What's up? Denver event professionals? Welcome back to another episode of the Denver Nace Podcast. I am your host, Jared Judge, violinist and music director at Extreme Strings Electric Violins, and I am excited for today's episode of the Denver Nace Podcast because we have someone amazing here who I've known since I moved to Denver. I've known since I moved to Denver. Amelia Moritz was one of the first people to welcome me to Denver and the NACE community and the overall events community here, and I'm just so excited I finally get the chance to learn more about her and her business, Alegre Weddings and Events. So welcome to the podcast, amelia. How are you doing?

I'm doing good. Thanks for having me.

Of course. Well, thank you for being here. This episode is all about you, and I would love to showcase you both as a professional and as a friend, and as our director of programs at NACE. So why don't I pass the mic over to you if you could tell me a bit about yourself yourself and then a little bit about your business?

Okay, sure, I was born and raised here in Colorado, so I'm a native. My husband and I met in high school. Personally, I started the company about 18 years ago just kind of on my own, mostly doing planning and coordinating. And when we my husband got married about six years ago, we added in a bunch of services. So we do florals, decor, rentals, lighting and drape, as well as bartending, so we're kind of a one-stop shop. Yeah, that's kind of me in a nutshell. I got four kids. We share them together, so I'm pretty busy. My youngest is two and a half, so she's definitely a mini me, very determined. Hopefully she'll be interested in the business one day.

That's great. And how old is your oldest?

16.

Okay, high schooler.

Yeah.

Very cool. How many boys, how many girls.

We have three girls, one boy, Okay, very cool, awesome.

And then your husband, nick. He's also involved in the business, right right.

Yes, so he partnered with me and he does more of kind of like the manpower managing the staff and just kind of helping me get everything together. And then I do more of like the planning aspect.

Oh, that's awesome. So you mentioned you started this business about 18 years ago. How did you get in the events industry in the first place?

Well, growing up, I've always been interested in event planning. From as young as five years old, I was always planning little parties for my friends or the neighborhood kids. My parents would plan a festival at our community every year, so it kind of, you know, piggybacked on that with them. I was young, but and then moving on through like high school and all my jobs, I always found a reason to throw an event. For example, I worked at Dillard's and I planned like purse launches. You know things like that. They're always pretty fun and successful. I've just, whatever way I can do it, I try and plan some sort of an event.

The reason why I got into this wedding industry specifically was my first wedding that I had way back when. There was a point in time where I was sitting there with my little one and half of the setup crew left so they can go get ready, and I was sitting there with my little one and half of the setup crew left so they can go get ready, and I was sitting there waiting for the other crew to show up and it just dawned on me that why am I not being spoiled or taking care of myself, not even getting a shower? You know things like that. So I was just like I want to be that for someone else, like so, that way they can go be a guest at their own wedding. They can go get ready, have mimosas, you know, relax while someone is handling everything behind the scenes.

And then you know, of course there's a couple of other things that occurred during my wedding, like the cake didn't get taken out of the pan that his mother brought. My brother had a cool band, which was awesome, but he had played the wrong song for me. Walking in. There was just like all these little things that added up. So after that day I started Alegre and since then that's history.

Yeah, isn't it so interesting how, like some of our businesses and just things that we do in life, come from experiences in our life that were less than perfect, kind of like? You know, some teachers become teachers because they had a teacher in high school that they just didn't like. They're like I can do better than them, and these people deserve the best. So that's really cool and I'm curious, you know, what is it about? Event planning that gives you the personal satisfaction.

I'd have to say, once it's started and you can kind of take a step back and you know, while we're cleaning and you know making things perfect, you can just hear the guests in the background like commenting how beautiful it is, or you know, and just gonna see it all come together and the bride and groom or whether it's even you know, a corporate party or whatever kind of event it is, just seeing the host being able to enjoy and walk around and talk to people and not stress, and if they need something they can come to me and it's. It's really satisfying to kind of through all the terror and craziness that can occur on an event day. In the end it's always worth it.

Oh, yeah, for sure, and it's amazing, like when you plan an event so well, the guests that are there typically have no clue how much work went into making all that they're experiencing happen so seamlessly. So it's definitely underappreciated by most, but of course, those of us in the industry know how much work goes into it. I'm curious what does a typical experience look like for somebody working with you and Allegra?

