Wedding Hangover: Ariel’s Special Events Facility: Andy and Kelly Newman bought a “dilapidated shell” of a building in 2002 with the vision of transforming it into a beautiful, special events venue. Ariel’s, named after their beloved daughter, opening their doors in 2003 and has been hosting special events for the Columbia and West Columbia areas ever since. McKenzie Newman is the venue manager and daughter in law of Andy & Kelly. This venue has been owned & operated by the Newman’s for close to 20 years! Imagine all the changes to the wedding industry they have seen over the years.
For almost 18 years Ariel’s Special Events Facility partnered with an inhouse catering company who helped facilitate events. Two years ago the catering company decided to retire and that is when McKenzie stepped into the role of venue manger! Imagine managing this transition. The amount of organization, policy changes, contracts changes and new vendor relationships to manage would challenge even the most seasoned professional. Now add in a pandemic a year later. McKenzie Newman has helped Ariel’s Special Events Facility weather these storms and evolve into an in demand wedding and event venue. I wanted to learn more about her event management style and find out all I could directly from this wedding industry stand out. Click the video below to watch my interview with McKenzie Newman.
I would love to feature your wedding venue in an upcoming “Wedding Hangover” feature. What is “Wedding Hangover” keep reading below.
Wedding Hangover refers to the aches and pains (literal & figurative) wedding industry professional experience after a long weekend of hard core wedding & event management. Wedding Hangover is a term wedding industry businesses owners and managers can relate to and giggle about when we share our Wedding Hangover Stories. We LOVE weddings! But weddings are truly hard work. Only the strong survive here in the land of weddings and special events. SO HERE, at the sacred time of Wedding Hangover (celebrated on Mondays), we come together with our aches and pains and stories of triumph to celebrate another successful wedding weekend accomplished. Grab your favorite pain reliever and join us as we meet incredible wedding and event industry professionals, learn about their journey and share their stories. If you are not part of the Wedding Venue Owners & Managers Group on Facebook, please join us today!
WEDDING VENUE OWNERS & MANAGERS: Wedding Burn Out Is A Serious Condition! It could result in the loss of revenue, reduce client satisfaction, bad reviews and a desire to hide in your closet crying and drinking wine (me…I have done that). The CURE FOR WEDDING BURN OUT is a Wedding Venue Owners Working Vacation!! Book one immediately. Meet wedding venue colleagues who can relate to you and understand exactly what you go through as a wedding venue owner or manager. Every month we visit an incredible city and explore the wedding industry, culture, cuisine while we connect with 20-30 of our wedding venue owner colleagues. We tour wedding venues and get to ask successful venue owners and managers the secrets to their success! Upcoming Cities: Charleston, Raleigh-Durham, Savannah, Washington DC, Houston, Chicago, Miami and more. Contact me to book you WVO Vacay, didi@weddingvenueowners.com
