A Hidden Gem: The University Center at Kent State Stark
January 26, 2010 | Filed Under posts featuring other vendors, posts with pics | Leave a Comment
Long before Stacy and I ever actually met Janet Capocci, the Event Planning Coordinator at the University Center, we knew who she was. You see, when she was the Wedding Specialist at the Sheraton Suites – Cuyahoga Falls, we shared several mutual clients and nearly every single one told us that they chose to have their reception at the Sheraton because of her. Not because of the gorgeous facility or delicious food …but her. When we finally did get to meet Janet, you better believe she cast her spell on us too! She is such a sweet person who genuinely loves weddings and just plain knows what it takes to make any event extraordinary. Needless to say, when we found out she was leaving the Sheraton, we were just as devastated as her brides were! So when we ran into her (and the equally sweet Becky Dehart) at the JSK Center bridal show, we were thrilled. Turns out they are working to promote weddings at the University Center! Since we hadn’t heard anything about the venue in the 5 years we’ve been in the industry, we were amazed when we learned of all it has to offer! We’ve asked Janet to share a little bit of that information with all of you!
Here’s what Janet had to say about the facility and staff:
Can you tell us a little about the location and capacity of the facility? The University Center is conveniently located in North Canton approximately 1.2 miles from I-77 (just past Green and next to Jackson Township). We have a ballroom that can seat up to 400 guests.
How many wedding consultants do you have on staff and what are their qualifications? We have two – Becky and I. She has been here 4+ years and I have been doing weddings for about 7 years.
What do you feel sets the University Center apart from other wedding venues? We are very competitively priced! You’ll find that by traveling the slightest bit south of the Cleveland/Akron area a whole new world opens up! We offer resort-like settings at more of a ‘value based’ pricing…all while being close to airports, express ways, hotels, etc.
I know you have been working to strengthen wedding bookings. Have you noticed any misconceptions that potential brides have had regarding the facility? Yes…most brides do not imagine their most precious day to take place on a college campus. At the University Center, you get the feel of a country club/hotel and the pricing of a reception hall. It is truly unlike other campus grounds. Our secluded, lush setting rivals the most popular local country clubs and hotels. We encourage you to take photos throughout our property, including at the gazebo on the water. As a wedding specialist with past experience coordinating for hotels and resorts, I couldn’t be happier with The University Center’s facilities.
What is the price range of the packages you offer? We offer competitively priced packages at many different price points. Visit our website for the most current wedding packages. These packages are merely suggestions and we can certainly customize your menu to meet your needs. All prices are subject to change unless secured with a signed contract. All Kent State alumni receive a discount!
If you are interested in holding your Reception or other event at The University Center at Kent State Stark (and why shouldn’t you be?!?), contact Janet or Becky at 330-244-3300. You can also visit www.youruniversitycenter.com or www.facebook.com/theuniversitycenter for more information!
2010 Brides Choice Award
January 19, 2010 | Filed Under studio news and happenings | Leave a Comment
We are happy to announce that we received one of the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards from Wedding Wire. Only the top 5% of vendors receive this award. Even though we only received 5 reviews this past year, we are honored to have been rated so highly by our clients! Click here to read the reviews or take a minute to write one of your own!!
Congratulations Winners!
January 12, 2010 | Filed Under studio news and happenings | Leave a Comment
All prizes for our Annual Giveaway have been claimed! Congratulations to all the winners – we look forward to seeing each of you again when you visit the studio to pick up your prize!
Thanks again to each and every one of our customers from 2009! Our referral program is now up and running – when you send your friends and family our way and they let us know you sent them, you’ll be entered into that month’s drawing for a $25 gift card to local stores and restaurants. Each month, all non-winning tickets will be carried over to the Annual Giveaway at the end of the year. The more you recommend us, the more chances you have to win – and the opportunity to win never ends!
Annual Giveaway Winner #2 – Round 2…….
January 11, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
This prize was not claimed by january 9th, so here’s the new winning ticket:
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a “Date Night” prize including a $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas and a $50 gift card to Hudson’s Restaurant in Hudson. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 16th to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 16th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 17th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Bonus Prize! Annual Giveaway Winner #6….
January 9, 2010 | Filed Under studio news and happenings | Leave a Comment
After we sent out our holiday cards that said we were giving away 5 prizes, we decided to add a bonus prize! Here’s the winning ticket for prize #6 - a $25 gift card to Three Daughters and a Mom Boutique, located in Stow. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 14th to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 14th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 15th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Grand Prize!!! Annual Giveaway Winner #5….
