Wedding Business Solutions
If weddings are all or part of your business, then the Wedding Business Solutions podcast is for you. You’ll hear ideas to help you sell more, profit more and have more fun doing it from Alan Berg CSP, who’s been called “The Leading International Speaker and Expert on the Business of Weddings.” Whether it’s ideas for closing the sale, improving your website conversion or just plain common-sense ideas for your wedding business, the episodes here, whether monologue or dialogue are just the thing to get you motivated to help more couples have great weddings, and more profits for you . . . . . . . . . You can read full transcripts of each episode at podcast.AlanBerg.com . . . . . . . . . Don't forget to subscribe to this podcast so you'll know about the latest episodes. And if you have a question, comment or suggestion for topic or guest, please reach out at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com . . . . . . . . . And if you don't get my email updates for new episodes, as well as upcoming workshops and Master Classes, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com . . . . . . . . . If you'd like to find out about Alan's speaking, sales training, consulting or website review services, you can reach him at Alan@AlanBerg.com or visit Podcast.AlanBerg.comNote: I invite my guests on for the value they provide to you, my listeners. Occasionally I have a guest on where I'm an affiliate or have a relationship that may involve compensation for me. My first priority is the value to you and therefore I don't sell placement or guest spots on my podcast.
Wedding Business Solutions
Jonathan Bryans - Weddings in Ireland aren't only for the Irish
Jonathan Bryans - Weddings in Ireland aren't only for the Irish
Ever wonder makes Ireland one of the top destination wedding spots? In this episode, we sit down with Johnny Bryans from weddingsonline to answer those burning questions. Why do so many couples choose Ireland for their big day? What are the legalities you need to know? How can wedding planners offer their clients an unforgettable Irish experience? Whether you're looking to expand your business or planning your dream wedding, this episode is packed with the insights you need to make it a reality.
Listen to this new episode for expert tips on crafting a magical destination wedding in Ireland.
About Jonathan
Jonathan is the Commercial Director of weddingsonline with over 20 years’ experience in the Irish Wedding Industry. Jonathan specialises in the hospitality sector with Hotels and Venues and has passion for marketing and sales. He is an advocate for making Ireland the world's wedding destination of choice. Jonathan has spoken at numerous Irish Wedding Conferences and internationally too.
Contact Jonathan
https://www.instagram.com/weddingsonline/ #weddingsonline
https://www.facebook.com/groups/helpimgettingmarried
If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com
Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com
Alan hasn’t done a virtual master class since Covid, and since there’s been so much interest, he’s going to host only one before the end of 2024, to get you ready for engagement season, 2025 and beyond!
Only 16 Seats for this, so get your ticket(s) now! Click here
I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
- Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/weddingbusinesssolutions
- YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8
- Stitcher: http://bit.ly/wbsstitcher
- Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/wbsgoogle
- iHeart Radio: https://ihr.fm/31C9Mic
- Pandora: http://bit.ly/wbspandora
©2024 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com
So how many times do I have to go to Ireland before they give me a passport? Listen to this episode and see what I'm talking about. Hi, it's Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I am so chuffed to have my friend Johnny Bryans on from weddingsonline in Ireland. Johnny, how you doing?
I'm doing great, Alan. How are you? You're looking good.
Oh, thanks. And I'm looking forward to seeing you very soon. Very soon, because I'm coming over again. So this is my 11th time coming to Ireland. So how many times do I have to come before they give me a passport? How does that work?
Alan? I think at this stage, you're an honorary irishman.
That's it.
We all love you over here, this side of the pond. We enjoy your stories. We enjoy the crack, as they say. And that's the legal crack.
That's right.
It has a very different meaning in Ireland than it does in America.
Absolutely. Absolutely. So. So I first met, actually, I first met your brother Peter before I met you, and I was brought over by a wedding planner who plans weddings for Americans coming over to Ireland, Annie Byrne. Annie, if you're listening, shout out to Annie because it's your fault. You got this started over there. And Annie knows your brother Peter, and she said that Peter, the managing director at the time of weddingsonline, would like to meet you. So Carol and I, my wife and I, we had lunch with them, and that started me coming over for different events over there.
