Latest / Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney / Turning a farm into a wedding venue with Stefania Bennett

Transcript

Turning a farm into a wedding venue with Stefania Bennett · Wedding Pros who are ready to grow - with Becca Pountney

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Stef: When you're running your own business, it is so hard
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to make the time to learn.
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And I find the best way to make it happen is to have something in
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the diary that you've paid for, so you don't want to not turn up.
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I think for me, that's the best way to do it.
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And I think this is going to be, it's a whole day out of your schedule, but at the
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same time, you're going to get so much out of it, I think, with the four different
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interactive talks from you, Becca.
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So I'm really looking forward to it.
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Becca: I'm Becca Pountney, wedding business marketing expert,
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speaker and blogger, and you're listening to the Wedding Pros
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Who Are Ready to Grow podcast.
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I'm here to share with you actionable tips, strategies, and real life
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examples to help you take your wedding business to the next level.
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If you are an ambitious wedding business owner that wants to take your passion
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and use it to build a profitable, sustainable business, doing what you
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love, then you're in the right place.
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Let's get going with today's episode.
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Today I'm chatting with Stef Bennett, owner of Bennett's Willow Barn in
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Worcestershire, a wedding and events venue and cafe based on a family farm.
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Having got married on the farm herself back in 2016, they decided to open
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it up to others who are looking for a laid back, festival style wedding
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and the rest, as they say, is history.
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Stef is fabulous and I'm looking forward to seeing her venue for
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myself when I visit in October as I run a training day at Bennett's
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Willow Barn, but more on that later.
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Stef, welcome to the podcast.
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Hello, Becca.
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Thanks very much for having me.
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Thank you for agreeing to do this.
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Now I want to go right back as we start this podcast through
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your history to find out what you did before you worked on a farm.
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So let's start there.
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Tell me where it all began career wise for you.
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Stef: Right.
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So I started out as a solicitor.
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I was a property litigation specialist.
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I worked in Worcester and then Birmingham.
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And my now husband is a farmer.
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He's a dairy farmer.
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He's fifth generation on his family farm.
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It's been in the family for over a hundred years now.
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And it was always understood that if we were going to stay together, I'd end up
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moving onto his family farm, which I did.
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and things happened between then and now that mean I'm now running a wedding
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venue, which is a little bit mad.
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Becca: Yes, that is a little bit mad, quite a change to go from the
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job you had into working in farming.
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So at what point did you kind of stop the career and go into working
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all of the time on the farm?
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Stef: I had my First two children quite close together, I, and I had full
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maternity leave with both of them, I was very much a solicitor and I thought
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that I would keep doing that, I perhaps would be part time when I went back to
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work, probably after the second one, and I did, I went back part time, but
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it had become very apparent that it wasn't really going to work alongside.
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a dairy farmer.
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Me traveling into Birmingham even just a couple of times a week was going to
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be very difficult for our family life.
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I realized I would probably not see my children a huge amount
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and not have that flexibility.
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But also something else that was the, the catalyst for me quitting working in
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law and getting stuck in on the farm was that over COVID in March 2020 is when
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we started to set up our milk round.
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So I was still on maternity leave then.
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And that's when we.
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use the demand for home deliveries in COVID to take the plunge
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and set up what is now our milk round business on the farm.
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And I think that time working for myself, although it was very difficult
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with two little ones not allowed in nursery doing all this work.
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I was working very late into the evening very often.
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And work with children hanging off my legs while I sat at, at the desk.
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It was very difficult, but it, it established this different way of
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working where I had the flexibility to, to do what I needed to do when
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I could do it around the children.
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And I think when I started back at work as a solicitor I think it was the
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September time I went back to work.
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I lasted two weeks before I said, this isn't gonna work, . And then
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I, so I, I stopped working in the law and I went full on into.
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running the farm's diversifications.
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So that's what I do now.
