Iluta Piternika

Organizing a wedding - dynamic and creative work

Iluta Piternik in the wedding industry is attracted and fascinated by the fact that this profession is project work, where there is no routine, because each couple is individual, each has a unique love story and, therefore, a wedding concept. A wedding organizer covers several skills and professions - he is a psychologist, a festival director, a scriptwriter, a playwright, as well as a lawyer, a designer, a stylist, a decorator and a music specialist at the same time. In order to work successfully in this industry, you must constantly be interested in everything and educate yourself not only in your own, but also in the specialties of your colleagues.

As Iluta explains it, this profession includes two essential sections. First of all, the wedding planner must be empathetic, able to feel the couple and their love language. Secondly, one must be able to plan the celebration, feeling the emotional and psychological portrait of this couple. Weddings in recent years are significantly different from weddings 15 - 20 years ago, as there is a tendency to put emphasis on the couple itself, not so much on tradition. nowadays, intimate weddings are most often held, where a large part of the day is planned for the couple, so it is especially important to be able to perceive the wishes of the couple.

Elegance and aesthetics in every nuance of the wedding day

Iluta Piternika is the creative director of event agency MintDeco, which started its operations in 2003. during these ten years, the MintDeco agency has gained recognition as one of the top-level wedding agencies with a refined style. The wedding organized by Iluta Piternika MintDeco would be described as elegant, aesthetically polished, with the main emphasis on the essence and emotions of the young couple. It's not for nothing that colleagues in the wedding industry, photographers, videographers and evening hosts, have noticed this handwriting and are eager to work in weddings organized by her.

Iluta Piternika pays great attention to details, maintaining a single line of elegance. Let the holiday not be like a mess, but the whole day should be one well-worked concept, permeated by a special feeling, romance, sincerity, tasteful humor and elegance. She does not perceive elegance as something arrogant, for her it is an aesthetically planned, harmonious and uncluttered wedding day.

Speaking about the highest moments of satisfaction in her career, Iluta Piternika says that it was a wedding in Italy, which she organized from Latvia. She likes to create unusual concepts - wedding green balls, gourmet wedding dinners, weddings in interesting locations and special shades. He organizes weddings in such a way that they are like a beautiful experience full of pleasure, not only in terms of gastronomy, but also in visual and sensory terms.

The changing wedding industry

The wedding industry is constantly changing and developing - with each new season we observe new trends in wedding fashion, design and concept. One of the essential skills of a wedding planner is the ability to work with these trends - to understand which are temporary and will look funny in wedding photos in 5 years, and which are really classic values. After all, through their work, wedding planners also shape and influence the industry, reinforcing valuable trends.

According to Iluta Piternika, with these trainings, she wants to help young wedding planners develop a sense of what a modern and contemporary wedding is. In the last 10 years, the wedding industry has really changed - weddings have turned from big celebrations into intimate celebrations, where more attention can be paid to fine details. When weddings of 80 - 100 guests were held, it was important to have a fun ball, but now, when the number of guests has significantly decreased to 20 - 30 people, we value the environment, food, cocktail design, table setting more at the celebration. currently, weddings are more focused on enjoying the day than on activities and games. According to Iluta Piternika, young wedding planners should develop a sense of aesthetics and emotional intelligence so that they can feel the couple and what they need.

New in Latvia - the opportunity to learn the profession of a wedding organizer

Latvia has not had the opportunity to learn how to host a wedding so far. After 11 years in the industry, Iluta Piternika is ready to share her experience and knowledge as she wants the industry to grow and have professionals working in it. She believes that the profession of a wedding planner will become even more in demand, as couples understand that every job should be done by professionals with understanding. More and more couples are willing to pay a wedding planner because they want to enjoy their day. In addition, the deeper you go into the forest, the more problems and questions there are - often brides who organize the wedding themselves are already burned out by the wedding day. By learning from the mistakes of others, brides realize that they want to entrust this work to professionals.

Of course, you become a good wedding organizer after many years of work, because every couple and concept makes you a better organizer. This is also how Iluta Piternika has become an organizer - through many wedding projects, learning from industry colleagues, photographers, other wedding organizers, learning other skills, public speaking, attending courses. She gets a lot of inspiration from attending cultural events, where she often sees something for her wedding projects. She is an active consumer of art and culture, because it further develops creativity, without which this profession is unimaginable.

