"I was absolutely thrilled. I was competing against consultants
who worked under Martha Stewart and Colin Cowie," said
Margarita-DiStefano, owner of Masterpiece Weddings at 2228 NW 40th
Terrace. "To win an award of such great stature was an unbelievable
thrill and honor."
The 28-year-old businesswoman beat thousands of competitors to
become one of 100 finalists for the title, which doesn't include a
monetary award. Last year, she was the runner-up.
The organization rated consultants on their results from e-mail
quizzes, phone interviews and comments from clients and vendors.
Margarita-DiStefano and the other finalists spent Nov. 8 in
Raleigh, N.C., being interviewed, giving speeches, conducting
workshops and covering various aspects of wedding planning. Gayle
Hansen, vice president of direction at the national association,
said the consultants were rated on posture, knowledge, depth of
answering the questions, degrees of strengths and weaknesses,
ability to handle questions and circumstances, and time taken to
answer questions.
Months later, Margarita-DiStefano said, the organization informed
her that, not only was she the No. 1 wedding consultant in North
America, she also had scored higher than anyone else in the past 12
years.
"It's so amazing," she said, adding that she has received
requests to plan weddings in places such as California, New York,
Texas and Ireland.
She has been in the wedding consultation business for seven
years, originally opening Masterpiece Weddings' doors in Boca Raton
and then moving her business to Gainesville in 1994.
"I learned a little bit about everything. I became a
jack-of-all-trades and a master of the whole picture,"
Margarita-DiStefano said.
Former client Hilary Van Winkle said Margarita-DiStefano wanted
to help her accomplish what she wanted.
"She cares, and you can tell," Van Winkle said.
As for Margarita-DiStefano and her new title, Van Winkle said
it's amazing. "I don't think I utilized everything that Melissa is
capable of," she said.
As a wedding consultant, Margarita-DiStefano meets with couples,
goes over what they have envisioned for their wedding, takes them
through a checklist, and then refers them to professionals that will
best meet their needs. The checklist serves almost as a timeline for
what the couple should be doing in the months leading up to and
including the wedding day.
In her business, Margarita-DiStefano has had humorous as well as
stressful moments while planning weddings.
In one instance, she was asked by the groom's mother to have a
pizza delivered to the reception because her son loved it so much.
The groom, who originally wanted pizza served at the reception,
laughed about it with his bride and guests, she said.
At another reception, the couple wanted their wedding cake to
look more decorative, so they added an extra layer on it. As it
turned out, the seventh-tier cake flopped over when the groom try to
cut it, she said.
But it wasn't a total disaster because Margarita-DiStefano had a
back-up cake for everyone.
"It all works out in the end," she said.
The key to being successful in her job, she said, is listening to
the clients.
"You're planning their wedding, so you need to make sure their
dreams come true," she said.