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Becca: I always say once an entrepreneur, you become completely unemployable,
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because when you get a taste of that life of working for yourself and doing
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your own thing, going back to work for someone else feels like a huge struggle.
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Now, life on a farm in general is probably something that most
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of us don't know anything about.
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Maybe we've watched a bit of Clarkson's Farm, but I'm not sure
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how close to reality that really is.
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So just tell us, what is it day to day life for you and
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your family living on a farm?
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Stef: I would say busy.
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We are a very busy family.
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A normal day for us starts off with my husband out on the farm before the rest
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of us have got up, so I'm primarily in charge of getting all our kids out the
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door and off to school and nursery.
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They're all quite little, so it's quite an undertaking.
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He does pop in, my husband does pop in when he can and help, but you know, he's
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out, the cows need feeding, milking, all those tasks that need doing to look
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after our few hundred cows every day.
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I mean, he's got a team that help him, obviously, it's not just him,
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but he's very full on on the farm.
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And it just, it takes over really, you know, the farm when you've got
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livestock, the animals are so important.
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You know, the number of times we're late for events, because.
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A cow's poorly or, you know, a calf's been born and it's got stuck so he's got
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to go help it or a water trough's broken.
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You know, it's things like that where it's not a job that you switch on and off.
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It's, it very, it's very much a living.
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You know, it's a livelihood and, and it is a way of life where we don't
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have days off as such, you know, we're always on call and It is very full
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on, but at the same time, he wouldn't want to be doing anything else.
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He is very much a farmer through and through.
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It's in his blood, and he wouldn't dream of doing anything else at all.
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He's happy as Larry out on his tractor or out with his cows.
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And it's been difficult for me, I think, accepting that, because I'm
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not from a farming family at all.
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And so when you come into that way of living, It is quite hard, I think, to
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adjust, but I'm pretty much there now.
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And the, the benefits of seeing our children grow up
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on the farm are just amazing.
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You know, I think that's why we keep doing what we do.
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We, we are very lucky to be surrounded by an environment where our children can get
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outdoors and enjoy the outdoors properly.
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So I think that's why we keep doing it really.
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Becca: Yeah, I'm sure it's an incredible place to grow up.
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So many animals, so much going on, so many people.
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Now, as I mentioned in the intro, now you open your farm up and you have
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weddings and events happening on the farm.
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So just take us through how that happened.
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So you had your own wedding.
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at the farm.
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And how did that end up going from having your own wedding to, okay, let's let
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other people have their weddings here too.
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Stef: Okay.
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So in 2014, we started the first diversification business on the farm.
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It's very difficult these days to make a living just through farming.
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Farming, you need to diversify.
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And you mentioned Jeremy Clarkson and Clarkson's farm.
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Then, you know, I think he, he explains that, that you
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need to be doing other things.
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You can't, just farm.
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And the first enterprise that we started as a diversification
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was our glamping site.
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So we run Worcester glamping on the farm where we started off with
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five yurts that my husband built.
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And we opened it up to, to people coming staycations on the farm and We then, we
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got engaged in 2015, so the yurts had had a full season, when we got engaged,
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we were just about to start the second season, and having built for these yurts,
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my husband said, well, how about I build us a big yurt for our wedding, because we
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wanted to get married on the farm, which I think most farmers probably want to do,
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but we realised a marquee wedding wasn't perhaps within our budget, and he went off
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to design a yurt, a giant yurt in a couple of days time, he had the plans, he's
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a, he's a Civil engineer by profession.
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So he can do, you know, all the calcs and things.
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He's very, very clever like that.
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And he started to build us a giant yurt, which we put on a list in
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a little area of the farm, just next to where the yurts are.
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So it worked perfectly for people to stay in the yurts the night
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before and the night of the wedding.
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It's a lovely little wooded area next to a big pond, which My long term
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plan is to develop the pond area into a beautiful woodland ceremony area.
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I think that would be lush down there.
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And so we had our wedding day there.