So again, thank you, Annie. But it also brings up an interesting subject, which is Annie, who happens to be american and fell in love with the country, then fell in love with a guy and then got married and lives over there and has for a long time, a lot of Americans come over to Ireland to get married. Now I know why I love it. I always tell people why we love it. Again, I wouldn't be my 11th time coming over if I didn't. What is it about Ireland that's so attractive for Americans for destination weddings?
Well, good question. And there are lots of ways to answer that question, Alan. Well, Ireland, I suppose, is what the Americans say. It's a piece of the old sod. Probably half of Americans would consider themselves to have irish roots. So it's not just their romantic scenic locations, the beautiful old castles, old abbey and things like that, but theres a huge amount of cultural heritage. And for a lot of people, its a bit of a homecoming. Theres a big affinity.
I mean, obviously, in the 1850s, we had the potato famine in Ireland and millions of people went across, probably landed in New York, and just made their way throughout the whole country thereafter. So people want to come back. People want to come back, and they feel that they should come back. What better opportunity to do that than to have your wedding here?
Now, part of what we love about it living on the east coast is it's 6 hours in the air. They say it's a seven hour flight coming over. It's really 6 hours in the air. And we can be in Shannon or we can be in Dublin, and that's it. And the other thing is, it's such a manageable place, you know, it's an island, and it's not a huge island. And other than the fact that you only have two kinds of roads, very narrow and even more very narrow.
Well, that has improved now. That has improved. We used to think that we now realize that Ireland is a small country because there actually is a good kind of motorway network now. So if you're trying. Yeah, but we can. We still have small, bendy roads, but that's part of the charm and the attraction.
The first time we were coming over, I was looking to hire a car, and it was much less expensive for a manual transmission than an automatic. And I drive manual transmission, and I was about to reserve it. And my wife reminded me that I shift with my right hand, not with my left hand, and that I have. I'm on the other side of the car, on the other side of the road from us. And she said, that's an awful lot to think about the first time you're driving over there. And that's why I love that woman, because she's right. Because that would have been way too much to think about. So one of these days when I come over, though, I want you or Rory to get me in a manual transmission in a parking lot somewhere, just so I can see what it's like to shift with my left hand.
Alan, everything is possible, you know that at this stage we can make it work.
Absolutely. Another time I was over there, I did some sales training for Vincent.
What's the venue from Ballymacarvie village. Beautiful venue.
Beautiful. Now, he was looking for american weddings during the week. Because, let's face it, you come over to Ireland, who cares what day of the week it is when you get married? It's no longer a work week. It's that. Is that a common thing that people coming over for destination are doing during the week? Or are they also still looking for those Saturdays?
No, you've hit it. You've hit on a key point. Weddings in general, probably throughout the whole world, tend to be Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but the majority would be Friday and Saturdays. When people travel and they travel for a full week, they're going with their family and friends. Usually between 20 and 50 guests are there about for american weddings coming to Ireland. So the day of the week actually doesn't matter. So you're really talking about a week long or, well, between two and five day long event in Ireland that you can incorporate a lot of kind of cultural activities with the build up to the wedding, the planning, the actual day itself, and then the post wedding barbecues, scenic tours and things like that. So it's actually a lovely opportunity to connect, like with worldwide travel being the way it is and with family and friends living all over the world.
It's actually lovely to have the time with your friends and your family post wedding. And I always think it's a pity if people disappear in their honeymoon straight away when people have made the effort to come so far. So, yes, the day of the week. The day of the week. It can be during the week. It often is. And it often makes more sense because you can plan your trip to Ireland to do all the things you want to do outside of that which you.
I haven't mentioned golf yet, which almost every time I come over, you take me.
Out on the links, Alan. Yes, yes. I think we're unbeaten, I think, on the links. Isn't that correct?
