody wants to listen to those e-books). So, what makes a good story?

Well, what does make a story good?

What makes a story good at its core? Pixar filmmaker Andrew Staton weighs in, “The greatest story commandment? Make me care”. And you know what, he absolutely nailed it. Think about it, what are the stories you remember most? Aren’t they the ones that reached you on some emotional level? The stories where the characters became like friends or extensions of yourself? The stories that you relate to (like how you truly felt “The Hunger Games” deep in your soul during your last camping trip or family reunion).

Let’s be honest, most of us thrive on emotional and gripping drama. In fact, neuroscientists have proved that storytelling captures people’s attention like nothing else. As humans, we’re hardwired to respond to things that touch our hearts, and these are the things that become burned into our memories. Besides being memorable, stories also help create relationships because they build connections through commonalities and relatable circumstances or situations (if we had a dime for every time we heard someone’s story and said, “I feel you there”.).

People also love honesty in their stories. Who wants to hear about the perfect princess who never had a problem or challenge in her life and lived annoyingly happily ever after? It’s not relatable nor is it realistic, and it’s probably not even remotely true. It might be tempting for a brand to want to appear as the picture of perfection (no problems here, no siree not ever, we’re 100% amazing!) with the fear that honesty and realness could deter clients and customers (no brand wants to be seen as the “hot mess”). Though you don’t have to lay bare every gritty detail of your brand’s struggles and challenges, showing your humanity and honesty will build trust and create connections with your audience.

But when it comes to stories, people don’t just want a beginning and then a middle full of conflict, they want resolution (we mean like when Jim and Pam from The Office finally got together and we all shared a collective sigh of relief and felt that we could move on with our lives). People’s attention is captured when they are waiting for an emotional payoff, and they will hang on every word you say, searching for it until it is found.

How is this anything like a brand story?

There is one big difference here, and that is reality. Though most of the stories we talked about were fictional, you’ll want to tell the true story of your brand—no alternative facts, no embellishment to make it seem cooler, just the honest truth. But maybe you feel like you don’t have enough of a story to tell (I like cute dogs, I started an online dog sweater business, the end because there isn’t much more to say) or you’re not sure how to dig deep enough to tell it in a compelling way.

Just like in a fictional story, there are several components necessary for telling your brand story. Before we get to designing the event, you might want to sketch out some ideas based on this story structure.

  1. Theme: It’s what the story/goal is about and it’s something that needs to be carried throughout the presentation. Personal experiences, an emotional journey, a story that strikes a chord with your target audience—all of these things can be included.
  2. Characters: There’s not much of a story without characters in it, and though you may have founded your brand, certainly you are not the only cast member in its story. There are:
    • Protagonist(s)—you, your brand
    • Antagonist(s)—Obstacles or challenges you and your brand needed to overcome to get where you are, and this may include other people (ex.—a teacher who said you would never make it).
    • Supporting characters—those who have helped you on your journey and may include some in attendance at the event. They might be mentors, angel investors, company staff members (marketing, sales, etc.), other event speakers, vendors/suppliers, venue or onsite staff, and the clients who have helped build your brand through loyalty.
  3. Setting: In this instance, the space where you hold the event. As far as the audience is concerned, it is the (physical) setting for your story. Use it to your utmost advantage. That means don’t be tempted to go with just any space that’s available or inexpensive, but if possible, give some serious time and thought to a space that will be most effective for telling your story.
  4. Chapters: These are where the details happen. Like a highly detailed artistic masterpiece, you want to bring your story to life through details, in this instance, personalized details. These are the bits that develop character story, capture your audience, and make them care. People don’t necessarily buy products, but they often buy stories. You want to make yours a good one. Your “chapters” might also include details outside of the actual story as well, such as details in the design of your event (which we will discuss more in just a little bit).
  1. Resolution/Ending: It’s the last thing that your audience will see or hear, and it can be the most memorable. How do you want to leave your audience feeling (inspired, motivated, etc.)? How do you want them to respond (purchase, brand loyalty, etc.)? More importantly, what is your end goal? Are you looking to gain new clients, leads, increase your sales, strengthen professional relationships, increase brand awareness? Your goals should be reflected in your ending/call to action.