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That summer we had arranged with a couple of other people locally had
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heard what we were doing and they booked to use the yurt after us.
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And they paid us, I think about 500 pounds each, literally on the
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promise of this yurt would be ready.
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I think, well, it's got to be ready for their wedding.
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So Presumably it will be ready for our wedding too.
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And it just worked so well.
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We had the most amazing day.
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We just, the, the key things we wanted were a good party,
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good food, and a free bar.
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Those were essentially the three necessities for our wedding.
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And it was so good and our, our family and friends loved it.
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And it just worked so well as a venue.
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And we stumbled into that.
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niche of something a little different and more laid back without really realizing
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it because the next few years we did weddings alongside the glamping business
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but I did very little advertising for it and I certainly wasn't running it
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as a wedding business at all you know looking into everything you hear nowadays
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about knowing your ideal client and all those kind of marketing necessities I
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had no idea about but as it happens We'd fallen into that already, you know, we
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would know from interviewing, I'd know if someone was likely to book us or
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not, because I was like, yeah, there are people or they're not our people.
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And so I think we, we really have stumbled into a niche that
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is very much needed around us.
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I think, you know outdoor country farm wedding setting,
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but close to a city center.
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So our transport links are there, but for people who want
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that wedding, that's a lot more.
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laid back.
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And yeah, it's just, it's brilliant for that.
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And it's just grown from there year after year with, you know, improvements
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to our garden and, and then we built so that was how the yurt started.
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So we did the first few years of weddings with just the yurt, but
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over time we came up with a plan to build a more permanent structure.
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And so we designed and put in planning permission for what is
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now the barn, Bennetts Willow Barn.
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And it's been built just immediately behind the yurt.
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And so it makes a lovely little personal, personalized space, exclusive space
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for couples to have their wedding.
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So they have space in the barn, the yurt and the garden all together.
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And that space is for the couple to use.
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however they want.
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And on the side of the barn is, is our farm cafe, which
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is open every day as well.
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But the way we've designed it, it means that when you're having
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your wedding celebration with us.
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you don't know that the cafe is running.
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So it's, it's been done quite cleverly like that, but it means
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we've got a premises that we can make use of every day, pretty much
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every day of the year, really.
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Becca: And it's a much needed gap in the market as well, because
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so many venues have so many restrictions on what people can do.
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And yet I know that you Pride yourselves on letting people almost do whatever
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they want in a fashion, having a laid back approach, bringing in their own
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catering, bringing in their own food trucks, doing basically whatever they
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want, because that's what you were able to do on your farm and you want to
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give the same opportunities to others.
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Stef: Absolutely.
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That, that kind of approach where it was, we had in mind
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what we wanted for our wedding.
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We like the ideas that our couples can do that and, you know, we do do
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catering, we do offer catering, but We don't make our couples use us.
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If they've got that street food van that they've got their eye
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on, they are more than welcome to bring them in for their wedding.
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And flexibility is something that comes back to us a lot in our testimonials
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and feedback from our couples.
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They love that we're flexible and that we work with them to, you know, to
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build the day that they want, really.
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I mean, I saw something came up on Instagram last week.
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Somebody had written a post saying your wedding will not
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be the best day of your life.
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And it was a post aimed at, I get where it was coming from, at, at aiming
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people towards those high expectations.
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I think, especially these days with Instagram, people do have visions
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in the head of what they want.
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the way, exactly what they want the wedding to be like.
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And they were trying to build people down from that.
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And I, I get what they were trying to do, but at the same time I read
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it and I just thought if your wedding isn't the best day of your life, you
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haven't done your wedding the right way.
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You know, we see it a lot.
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People might come with a mom or a sister or someone.
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And you can see that they're putting some pressure on the couple to not do
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what the couple obviously want to do.
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I think it's, it is your day, and if you plan the day that you want, it will
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be the most amazing day of your life.
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But you have to stand back and think, what do I want?
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What do we want from our wedding day?
