Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands (24 November 2014) – Information, insights and inspiration were on the agenda for members of the local tourism and wedding industry as the leading luxury wedding business summit, engage!14 :: Cayman Islands, got underway at the Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman recently, with a special complimentary ‘mini-engage!14’ symposium. The sold-out engage!14 :: Cayman Islands summit attracts the world’s top professionals in the wedding industry, but local experts and service providers in the community were invited to a ‘sneak peek’ and the chance to “engage” with colleagues and a special speakers panel that was tailored to their needs.

“The Ministry and Department of Tourism developed this symposium with the mindset that our local Caymankind service providers should have a dedicated opportunity to learn from the engage!14 experts, and be able to use these learnings to further strengthen their business models and tactics as well as the Cayman Islands positioning as leaders in destination luxury events,” shared minister of tourism, Hon. Moses Kirkconnell.

He said the destination has become synonymous with what he called “remarkable events” and noted that Indian weddings, celebrity weddings, special engagements and recommitment ceremonies are just some of the events being dreamt and created by local experts, helping to affirm the Cayman Islands destination luxury event capabilities on a global platform.

The attendees of mini-engage!14 participated in a 3-hour session devoted to continuing to elevate their business success. Motivational speaker and best-selling author, Simon T. Bailey, started off by helping attendees “harness their brilliance” followed by Liene Stevens, of Think Splendid who shared research on the millennial generation. Other speakers throughout mini-engage!14 included Harmony Walton, Ali Phillips, Xochitl Gonzalez and Michelle Rago, all sharing their insights as planners and leaders within the luxury wedding industry. Shawna Gohel, founder of Maharani Weddings provided attendees with specific information surrounding the burgeoning South Asian and Indian destination wedding market. The editors of numerous wedding publications were also featured including Jen Stein of Destination I Do, Susan Moynihan of Modern Luxury Bride, Erika Hueneke of Destination Weddings & Honeymoons and Anja Winikka of The Knot.

An interactive destination wedding planner panel shared insider tips on the latest trends and what their clients look for in an ideal wedding destination, location and vendors, with the goal to provide the local wedding and event industry the opportunity to learn from the experts, media leaders and influencers, and to leave feeling inspired.

“We hope that attendees were able to depart with new strategies in their toolbox, new connections and the understanding that we at the Department of Tourism support them and their role in making the Cayman Islands the leaders in luxury destination event services,” concluded Mrs. Harris.

Photos:

Rosa Harris photo by Rebecca Davidson

Tourism Minister by Melissa Wolfe