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In this week’s Gathered Here Episode, Dana Kadwell sits down with Shannon Tarrant, wedding sales strategist and owner of Wedding Venue Map, to unpack why venues lose potential bookings and how to identify where their sales funnel is falling short. Shannon shares the four metrics every venue should track: inquiries, two-way conversations, tours, and bookings. She explains how to use that data to pinpoint conversion gaps, why trust is often the missing piece between an inquiry and a tour, and how inconsistent follow-up, confusing packages, and misaligned marketing can cost you the sale. The conversation explores how to tailor tours to each couple, create urgency without resorting to high-pressure tactics, and know when it's time to stop investing in more marketing and start improving the sales process you already have. If you're ready to stop guessing, make smarter decisions, and turn more inquiries into booked weddings, this episode is for you. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

In this Quick Chat, Dana Kadwell reflects on her conversation with Ian Ramirez of Madera Estates and explores the complexities of stepping into a business someone else built, making your own mark, and letting go when someone takes a business in a new direction. Drawing from her experiences with The Graham Mill, McAlister-Leftwich, and The Bradford, Dana shares what she has learned about understanding a business's existing foundation before making changes, knowing when to rebuild systems, and recognizing that what worked in one business may not work in another. She also explores the emotional side of letting go, particularly for founders who have poured years of work into building something of their own. Sometimes, watching someone else change what you created can feel like being erased. But a different approach doesn't necessarily mean a lack of respect for what came before. The question is whether the foundation is still strong enough to support what comes next. In this Quick Chat, Dana discusses growth, ownership, and the importance of knowing when to preserve what exists and when to build something new. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