However, it is also important to learn the very basics, which will be possible to do in these trainings. A big focus of the training will be on developing an understanding of what each couple needs and how to build a wedding concept, as it is the main skeleton of the wedding day. The first stage of a wedding planner's work is the development of a concept, because it helps to understand where to go, what places to visit, what service providers to attract. Iluta Piternika will help you learn to develop a convincing concept, as well as tell about the wedding budget, technical, creative scenario and many other nuances. As she explains, the aim of the training is not to convey information dryly, but to help develop creativity and flexible thinking, because the profession of a wedding organizer requires keeping scenarios A, B and C in mind. Life is unpredictable and situations tend to be unpredictable, so you have to be quick-thinking and flexible, brave to make decisions.

The trainings will also include guest lecturers representing each of their niches - photo, video, evening host, hospitality, wedding printing, floristry, wedding dress design, make-up artist. these people will share valuable information, because without it a good wedding organizer is unthinkable - he presents ideas, concepts, gives suggestions, advice to the couple, so the wedding organizer must be able to navigate in all these areas. Iluta Piternika wants to encourage young wedding planners to learn different industries and be interested in both fashion trends and current types of decoration, hospitality and music.

Training for new wedding planners will consist of two main parts. The first part will include basic information about the profession, work tasks and how to develop the wedding concept. The second part will consist of master classes in the places of celebration, where students will gain an understanding of how to create zoning in rooms, how to create a time plan, how to create a creative and technical scenario. The aim of the training is to provide not only theoretical knowledge, but also an understanding of what it means to work specifically at wedding celebrations on site, no longer at a computer.

everyone who is interested in the wedding industry and wants to try themselves in this profession can take this training. They can be both people with no previous knowledge and those who are already active in organizing events or have recently started their wedding planning process. The main thing is to have a creative approach to life, an interest in organizing events and especially weddings, because wedding projects are different from organizing large corporate events. The training will start with learning the very basics, so those who work in other fields will be able to jump in as well.

To raise professionalism in the Latvian wedding industry

When asked what her motivation is for holding such trainings, Iluta Piternika answers that she wants the industry to become even more professional, because she sees that there is a demand for such services, but at the same time, there is nowhere to learn this profession. In addition, her professional work life is not only related to wedding planning, but also to passing on her knowledge and experience - inspiring, training gives her great satisfaction. Iluta says that by teaching others, she learns herself and knows that she will also gain a lot for herself through these new organizers and the training process.

The wedding industry in Latvia is at a high level, the couples who are currently getting married are educated, have traveled a lot, have built a career for themselves, and they have become more demanding of wedding planners, so this profession needs to be honed. As observed by Iluta Piternika, there are not many good wedding planners in Latvia, therefore she sees a perspective for this profession.

Another benefit for new wedding planners who choose to take this training is that Iluta Piternika will provide a realistic behind-the-scenes picture, so that there is no stereotype that a wedding planner is a beautiful mess only posing in decorated places and that working life is just eternal celebration. Actually, the holiday is only one day, but before that, you have to put in the work of several months to get to this one day. There are challenges, stressful situations, psychological incompatibilities with the couple. She will share what to consider, what to think about, what decisions to make. According to Iluta, the wedding organizer is a brave profession, because you have to coordinate many service providers, you have to make many big decisions on the wedding day quickly yourself, because everyone will expect orders from the wedding organizer if something doesn't go as it should. The wedding organizer must be independent and confident, because on the wedding day the couple must maintain maximum comfort and not involve them in solving issues.

The main qualities of a wedding organizer are decisiveness, courage, ability to think quickly, independently and creatively. If you see these features in yourself, you are interested in the wedding industry and want a challenge - apply for the training of wedding planners!

You can still apply until October 16 for the training of wedding planners, which will take place from October 17 to December 5, 2023, by writing to the e-mail love@mintdeco.lv

More information here !

Author: Renate Berga

Story: Iluta Piternika / MintDeco