Kimberly Jarman Photography

Last week a bunch of phenomenal Arizona wedding professionals met together to celebrate and introduce an amazing association that is finally in the valley, WIPA. WIPA stands for Wedding Industry Professionals Association and is a non-profit organization geared towards making the wedding profession better by putting top notch wedding vendors together and challenging them to be more than excellent.  This association has been around since 2008 and the current members are some of the best of the best in the country.

I was honored to be asked to be a part of the focus group in Arizona to see if bringing WIPA to the valley was something that could be done and done well. When I entered the room and saw the vendors at the focus group, I knew instantly I wanted to be a part of this group of people because they were all vendors that I love working with. I became a founding member of the Phoenix Chapter and am so glad I did.

The Launch party was just a glimpse of what is to come with this organization. We had Sean Low attend and share with us the 4 P’s of a creative business, passion, philosophy, platform, and process. It was challenging and wonderful. We then sat down and ate a phenomenal meal prepared by the staff at the Hotel Valley Ho, and we got to socialize and chat with each other. Very seldom do I actually get to hang out with the great vendors I work with every weekend, so it was so nice to all be in the same room and really get to know each other even more outside of the wedding day.

I was asked to be the “official” photographer for the evening and was blown away by what everyone pulled together. All of the founding members came together and worked to create such a beautiful and stunning room. It was top notch and gorgeous.

According to the WIPA website, this is their mission statement:

WIPA will be the most respected national community for wedding professionals who want to be recognized as masters and innovators.

Our Mission Statement

WIPA will advance the wedding profession, enhance the professional growth of members, uphold the highest ethics, and educate the public about WIPA-qualified specialists.

Members champion four core values

– knowledge, integrity, quality, & education –

thereby delivering the best business practices to our clients and each other.

Enjoy some of the pictures of the party, and we hope to see you at the next one!