In this Quick Chat, Dana revisits her recent conversation with Ian Ramirez of Madera Estates and his simple but powerful advice for venue owners: don’t be complacent. Dana explores what complacency can look like in business, from stopping your education and losing sight of industry trends to becoming too comfortable with the way things have always been done. She shares how joining NACE, building community, and actively seeking education helped her see beyond her own market and ultimately changed the way she approached growth and leadership. But complacency doesn’t only affect businesses. Dana digs into how it can show up in marriages, friendships, and relationships with employees, particularly when we stop taking the time to learn who people are as they grow and change. The goal isn’t to constantly chase the next shiny object or make changes for the sake of change. It’s about staying curious, gathering information, asking better questions, and knowing when it’s time to act. Because businesses plateau, relationships experience friction, and growth stalls when we stop paying attention. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Family, Business & the Lines in Between: Origin Story with Ian Ramirez  Dana Kadwell sits down with Ian Ramirez, CSEP, co-owner of Madera Estates, venue coach, sales specialist, and wedding industry speaker, for a candid conversation about what it really takes to build a family-run venue business. Ian shares his unexpected journey from professional opera singer to venue owner, how he transitioned from employee to co-owner of the family business, and what he learned navigating succession, shifting roles, and the complicated dynamics that come with working alongside parents and spouses. They get into the hard stuff: how ownership and operating a business are not the same thing, why equal equity doesn't necessarily mean equal workload, how to establish clear roles and decision-making authority, what happens when business partners have completely different visions for the future, and why regular goal-setting and honest conversations can keep resentment from quietly taking over. Ian also shares what made bringing his husband into the business work, the importance of hiring family members for their actual skill set rather than simply creating a job for them, and the one thing he believes every venue owner needs to avoid: complacency. And, naturally, Dana asks for the craziest wedding story he's ever seen. The answer involves a wedding-day package, a groom, a mistress, printed photographs, and a filing cabinet. You really can't make this stuff up. In this episode: Ian's journey from opera singer to legacy venue ownerNavigating succession in a family businessMoving from employee to ownerWhat happens when business partners have different goalsBringing your spouse into the family businessIan's wildest wedding-day storyListen in for an honest conversation about building a business that can last without letting the business consume the relationships that matter most. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Am I The Vendor A*****e? Dana Kadwell sits down with wedding photographer and entrepreneur Julian Ribinik to unpack a controversial Reddit story about a vendor who dramatically increased their price because they expected a difficult client.... and wanted to use the money to buy new camera equipment. The conversation gets into the difference between charging for the actual scope of a project and charging because you don't like the person, how to recognize legitimate client red flags, what it really means to “charge what you're worth,” and why your pricing has to account for the actual cost of running a business—not just what your competitors charge. They also talk about perceived value, knowing when to walk away from a client, and the uncomfortable reality that investing in your business is your responsibility—not your client's. What's your verdict? Are they the vendor a*****e?  Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Wedding vendors are losing leads for a reason that has nothing to do with talent: buyers don’t trust the process anymore. Adrienna McDermott breaks down the three website and marketing fixes that help venues and other wedding pros stand out in a crowded, skeptical market—and they’re simpler than you think. Adrienna, founder of Ava and the Bee, has 16+ years in the wedding industry as a former bridal boutique owner, planner, and florist. She now uses that insider experience, plus daily research in Reddit, Facebook groups, and Discord, to spot what couples are actually saying before most vendors ever hear it.You’ll discover: Why your website must instantly answer what you do, where you’re located, and whether you’re the right fitHow to explain your process without overwhelming people with too much detail or leaving them guessingWhy transparency around pricing, add-ons, and “how this works” is the fastest way to reduce ghostingHow to use testimonials, FAQs, and simple language to build trust with couples and their parentsWhy the industry is in a “trust recession” and what that means for bookings right now We also dig into the shift in buyer behavior, from longer decision cycles to last-minute fall inquiries, and why the old “book fast or lose your date” pressure no longer works the way it used to. Adrienna shares practical examples for venues, including how to position smaller spaces, micro-wedding packages, and bundled add-ons so you attract better-qualified leads instead of everyone.If you’re a venue owner or wedding pro feeling the slowdown, this conversation gives you a clearer path forward: simplify your message, make the next step obvious, and let your best reviews do more of the selling. Essential listening if you want more trust, better inquiries, and less friction in the booking process. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Dana is back after a summer away — and she's got a lot to catch you up on. In this deeply personal update, she reflects on the emotional final days of selling The Bradford (signed from Greece, closed a continent away), the whirlwind of buying The Graham Mill and The McAlister Leftwich House within weeks of each other, a health scare that forced her to slow down and rebuild her habits, and what it's really taken to grow two new venues, launch a venue management company, and build a team around her — all while staying active on the NACE national board and gearing up for the next Venue Masterclass. It's an honest, unfiltered look at reinvention: the exhaustion, the growth, and choosing this path on purpose. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Two leads a week to multiple leads a day — that's the shift paid advertising made for one of Dana's own venues, and it's why she brought in Mark Chapman, the wedding industry's go-to expert on paid ads, to break down what's actually working right now. Mark built his agency after cracking Google Ads for his family's wedding photography business back in 2010. Today his team manages $30 million a year in ad spend for wedding businesses across the country. In this episode, he and Dana get into: Why couples need to see you in multiple places multiple times before they ever fill out an inquiry form — and why boosting a single Instagram post won't cut itHow to budget for ads when cash flow is tight (and why "saving up three months" beats throwing $200 at Google and giving up)Why referrals and paid ads amplify each other instead of competingThe privacy settings quietly messing with your conversion trackingMark's blunt advice for venue owners terrified of getting on camera Plus: Mark's biggest agency win — helping a couple book weddings on a piece of raw land before their venue even existed. Follow along at @McAlisterLeftwich and @TheGrahamMill, and for more from Hustle & Gather, the Venue Masterclass, and our mastermind group, follow @HustleAndGather. For episode updates, follow @GatheredHerePodcast. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Jonathan Aymin started with one San Diego wedding venue and grew CSE into a multi-state venue management company that's now been part of over 6,500 events. He's also the founder of WEVA, the first national wedding and event venue association, host of the VenueRx podcast, and — as of this year — a father of seven. In this episode, Dana and Jonathan get into the messy reality behind the growth: taking on venues with existing contracts and no playbook, going years without an owner's paycheck, and learning to lead a team through chaos without losing your own emotional footing. They talk about the difference between following your passion and following what you're actually good at and can build a business around, why patience is a skill you have to practice on purpose, and how "growing before you're ready" applies as much to kids as it does to venues. Also covered: the loneliness epidemic and why events are the last frontier for real connection, why social media stopped being a connection tool and became TV, the discipline of saying no to good opportunities so you can say yes to the right ones, and why timeline expectations should shift as your team grows. **In this episode:** - Jonathan's path from college party-throwing to staffing to venue ownership- Why "connection" became CSE's core purpose- The chaos of onboarding venues faster than the team was ready for- Owner pay vs. management pay — and why Dana's first distribution didn't come for six years- Using opportunity cost to filter which opportunities are worth the sacrifice- Compartmentalizing family time and work time instead of doing both badly at once- Why a wrong decision beats an unmade one Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here! Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

You're getting leads. But are you actually converting them — or are you leaving money on the table every single week? In this episode of the Venue Masterclass Series, Dana sits down with Daniela Justus and Whitney Hodges, co-founders of LeadLock, a lead management software built specifically for wedding venues and wedding professionals. Together, they pull back the curtain on what's actually happening between the moment a lead comes in and the moment someone books — and why that gap is costing venue owners more than they realize. They dig into why automation doesn't have to feel cold, how to stop writing off leads too early based on budget, what it actually takes to build a system your sales team can run without you, and why every investment you make — even the ones that don't go as planned — is just data pointing you in the right direction. If you're an owner operator wearing all the hats, running high inquiry volume, or just ready to stop managing leads out of a spreadsheet — this one's for you. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