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What's important to us?
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And find your venue and find your suppliers based on
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those discussions together.
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You don't need to do a wedding a particular way.
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You know, you don't need to follow particular traditions.
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There's things you can cut out or things you can add on if you want to.
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And I think that's, that's what I love about working in the wedding industry.
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Really, when you're working in the more relaxed side of the wedding industry that
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we work in, all of our couples have that.
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a brilliant day.
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And it's because they've chosen to do it their way.
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And I love that.
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Becca: Yeah, it's so true.
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It's definitely possible to have the best day of your life on your wedding day.
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I look back on my wedding day.
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I absolutely loved it.
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It was so much fun and we did things our way.
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Exactly that.
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And there's room in the industry for all of these different kinds of supplies,
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all of these different kinds of venues, because there's all these different kinds
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of couples that are getting married.
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Now you've obviously entered the wedding market almost unexpectedly and I know that
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the wedding industry is one of the best places to work, but it's not always easy.
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So thinking back over your journey of kind of going into the wedding
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industry, being a wedding venue, what have been some of the high points and
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what have been some of the low points?
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Stef: So the high points is definitely seeing people enjoying the venue.
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I mean, there's nothing better than when I stand at the edge of our
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garden and look across it at It's full of couples and their family and
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their friends having a great time.
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I mean, our wedding garden is just stunning in the evening.
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It's full of festoon lights and it glows.
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And when, you know, you can hear the, the DJ or the band
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are getting ready in the barn.
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So the music's drifting out a bit and you just feel the excitement around you.
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And it's really wonderful to stand back.
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And every now and then I have to pinch myself and think we built this.
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which is absolutely nuts.
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I still every now and then I just have one of those moments
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where I look back and I think how different my life could have been.
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And to think that I am running this wedding venue now where people do get
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to celebrate the best day of their lives with us is just phenomenal.
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And yeah, that that's a good feeling.
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That's definitely a high.
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And the lows are, it's, It is very tough generally as a business.
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I think, I think running any business is tough, but the wedding industry, you're
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having to look ahead so much because generally people book far ahead, you know,
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what we are doing now with our marketing and our sales is going to determine.
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how our 2026 is, basically.
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So you're always having to be working, looking so far forward that that can
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become quite stressful, I think, at times.
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But I've learned so much over the last few years, since we started doing
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weddings properly a few years ago, when we opened the Willow Barn, and
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I've taken it seriously as a business.
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I mean, I've had to, because, you know, we've got a big mortgage to
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pay every month and I've got a staff team that need paying every month.
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You know, this isn't just me.
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It's, it's not a family that will suffer if we don't make this business work.
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You know, my, I've got to make it work for the sake of my amazing team.
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So it's, and the couples, of course, have booked us.
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So there's a lot of pressure.
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in that way.
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But I feel that three years on, we are finally getting there now.
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Becca: Absolutely.
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And it is a wild industry that we work in because we go through these
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phases of thinking, what are we doing?
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We need to give up.
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And then we get there on a wedding day and see people having the best day of
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their lives and realize we're part of it.
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And we suddenly think we've got the best job in the world and we are
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up and down like a rollercoaster in all different areas of the industry.
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Now I think one of the interesting things about owning a venue is how much
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the other local suppliers want to be involved and want to get to know you.
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I always think the venue is kind of the central point of the weddings
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that happen, the wedding industry, and I talk a lot to my clients about
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getting recommended by venues and building relationships with venues.
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How have you found it getting to know local suppliers in your
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area and have you built some great relationships with people?
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Stef: Yeah, we have some great working relationships with some local suppliers
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as people who we, we work with time and time again when it comes to style shoots
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or a fair, you know, that they're always first port of call for wedding fairs.
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And I really enjoy that side of it.
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I do enjoy the networking side of it and building those relationships.
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What I, what surprises me though, is that we don't have more
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people trying to get in with us.