I think so. I think so. There. We did have to stop after 13 holes the one time because of the snow and hail, but.
Well, do you know, we have a saying in Ireland that they say if you don't like the weather, just wait for a few minutes and it's going to change. So I wanted to give you the full experience of Ireland. The sunshine, the rain, the hail, the snow. What else did we get that day?
Uh, well, we did. We actually did wait 15 minutes, and then it changed from rain to sleet to snow to hell. And, uh, I remember going back into the clubhouse and there was an old timer in there and he said, oh, you saw all four seasons today? And we said, no, we were waiting for summer. It would have been nice if we had a little bit of summer on that one, but that. But that's unusual. We've had some, some really fun crack out on the golf course again, the league.
Yeah. And to be fair and to qualify that, Alan, I think it was in November. So, yeah, we didn't do too badly.
It was, absolutely. But you know, another interesting thing, what's great about Ireland, and yet, yes, you do get a bit of rain and you do get some cold, but your temperature doesn't really swing that much from low to high.
It doesn't. I mean, Ireland's weather can be unpredictable, and if you don't like it, as I say, just wait a few more minutes. But the temperatures are. It never gets too cold and never gets too hot. So it's actually kind of perfect for weddings. And then obviously, I mean, if you're in California, you're going to have a lot of outdoor venues and stuff like that. A lot of the venues in Ireland would be able to put on a perfect wedding in the inside. But also, if the opportunity presents itself, there are beautiful outdoor areas, too.
So we're very, very flexible and can work with whatever God gives us.
Right. And again, that's one of those things. So, interesting side fact with irish whiskey. One of the reasons that irish whiskey and Scotch need to age longer in their barrels is because the temperature doesn't swing that much. The temperature change is what moves the liquid in and out of the wood of the barrel. And so in Kentucky, where with bourbon, it gets very hot, it gets very cold. That's actually really good for moving it in. The instructor at the class, when I became an executive bourbon steward, had told us he lives in Texas, and he said, you rarely ever see a four year old Texas bourbon because it evaporates too much, because it's too hot too much of the time.
Complete opposite of what you have over there. So what else there is there do in Ireland? So I've been to Tullamore, I've been to teeling, I've been to Jameson. Bushmills was closing when I got there, so I didn't get the bushmill.
And I think the first time you visited Ireland, we went to the Guinness storehouse and we had the customer pipe the Guinness up on the top.
Yeah, there's quite incredible. Smiling like the Cheshire cat that you took of me with my beef and Guinness pie. With a properly poured fresh Guinness, by the way, the only Guinness I've ever enjoyed, because it doesn't get any fresher than that.
Okay, well.
Well, you know, it was experiential, you know, it was at the Guinness storehouse. Beef. Beef pie, beef stew made with Guinness, slab of mashed potatoes. And we had just done the tour there. It was a lot of fun.
Yeah, look, it's neat, but you're right. I mean, for our american visitors and things like that, the distillery experiences are quite incredible. And throughout the whole of Ireland, there are loads and loads of different possibilities. You know, from Jameson Tullamore, you have a new Paris court distillery, you have the Dingle distillery, you know, so all throughout the country, we have lots and lots of wonderful visitor experiences. And indeed, there are some of these distilleries that will put together little kind of miniatures with your, you know, with your wedding details on it and things like that, you know, personalize it to your wedding. So there are lots of lovely things that you can do. But, yeah, a visit to Ireland, certainly for Americans, is not a visit without a. Without a visit to the golf course and a whiskey distillery, that's for sure.
Absolutely.
And the Blarney Castle and Wedgwood and Waterford and all these other beautiful places. So.
Yes. Well, Alan, I'd be slightly concerned if you kissed the Blarney stone now, because it's hard to get you to keep quiet at the best of times.
It's true. It's true. Carol wishes I had a mute button right on me, but. And then I believe it's still. The biggest tourist destination is the cliffs of Moore. Is that correct?
