National Clothesline

Jane Heflin, director of the WeddingChannel Couture Show, will be the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, March 4-7, 2010, in Las Vegas, NV.

Edwin Los and Rachel Hahnfeld of Village East Cleaners in Henderson will host the meeting. Association members, who specialize in gown cleaning and preservation, meet each year in a destination city where they can tour a member’s plant, exchange ideas, and participate in interactive presentations by wedding industry experts.

The WeddingChannel Couture Show, the longest-running international bridal market in New York, takes place every April and October, and AWGS sponsors a popular hospitality suite for bridal designers and buyers.

Heflin, formerly a designer herself with nearly 30 years of experience in all facets of the industry, will speak on the latest trends and relationships as well as offer tips on interfacing with bridal salons and other wedding professionals.

Ashley King Carter of AshleysBrideGuide.com, a widely-read bridal blog on the Internet, will coach the group, step-by-step, on how to develop effective blogging techniques for driving brides to their websites. Carter’s two-hour morning presentation will be followed by an optional evening review.

Wedding expert Chris Jones will offer strategies for “How to Double Your Wedding Business in 12 Months.”

Jones, author of several bridal marketing books, will teach the group winning ways to double sales in a down economy, reduce advertising cost, and achieve better results from the web.

Sonny Ganguly, chief marketing officer of WeddingWire.com, the dynamic wedding website which is also the platform powering MarthaStewart.com’s wedding planner and local vendor listings, appeared last year at the group’s meeting in San Antonio and has been asked to return with an update on the latest about Facebook, Twitter, and all those other little icons seen everywhere on the Internet.

A perennial highlight of the meetings is an afternoon devoted to round-table discussions of topics unique to those who specialize in gown cleaning, restoration, and preservation. Association members also make presentations to the group at these meetings.

Members scheduled to speak in Las Vegas include Surendra Kumar of Oakwood The Greener Cleaner in Nashville, TN; Dave Matthews of Janet Davis Cleaners in Berkley, MI; Margaret Butler of Dublin Cleaners in Dublin, OH; Carol Clark of The Clothes Doctor in Foothill Ranch, CA; and Elizabeth Petersen of Specialty Cleaners in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The association is a not-for-profit trade group with members located in the United States, Canada, Australia, and South America who specialize in gown cleaning and preservation.

Each member honors the guarantee of every other member, which includes taking the gown out of the container and pressing it at no charge when the gown is to be worn again.

For more information, call the association office at (800) 501-5005.