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And I think because I, I agree that as a venue you do, you're quite
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important in terms of building those relationships because generally a
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couple will book their venue first.
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And so once you've booked your venue, you'll look to
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the venue for recommendations.
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I would say most of our couples look to us for guidance on what
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photographer to book or cakes, you know, they, they will consider our
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recommender supplier list, if not be asking for us and only book off that.
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And, So I do wonder if there's a lack of confidence among some
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suppliers in taking that step to get to know their local venues.
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And it's not about making friends with all the local venues.
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You need to find the ones that suit you.
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You know, like for us, we're, we're not a fancy formal high
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end wedding, wedding venue.
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So, If you're a florist who only, you know, your minimum spend is really high
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because you only do really high end luxury weddings, obviously there's, we're
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not going to end up working together.
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It's very unlikely that that will happen.
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So you do need to pick and choose who you work with, but it won't, you know, when
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you find Venues and suppliers who align well together, amazing work can happen.
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We've done some absolutely fantastic style shoots over the last couple of
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years where we've chosen the suppliers to work with very carefully because we
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know that we'll give them a mini brief and they will just pull it out the bag
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and make it absolutely sensational.
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And so I'm a firm believer that if you find the right people to be working with,
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then We'll, we'll always end up rubbing off each other wanting to work together.
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I mean, there's suppliers who try, you know, they want to sign up
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to our wedding fairs and things.
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That's the best way to get an in with us, you know, to, to
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sign up to our wedding fair.
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And that's a great chance to have a good chat with us and and we can get
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to know what it is about what you offer that might work well for our customers.
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So yeah, wedding fairs are a great way to, to get involved with venues, I think.
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Becca: And I do think a lot of it does come down to confidence.
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I think people probably look at you on Instagram, look at your website and think,
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Oh, I'd love to work there, but just feel too scared to reach out or not quite
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sure how to do it or how to reach out.
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build that relationship and they're so scared of being turned away or ignored.
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So if you've got any tips, obviously you said coming along to your wedding
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fair is a good starting place.
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So any other tips you've got for how you like people to kind of approach you?
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Stef: I think it's just building some rapport to start with, you know, liking
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posts on Instagram and commenting.
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Oh my goodness, I love that.
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That's, I'd love to do something like that at your venue.
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What I dislike is when I get a message completely out of the blue from somebody,
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either an email or an Instagram message that says, Hi, I do this, can I be
21:02
on your recommender suppliers list?
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And I just think, I don't even know who you are.
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You know, you've never commented on a, an Instagram post.
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You've appeared out of the blue.
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I, it just, it feels like that's not really the right way to do it.
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You know, we, we have a recommender suppliers list that is, that
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they are genuine recommendations.
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We don't take any kickbacks from our suppliers on our suppliers list.
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They are genuine recommendations of people we've worked with either
21:31
through shoots or, or through our.
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We all couples weddings and that we like working with, you know, it's been a
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positive experience all round and that we feel they're aligned to our and our ethos.
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And so just getting in touch and starting some casual conversations
21:48
in that way really is, is the best way I think showing an interest in
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the venue, making it obvious that you enjoy what that venue are doing and
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yeah, asking to get involved when there are things that are going on rather
22:02
than just a message out of the blue.
22:04
asking for, for something, I think is probably not the best way to do it.
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Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
22:09
It's definitely not the best way to do it.
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And even now, I still get messages on things like LinkedIn
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to me saying, I make stationery.
22:17
Can you tell people about it?
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I'm like, no.
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But it's not, you know, I don't know anything about you.
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I don't know who you are.
22:23
You, I don't know what you think I'm going to help you with,
22:26
but it's just a bit bonkers.
22:28
So if you are the people sending those messages, it's just time to rethink
22:32
about how we make these approaches.
22:34
But most venues and most other suppliers are willing to be chatting
22:37
and making these relationships.
22:39
We just need to think about how we go about doing it.
