Blog 6: Second Interview Questions

1. How long have you been working in this field and what has changed since you started?
2. When did you realize that this is the career you wanted to go into?
3. Was there anyone who influenced you in this career? If not, what influenced you?
4. What part of your career satisfies you the most?
5. Was there any wedding you planned that stood out to you the most?

Blog 5a: Science Fair Problem Statement

1. Topic: Wedding Planning/Coordination
2. Problem: There is too much competition in the wedding industry and there are not enough people getting married to satisfy everyone in the wedding coordinating business. Once I solve this problem, I will give tips to my mentor and other wedding coordinating companies to help induce their profits and gain more customers. 
3. Problem: Weddings nowadays are too expensive for an engaged couple to afford (the average wedding cost around $27,00). I will educated newly engaged couples on how to have a less expensive wedding but at the same time, have the wedding they hoped for. 

Blog 4: Project Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon:

1. Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you completed so far?
One positive result is that I have learned and appreciated the difficulty it takes to plan a wedding. Unlike the media portrays of wedding planning, this career is not easy. Gretchen enlightened me on the fact that much of a wedding planners personal time is taken up to plan a wedding. There is no such thing as a vacation if there is a wedding to plan.

2. EQ Content: Pick a piece of research or your interview. How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic? 
When I interviewed my mentor, I was bombarded with a ton on new information. Due to the interview, I can understand the substantial amount of time and stress it takes to plan a wedding. Many specific details were explained to me, which helped me understand my topic even more. I now realize that wedding planning is not all fun and games and it can also affect your physical and mental health.

3. What has worked for you so far in the senior project?
So far, the service learning came pretty easy to me. Getting to work with a Wedding Coordinating company was fun and exciting. Also, there is no problem gathering research. There are so many articles and books about wedding planning as well as interviews and videos.

4. What hasn't worked so far?
Scheduling an interview with my mentor was pretty tough. Seeing as how wedding coordinators work everyday, almost 24 hours a day, it was very difficult to figure out a place and time when my mentor and I could meet. Also, my mentor was due to surgery soon so it will be difficult to ask for her assistance in the next few weeks.

5. Finding Value: Based on your experience so far

• What possible question or questions come to mind regarding what you would like to study this year?
• One possible question that comes to mind in regards to what I would like to study this year is "What are the best possible routes for me to take for me to be an effective wedding planner?". Also, I would like to ask "How can I become an organized and efficient wedding planner??"
• What is your end goal this year with your senior project?
• My end goal for my senior project this year is to grasp the way the wedding industry works. It is such a bustling industry that it is so hard to keep up with trends. I would also like to plan my Uncle's Wedding if given the chance to. After having the experience this year, I'm sure he'll let me coordinate his wedding for him. 
• Who would you like to talk to you next? Why?
• If I could talk to anyone next, it would have to be David Tutera. David is known in the wedding industry as a successful wedding/event planner. It would be amazing if I would have a chance to talk to him. He would be able to answer so many of my questions and to be able to view the wedding industry from his perspective would be down right fascinating. 

Blog 3: Interview Preparation

1. Who you plan to interview? Why?

• I plan to interview Gretchen Davis Strutzenberg, a wedding coordinator of Entertaining As Always because she has worked in the business for a very long time. I believe this is her 9th year of being in the business and her experience will help me grasp the true understanding of wedding coordinating.

2. You have to ask 5 questions. What additional questions do you plan to ask? Ask open-ended questions.

• In addition to the five questions, I plan on asking is Gretchen if she'd recommend a young adult as myself, to pursue this career choice. Also, I would like to ask if there are any similar career paths like this one. The last question I would like to ask if she believes that this career choice is worth all the stress and time management that goes into planning a wedding.

Blog 2: Topic Choice

Content

A.  My senior topic is Wedding Coordination/Planning because I enjoy the idea of helping someone achieve their dream wedding. Every girl has a dream wedding, whether they be extravagant or simple. When I was younger, I decided that I would have a poofy ballgown and a prince as my husband (Of course, that is different to what I think my dream wedding should be now). But over the years when I attended weddings, I grew to appreciate it. It takes a lot of time and effort to organize a wedding so I would like to take the pressure off of engaged couples to keep them stress free until the wedding. As my once mentor said "Couples should enjoy the time they spend together without stressing over their big day!".

B. 

• iPoly Citizen: I plan to use effective teamwork while working on this topic. It is not just the Wedding Coordinator that plans the wedding but the bride and groom as well. This will improve myself as an iPoly citizen because it will raise my understanding of how teamwork is important to get the job done. This way, I can apply the importance of teamwork to school projects as well. 
• Effective Communicator: I plan to understand how Wedding Coordinators work with their clients. This will make me a more effective communicator because I can observe how the Coordinators share and understand the little details of the clients dream wedding and put it into action. 
• Effective Learner: I plan to learn time management while working with Wedding Coordinators. In this field, it is very important to manage time or else things will not go as expected. This will make me more effective as a learner because time management will help me lessen stress when a deadline is near.
• Effective User of Technology: I plan to understand the technological way of organizing rather than writing everything down. This will make me more effective as a user of technology because it will help me become familiar with the various ways of organization technologically rather than wasting time jotting little details in a small organizer.