Yeah, the cliffs of Moor. It's a beautiful spot. In fact, there are a lot of. It's a fantastic location for a ceremony as well. An outdoor ceremony. Yeah. I mean, essentially, you have these 300 foot high cliffs going into the Atlantic. It's next stop, America.
It's just spectacular. It's facing west, so you're getting the sunset and you couldn't be in a nicer spot. But that whole west coast of Ireland, they call it the wild atlantic way, it's just full of little gems, you know? So there are hundreds of places to visit. In fact, there's an area called the. The ring of Kerry. And if you come and you stay in Killarney, you'll be offered a tour of the ring of Kerry and you. And that takes probably five or 6 hours. But if you talk to some of the real good tour guides that live locally, they'll tell you that you should do the ring of Kerry in three or four days because they'll take you to every little spot, you know, not just to drive through it, but it's amazing.
Ireland is such a. Such a beautiful country and it's there to be enjoyed. And obviously, we love to welcome you guys in. The other interesting point just about weddings, obviously, the wedding itself, we're often talking about the party instead of the actual nuptials, if I can call it that. But in terms of legal recognition, a wedding, marriages performed in Ireland are actually legally recognized in the states, which is good. So if people do come in, they can get legally married in Ireland and there's no issue whatsoever. But I know a lot of people, when they come, they'll get married legally and usually a registry office, and then come and have, you know, a celebrant, you know, perform. Perform the ceremony on the day.
So, yeah, there are options here.
So talk about this. Religious ceremonies versus more of a civil ceremony. What is. What are you seeing over there these days?
Yeah, I mean, I guess it's a worldwide shift at the moment. Like, it would have been like we've been in the business over 20 years now, Alan, and at the very start, you really only had the option for a religious ceremony. After some time, they brought in through the health service executive that you could get married in a registry office. But now it's really 50 50. A lot of people are having their ceremonies on site. The venues have upgraded their rooms and their ceremony spaces to allow for that. A lot of them actually have built beautiful, quaint little chapels, or else redeveloped chapels that were on the grounds. So it's really 50 50.
A lot of people like the idea of a church wedding, but don't always necessarily want the religious aspect to it, and that's just the world that we're living in at the moment. But, yeah, there are lots and lots of options, but you don't have to lose the tradition to have a kind of civil ceremony, if that makes sense. You have that wonderful abbey experience, you.
Know, and I've even felt that over the time since 2012, when I first came over, that I felt that shift as well. And also, um, Ireland is welcoming to same sex couples. Isn't your prime minister. Prime minister, uh, openly gay?
Um.
Or was that the previous one?
That was the previous one, yes. Leah for Edgar. Yes, yes. But, yeah, the. The same sex. Same sex marriages are obviously legal in Ireland. They're. They're welcomed.
Um, yes. So, um, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because we know there are still places in the world that are not so welcoming. So it's nice to know.
Absolutely.
Someplace close and they could have a civil ceremony and everything legal and welcome.
There are full rights for absolutely everybody.
So another thing I've noticed over the years is how similar the irish wedding market is to the us market in terms of the wedding itself. Certainly there's different traditions. You don't have many bagpipers over here, unless somebody does request that over here. I think your father in law is a piper. I don't know. Is he still a piper.
Terry Brosnan. Yes. An interesting guy. I'm not sure if you've met him, Alan, but he does play at weddings. He tends to play at family weddings. And I remember in the very early days here at weddingsonline, he used to build stone walls and make the most beautiful stone walls that, you know, around people's properties and things like that. And he always played as part of a pipe band. So we.
Sorry, I just put a promotion for him on weddingsonline. Terry Brosnan, bagpiper and when people would ring the house, because he had no social media, no. No website, but people would ring the house number and they'd say, hello, is that Terry? And he'd say, it is. And you play bagpipes at weddings. And he say, I do occasionally. And they tell him about their wedding. And, you know, when we. They'd love to have him and stuff like that, and he'd talk them out of it.