So from the beginning, you know, I make myself available to them for questions, guidance, anything like that.

I'm very good at responding to their emails or texts in a prompt manner, just being available to them so that way they feel supported. And then, you know, speed up to the day or the week before, we kind of take over handling all of the vendors just to give them some space, so the couple or client can kind of focus on their last minute things, whether they have to make stuff or get their dress makeup, anything like that. They are not stressing about all the other aspects. And then we just kind of take over everything day of follow all the instructions, all the planning that we've done up until then. And of course, you know we will handle any issues that arise the best that we can. You know, because nothing is ever going to be perfect, and that's just. You have to be realistic and have plans A, b, c and D. And you know, like I mentioned earlier, our motto is be a guest at your wedding or be a guest at your event, because that is just so important.

Right, yeah, because it's hard to enjoy your own event when you're worried about is the cake out of the pan that my mom brought.

You're worried about is the cake out of the pan that my mom brought, exactly Like there are all of the you know centerpieces out or the candles lit, like there's little things that the common person wouldn't think about because it's ingrained in my brain, because I've been doing it and I do. You know 80 weddings a year and events that's like I think of these things in my sleep and you know giving that peace of mind to the client. You know what they deserve and they can. You know they're spending so much time and money and you know you don't want to miss it.

Yeah for sure. Well, it sounds like you've got a great approach to it. You're very organized and you pull off events very well. I'm curious about growing the business because you know a good portion of our NACE community and our events community run their own businesses and most of them would say running your own business is not easy. I'm curious about your experience starting a business from scratch and growing it to where it is today.

Yeah, it's definitely not easy. You know, the biggest obstacle is always you know finances and being able to spread that out to all the different aspects. You know taxes, bookkeeper, you know licenses, permits, whatever. And then you also have, like you know, your office space and then all of those little things. So it's just a lot of expenses that can come up. So just kind of keeping that organized and still making a profit at the end of the day and really like what's the biggest thing for us is supporting each other Because you know, on event days it can be crazy and say you know something happens and you got to figure it out.

You got two hours. You know, just having that team that supports you, that partner that's going to let you freak out and then pull you back to you know ground zero and come up with a plan and execute it, and just kind of having that person or team to lean on to get through those days, as well as other vendors. That's been very key to success is just supporting each other day of you know last minute things, being able to call you know another vendor, say, hey, do you have? You know, you know xyz, this happened, whatever. Um, just having that support people that we, you know, mostly connected with through nace um, they're just there for you and there's just no competition and how can I make you successful, you know, when you need it and just being there for each other. So that kind of helps ease and growth, I guess.

Yeah, you talk a lot about balancing everything and making a profit at the end of the day, and you also talked about being able to rely on vendors when things do go wrong. I'm curious, if you don't mind sharing kind of getting a little bit vulnerable. Curious, if you don't mind sharing, kind of getting a little bit vulnerable. Were there any moments where you were like a wedding or something that just did not go the way that you planned, or something about the business didn't go the way that you planned? That was just kind of like a low moment that that we could all relate to.

Um, um, yeah, I mean I guess I can go talk about something more recent. You know, with the snow and the weather being very unpredictable in Colorado, we had this wedding where it was up in the mountains. You know, down here in the city the highways were fine, but once you get into this little neighborhood we got stuck. The caterers got stuck, stuck. You know, the makeup artist barely made it.

Um, so we all just kind of band together and with my relationship with the caterers and how like we've done business together, they were more willing to make, um, an alternative plan with us, because you know, technically they could have just been like nope, we can't, can't get up there, we can't get our food up there, we're just going to have to cancel. But obviously no one wants to have to do that. But if the team and staff's not going to get up there safely, you know. So what they did? You know they switched out staff to the people that had four-wheel drives. They cooked the food at the bottom of the mountain and took like multiple trips up and down the mountain.

