With destination weddings on the rise and premium wedding planners having an exploding number of choices and huge spending budgets for each wedding the Destination Wedding Planners Congress, 2014 is and the first of its kind and an avant-garde initiative. Held at the Grand Resort Lagonissi in Athens, Greece, the Official Host Sponsor for the prestigious Destination Wedding Planners Congress this year.

The Congress was a two day exclusive business driven event and a unique platform for wedding planners to meet global destination suppliers in an exclusory setting. It was a strictly by invitation only conference and only the top wedding planners from across the globe were invited. Internationally acclaimed speakers were also in attendance including founders Michelle Rago and Lisa Light, as well as Yoshitaka Nojiri, Ali Bakhtiar and Seyi Olusanya to mention but a few.

Seyi Olusanya, Managing Director of Once Upon a Destination said “It was a great privilege to have had the honour to chair two panel discussions with colleagues from around the world that I have always respected and admired. I had the dual role chairing the two panel discussions and also anchoring the two-day event as Master of Ceremonies and Face of the event  My job as anchor was to introduce the distinguished speakers such as Diann Valentine, David Beahm, Sarah Haywood to mention a few and keep the energy of the event up and ensure we engaged all the delegates and made it as interactive as possible.”

The event centred on keynote presentations and panel discussions where the participants got to hear from the crème de la crème of the industry. Speakers got to bring their own experiences and expertise to the table. The event also boasted a great opportunity for networking as well as one-to-one meetings between premium wedding planners and global solution providers including luxury hotels and tourism boards.

Seyi said “It was a really exciting experience for me and a massive note from my colleagues industry to be able to anchor and hold forte at such a high profile event. It was a great platform to not only represent my brand but also my beloved country Nigeria”.

There has been a massive growth of almost 75% in the number of destination weddings held globally over the last decade. 24% of all global weddings are ‘destination weddings’ that are taking place from Las Vegas to Bali to Greece, and even Mexico and the Grand Cayman Islands. The ‘away wedding’ has become the hottest part of the booming $86 billion wedding industry.

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