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Students in ����ɫ��ҹ’s Hospitality and Event Management program had a one-of-a-kind, hands-on learning experience when they planned and staged every part of a mock wedding on Oct. 28 at the .

This experiential learning exercise, called a “styled shoot,” is included in the students’ Wedding and Special Events Protocol class and their participation is part of their grade for the class. Each year, the class requires students to work with several engaged couples to develop suggestions for their weddings, based on the couples’ answers to a questionnaire. Students are also asked to create a name for their wedding planning businesses.

The students in the class are mostly juniors and seniors. ����ɫ��ҹ half are  in the Hospitality and Events Management program and others come from fashion, interior design, communications and other programs of study. 

All of the at ����ɫ��ҹ include experiential learning inside classrooms and laboratories and off-campus to provide students with opportunities to learn valuable career skills and connect with professionals working in their fields of study.

Setting a Date For the (Faux) Wedding

The idea to invite one of the couples to participate in a styled shoot in which every element of a wedding plan is executed came from a collaboration between Mandy Ulicney, an associate lecturer in ����ɫ��ҹ’s Hospitality and Event Management program who teaches the class and Brooklyn Fockler Leshon, a recent graduate of the program who had been in Ulicney’s class.

While she was a student, Fockler Leshon worked on ideas for her wedding planning company, called Brooklyn Rain Brides. After graduation, she made her dream a reality and began attracting clients. “What’s great is that one of the things she did to start to build her clientele when she was really fresh was a thing called a styled shoot,” said Ulicney. Fockler Leshon staged the styled shoots to build her business portfolio, showcasing her work to promote her business while forging relationships with vendors. “She worked with other vendors to put together basically a fake wedding,” she said. “But it had all the elements of a real wedding and, photographically speaking, it looks like a real wedding. A lot of wedding planners do this, and a lot of vendors participate so they have more photos to display on their social media.

Ulicney reached out to Fockler Leshon and her connections in the International Live Events Association. It’s a group made up of people who work in the events management industry. They agreed that a styled shoot would be a great way for them to interact with ����ɫ��ҹ students and connect people in the industry.

The planning began in August when the interested parties met and decided on the Oct. 28 as the date for the styled shoot. In the class, the students were divided into teams: entertainment and photography; food and beverage; beauty and attire; florals and décor, venue liaison and timeline, and stationery and signage. 
 

Here Comes the Bride

When it came time to find a bride and groom, Fockler Leshon suggested, from experience, that they use a real couple instead of finding models because it would help make the photographs look more authentic. Ulicney was able to recruit one of the couples that were already working with the class and, as a bonus, the bride is an alumna of ����ɫ��ҹ’s Hospitality and Events Management program. “So, it’s perfect,” she said. “She really is getting married (later). The students helped her develop ideas for her own wedding and she and her fiancé got to have this fun, unique experience.

The bride is Alexa Frena, who works as an event planner for Cardinal Health in Columbus. Her location presented the kind real-world challenge that a wedding planner could face in making arrangements long distance. For example: fitting the wedding dress. The student planners contacted a bridal shop in Ashtabula who could loan a dress. But since the students couldn’t get the bride’s measurements in advance, the shop loaned them three dresses that were approximate fits that could be altered, using clips.

'I think what Mandy and other faculty have done is absolutely amazing.'

Frena and her fiancé, Logan Wilson, have set a date for their actual wedding in June 2026. She said that she's happy to have seen the student's ideas and will consider them when planning her own wedding day. "They were so creative!" Frena said. 

As a graduate of the program, Frena was thrilled to see the students demonstrating all they've learned in class. "I think the more hands on the students can get the better!" she said. 

"I think what Mandy and other faculty have done is absolutely amazing," said Frena. "The way the students were tasked to plan every detail of the day made it that much more real. From the timeline, to each vendor, I thought the day was even more special having  many of the vendors be ����ɫ��ҹ Alumni. It felt so special being a small piece of the puzzle being the fake bride (but also a bride to be) as well as a ����ɫ��ҹ Hospitality Alumna. It was like traveling back in time being in Kent. It was a really special day getting to help out the students and being back in Kent. I was so happy to get to do it for the the hospitality program and ����ɫ��ҹ. As you know  - Flashes Forever!"

Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Gold

The students tried to anticipate all the factors that could impact a fall wedding, like the weather, since the ceremony was planned to be outdoors on the hotel’s rooftop terrace. “We anticipate all of these things,” Ulicney said. “It’s a great experience for the students. They are making these connections; they are interacting with the vendors. They have had to either make calls or send email and reach out to all the different people involved to secure whatever is necessary for the event. So, they were able to successfully procure tables, chairs, linens, décor items. The floral, we couldn’t get for free, but we got it at cost and Brooklyn assembled the centerpieces. Her background is in floral. That’s how she came up so she’s pretty knowledgeable there.” A total of 12 vendors assisted in bringing the event together.  It was helpful that some of the vendors were ����ɫ��ҹ alumni.

From the preparation of bride’s hair and makeup to the rooftop (mock) ceremony, to the toast, bouquet toss, dinner and cutting of the wedding cake, every element of a couple’s special day was thoughtfully included.  Because they might appear in photographs, all guests were instructed to dress as if they were attending an upscale, fall wedding.

The Icing on the Wedding Cake

“We’re really excited about it,” said Ulicney. “It kind of occurred to me somewhere along the way, we’re going to have this beautifully decorated room. We’re going to have food. Why not invite some people to come in and enjoy it?” The group invited the ����ɫ��ҹ Hospitality and Event Management Advisory Board and other friends of the program. They arrived as the finishing touches of the event were coming together. They got to see the students in action, enjoy a very nice meal and attend an enhanced networking mixer. Ulicney said it was a great way to finish the styled shoot, “People can talk through the event and ask the students ‘Well, what did you learn and how did it go?’”

Special thanks to Mandy Ulicney, Brooklyn Fockler Leshon, Alexa Frena and Hanna Jean Park for their assistance in preparing this story.