You know, I was shorted. My husband actually couldn't make it up with the truck we had, so he wasn't on site and the caterers helped me like put together a heater and you know, do little things because it was like OK, what are our options? You know we planned everything to the T, but then it's like, oh, it took us two hours to get up here instead of 10 minutes, you know. So it's just really understanding each other and being like how can I help you and how can you help me? And all of our goal is for the event to go off, you know, and be good for the client, for each of us. So being able to pull together to bring that success is important.

Yeah, that's awesome that you guys came up with that amazing plan. Was it scary? Were you like nervous? Is this thing actually going to happen?

Absolutely. I got stuck and you know I'm in the car with the cake in the front seat and my car is sliding and I was scared and then we had the tow truck help pull us out and then once I got up in another vehicle the tow truck was stuck. So it was very stressful and you know, obviously I wanted to have a four hour setup window and that went down to like two, and so that stressful oh yeah, I'm like my heart is racing just thinking about this, because yeah a few tears and a few.

You know we got this and it was cold and but in the end, like it was absolutely beautiful. Um, the pictures turned out amazing. The snow backdrop, you know, but that's, it's a given in Colorado. You know we do have to get through snow or rain. You know I'm sure you playing outside with your instrument, you know that's always a concern. So we just got to roll with the punches and emotionally prepare the client for these extenuating circumstances, because they don't understand fully what all we have to go through yeah, you're absolutely right, and in a way, we also have to emotionally prepare ourselves.

This is definitely not not a business to be in if you don't handle stress yes, yes, and giving yourself an outlet when it's done, you know, like going and getting a cocktail. Or, you know, going and laying in your hotel room and just watching a show and just letting your mind take a break and knowing that you did the very best and you cannot control everything, Like I'm very OCD and a little controlling and so when things go astray, you know I have to mentally regroup myself to be like, okay, this is out of your hands, what can you do to fix this? That always has to be your attitude, because it's easy to just throw up your hands and walk away and refund the client, but the client can't really redo this event or day.

Yeah, you're right. So once in a lifetime opportunity for most of them. You mentioned, you know, recharging. I'm curious what are some of the fun things that you like to do in and around Denver to recharge and have fun?

Mostly just sitting outside. I'm a Pisces so I recharge near water, whether that's sitting next to a lake or walking around. You know taking the kids to go play, but mostly it's getting outside because it's easy to hermit and watch my shows. And you know binge and eat good food. But it's good to get out of the house and separate because you know owning your business. A lot of the time you're working from home and for us you know I'm, I do florals and decor as well. So a lot of the times I'm preparing things at home in my home office and so having to mentally separate that you kind of sometimes just have to leave. So we really like to go check out taco trucks you know a lot of the times in Margaritas and find the good spots and eat out yeah.

I hear there's like a taco fest. That happens in Denver.

Yes.

You ever been to that?

Yes, it's a lot of fun. There's a lot of options, good energy, loud music. They have quite a few different food festivals um in denver and we we love trying new foods and checking out new places yeah, that's awesome.

I also saw there's like a ramen fest coming up. I think that's in july yes, I saved that.

That would be a lot of fun too, for sure, that's awesome, very cool. So I'm curious, getting back to Allegra, what were some of the key moves along the business's growth? People still wanted to get married. They wanted to do two-person alumens to micro weddings. So it shifted us to decide how do we want to approach this. So it shifted us to decide, like, how do we want to approach this?

We've always rented out Arches, kind of that was our first add on, and we've had, like I want to say, three different clients during COVID that were like we don't want to have a lot of vendors involved. Like, how comfortable do you feel with, like, florals? And I never even thought about it. To be be honest, it was never on my radar to become a florist, so I just started playing around and just really fell in love with it. That service has really boosted our company a lot and I'm only getting better with time. And then so that kind of made sense. So then we were like, okay, that service, in, what else can we add in to make lives easier for clients and for us? And so we started adding in vases, you know, because if you get some from the client. I don't always know that they're going to be fully cleaned and shiny and you know it all goes through with the presentation. So we added those in.