How to make telling your brand story into an event

We talked in length about what it takes to tell a good story, which is all well and good, but it’s just thoughts and ideas. Now what we need is some practical application, real actions that need to go into place to design and make this happen.

  • Map out your goals: Your goals will serve as your guide and roadmap for designing your entire event, so you need to know what they are before you can put this thing in drive can go anywhere. Write down your goals (see point #5 above) as a reminder as you plan each phase around them. Also, begin writing down the ideas and stories that you want to get across to your audience.
  • Get to know your target audience. Besides knowing what you want to accomplish through telling your brand story, it’s important to consider your audience. Who is your target audience and what is their goal in attending? That might be a little tricky to figure out, but you can find out more about your target audience through email marketing surveys and social media feedback. You can also dig a little deeper with research on past participants in similar events, look at industry trends, and check out what your competitors are doing at their events and the kind of feedback they received.

 

  • Carefully choose your venue: If you remember what we discussed above, it’s the physical setting for your story, so you want it to be good. And not just good, but somewhere that somehow connects with your brand or says something about who your brand is and what you represent (ex—your brand is environmentally conscious so you choose a venue with a green footprint) and gives attendees the fullest brand experience possible.
  • Let attendees give input on the details. You’re far more likely to attend and have a great experience at an event that you are invested in, has taken your preferences into consideration, and that you feel has been personalized just for you, don’t you think? Of course, it’s not possible to have 300 different opinions on every detail of your event plan, but come up with some areas where attendees can have input. You can ask opinions, most likely multiple choice so you’re not overwhelmed with tons of conflicting ideas (I need a morning event! I do my best thinking late at night! I only consider buying from a brand between 2:13 and 2:46 pm on Tuesdays!) on things like food and drink, schedule, and activities. Let them help design the event so that it feels more like they are writing their own chapter in your story.
  • Create a walk-in wow factor. First impressions and all that. What people see, feel, and do when they walk in can set the stage for how they feel about the rest of the event and generate excitement and enthusiasm for what else you have in store for them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Truth is, in this modern world your competition is also working to wow people. Customers are no any longer pleasantly surprised by wow factors, they expect to be wowed and they expect engagement from brands. So, give the people what they want (and more than they expect).    
  • Tell your story verbally as well as visually. You want your brand story to come to life and in a way that is easily and completely understood. A verbal presentation of your brand story is important, but won’t those pictures be worth a thousand of your words? Speakers can have visual aids during their presentations, but there is so much more that can be done with visuals. Art, digital signage, white brochures, video clips, and other displays that catch eyes and attention.
  • Create a story event that is interactive and engaging. It doesn’t matter how compelling and exciting a story is, it’s hard to just sit and listen to people speak about it all day. You are bound to start losing attention. By interactive and engaging activities, you are bringing your audience into the story (an outstanding example of this is the exhibition held in China to promote the movie Fantastic Beasts) with an immersive experience. There’s a good chance that you don’t have the same budget and resources as a big film studio, but interactive activities like round tables, workshops, and Q&A with speakers can be a great asset in your storytelling event.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Aside from visual and verbal interactions, music can play a part in engaging attendees. Music has often been used to tell or accompany stories (when you hear the Imperial March from Star Wars, your mind automatically goes to certain aspects of the story—you’re seeing Darth Vader march down the corridor of the Death Star right now, aren’t you). Live music in particular has a way of energizing a crowd and can go far in getting attendees involved in your story.
  • Make the ending unforgettable. The people want resolution! They want a happy ending! Don’t disappoint your fans. Aside from a resolution to your brand story and your call to action (which is the ending that serves your purpose), people want an ending that gives them something (besides story closure) as well. Can you plan for a giveaway? Unveiling of a new product? Promotions or discounts for attendees? Brand promises? Sneak peek/first look into things your brand is developing for the future? Give them something they want and leave them wanting more.