A few weeks ago, Kelsey said something that made me slightly spiral.  When I asked her why she ignored her gut instinct in certain situations, her answer was simple: Empathy. That answer opened up a much bigger conversation about the moments in our lives when we know something doesn't feel right—but we explain it away, make excuses, or convince ourselves that someone else's needs matter more than our own instincts. In this Quick Chat, I'm reflecting on the cost of not trusting myself, the difference between empathy and self-abandonment, and what happens when you spend so much time questioning your instincts that you stop believing them altogether. After navigating one of the hardest seasons of my life, I found myself struggling to trust what I felt, what I knew, and even what was right in front of me. But healing has looked a lot like learning to listen to that inner voice again—and realizing it was trying to protect me all along. If you've ever ignored a red flag, talked yourself out of what you knew to be true, or found yourself questioning your own reality, this conversation is for you. Because sometimes the hardest relationship to rebuild is the one you have with yourself. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Last week, Kelsey shared a simple thought that stopped me in my tracks: What if I fail? And then, just as quickly: Then I'll start something new. In this Quick Chat, I'm reflecting on why those words hit so close to home. From selling The Bradford and navigating one of the hardest seasons of my life to taking the leap into owning two new venues, I've spent a lot of time wrestling with fear, uncertainty, and the pressure to get it right. But somewhere along the way, I realized something important: my success was never tied to a building, a business, or a specific path. It was tied to what I had learned, what I had built, and who I had become. We talk a lot about success in entrepreneurship, but we don't talk nearly enough about the fear of failure—or the freedom that comes when failure stops having the final say. If you've ever found yourself lying awake wondering if you're making the right decision, questioning your next step, or feeling stuck between playing it safe and taking the leap, this conversation is for you. Because sometimes the question isn't What if I fail? Sometimes the better question is: What if I'll be okay either way? Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

In this Origins episode, Dana sits down with Kelsey Correia to share the story behind Floriana, a historic Massachusetts venue that was in need of a fresh start. Kelsey shares her journey from event planner to venue operator, how she convinced a hesitant ownership group to trust her vision, and the risks she took to help transform the property into a thriving wedding venue. From rebranding and rebuilding systems to taking catering in-house and creating an intentional guest experience, Kelsey offers an honest look at what it takes to grow a venue from the inside out. This conversation explores entrepreneurship, leadership, trusting your instincts, and the realities of building a business when there is no guaranteed path forward. Whether you're a venue owner, event professional, or someone dreaming about taking the leap into business ownership, Kelsey's story is full of practical insights and inspiration. Check Out Kelsey's Amazing Property: The FlorianaAlso make sure you are following them on Instagram @florianaipswich Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Wedding insurance is one of those things nobody wants to think about… until they need it. In this episode of Gathered Here, Dana sits down with Mitchell Busse, the driving force behind Event Guard  - the first AI-powered event insurance platform in the United States -  to talk about the realities of risk, liability, cancellations, and the misconceptions that venue owners and couples still have about wedding insurance. From frozen florals and missing vendors to hurricane season and “friendors,” this conversation dives into the real-life scenarios that can completely derail an event, and how the right insurance coverage can protect not only the couple, but the venue, vendors, and the overall guest experience. Dana and Mitchell also unpack: The difference between liability and cancellation insuranceWhy more venues are requiring cancellation coverageThe biggest insurance misconceptions in the wedding industryWhat venue owners think they’re protected against (but aren’t)Why small weddings still carry big risksHow insurance actually helps preserve client relationships during stressful momentsWhether you’re a venue owner, planner, vendor, or engaged couple, this episode is a practical and eye-opening conversation about the part of weddings nobody thinks about — but everyone should. Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/

Wedding tipping culture has officially entered the chat… and people have thoughts. In this very first edition of AITVA (Am I The Vendor A*****e?), Dana is joined by wedding planner and designer Irene of Irene & Co Events to unpack one very heated Reddit thread: a bride questioning whether she really needed to tip her wedding vendors 20%… including a $6,000 gratuity for catering staff. From tip jars at wedding bars to service fees, self-employed vendors, bad DJs, and the pressure couples feel to tip everyone — nothing is off limits in this conversation. Together, Dana and Irene dive into: Whether self-employed vendors should expect tipsThe difference between gratuity and service feesWhy transparency matters more than everHow venues and vendors should educate clientsWhy handwritten notes and reviews often mean more than cashAnd whether tipping culture has officially gone too farFunny, honest, slightly unhinged, and packed with real industry insight — this episode is for vendors, couples, planners, and anyone who has ever felt personally attacked by the iPad tip screen. So… is the client the a*****e here? Thank you to our amazing sponsors! Aisle PlannerWedding Pro Brite Biz Lead Lock Releventful Event Guard VenueX AIInterested in learning more about The Venue Masterclass? Join us February 21-24 in Tampa, Florida. Learn more here: https://www.thevenuemasterclass.com Follow my new ventures:https://mcalisterleftwich.com/https://thegrahammill.com/