On December 5th, The Biltmore Tbilisi will host the first Georgian wedding award “Wedding stars awards”. Its aim is to establish a high-quality standard and present the best pieces of works in the wedding industry. The companies participating in the awards will be nominated by up to 25 nominations, which will be nominated by professional, Georgian and international, independent and objective jury members.

Tatiana Remneva, author of the idea for the event, explains in details what the terms of the competition are and why it is important for companies working in the field.

- Hello. First of all, introduce yourself - who are the organizers of the awards and where did you come up with the idea to launch this type of competition / awards for wedding companies?

- Hello. I'm Tatiana Remneva, Head of the Organizing Committee for the Wedding Stars Awards. As for the idea of ​​setting up a wedding award: I had been organizing for a year and a half at “Mandarini Wedding”, and I was particularly interested in how fast the service industry was growing, new companies emerging, and quality and variety of choices improving. Once on a corporate evening at the end of the season, one of my former colleagues arranged to vote between contractors. That evening was born the idea to attend a real and serious wedding awards. We rely on international experience because this format is widespread in Europe. Here, of course, as it is a novelty for the local market, we must definitely consider its features.

- What is the purpose of the event?

- The Georgian wedding market is very young. But the uniqueness of this country is that rapid and serious changes are possible here. Due to the growing interest from tourists, the first foreign couple came here to find original places, authentic culture and an interesting format for their wedding. In the three years since, foreigners' interest and the wedding market have increased significantly. According to statistics from the Ministry of Justice, in 2018 alone, 1910 foreign couples were registered to get married.

However, local companies do not yet have sufficient experience. In some areas of service, there is not enough diversity and the market is chaotic. Our goal is not only to discover the best, but to contribute to the overall development of the market. We also have educational goals: Professional growth is impossible without training and we want to offer and support educational activities for all market participants.

- What is the significance of this event for the Georgian wedding market?

- “Wedding Stars Awards” are an independent award based on the wedding market. We want to not only identify the best, but also want to guarantee the quality of service. So, this is not just the figure for the award shelf. This is a marketing tool that clearly demonstrates to potential customers that the award winner will provide high quality service.

The wedding prize is also an opportunity to create a professional community. At this point the market is quite fragmented, everyone is working for himself. Displaying the best work at the ceremony and meeting the main participants in one space will help to structure the community and expand needed new internal contacts.
 

- How should companies register if they are interested?
 

Individuals or companies must complete the application on our website at wedstarsawards.ge, on the "Nominations" page, in the appropriate category of their activity. The next step is to pay the cost of participation; Until November 1st (nominated for "Best Wedding Shot" - October 15th), all applicants must submit presentations or links to their work.

The format of the materials provided is determined by the requirements of each nomination.

For example, in the nomination for Best Wedding Project, participants must submit a detailed project description, with photo materials (including backstage) and video links (if applicable), and nominees for Best Wedding Shot, aside a photo, they must submit a description.

- What will be the evaluation process?

An independent and impartial jury is the main task and honor of our award. To do this, we have created a team of recognized professionals. They are not directly related the wedding market. The only professional member of Jury is the representator of Italian Wedding Awards, who supports us and we are thankful for that.

The jury will evaluate the nominees according to the criteria set by the expert team. The team of experts is comprised of wedding professionals from Georgia, Ukraine and Russia. Their rich experience is very important to us as many of them work in the international market.

Experts do not vote and the evaluation criteria are based solely on their international experience and quality standards.

A number of criteria are set for each nomination. The winner is determined by the set of individual criteria. To do this, we invite an independent specialist in audit and statistical models.

We have 25 nominations this year. According to the award rules, if we do not have enough participants for any nomination, then no one will be awarded in that nomination and the participation fee will be refunded to the participant. At this point we are accepting applications for the first participation and advise all wedding professionals not to delay as there is less and less time to submit an application and presentation.

Wedding Stars Awards will be held on December 5th at the Biltmore Hotel with the support of our partners: Wedder.ge Bridal Portal, "Ori" and "Mandarini" Bridal Agencies, our Technical Partner "Geovoice", "Podium" Beauty Salon and "Badagoni" wine brand.