Your brand story should be entertaining, but its sole purpose or worth shouldn’t just be in its entertainment value. In other words, your brand story isn’t just about entertaining your audience.      Author Seth Godin, the mastermind behind the best-seller “All Marketers are Liars”, says that “the best stories agree with what the audience already believes and makes the audience feel smart and secure when reminded how right they were in the first place”. Tell your story but make it appeal to your audience, make them feel something about it. Whether you are making them feel smart, secure, or right as Godin mentions or you’re appealing to different emotions, use it in a way that forges strong connections between your brand and your audience and helps you reach the brand goals you’ve laid out.

The post How to Tell Your Brand’s Story at Your Next Event appeared first on Brass Animals.

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7 Reasons to Get Married at a Winery

Um, we thought it was pretty obvious– the reason to get married at a winery is…wine? Lots of it. Maybe even an unlimited amount. And if through some crazy and tragic circumstance they run out, you can run wildly and desperately into the vineyard where you will have no problem performing a miracle by taking it upon yourself to stomp those grapes into wine. Ok, let’s come out of this wine-soaked frenzied fantasy and back into reality (we mean seriously, stomping grapes would render your wedding dress Forever Purple or have the tux rental place sending you many bewildered yet valid questions and a bill. Probably no bueno either way).

Please forgive that and allow us to pull ourselves back together and digress. A winery is an excellent idea for a wedding venue. Besides the obvious reason, there are a number of other really great reasons why a winery might have you saying “I do” love this idea. Here are 7 to be exact.

1. Good food, killer wine

Ok, so maybe the prospect of an entire building dedicated to wine caused us to excitedly get ahead of ourselves in starting to talk about this point right off the bat, but whether you’re practically a (self-proclaimed) sommelier or you’re more of a casual sipper, it’s definitely a valid reason to have your wedding at a winery.  The fact is, at a winery you are less likely to be subjected to (and subject your guests to) the same bland wedding food every non-descript, clone venue cranks out. Many wineries are proud to serve farm-to-table foods, fresh high-quality ingredients that creative chefs turn into above the ordinary appetizers and meals.

 

Of course, you’re going to get great wine, that’s their specialty! But to be fair, not all palates are the same. Whether you can do it on location or buy a from different wineries online, you have the advantage of doing your own tasting beforehand to determine which winery suits your tastes.

2. Fantastic idea for a destination wedding

You’re totally, rapturously in love with the idea of a destination wedding, but the thought of, not just planning a wedding, but planning wedding in a foreign country is enough to make you run screaming to the nearest courthouse to elope. Don’t let social media influencers convince you that in order to have a real, Insta-worthy destination wedding that it has to be in some exotic locale (which they don’t tell you involved a strenuous hike through a steam sauna-esque rain forest to get to or that cute jungle animal perched on their shoulder pooped down the back of their pristine dress) that, let’s be real here, not one person (including you and your soon-to-be) can afford to fly to let alone afford to stay at.

A domestic flight into wine country most definitely counts as a destination wedding—a wonderful and realistic one. Whether you want to head to some of the best-known wine country locales around the states like Napa, Sonoma, and Calistoga in California or the Finger Lakes Region in upstate New York (or really anywhere in between) you have lots of incredible options. What exactly makes these and other wineries great for destination weddings? We’ll discuss the reasons in the points to follow.

3. Wineries make for ah-mazing photo locations.

Steams of golden rays burst through the canopy of verdant leaves, bathing everything in an angelic light. Majestic mountains stand proudly in the background, a serene lake reflects sunlight, a wooded glade provides the perfectly contrasted backdrop. No, it’s not an album of the best NatGeo photos ever taken or the beginning of a Twilight movie, these are your wedding photos, baby! 

Generally located in a natural setting, wineries provide ample backdrops for your photos (and guest photos)—before, during, and after the ceremony. You may even have the option of different scenery right on the same property, taking pics in the vineyard, around the venue itself, and other scenic settings with all the variety nature has to offer in that area. There is plenty of beauty everywhere you look.

 And don’t even get us started on the all that natural light! It will make for higher quality photos that accentuate the loveliness of the surroundings and enhances the loveliness of you (and you thought it wasn’t possible!) The photos will look pretty freakin’ awesome on your social media feed, too (not that that’s the most important thing but you won’t, you can’t, let that snake Braylynn, your college frenemy and roommate, outdo you when it comes to wedding pics. You’re gonna win this one, damn it).