And then we just kind of started adding things in as clients needed them. You know, if they needed like a boho lounge, you know we would add. You know different pieces. So that's what we're kind of growing into is adding some more decor rentals into our services, just because that makes sense. Like for us. We want to be that one-stop shop where we can bring the entire wedding to you, especially like, for example, that micro wedding that we did in the snow. You know we brought their entire wedding. So there was like no way we could not show up. So we have, you know, all of the decor, all of the plates and you know linens and flowers and all of that stuff. It just makes sense because we're going to be setting it up anyway, just to provide it. But I do have, you know, my limitations. I'm not going to do catering or photography or you know music, so I know kind of what I'm good at. But we just kind of try and do what makes sense to us.

You know, our ultimate goal down the road is we would love to have our own venue.

Oh wow, that's exciting.

Yeah, and it's. You know it's a five to 10 year goal and you know, having all of these decor and all these options kind of fit into that process.

So, yeah, that makes sense, Like having everything under one roof. It just removes all of the all the uncertainty about it. I'm going to guess this venue would not be in the mountains, correct?

I don't know. I mean my dream venue would probably be at like the base of the mountains with, you know, big trees with the backdrop of at least some sort of mountain view, lots of land and space, and I mean I can't give you all my secrets of what I want in it, but I have it pretty mentally like planned out. But you know we might sacrifice and do like a starter venue and then ultimately retire into my dream venue.

Yeah, well, that's awesome. Well, when you have your first open house, I would love to sponsor the music.

Absolutely. Top of the list.

Yeah, very cool. Well, and you mentioned an interesting like you don't want me to steal my secrets, I know you said that in in jest Denver is such a huge market. Like you know, I'm coming from Milwaukee, which the population of the greater Milwaukee area was 600,000, which is the population of downtown here. So Denver is huge compared to where I come from and I just find there's so many event opportunities out there. How do you go about marketing and finding the right clients for Allegra?

Um, I mean, what I have learned being a part of NACE is just really about who you know, um, building those relationships and confidence in each other, but also referrals, you know, from clients. Um, our biggest um, also referrals, you know, from clients. Our biggest marketing avenue is Facebook, because I run the Colorado Wedding Network which has, I want to say, about 14,000 people in it. I started it about six years ago, so I get majority of my leads from there, majority of my leads from there, and I know that a lot of people in the industry do as well, because I'll meet, like photographers and makeup artists, you know, at weddings and we'll just get to talking and they're like, oh my gosh, like I love that group. I get a lot of bookings from there. So that's kind of a big revenue.

And then we do, you know, of course, zola, wedding Wire, those sites as well. And then another big thing is connecting with vendors that are going to like refer you, such as like a venue you know that's they're going to need decor planners, all of that stuff, and just kind of picking and choose which services go well with different people. You know, like I have a wedding planner that I do probably a dozen or so weddings a year and she refers florals and decor to all her clients. So we work really well together. But I support her as a planner even though I'm a planner as well. We are able to kind of share different services with each other.

Yeah, that's awesome and that's it's a perfect demonstration of what you said earlier about like we're not competition. Even if even if we offer similar services like, there's always something unique and different where we could help each other out instead of just trying to compete for the same same clientele.

Yeah, absolutely. And that's, I think, key to Denver is we aren't competitive. We all, of course, are going for the same, you know, for clients, and you know you see a Facebook post that says looking for XYZ, and then we know everybody on that list and it's just really just kind of supporting each other and knowing that there's enough weddings for everybody. You know there's no need to have any kind of like healthy competition is good, but we're just like I work for probably about three or four planners a year where I will either like sub and, you know, help them as an assistant for a day, or you know they'll call me last minute and be like, oh, my gosh, like do you have 12 vases? You know, can you run them up to me? Things like that, just being able to support each other.

And I, you know I work with Scott, with lighting and design by Scott and Katie, and there's been a few times where I've had to call him up last minute and you know he's been available and because we have that relationship, there isn't like a minimum or that a client would have to meet, it's nice to just kind of be like, oh, I just need one light, you know, or whatever light bulb, just kidding. But you know, just being like, okay, I'm here for you, like this is what we got, because you know things happen, your order doesn't come in or something breaks and you know the show must go on. So if you don't have a strong community like NACE, you know being able to rely on people and be willing to support someone like oh yeah, she's cool, like I'll definitely, like I'll be there in an hour. You know, got your back.

Yeah, that's awesome and what a beautiful segue into talking about NACE.