22:41
Now you mentioned a little bit earlier about how over the last couple of years
22:45
you've decided to take your business more seriously as you put it and
22:48
you've invested a lot more in training and development, learning about the
22:52
wedding industry, thinking more about how you move your business forward.
22:56
Why do you think that training and business development is
22:59
so important to your business?
23:02
Stef: Well, when you run a business, you have, you're the decision maker
23:07
on pretty much everything, but you can't know about everything.
23:11
You have to wear all the hats and you have to find ways to be making
23:17
informed decisions on what you're doing.
23:19
And the only way to do that is by training and, and business development,
23:24
really to, to grow yourself as an individual, to know what's the best
23:30
way to take your business forward.
23:31
And often.
23:33
It's just having those conversations with people and throwing ideas in the air.
23:40
And you might hear that there's a slightly different way to do something.
23:43
Oh, actually, that could really work for us.
23:45
Let's give that a go.
23:46
Because sometimes you're so tunnel visioned in running your business
23:51
that you forget to take a step back and look at how it's doing overall
23:56
and how it's doing in certain areas.
23:58
I mean, one of the most important things that I've learned is that numbers is key.
24:04
You have to know the numbers for your business because it's those
24:09
numbers that tell you what's working well, what's not working.
24:15
You can improve on, you know, we, We know at any given point now how many weddings
24:24
and what the value is for the next year or two compared to the same date last
24:29
year, you know, things like that are really important rather than Just looking
24:36
in and saying oh, we've got looks like we've got x weddings booked in next year.
24:40
Well, what does that mean?
24:41
You know it you need to be looking at so much more than just that key number of
24:47
how many weddings you're doing because there's a lot more to it than that.
24:51
Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
24:52
And I think sometimes, especially when we start out in business, we can go too
24:56
much on emotion and how we're feeling.
24:58
And actually we have to go back and look at the cold hard facts.
25:00
I mean, sometimes I'll have a meeting with someone and they'll say, I just feel
25:03
like business is really bad this year.
25:05
And I'll say, well, what did you do last year?
25:07
Well, last year I did this many and I'm doing more this year.
25:09
So I'm like, well, why do you feel like it's.
25:10
going so badly then?
25:11
Because actually, sometimes when we look at the numbers, the reality is
25:15
different to how we feel in our head.
25:17
And actually how we feel in our head, as we said earlier, can change from the
25:20
day when you're stood watching people getting married and thinking this is the
25:23
best job ever to a couple of weeks later when something's not gone so well, or
25:27
someone said no, or someone you thought was going to book has decided to go
25:30
elsewhere, and you go the opposite way.
25:32
So you're absolutely right.
25:33
We have to, Get our head around these numbers.
25:35
We've got to know what's happening, what's coming up, and if anyone's listening
25:38
and you haven't done that, I really recommend that you start doing it because
25:41
it will not only make you feel calmer in yourself because you've got some cold
25:45
hard facts to look at, but it will also help you drive your business forward.
25:49
as well and have targets to go for.
25:52
Now, Stef, as I said in the intro, I am super excited because I am
25:56
actually finally coming to Bennett's Willow Barn and Bennett's Willow
26:00
Farm to come and see you in October.
26:04
So on October the 2nd, I'm coming down to run a training day for your venue
26:09
team and for any suppliers that are local and want to come along, or even if
26:12
they want to come from further afield.
26:14
So tell me a little bit about that day and what it's going to
26:17
look like from your perspective.
26:19
Stef: Yep.
26:19
So, Becca, you are going to be with us for the whole day, and we're
26:23
going to kick things off at about 9.
26:24
30 with tea, coffee and pastries and a bit of mingling.
26:28
And then you are going to do four talks with us throughout the day.
26:32
So, about today's couple and what they want, competitor analysis
26:36
and key marketing messages.
26:38
customer journey and sales funnel, and a little bit on social media
26:41
training, looking at what to post, when to post, et cetera.
