A Blossoming Tradition
On February 1st, 2020 Wed KC hosted the second annual Kansas City Wedding Vendor Choice Awards gala that recognized the outstanding achievement of wedding professionals from all industry categories over the past year. This gala allowed wedding professionals to celebrate, network, and foster closer relationships amongst one another, cultivating the spirit of community.
Businesses were nominated and recognized by other professionals in the local wedding industry. The top three nominees from each category were then voted on by the industry, and the winner was announced in full glamour at the gala.
Thank You to the 2020 Gala Sponsors
2020 Winners
Congratulations to the 2020 Winners of the Kansas City Wedding Vendor Choice Awards!
BAND OF THE YEAR – Lost Wax
BRIDAL BOUTIQUE OF THE YEAR – Something White Bridal Boutique
CATERER OF THE YEAR – Brancato’s Catering
FLORIST OF THE YEAR – Good Earth Floral Design Studio
MAKEUP ARTIST OF THE YEAR – White Carpet Bride
PHOTO BOOTH COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Icon Event Group
RENTAL COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Marquee Event Rentals
TRANSPORTATION COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Showtime Transportation
VENUE OF THE YEAR – The Guild
WEDDING PLANNER OF THE YEAR – Pretty + Planned
TRAILBLAZER AWARD – Jenni Koch – Wild Hill Flowers & Events
COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Wild Hill Flowers and Events
BEVERAGE COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Top Shelf Bartending
CAKE/DESSERT COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Blue Thistle Cakery
DJ OF THE YEAR – DJ Alex Reed
HAIRSTYLIST OF THE YEAR – White Carpet Bride
MENSWEAR COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Houndstooth
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR – Claire Ryser Photography
STATIONERY COMPANY OF THE YEAR – YellowBrick Graphics
TRAVEL COMPANY OF THE YEAR – Travel Unrivaled
VIDEOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR – Rushing Productions
RISING STAR AWARD – Katelin Smith – Kate Smith Soiree
VENDOR OF THE YEAR – Jenni Koch – Wild Hill Flowers & Events
All 2020 Nominees
2020 Gala Design
2020 Gala Award Ceremony
2020 Gala Cocktail & Mingling
2020 Gala Party
New in 2020: The Academy
After the 2019 gala Wed KC created an “Academy” for the Vendor Choice Awards by combining together a group of respected wedding business representatives from each category within the industry. There was no better group to ask than the 2019 winners of each award category, who had been nominated and voted upon by the industry itself. One-by-one each vendor was asked to join the Academy to help shape the awards platform and serve the industry for the following awards season. Additionally, they were asked to abide by certain rules and regulations as being a part of the Academy, including speaking up for their sector of the industry, voting on behalf of others within their category, relinquishing the ability to be nominated and voted upon in the 2020 season, and “handing off” the award at the gala to the next winner. If you wish to know more, you can see the full list of Academy Rules & Responsibilities that was agreed upon by each member.
The Academy has met three times throughout 2019 to discuss the process of nomination, voting, and awarding winners for the KC Vendor Choice Awards. There were many discussions throughout the meetings on logistics and procedures that should be put in place to solidify and validify the award process. Each Academy representative had the opportunity to speak up for their sector of the industry and when it came time to decide on a matter, a silent vote was cast from each member so they could anonymously vote one way or another.
You can view the meeting minutes in length for each meeting that was held by clicking on the date:
The panel plans to meet at least one more time before the gala to discuss the logistics of the event itself; however, at this time, all the framework for the nomination and voting processes for the Vendor Choice Awards have been determined.
2020 Academy Members
The 2020 Academy for the Kansas City Wedding Vendor Choice Awards includes the following representatives:
- Bridal Boutique: Sarah Bronson from All My Heart Bridal
- Cake Decorator: Aleta Schnitzer from Adorn Cakes
- Catering: Marisa Roberts from Olive Events
- Design Company, Company of the Year, & Vendor of the Year: Carolyn Campbell Schwartz from Ultrapom Event Rental
- Florist & Wedding Planner: Jenni Koch from Wild Hill Flowers & Events
- Hair and/or Makeup: Ashley Backs from Hello Lovely
- Menswear: Jennifer Woodson from Tip Top Tux
- Music Entertainment: Ray Tuimauga from Icon Event Group
- Photo Booth: John DePrisco from The Photo Bus
- Photography: Marissa Cribbs from Marissa Cribbs Photography
- Stationery: Megan Ibarra from Little Yellow Leaf
- Venue: Chelsea Pfannenstiel from Eighteen Ninety (handed off to Paula)
- Videography: Steve Yang from Moontage Films
Also, in attendance at all panel meetings was the Wed KC Team: Britney Jones, Amanda Hodges, & Rachael Whitehead.
Things to Know About the 2020 Awards
- CATEGORIES:
- Some additions and changes were made to the categories:
- Name change: Cake/Dessert Company of the Year
- Rental Company of the Year
- Stationery/Calligraphy Company of the Year
- Separating categories:
- Band of the Year
- DJ of the Year
- Added categories:
- Transportation Company of the Year
- Some additions and changes were made to the categories:
- NOMINATIONS:
- Academy members are not eligible to be nominated and voted upon within the 2020 season (this is to prevent any illusion of collusion with being on the panel and the voting process).
- One nomination form per category will be provided, and it is mandatory that a company cannot nominate themselves, or their nomination will be voided. They must fill in another company within their category within the nomination field or leave it blank. Contact details on the nomination forms will be used to ensure that companies are not being able to nominate themselves.
- More descriptive intros for the categories will be added to the nomination form.
- Small vs. Large Companies and limiting nominations: because companies cannot nominate themselves, the number of nomination ballot submissions will not be an issue. All employees still must use a company email address to submit a form.
- Business email and name is a requirement to submit a ballot.
- Nomination counting: Academy voted that Wed KC should count the nomination ballots as they are the only non-biased 3rdparty available. Hiring a 3rdparty to count was determined to be too difficult because the nomination forms are write-in, and most are not congruent.
- There will be 3 finalists per nomination category.
- In the event of a tie, the category will feature both tied businesses within the voting round.
- VOTING:
- Businesses will not be limited to the number of votes, each business email has the ability to cast a vote as long as they provide the business name and email.
- All voting ballots must be completely filled out to be valid – there will be an option to opt out of each category if a person is not familiar with the businesses within that category.
- The 3 business names within the category will automatically shuffle between users, instead of being listed alphabetically.
- Tie: in the event of a tie, both companies would win the category.
- All voting is automatically tallied by Survey Monkey.
- GALA SPONSORSHIPS:
- All sponsors of the event must relinquish the ability for their company to be nominated/voted on.
- Since Academy members were already relinquishing their ability to be nominated for the 2020 awards season, they were given the first ability to be sponsors of the gala.
- It is not a requirement for gala sponsorships to change year from year.
- TICKETS:
- There have been many talks about the ticket price, and they are currently on-going. There will be an increase to the 2019 price, but with added value and ticket options (such as an open bar). More details to come soon.