Very true.

Because you are the director of programming at NACE VP now. Vp. Sorry about that.

No, that's okay, I have two amazing directors.

Yeah, that's awesome. I guess let's start with like what does NACE mean to you, and then we'll chat about your amazing programs.

What does NACE mean? To me, nace means basically kind of what I've been saying the whole time is support and community and just having a place to be around people that understand. You know, like your friends and family, they might not understand all of the drama or stressors that go with. You know the wedding industry, so just being able to, once a month, be around people that are like you, I guess, so to speak, you know education further, like challenging myself, you know, learning from those other vendors in the industry, because we all have different knowledge and experience that we can share with each other. So I really enjoy that. And just making you know new connections. Um, you know, a lot of people on the board will introduce people that I didn't know, or vice versa yeah, that's awesome.

I mean before we get to your programs, because your programs are awesome. I had a great experience recently where I won the mini golf portion of one of your programs.

But before we get there I did want to kind of chat a little bit about. You know there are some people who have a hard time understanding the return on investment for NACE, investment for NACE. So how would you describe to them the return on their investment in a way that, like you know, I'm shelling out 400 bucks a year? How do I know I'm going to make that back from being in NACE?

No, that's a great question. When I first started networking some 18 years ago, you know what you put into it. Now you may not like, you know, right away you might not get 10, you know bookings or whatever, but just be patient because even 10, 15 years from now, those relationships could come to fruition. And so, for example, I just did a company launch party for someone that I met 10 years ago, um, this February, and it was, you know, very big event and it was an honor because you know, you meet these people, you start kind of relationship, you follow each other on Facebook, support each other's businesses, but when it comes full circle, you know that work that you put in um does come back and you know there's a.

I can list a few other examples where that's occurred, you know, and vice versa, where I've been, like, oh, I remember this lady, you know, I wonder if she's still in business, look her up. Hey, remember me. You know, from 10 years ago, I want to book you for whatever their services are. So with NACE, it's more industry focused, of course, but it's the same thing. You put in the effort. Now you're going to remember these people. So for you and I like, okay, I have any clients that want live music. Violin. You're always going to be in my forefront where I'm like okay, you got to look up Jared's judge. Like, here's your options. You know what I mean, yeah.

Like you just like you know, maybe when we see each other it's like, hey, how are you? Like it's very, you know, nonchalant, but like in the back of our heads it's like, okay, we're building rapport with this person, I feel confident in referring you to clients. You know it may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but down the line, like I'm going to remember that. Or you know you're like, hey, pres Des, remember, you know there was that magician that you know was that whatever, I have a friend or you know needing that for their birthday party or whatnot. So then she might know, you know it's just kind of an ever-growing circle of connection. So then she might know, you know it's just kind of an ever growing circle of connection, so you get what you put into it. There's also like the educational aspect to we do, you know, learning things. We invest in our folks as well. So we really want to kind of do both sides. You know, like we're going to invest in our, our members, we also have to invest in us and each other.

So that's what I love about nice yeah, no, I think you put it beautifully, which you know. You pointed out something that I hadn't really thought about, which is when we're networking at these events, you know, it's not just like going guns ablaze and talking about how cool your businesses are. It's like getting to know people on a human level, like knowing that you have four kids and they're three girls and one boy. Like even though that doesn't feel like a business move and, honestly, in the moment it shouldn't really feel like a business move you are investing in a relationship that does have a business outcome to it. For example, you mentioned sometimes these different vendors have even saved your butt on some occasions, which that has a monetary outcome. Right, instead of having to refund somebody $5,000, $10,000 because you were unable to provide a service. One of those relationships that you built at NACE or another networking event came in and saved that money, and it keeps doing it over and over again.

Absolutely. And I feel like too, when you have those relationships, you can talk through things, you know behind the scenes from a client and, you know, come up with the best price or best solution or even come up with better ideas. You know, like, and just having that trust, like, okay, you know my client's upset or they want to change for the 50th time I'm not going to stress because I feel like, okay, I know this person, you know we talk on a personal level, I'm going to feel confident, being like, hey, I'm sorry, like, can we do this again? Rather than having any friction you know what I mean that kind of break ice, breaks that bond. So that way you can provide your client with the best but also still have that support behind the scenes.