26:45
And those four talks are going to be split up during the day.
26:48
We're going to have a nice lunch.
26:50
So you can choose when you book your ticket, an afternoon tea or a
26:52
plowman's and then we'll have tea and cake again in the afternoon.
26:56
So lots of yummy food.
26:59
We source most of our food locally and do most things in house.
27:03
So yummy homemade locally sourced.
27:05
food.
27:06
So it will be a day full of wonderful training with you and yummy food and
27:12
a great chance to meet up with lots of other wedding suppliers across different
27:17
areas of the industry I'm hoping.
27:20
And we can all celebrate the The, yeah, the end of the season I think
27:25
is always a bit nuts for everybody.
27:27
So it will be a nice chance to hopefully have a bit of a breather to celebrate
27:31
the end of the key 2024 season, but start prepping ready for 2025.
27:37
Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
27:38
We're in that key time of year.
27:39
I was saying that in the Members Lounge call this morning, that we're in that
27:42
key time of the year where we're kind of coming to the end of busy wedding
27:45
season and we feel like, oh, we can take a rest, but we're also then thinking,
27:49
but we also need to start gearing up and getting ready for engagement season and
27:53
2025 and all of that busy time as well.
27:55
So it is coming at the perfect time.
27:57
I'm really looking forward to it.
27:58
My plan for that day is to run Very interactive workshop style session.
28:03
So it's not like just coming to watch me do a stage talk.
28:06
It's much more of a hands on experience than that.
28:09
So whoever's in the room, we're going to get to grips with sales funnels,
28:13
things like that, exactly as Stef said, but it's going to be interactive.
28:15
We're going to be looking at each other's businesses.
28:17
We're going to be looking at competitors.
28:19
We're going to be looking at our own competitors.
28:21
We're going to be doing all sorts of workshop related things that number
28:24
one, you can't do if it's online.
28:26
And number two, you can't do if it's just a stage talk.
28:28
So we are going to be digging deep that day, but there's also gonna be lots of
28:32
time for networking, chatting to me.
28:34
And it's a great opportunity to come and meet Stef as well.
28:37
Get down and go and see Bennet's Willow Barn, because exactly as she was
28:40
saying earlier, if you want to build relationships, You need to be in the room.
28:43
You need to find the right people on the right day.
28:46
So it is going to be an exciting day.
28:49
So if people are listening to this and thinking about coming along, Stef, why do
28:53
you think it's worth them giving up a day of their time, putting some money towards
28:57
a ticket and coming along that day?
29:00
Stef: When you're running your own business, it is so hard
29:02
to make the time to learn.
29:04
And I find the best way to make it happen is to have something in the
29:09
diary, whether it's a whole day or a half day, but something in the diary
29:13
that you need, that you've paid for.
29:16
So you don't want to, to not turn up.
29:19
I think for me, that's the best way to do it.
29:21
And I think this is going to be, it's a whole day out of your schedule, but at the
29:26
same time, you're going to get so much out of it, I think, with the four different
29:29
interactive talks from you, Becca.
29:31
So I'm really looking forward to it.
29:32
Becca: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well.
29:34
And again, that's a benefit of it being quite interactive because
29:37
sometimes I go to conferences or I give talks at conferences and there's
29:40
so much information coming at you on that day that you then don't then
29:44
have the time to go and implement it.
29:46
So my hope for the day when I come down.
29:48
to you is that not only will we be talking about things, but trying to
29:52
be implementing and making plans while we're in the room as well, so that we're
29:55
not having to then go away and spend hours doing things after the session.
29:59
But actually we're making the most of our time together, not only
30:03
networking and mingling, but learning and then implementing as well.
30:06
So it's going to be a lot of fun.
30:08
If people want to get tickets, Stef, just tell us a little
30:11
bit about the ticket price.
30:12
And I believe you've created a special discount as well for my listeners.
30:15
Stef: I have, yeah.
