Five years ago, Chris Puffenbarger and Lauren Welch’s house burned down. After the disaster, the couple couldn't afford to have a wedding.
Years later, a hospitality and retail management class led by professor Annette Hoover is able to give the deserving couple the wedding they've waited so long for.
“The fact that we were able to provide that for them obviously feels really good,” said fourth-year finance student Patrick Groves.
This hospitality class does not follow the same structure as that of a traditional lecture class, according to second-year tourism management student Amy Grant.
“It wasn’t your typical lecture class where you walk in and go over a PowerPoint. You know, kind of just learning things as you go,” she said. “At this point in the semester, we still have six weeks left. So it seems like we still have a lot more time, but I can guarantee you, most of my learning happened in the first half, just planning the wedding.”
In the beginning of the spring semester, the students of the class had the opportunity to select a couple that they wanted to plan a wedding for. After a lengthy application process, the class decided on Puffenbarger and Welch.
The students of the class were divided into various committees to cover all of the aspects that went into putting together a wedding. Among the committees were a bridal committee, grooms committee, photography committee, videography committee, reception and rehearsal dinner committee and a floral committee.
Communication among the various committees played a key role in planning the event. For fourth-year interdisciplinary studies in hospitality and education student Kate Bennett, communicating was the most stressful part of the wedding.
“It’s critical to make sure everybody’s on the same page as you are, 'cause sometimes even if you know exactly what’s gonna happen, not everybody sees it the same way you do,” said Bennett.
Bennett and her partner Groves headed up the timeline committee and were responsible for creating a down-to-the-minute schedule of what had to happen during the week of the wedding.
“[We made] sure no stone was left unturned,” said Groves.
As a result of the detailed planning, small hiccups that came up during the time of the wedding were handled in an efficient manner.
“Something’s always gonna go wrong, even if it’s completely out of your control,” said Grant. "There were hiccups that I know our bride doesn’t even know about ... that's the goal. If anything goes wrong, she’s the last person that needs to hear about it.”
One such hiccup — the makeup artist failed to show up. Fortunately, the hair stylist was skilled at makeup and was able to fulfill the role.
The wedding was completely funded by donations from vendors.
“It’s hard to just go up to someone and ask them, 'Hey, are you willing to donate this really expensive thing' or all of the food,” said first-year hospitality management student Sophie Primiano, who served as the general manager of the invitations committee.
One-on-one interactions with the vendors proved to be one of the most effective ways for the students to get donations. Primiano described one such example in which the students spoke to the owner of Apex Graphics in Columbia personally to ask him if he would be willing to be a vendor.
“I think the personal interaction part of it is how you can get a vendor to really want to do it for you,” said Primiano.
For many of the students, taking part in the class helped to lay a foundation for careers relating to event planning in the future.
“Budgeting was something that I learned. I’ve never taken an economics or finance class or anything, so it was really interesting working on some type of budget for this event,” said Aisling Vatchelder, a third-year art studio and management student who served on the media committee.
“Overall, I think that another thing I can take away from this class is how resourceful you can be just by reaching out and going to different companies, different vendors and just getting input and insight,” she added. “If one vendor couldn’t provide what we needed then they’ll give suggestions about elsewhere to go.”
After taking the class, wedding planning and event planning became a much bigger interest for Vatchelder.
Along with building key communication skills, students were also able to learn how to work as a team to put together the wedding.
“I really loved it, especially because we got to all work together as a group,” said Primiano. “This would not have been possible if we all didn’t do our part and every single person played a huge role in this entire wedding.”