That's really it. So an interesting guy. And eventually, over the years, he said, would you please take that down? Because he just does it at family weddings. But he's fantastic. And I must send you a video or two of them.
Yeah. I actually met him at your house. I met him at your house. We were talking one day and I. I could see that. I could see that. The personality. He's talking them out of.
No, you don't want me.
Exactly. Exactly. And that makes them want to more, you know. Absolutely, yeah. So he's not doing it from a sales perspective.
No, no, absolutely not. So what is the. The average wedding in Ireland these days? What, what is the cost and what's the guest count for an irish wedding?
Yeah, good question. I mean, typical irish wedding is about 150 guests on average. Now, if you look at those numbers, a Dublin wedding tends to be in around the 100, 2130 mark. And if you can call it a country or non Dublin wedding, would tend to be an average of about 180. So irish weddings, big country irish weddings, would tend to have 250 to 300 people. And it's just a massive party, and it goes on all night. You could use from dawn to dusk and beyond and into the wee small hours. So that's.
That's something that people struggle to get their heads around a little bit. Especially guests from other countries coming to Ireland, where, you know, in some places, they may close up shop at 10:00, 11:00 at night. We'll still be going full, full throttle at 04:00 in the morning. So.
Yeah, so weddings like that, are they spending a lot of money? Because I know with. I know that there's weddingsonline in India and I've been there a few times, it's a huge wedding, but the per person cost is not a lot for those.
Yeah, I mean, typical wedding costs in Ireland for 150 guests or so, couples tend to spend about 30 grand, which is €30,000. Now, that's the average. So obviously half is half spend less, half spend more for the, for the country, for the likes of the castle venues, the five star venues, the real super country house venues like Ballymacarvie, like Cabrera Castle, Bellingham Castle, Marcree Ballycity, you would expect to pay a premium, but you are getting the authentic castle or kind of abbey or mill experience, you know. So, yeah, but I mean, weddings actually are very affordable. I mean, even in a dare manner, you know, whilst the price is probably twice as high as most other wedding venues or most other, you know, five star wedding venues, it's still very affordable in terms, you know, in comparison to the states. You know, you might pay 300, 5400 euros per person.
Right. And again, that's depending on where you're coming from. If you're coming from New York City, you're going to go over because it's a bargain.
Absolutely.
If you're coming from, you know, the middle of the country, it still is a premium wedding. But a premium wedding anywhere, like you said, an average is an average. So €30,000 is just a little bit over. It's probably $32,000. The average us wedding, according to the knot was 35,000. So it's very close. The guest count is a little bit higher than here, but very comparable.
Yeah, but if you think about a destination wedding as well, Alan, like, you tend to bring between 20 and 50 guests, for example. So suddenly you've cut in half that spend, if you know what I mean. Now, where you will obviously spend that little bit more is you'll be staying for four or five or seven nights. But it doesn't have to be pricey. It doesnt have to be pricey. Theres all sorts of venues for all sorts of people, but we notice here at weddingsonline, I think about 20% of our traffic comes from the states and we get a huge amount of inquiries coming through from the United States. And so its a big deal for people. They like to come, especially from the east coast, places with an irish influence or the irish diaspora, Boston, Chicago, New York and all up and down that area.
Yeah, yeah. So the talk just a little bit, people that don't understand, don't know. So you have Ireland and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is part of the UK still.
That's right.
And Ireland is not. So when people come over, we've done it. We've gone up to Northern Ireland, we did it before Brexit, because we were afraid that maybe they'd, you know, put up a border again. Just weren't sure if they would do that. But it's a seamless thing going from Dublin, which is on the Irish Sea. So for those of you who don't know, it's on the east side, so that's facing over towards mainland Europe, as opposed to, we said, the Galway or the cliffs of Moore, which is on the atlantic side. So from Dublin going up to Belfast, how far is that? How long does that take?