30:17
So, tickets are 85 each, although if you use the code BECCA,
30:24
you can get 10 percent off.
30:26
So, anyone who's listening to this podcast 10 percent off their ticket.
30:30
And that 85 includes the entire day, so everything you need.
30:34
That's the, the food and drink as well as the, the training sessions by BECCA.
30:38
Becca: Yeah, which is amazing value to get all of that as well.
30:41
I mean, I'll let you into a secret, Stef.
30:43
I'm going for afternoon tea in London that same week and it's costing
30:46
me 75 just for the afternoon tea.
30:49
I'm not even getting any training or anything like that.
30:51
So if you're listening to this, it is an absolute bargain to get your afternoon
30:55
tea and all the training as well.
30:56
For the same price as I'm paying just for afternoon tea in London.
31:00
Do come along and I will make sure I put the link to that
31:03
in the show notes as well.
31:04
If you've got any questions, reach out to Stef.
31:06
Or myself, but I hope that I'll see lots of you there on the day.
31:10
And if you're in that room, we're going to have a great time.
31:12
So do try and be there.
31:14
As I always say, you have to be in the room where it happens to
31:16
find out what we're going to be doing in more detail that day.
31:20
So Stef, we've got the training day coming up.
31:22
We've had a busy wedding season.
31:24
You're already planning ahead.
31:25
What's next for you?
31:26
What's next for Bennetts over the next couple of years?
31:29
Stef: We're just trying to consolidate what we're doing really.
31:32
We have been so busy the last few years.
31:34
I mean, the winter just gone, we made a new yurt canvas.
31:39
So up until last summer was the original yurt, which was
31:44
starting to look a bit tired.
31:46
So, yeah, we're just I'm hoping that this, the next couple of years are just
31:50
going to be a little bit gentler for us really and we can continue booking in
31:56
those couples who want those want that fun laid back wedding day and have a
32:01
great time with them and just keep making improvements to the, to the site really.
32:05
As I say, longer term my plan is to have a, a wonderful woodland lakeside area.
32:11
ceremony area, but we've just been projects non stop
32:16
for the last several years.
32:17
So we just need to try and slow down a bit and enjoy what we've got and work
32:22
with what we've got for a little while.
32:23
Becca: Yeah, absolutely.
32:24
Take a breather, a hard earned break.
32:27
rest, if you can call it a rest, and actually just enjoy doing all of the
32:30
things that you've put all this hard work into over the last few years.
32:34
Now, Stef, it's been so much fun having you on the podcast.
32:36
I always end the podcast with the same question, and I know that you're an
32:40
avid listener, so you'll know what the question is straight away, and
32:43
it's what's one thing you wish you'd known sooner in your own business?
32:48
Stef: I wish I had known how important the numbers were.
32:52
sooner because if we'd started off looking at the numbers our first
32:59
year or two would have been quite as difficult as they turned out to be.
33:04
I think the planning ahead we were missing the information that we needed
33:11
to be making the decisions that we had to make and so I wish I just paid a lot
33:15
more attention to the number crunching.
33:18
Becca: 100 percent agree with you.
33:20
If you're listening to this, please pay attention to your numbers.
33:23
Stop putting your head in the sand, get those numbers out on paper, and then
33:26
you can make much better decisions.
33:28
Stef, thank you so much for your time today.
33:30
Thank you for being on the podcast.
33:31
And I cannot wait to see you on the farm in October.
33:36
Stef: Thanks, Becca.
33:37
Look forward to seeing you then.
33:41
Becca: I love that episode with Stef.
33:43
What a fascinating life to be living and working on a farm and working in
33:47
the wedding industry at the same time.
33:49
If you want to come along to that training day on the 2nd of October,
33:52
I hope that I will see you there.
33:53
I will make sure the link is in the show notes.
33:55
Come and have a look at the farm, come and meet Stef and come and
33:58
learn about your wedding business and how to grow it in 2025 as well.
34:02
I'll see you next time.