4. Chill yet elegant atmosphere all rolled into one.

Aside from your recent Braylynn tirade, you’re tooootally chill and relaxed. But you also have an elegant and classy side. Of course, you want your wedding to look totally gorgeous, but you also don’t want it to feel so stuffy that everyone suddenly has the overwhelming urge to wear a monocle and talk about colonial furniture.

But if you’re looking for a venue that blends it all together into a chic and relaxed elegance that perfectly sums up your vibe, wineries are a good fit. Most venues can’t offer you both styles, but many wineries offer a beautiful and modern rustic charm that makes you feel perfectly at ease wearing your high top sneakers under your ball gown wedding dress or tux pants.

As added benefit, many wineries have an understated charm to them, making them a semi-blank canvas with the option of adding your personal touch and truly making the look your own.

5. Indoor/Outdoor options.

You’re definitely not alone if you dream of holding your wedding outside, walking down the aisle on a soft carpet of green grass under bluebird skies and wispy clouds while the background scenery perfectly frames you and your new husband/wife as you pledge your vows to one another. But as anyone who has planned an outdoor wedding can tell you, gambling on the weather is a real crapshoot and even in the best times of the year, Mother Nature can be a real beast.

 

But you don’t put away that vision of the golden sun giving you an ethereal glow as you say “I do’ just yet. Wineries are a great choice because they often have both options. Plan for outdoors but have an indoor back up just in case nature isn’t feeling cooperative (doesn’t that attention hog Nature know it’s your day?). Or hold the ceremony outside and as the day cools into nighttime, hold your reception indoors. Some wineries even have reception spaces that span both indoors and outdoors. Options! It’s great to have ‘em.

6. The ease of having everything in one location.

Anytime you can streamline your wedding planning and make it less stressful—that’s a huge win right there. Many wineries aren’t new to the wedding scene and they know what you need to make everything just right. They are often large enough to hold everything on site from rooms to get ready into the ceremony to cocktail hour to bridal party suites to reception.

Many even have guest rooms onsite so you and guests can stay before and after the wedding day without the hassle of having to drag your tired butt around using GPS to find your hotel. In wineries with overnight guest rooms, you and guests will be able to skip a generic hotel in favor of a unique building surrounded by the kind of scenery you want to wake up to.

Granted, not all wineries have guest accommodations onsite. But wine country locales don’t leave their visitors out in the cold. As frequently visited areas used to accommodating wine-cationers, these areas hold some truly amazing hotels, bed and breakfasts, etc.

Areas around wineries are excellent for guests who want to make a vacation out of it, and the romantic allure of wine country is the perfect place to honeymoon.

7. Your entertainment can kick ass all night long with no one to complain or peek in.

In most traditional wedding venues, you walk out of your reception room to hit the bathroom and a cacophony of DJ noise assaults your ears. You not only hear your own DJ, but you can hear everyone else’s party happening as well. Or you may have that stray nosy guest from another wedding creeping on your reception as your guests go in and out of the doors.

 

Wineries are typically a one event at a time place. There are no competing parties or DJs or nosy guests from other events. You can crank up your party to the next level without worrying about anyone else. In more rustic locations where power could be a problem for a DJ or more “plugged in” type bands, a brass band or marching band can do the job without needing a watt of electricity.

 

While we are talking about live music, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that having a winery venue to yourself means that you can easily take advantage of a band who offers wedding marches (also sometimes known as second line parades) either from the ceremony to the reception, during the party to get everyone out of their seats and into a party frame of mind, or after the reception the band can march you and your new spouse out in style.

 

Earlier we cited California and New York as states with incredible wine countries, but that list is by no means comprehensive. Though there are many others, you can also check out wineries in beautiful destinations in Oregon, Washington, Virginia, and Texas just to name a few.

 

There are plenty of reasons why wineries are a great choice for your wedding (did we mention partying in an entire building/location dedicated to wine?). From their elegant charm and stunning scenery to food and drink to having the place (and the wine!) to yourself, wineries can help you have an outstanding event that is far from ordinary (take that, Braylynn!).

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