‘Wedding’ anniversary

The Valley Wedding Pages commemorated its continued flourishing as the leading magazine for high-end weddings in the Rio Grande Valley with two events titled “15th Year Celebration.”

Over 500 people attended both events, with luncheon tickets costing $45 a person, to celebrate the magazine’s 15 years of existence with current Publisher and Editor Leticia Guerra Cantu.

The events, held at Capilla Del Rio in Rio Grande City last Thursday and the McAllen Convention Center last Friday, hosted celebrity wedding planner David Tutera, who was the guest of honor and spoke about wedding fashion and event planning.

In an interview with The Rider, Tutera said he has been working as a wedding planner for about 30 years.

“It’s been a long career, and it’s one that is not coming to an end. It feels like it’s just beginning,” Tutera said.

Tutera was invited to the event after meeting Cantu at an event in Las Vegas.

“I am incredibly excited to be a part of this event, and being here to be part of the wedding pages publication and [Cantu] has been a remarkable person to work with,” he said.

Asked about how he sees himself as an artist, Tutera said, “I strive to create concepts and create moments in this industry that are trendsetting and step outside the box. This is an industry that’s sort of known for copying and regurgitating already-seen looks.”

He said he always wants his looks to be memorable.

“It excites me that students are intrigued by the industry of event planning and event celebration,” Tutera said. “Thirty years ago when I got into it, there wasn’t an industry. There wasn’t tracks in school to learn about what I do and what my colleagues do. So, this is now an actual legit industry. You can learn, you can listen, you can become part of people’s companies, and you can start your own as well.”

He said students who are interested in the wedding planning industry could visit davidtutera.com to learn more about the industry and to participate in a David Tutera Event Planning Symposium.

Carmen Sanchez, the senior graphic designer for The Valley Wedding Pages, described the magazine’s purpose and format.

“We are a wedding magazine. We feature weddings, engagements … we basically handle all things wedding, except for the planning part,” Sanchez said.

Sanchez said 15 years of success is something that is “a great achievement.”

“A lot of magazines around here haven’t lasted that long,” she said. “So, just the fact that we are still in existence, that is a great achievement. That we are still in existence and that we have so many vendors, that we continue growing. I think that is what makes it so significant. It is something that we’re very proud of.”

Sanchez also said this event is important for the models who work for the magazine.

“I’m very proud of working with this magazine,” she said. “I’m very proud of our success. I’m very proud of all of our vendors that continue to support us, and all of our brides that keep submitting their beautiful content.”

Tutera said having a successful magazine for 15 years is not easy.

“[Having a publication and] being in business for 15 years is not an easy task, whatsoever,” he said. “It’s a market that”s challenging and [Cantu] successfully produced the publication that readers are looking for information, that advertisers are wanting to be in the publication, and that’s a hard thing to do. If anything, magazines have been going out of business, let alone staying in business for 15 years.”

Alexandria Yarritu is a production assistant and layout artist and a first year communication graduate student at UTRGV.

Asked how she feels about the event, Yarritu replied she’s super excited and it will bring more readers to the magazine.

“I’ve been with The Valley Wedding Pages for a year and a half now. So, I’m super excited to be able to celebrate the 15-year anniversary with them, and it is just a great testament of the hard work our staff puts into the magazine,” she said.