Editor’s note: this is the first of a four-part series examining the weddings in Athens.
After having spent only a year and a half in Athens, a local wedding planner fell in love with “the soul of the town,” and recognized it as the ideal place to plan her first wedding: her own.
Annabelle Giordano moved to Athens to be with her then-fiancé, Ohio University business professor Gabe Giordano, and saw a gap in the city’s wedding planning market. Seeing this as a business opportunity and the chance to plan her own wedding, Giordano founded The Belle Event Company in January.
“I like this business because it allows me to be organized yet creative,” Giordano said. “In the end, it may not be the most glamorous, as I get to be the waitress, bartender and decorator all in one night, but I enjoy it.”
After spending months researching venues, catering companies and other wedding necessities “unique to Athens” for her June wedding, she developed The Belle Event Company’s business model.
Instead of charging a percentage of the overall cost, as most wedding planners do, she decided to “create some transparency” by charging customers per service instead.
Giordano created a checklist of every possible wedding service she could offer couples, such as general planning, ceremony and reception management, rental coordination and decorations. Clients can then select from the list which of the “tasks” they want The Belle Event Company to complete.
“Being a wedding planner in Athens is going to have its challenges, because I don’t think there are many people who have disposable incomes to pay for wedding services,” Giordano said. “I tried to come up with a system that uses local services in a fair and affordable way.”
To capture the “soul of the town” that she loves, she decided to keep her wedding local with a 30 Mile Wedding theme at Shade Winery, located at 401 Gilkey Ridge Rd. The theme focuses on incorporating as many parts of the wedding within a 30-mile radius as possible.
In addition to the venue, Giordano enlisted local band Coolville Hot Club for music, Athens’ Restaurant Salaam for catering, Rosemary Bakes in Nelsonville for the wedding desserts, and regional wildflowers arranged by Hyacinth Bean in Athens.
“Because Athens is such a small town, by having your wedding here, you are able to support many restaurants, businesses and other local services,” Giordano said. “The only way Gabe and I could showcase Athens right was to be as green and local as possible with our wedding.”
Neal Dix, owner of Shade Winery, has held three weddings, including Giordano’s, and five rehearsal dinners since the winery opened in 2009. Dix and Giordano have formed a business relationship while working together, as many Athens wedding amenities providers do, Giordano said.
“Annabelle has magic,” Dix said. “Her wedding was impeccable. Anytime someone is having a wedding here, I will recommend Annabelle’s wedding services, and she’ll do the same for me.”
Giordano said her experiences planning her own wedding have taught her reputations and business relationships are more important in Athens than they might be in bigger cities, and word-of-mouth plays a crucial role in a business’s success.
“When my out-of-town friends came to the wedding, they finally understood why I love Athens so much,” Giordano said. “Just make sure to check the OU calendar before planning a wedding here to avoid the fest and other rowdy weekends.”