It's only 100 miles, so it's about a two hour ride in a car. It's motorway the whole way. You'll know when you pass into the north of Ireland. But as part of the Brexit agreement with the EU and stuff like that, there are no border controls and nor have there been since the Good Friday Agreement. So it's seamless travel. Lovely people all over the country, and lovely venues there as well. Beautiful scenery like you have, the likes of the Game of Thrones, scenery up there, you know, the likes of the giants Causeway, the dark hedges, and that whole causeway coast is actually quite incredible. In fact, I'm taking my kids camping up there in August, so I'm looking forward to that.
Nice. Yeah, giants causeway is crazy. One of five places in the world that has this natural crystal shaped rock formations that are. Is huge. Huge going up.
Absolutely. Absolutely. It's like a team of builders came in three or 400 years ago, put it all together and disappeared overnight. But no, the story of that is it was built as a causeway for an irish giant to go and meet a scottish giant. But come over and find out more about that story because I can't do it justice like the locals can up there.
Finn Mc.
Finn mcCool. That's it.
From giants causeway, which is all the way at the top, all the way down to the country of Cork, the county of Cork. I know it wants to be its own country. How far is that? Top to bottom? Ireland?
Yeah. So in terms of. It's about 400 miles, really. So if you're talking about. If you're talking about traveling, if you think of Dublin as the center on the right hand side on the coast, you have 2 hours to Belfast, and to make it further up to the. To the north coast is about another 1 hour. And then from Dublin, going down to the very south of Cork is about 3 hours. So you can travel north to south if you stay on the motorways, in about 6 hours.
If you don't stay on the motorways, you'll get stuck behind every hole in the hedge and people are driving sheep and things like that. And it could take you a few days. But that's part of the charm, too.
You have to get off the motorways. You really do. We had the pleasure. I think it was the second time I came up that you and I and a few mates and Carol did the tour of Ireland where we did. Came into Dublin, went down to Cork, spoke in Cork, went up to Galway, spoke in Galway, went up to Donegal, spoke up there, came back to Dublin, did the trip. And Carol said she felt like the den mother of the scout troop where she was overseeing us.
I know. I have to say I felt very sorry for Carol on that trip. She is a long suffering wife. Look, it was an interesting time. Great fun, obviously. And. Yeah, look, I mean, the thing is, Alan, you have an awful lot of knowledge. It's nice to share it with people.
So we wanted to do. We wanted to do a roadshow. And it was a phenomenal success. Like the venues we went to. Where's Ofota island? We went to Galway Bay Hotel and Harvey's Point. And I know your friends are going to be staying there in the summertime, but just such a beautiful location. It's hard to do it justice. But the rooms, I think, are the size of a penthouse suite.
Oh, my gosh.
We had a one bedroom suite that was, I think, 1800 square feet, which is three times the size of my son's apartment that he had in San Francisco, this one bedroom. And the service was wonderful. And it was right around our anniversary. And you guys, we had a beautiful dinner. It was very nice.
Yes, yes, yes. Although I do note that we haven't been out to any future anniversary dinners with you and Carol. I think we've been blacklisted now, have we?
Well, last year we did. Did our 40th up in Cape Cod. So this year we'll have to celebrate 41 when we come over. Yeah, and we'll bring our 40.
Carol's coming now, so we'll have a nice. We'll have a nice dinner out with her when. When she comes. So looking forward to that.
And this is the thing about Ireland. So we started out as a business relationship, and over the years it's friendship. I'm at your house with your wife and your children and your brother and his family. And that's the irish people. It's just so wonderful and they're so welcoming. It's such a beautiful country, so manageable to get around weddings there. Again, there's a great reason why people go over, and if you haven't been over there for tourism, again, it's affordable. The flights from, again, from the east coast here, over there, they're much less expensive than going to London just to pop over there.
