We were lucky to catch up with Beth McIntyre recently and have shared our conversation below.
Beth, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard
At our new venue, Villa Festa, we include the accommodations of the property as part of the package. We sell the idea of weekend weddings. Many venues have an option to add on rooms or a stay but few include it as part of the experience. Our slogan is – “Your Home for Weddings and Events”. We want couples to make Villa Festa their comfortable home base for a weekend with friends and family!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Beth McIntyre and I got my training in the hospitality and events industry at one of the BEST training grounds for guest experience in Central Florida – Universal Orlando Resort. After 10 years of working in a fast paced environment to produce one of a kind events, grand openings and VIP experiences, I found my passion for social events, in particular, weddings! I started my own wedding planning company, Your Favorite Day with a focus on Month Of/Day Of Coordination services. Meanwhile at home, my husband and I took an interest in real estate investing, specifically in vacation rentals. Within a few years we acquired several vacation homes in key tourist areas. On the lookout for our next investment, we revisited the idea of a wedding venue that also doubled as an “Airbnb”. We built our criteria of “must haves” and fairly quickly found this interesting property in DeLand, FL. It fit our vision of a quirky, historic property with some land and space for onsite accommodations. During the last year we have been renovating the property into a unique wedding venue that can truly be your home for the weekend. I am no longer taking weddings as a planner in Central Florida so I can focus on sales and client experience for our wonderful property.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
As a planner I’ve always been very collaborative. I’ve been lucky to meet some of best wedding professionals in Central Florida during my time planning. I always try to treat the vendors working at a wedding as my clients in addition to the couple. Some times it’s as simple as making sure your colleagues have water and food during a long day. Other requests are more complicated – a timeline shift or a relocating family photos for a better shot.
Enabling wedding professionals to do their best work will give the couple a better experience. And when the couple is happy – everyone wins!
You may never get the chance to serve your couple or their family again, but you can definitely build lasting relationships with your wedding industry colleagues. As a result, we’ve had an overwhelming outpouring of support from fellow wedding professionals to serve our new Villa Festa couples!
How’d you meet your business partner?
My business partner and I met over 15 years ago and have been working together ever since! He’s my husband, Brian! We’ve always been great partners in life. We have a good balance of skills and each have our own strengths. Overall we practice extreme ownership in our lives and in our business. When things go haywire we always turn inward to see how we could have changed the outcome rather than play the blame game. The project of renovating Villa Festa has us working closer together than ever before. It’s not always easy to take a break from working to focus on our relationship and our family. When it is family time, we tend to do it up big! A trip to a theme park or an exciting activity. As a planner, I’ve been asked what I do the day after a wedding day to “recover”. My recovery probably looks different than most – we are more likely to plan a fun outing than a day at home.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.villafestaflorida.com
- Instagram: villafestaflorida
- Facebook: villafestaflorida
Image Credits
Lillie Shawn Imagery Johanna Oakes Photography Joanna Moore Photography