Yeah for sure. And then, on the other side of NACE, you mentioned the education and I want to kind of chat about one of the recent events with Allen Berg, which was all about increasing your wedding sales. Yes, like, in my opinion, there's no clearer return on investment than something like that, where, if you go to a workshop like that and you're you know, we're all salespeople like you have to sell your planning business services. I have to sell my live music services and say we get in front of clients and, you know, three out of every 10 say yes to our services. We, we come to a workshop like the one that you put on as part of the programming committee, and instead of three out of every 10, we now increase it to five out of every 10. That is a huge return on investment that pays in dividends just from one program.

No, absolutely. You know knowledge is power and you know we get kind of in a groove with our businesses. You know, we know we got to do this for marketing, we got to do this for our bookkeeping and you know we kind of have a flow. So when you do these educational speakers or classes, it kind of halts you and has you refocus and redirect. So it's like, wow, maybe I haven't been so awesome with my follow-up. I'm kind of, you know, going stagnant because I'm doing the same thing. So then it makes you look at things differently, like, okay, why am I getting ghosted? Why are these people not opening my emails or booking, you know? So getting that refresh I think is so important for any business. So you know, that's why we want to provide that, but definitely will be a return on investment.

Yeah, that's awesome, that's huge. I'm wondering if you could kind of give us an overview of the programs committee and all the amazing work that you guys do.

Yeah, absolutely so. Right now it's myself. And then I have two directors below me, have Alicia and Bonnie. Bonnie is with Biscuits and Berries. If you don't know Bonnie, you definitely have to meet her. And then Alicia is with a new hotel and I want to say it's called the Claret. Sorry, alicia, if I botched it. I haven't visited yet, so once I visit then it will click.

So we all have different backgrounds and so we kind of focus on each event to have, you know, really great eye candy. You know some decor whether sometimes the venue doesn't need a lot of decor and we want to highlight the venue. And then we go for really good food, because we're foodies here in Denver, so that's always a really important aspect. And then we want to create an environment where whether like for you, for the Holy Moly Golf that we did like that was one of our really really fun ones where it's like everyone let's lose, we just had a conference, let's get to know each other and have fun. And then we also are structuring our other programs for speaker series, where we bring out some really good speakers, different topics, for that educational value.

So we kind of go for those aspects and we also want to highlight our members, you know, whether we put them on a panel or they sponsor an event, that's a really great way to get your kind of name out there. Step out of your comfort zone, do something different. That's kind of our main goal. And then in the fall, you know, we'll do some fun, like the Catering Olympics, which is going to be super awesome. That's going to be kind of one to let loose but also put yourself in other shoes, you know, like if you're not normally like a mixologist, or you know setting up a wedding, you know tying tear ties, like silly things like that. So we we try with every meeting to have some sort of value for all of our members and for ourselves.

Yeah, and I'd say you guys do a great job of that. I'm reminded of the catering Olympics that we did this past year at Ant Life.

Awesome.

I think it was the activity that you hosted, which was decorating a wedding arch.

Yes.

That was entertaining. Oh I bet I just felt like I was wrapping a mummy and I was like I'm doing something wrong.

Yeah, no, definitely it was fun for me to watch because I'm a perfectionist, so I was like staring and I'm like, okay, how are they going to do this? And I wanted to fix things. But it was fun to see everyone work together and all these like you had a DJ and a planner and a caterer and you know musician, like no clue and just having fun with it and making it look nice. And it just reminds you like, hey, if you're in a bind, like your vendors are going to pull it together, whether they know what they're doing or not, you know it's going to work.

Teamwork makes the dream work.

It absolutely does. My favorite saying.

That's awesome. I have a question Are you guys involved in any of the planning for niece experience that's coming to Denver, I think in July?