And it's such an easy flight. And this last thing here, when I first came over, I wasn't sure if I should be saying the same things to the audience that I say here. And what I found is that the audience wanted me to say the same things. They want to know what I say to the audiences in the States, not don't tell us what we already know over here, tell us what we don't know. And there's a fine line between being persistent and being assertive and being aggressive. And irish people tend to not be aggressive. They don't want to be pushy.
No, they don't want to be pushy. And you'll know yourself that in this industry, a lot of people want to be recognized and want to be reached out to because of the quality of their work. And I have to say, in Ireland, the quality is absolutely phenomenal. But in saying that their businesses can skyrocket with a little bit of sales acumen or a little bit of advice here or there, like, it's interesting. Alan, today I had the privilege of having lunch with a friend and photographer, Barbara, from a business called Light creative. But I was telling him that I was coming on your podcast later. He says, oh, he says, alan Berg. He says, I listen to every one of his podcasts and yeah, no, it's interesting and takes your advice.
So, yeah, it does help. It does help. So that's why we keep bringing you back, Alan. Like, we've searched high and wide to find a better sales and marketing guru than yourself. So, yeah, you're welcome to keep coming back as long as we keep making new friends. And people want to come, and they do. They do in their drove. So we've sold a lot of tickets already for the October conference, which is phenomenal because it's another few months away yet, and this will be coming out.
In the summer here in the States and they're still coming up. And we do a one day event. And we've done this again so many times, 1011 times or whatever. It's nice to see some of the same people coming back. But it's always nice to see some new faces.
Absolutely. I mean, do you think any of the people listening to this podcast would be interested in coming over for it and spending a bit of time in Ireland and coming to your conference?
I think in concept, yes. Only that October is the busiest month for weddings here in the state. That would be the only thing that might hold it back. But if you are absolutely. You want to do that, if you go to my website, allenburg.com, comma, go to my speaking page. There's a calendar there. And on the calendar page it'll show you all the different events with links over to get tickets. And we'd love to have you, you come over to it and you'll, you'll love the country, you'll love the people, you'll meet some new friends.
Absolutely.
And maybe, maybe learn a thing or.
Two and you'll know that obviously we're going back to the same venue, the Fitzgerald's Woodlands House Hotel. But that's in the beautiful village of Adair. It's full of kind of thatched cottages. And then they have the famous Adair Manor, which is going to be host of the Ryder cup in 2026. Is it?
Oh, no, not this. Not the next time. The time.
27, I think. 27, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's, it's quite an incredible place. And look, you're, you're all very welcome.
Yeah. And we, we had the pleasure of playing golf there the last time when I was over last year.
Oh, we did, we did, we did.
With, with Michael Connelly. The, the third. 3rd generation Michael Collins.
Michael Collins. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. So, no, listen, Alan, it's always a pleasure to deal with you. As I said, we've, we've, we've known each other for quite a number of years. You have made a massive difference to our business. You've made a massive difference to so many of our customers.
Like we work with. I know Ireland is a small place, but we work with probably about 1000 different customers in Ireland and I don't know how many. I need to add up all the different people that have come to your conferences, but it's probably twelve, 1500 different businesses, you know, over the course of those years. But people love you and people love what you have to say. And I just think you have a special gift, so keep giving.
Well, thanks, Johnny. Thank you for coming on here and sharing your wisdom and sharing about Ireland. I hope people take this to heart. If you have not been in, put that as your next holiday. And if you want to come over in October and see us. That would be wonderful as well. We'll see you in October, Johnny.
See you, Alan. Thanks so much for having me.
I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or you can text, use the short form on this page, or call +1.732.422.6362, international 001 732 422 6362. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:
- Apple Podcast: http://bit.ly/weddingbusinesssolutions
- YouTube: www.WeddingBusinessSolutionsPodcast.tv
- Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3sGsuB8
- Stitcher: http://bit.ly/wbsstitcher
- Google Podcast: http://bit.ly/wbsgoogle
- iHeart Radio: https://ihr.fm/31C9Mic
- Pandora: http://bit.ly/wbspandora
©2024 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com