January 9, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
Here’s the winning ticket for the grand prize – a $350 gift card to Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls! Based on the latest pricing, this gift card is good for a romantic stay in a suite with champagne and strawberries delivered to your room, dinner at Piatto Novo, and the breakfast buffet the next morning! You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 13th to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 13th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 14th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Annual Giveaway Winner #1 – Round 2
January 7, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
The prize for the first winning ticket originally posted on January 1st was not claimed, so here’s the new winning ticket:
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a $25 gift certificate to Main Street Cupcakes in Hudson. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 12th to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 12th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 13th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Annual Giveaway Winner #4
January 7, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a “Date Night” prize including a $25 gift card to Regal Cinemas and a $50 gift card to Hudson’s Restaurant in Hudson. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 12TH to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 12th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 13th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Annual Giveaway Winner #3
January 5, 2010 | Filed Under posts with pics, studio news and happenings | 1 Comment
Our former client who received this ticket in their holiday card wins a $25 gift card to Three Daughters and a Mom Boutique, located in Stow. You must comment on this blog post or the facebook post ON OR BEFORE JANUARY 10TH to claim your prize. Once we have confirmed your prize claim, you may bring or mail your winning ticket to our studio in exchange for the prize. If you do not claim your prize via our blog or facebook fan page by January 10th, a new winning ticket will be drawn and posted January 11th forfeiting your prize. REMEMBER: We do not know who received which ticket….so we have no way of contacting you. The fun is in the surprise!!
Bring on 2010 (and a tribute to 2009)
January 4, 2010 | Filed Under accessories, catalog invitations, custom invitations, studio news and happenings | 2 Comments
The start of a new year – time for resolutions, goals and a fresh outlook for what is to come! As we sat down today to list the things we want to accomplish at Paper Persuasions in 2010 – we couldn’t help but review the progress we made in 2009. All I can say is this: we are blown away at the support and growth we experienced this past year. In a year marked with significant economic slowdown and several new competitors in our area, we experienced a 48% increase in sales from 2008. We feel truly blessed to have worked with so many wonderful people this past year and we continue to be amazed by the awesome things our customers say about us! Stephanie and I get to live out a dream every day that we go to work, and it’s all because of our amazing customers!
Now, I’m not usually the one blogging (we leave that up to the more creative sister)…but the other day I was glancing over some of the spreadsheets I’ve created along the way and I thought it would be fun to start 2010 by sharing some of the statistics I tracked for 2009.
People always ask us: “How long does it take to make 100 invitations?” Well – every job varies…the total time it takes depends on the number of layers and the number of type of adornments. Here’s a few fun facts regarding our custom design jobs from 2009.
- 12.76 hours: Average labor hours on a custom design job
- 27.61 hours: Our highest hours of labor on one custom invitation order. It was an order of 175 pocketfolds with ribbon, three inserts, 5 response card layouts, and all addresses printed by us.
- 29.89 hours: Our highest hours of labor on one custom accessories order (this was one huge wedding!) It included 300 booklet ceremony programs, 300 menus, 300 placecards, and 30 tented table numbers.
- 88.41%: Percent of custom orders that included return address printing on the back flap of the mailing envelope
- 31.88%: Percent of custom orders that included guest addresses printed on mailing envelopes (aka computer calligraphy)
- 71.01%: Percent of orders that were pocketfolds (yup, that’s what we’re known for!)
- 45.98%: Percent of invitation orders that also included custom accessories
At Paper Persuasions we offer various discounts to stay competitively priced, to reward our clients for previous purchases and/or subscription to our newsletter AND for the support of community outreach. Below are statistics that show where our clients saved the most money.
- $16, 896.53 in discounts were given to catalog clients for various promotions and sales throughout the year
- $3,016 in discounts were given to customers who donated 5 items to the Domestic Violence Project with their catalog invitation order
- $1,810 in discounts were given to customers who purchased accessories after purchasing invitations from us
- $156 in discounts were given to customers who redeemed money-saving offers from our newsletter Paper Points
We value our clients opinions because without them, we wouldn’t know how to improve….so with almost EVERY SINGLE ORDER we send out a survey and a SASE to encourage its return. From the completed surveys, we have compiled the following information…and let me add that we are humbled by the results. Statiscally, surveys are more often completed by people who have a gripe – as you will see, that’s not the case here!
- 98% of invitations ordered are for a wedding
- 100% of customers who responded rated Paper Persuasions as ”Excellent” on the following: Quality of final product, Meeting expectations, Customer service, Clear and concise communication, and Overall ease of process (choices are Poor, Good, and Excellent)
- 100% of customers who responded rated Paper Persuasions as “Above Average” on those same categories when compared to stationery providers they have previously utilized (Choices are Below Average, Average, and Above Average)
- 100% of customers who responded said they would recommend us to family and/or friends
We pretty much said the same thing in our 2008 year-in-review post but it bears repeating: We just cannot believe how much we have grown and how far we have come in the past 12 months. Of course, we wouldn’t be where we are without our past brides. Many of whom we still keep in touch with, many of whom we miss seeing on a regular basis – and all of whom are the reason we were voted BEST INVITATIONS IN AKRON/CANTON for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!!! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We eagerly await the blessings and challenges that 2010 has in store for us and we thank each and every one of you for your continued business, support, and referrals!!!
