LOVE México Trade Show sept/Oct 2010

Thanks to my dear Friend Daniela Garcia,

I was invited to the

Destination wedding industry leaders converge in Riviera

Maya at Love Mexico.

Mexico, Riviera Maya- September 30, 2010.

The second edition of Love Mexico, took place from September 30 to October 2nd at the Barcelo Maya Palace in the Riviera Maya. This event is produced by Mexico Wed in partnership with the Mexico Tourism Board and the Riviera Maya Destination Marketing Office.

120 wedding professionals from USA, Canada and Mexico participated in this edition for three days of educational and networking events, attending to prescheduled appointments with more of 45 Mexican companies including hotels, destinations and services for the wedding industry.

The event started with the welcome cocktail “Music, Flavors and Colors of Mexico” sponsored by the Barcelo Hotel.

Destination weddings in our country generate more than 450 million US dollars annually When a couple decides to have a destination wedding they attend in average with 63 guests, with a staying of 2.5 nights.

Our latest survey showed that the group of wedding professionals attending Love Mexico are planning to organize more than 2000 weddings for next year in our country, that means than more than 220,000 rooms will be occupied only for weddings organized by the companies they represent.

One of Love Mexico ́s highlights was the panel “Mexico, The perfect destination for Weddings” moderated by Eduardo Chaillo CMP, CMM, Mexico Tourism Board, this panel was integrated by Elyse Elkin, vice president of Travel Impressions; Brad Miron, vice president of ITravel 2000; Candice Cain, CEO Candy Cain Travel Co; “Whose Wedding is it Anyway?” TV star, Tracy French, CEO The French Connection and the Mexico ́s events guru Susana Palazuelos.

The educational program included presentations from professional and distinguished personalities of the Destination Wedding Industry as: Linnyette Richardson Hall; Valerie Bennett from Destination Weddings.com; Julia Markel, vice president of the AFWPI and marketing focused sessions by The Knot, by Jeff Hendlin Vice President of Bridal Guide Magazine, who will be presenting “Tweet, Retweet, List, Post, Like, Follow and Comment- How to stay ahead of the curve and grow your business using Social Media”, also Lillian de la Torre, shared with us the theme “The US Hispanic market for Destination Weddings and Honeymoons”, as a subject matter expert, being the vice president of Bodas USA.

The “Riviera Maya Wedding Festival” was launched during Love Mexico. This was an event to showcase local vendors and their resources to put together the perfect and dreamed Destination Wedding.

At the festival a luxurious raffle took place, thanks to the sponsorship of Diamonds International; 4 sapphire and diamonds necklaces will be raffled for the audience. (no I didn't win anything)

On October 2nd. Breakout sessions about Mexican destinations took place at the Tule meeting room. San Miguel de Allende, Puerto Vallarta, Yucatan, Morelia, Cancun, Riviera Maya, Cozumel, Acapulco, Cuernavaca and Oaxaca showed the participants what they have for this market.

We were also invited by Xcaret to “Mexico Spectacular Show” where we were involved in a magical experience for the five senses. More than 250 artists represented the best traditions, history and mysteries from Mexico. Even I, as a proud mexican got the chills with that show.

After the event, we had “Caliente” an after pool party at El Cielo Bar, this was hosted by the Destination Wedding Diva Linnyette Richardson and sponsored by Barcelo Maya Palace and AVI-SPL.

For this event international celebrities joined us, such as Richard Markel, president of the AFWPI (Association for Wedding Professionals International) and David Wood, president of the ABC (Association of Bridal Consultants), also one of our national celebrities will be in the event, Susana Palazuelos, the Mexican events guru.

About the Mexico Tourism Board

The Mexico Tourism Board (MTB) brings together the resources of federal and state governments, municipalities and private companies to promote Mexico’s tourism attractions and destinations internationally. Created in 1999, the MTB is Mexico’s tourism promotion agency, and its participants include members of both the private and public sectors. The MTB has offices throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Latin America. For more information please go to www.visitmexico.com

About the Riviera Maya

Is the touristic zone located by the Caribbean Sea at Quintana Roo, Mexico. It is 120 Km long and it is from Puerto Morelos, a town in the north of the state, up to Punta Allen, which is in the state ́s south. All over Riviera Maya are 357 hotels with 36,995 available rooms in different categories. The variety of Riviera ́s Maya hotels goes from little rustic hotels up to luxury five stars hotels with modern golf greens. For more information:

www.rivieramaya.com

About Mexico as a Top Destination for Weddings

Mexico’s proximity to the United States has made it the number one international destination for Americans in general and so many Mexico’s visitors are repeat guests, it’s no surprise that they choose Mexico as the setting for such a monumental date in their lives. With a mixture of cultural and beach destinations as well as economic incentives, Mexico is the ultimate destination for weddings, honeymoons, bachelor/bachelorette getaways and more.

Photos by: A Diva & A Camera

avec Planner1 Events owner Gaby Lavor & Lizardo Bellavista

_________________________

Photos by: Ilse diamant

my SECRET JEWEL CELEBRATIONS stand

Dany from Festiv Weddings and Vania from Zúñiga Events

avec Julia & Richard markel

My Stand on the event

Bodas USA Magazine Conference

Hi there Candy Cain

Dany (Cancun) + Boby Jo (Canada)

Xcaret show

avec Claudia Arzave

avec Richard Markel in Xcaret

Love Memories

Barceló

Planner 1 events + Amarte

I Had a great time. And it was amazing meeting and

networking with so many professionals.

This is were I met people like Candy Cain (AFWPI Destination Wedding Expert),

Stephanie A'neitra Watson (Mz Visionary), Minty Castilla & Kitzia Morales ( LOVE México organization Board) & of course AFWPI President Richard Markel and wife Julia Markel.

To everyone we met and had the honor to work with I can't wait for this years

LOVE México Riviera Maya Destination Weddings Trade Show.

Hope to see everyone there,

take care xoxo

Ilse Diamant