Thanks to

the support of the Sandals Corporate University (SCU), five Wedding Managers at

Sandals Resorts International now officially hold International Event and

Wedding Planning Professional™ (IEWP®) designation, having successfully

completed the QC Event School’s Event and Wedding Planning Certification

course.

The QC Event

School is a faculty of QC Career School, an online international school with a

successful reputation of educating creative professionals for the last 35

years.

Competitive advantage

The IEWP

Event & Wedding Planning certification is an industry-recognised distance

learning course approved by the International Live Events Association and which

cements the holder’s credibility as an established industry professional and

provides competitive advantage.

The managers, Kamesha Dennisur and Anna-Kay Hawthorne from Sandals Ochi Beach Resort; Tannif Turner from Sandals Royal Caribbean; Kerry-Ann McDonald from Beaches Ocho Rios; and Samaria Cooper from Sandals Royal Bahamian recently completed their studies and participated in QC Event’s online graduation ceremony.

In a bid to further her team’s development, the company’s Director of Weddings and Romance, Marsha-Ann Donaldson-Brown, tasked the managers with identifying a course that would provide in-depth training specifically targeting their niche market. She shared: “As our wedding programme is niche-specific, we wanted to provide the team with opportunities to pursue wedding-specific courses, certification and conferences that would provide international exposure and a cutting edge with consumers, travel trade and other external wedding professionals.”

Funding proposal

Kamesha Dennisur – Senior Wedding Manager, Sandals Ocho Rios

Samaria Cooper – Wedding Manager, Sandals Royal Bahamian

Tannif Turner, Wedding Manager at Sandals Royal Caribbean

Anna-Kaye Hawthorne – Wedding Manager, Sandals Ocho Rios

Having

identified the QC Course, a funding proposal was submitted to the SCU, which

led to the company offering each manager a grant of 50 per cent of the

programme cost. It’s an offer the managers were extremely grateful for and

immediately accepted.

Beaches Ocho Rios’ McDonald said: “I am very appreciative for the opportunity afforded to me by the SCU. The certification and extended knowledge I now have could not have been possible without the SCU and for that, I am eternally grateful. Upon pursuing this course, I have gained a wealth of knowledge and insight into event planning. It has provided me with a clearer vision and has added to my years of experience as a Wedding Planner. I am even now more equipped with the tools I need to be successful in my career.”