Yes, so not me personally, but Bonnie is on the committee I want to say so she's heavily involved. And then we have three of our members as well on. They had to like apply and get chosen, and so they have some really cool things that they're planning. I don't even know everything, so I've only seen little tidbits, but it's going to be a really great time. We've decided to not really do a monthly program. In July we thought about doing like a happy hour, but they're going to have so much fun stuff we just kind of decided to let that flow. There's going to be happy hours and all kinds of stuff going on, but there's going to be a lot of education as well. Happy hours and all kinds of stuff going on, but there's going to be a lot of education as well. So I highly recommend attending, especially because it's in Denver and you don't have to fly anywhere or pay for hotels unless you want to stay down there. But you know it's right in our backyard and it's going to be a great time.

Yeah, and for those who aren't familiar with the experience, do you mind kind of telling them what it is and what to expect?

Sure, it's going to be focusing, from what I understand, like because NACE does two conferences a year. You know we have one where it's more focused on, like board related things for NACE, where we're learning, you know, how to provide for our members, educational things that we can learn to be better board members. And then this one, I believe, is going to be more focused on individual and, like you know, what you can do within yourself and your companies, so there's going to be a lot of speakers based off of that. Then there'll be some fun aspects where you can get to know each other. And then it's really fun because you get to meet NACE members from all over the nation, so which can be very beneficial because A if you want to branch out and start doing services, say in Florida or something like having those contacts, or if you want to uproot and move, you kind of have some sort of somewhere to go to start your business. You know, just having the more people that you can meet in life, the better, and definitely when it's within the same industry.

Yeah, that is awesome and that is. Do you know the dates on that right now?

Yes, I can.

Looks like it might be July 21st through 23rd.

Yes, I think you are correct.

Very cool, and I've been chatting with some of the people about sponsoring that, so I'm excited.

Oh cool. Yeah, that would be a good one for you. Yeah, so it's July 21st through 23rd at the Sheridan and you can get tickets through our website or you, of course, you can get it through the NACE experience, the nation website as well awesome, sounds good.

well, it's going to be so much fun and, you know, the programs that are put on at the national level are just as good as the ones put on at the local level, and I think you do a fantastic job of planning local events too. So we're kind of wrapping up here, okay. I guess if somebody is on the fence about joining NACE or coming to one of our programs, what would you say to kind of tip them over the edge and say come and do it, come, join us.

Well, the food's going to be good and the company is going to be good. We have an awesome welcoming committee. We have Joe, who's our membership VP. He's very, very passionate, so you won't feel lost when you come in.

Um, when I first joined nace, my very first meeting, of course you're shy, you, you know I don't know anybody, but like right away everyone comes. You know you have a few people coming in towards you saying hello, meeting you. Oh, you should meet this person. So then the next meeting you, oh, you should meet this person. So then the next meeting you come, you feel better because you know people already and you kind of can get out of your comfort zone. And you know, if you're really on the fence, send me an email or reach out and I'm happy to give you, you know, complimentary ticket for one of our events. You can at least check it out, see if it's the right fit for you. Or you can do a one-on-one with Joe or myself or Prez Des anybody really. If you want to kind of talk about things and you know we have committees, you can join. Any way you want to get involved, we're kind of here for you.

Yeah, that's true. And even this podcast. Getting your business featured on the podcast is a benefit to your membership. So if you want to be a guest, just like Amelia was, then come join NACE. It's going to be a super fun time. Hey, amelia, if somebody wanted to learn more about you specifically and your business, where would you send them?

If they just want to browse and not connect. My instagram is um a good place. I share a lot of my work on there. Or you can just reach out. We can schedule um a zoom call, phone call, meet for coffee I'm flexible, or you know. Just kind of check out my website awesome.

And what's your instagram handle?

allegrae weddings with an s and eventscom or and events. Sorry, nocom.

And if they wanted to go to the website. It is also Allegraeweddings and eventscom.

Yeah, it was like a habit, you know you just kind of robot.

Yeah, no, totally. You're all good, but this was such a great interview. Thank you so much for sharing about you and your family and your business and your involvement with NACE. So to our listeners, if you're interested in coming and checking out one of our events, please go to nacedenvercom. Click on the calendar button. You'll see our upcoming events and you can, like Amelia said, come and check one out for free. We'd love to have you just to come get a sense of would this be a good fit for you and your business? So that is nacedenvercom. So thanks for tuning in to the Denver NACE podcast. Go crush those events. Bye, everybody.