Wedding Business Solutions

Rosemarie Rossetti - Are your weddings and your business accessbile?

• Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

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Rosemarie Rossetti - Are your weddings and your business accessible?

Are you sure your business and your weddings are truly accessible? Would your customers, employees, or even guests with disabilities feel included at your events or in your workplace? What blind spots might be costing you business—and dignity? In this episode, I shine a light on overlooked areas of accessibility, from the entryway all the way to hiring, and reveal why thinking ahead isn’t just about compliance, but about belonging and better business for everyone.

Listen to this new episode for practical ways to spot and fix your accessibility gaps—and to create spaces where everyone feels not just accommodated, but truly welcome.

About Rosemarie:
Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized speaker, consultant, and author on accessibility and universal design. Paralyzed from the waist down after a spinal cord injury in 1998, she transformed her experience into a mission to help organizations create inclusive environments. As CEO of Rossetti Enterprises LLC, she advises associations, corporations, and meeting professionals on accommodating people with disabilities, inspiring audiences worldwide with her resilience, expertise, and actionable strategies. Beyond her work, she enjoys traveling, kayaking, and biking with her husband, Mark Leder.


Contact Rosemarie:
To learn about me and my business, go to my website www.RosemarieSpeaks.com 

Here is my LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/topmotivationalspeaker/

There are many videos on my YouTube channel Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D. - YouTube


If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com 

Please be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave a review (thanks, it really does make a difference). If you want to get notifications of new episodes and upcoming workshops and webinars, you can sign up at www.ConnectWithAlanBerg.com  

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Want to see about joining an upcoming mastermind (bring together some industry friends to have me spend a day with you all) - or arranging one of your own (yes, I'll come to you!)? Reach out to me at Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or text or call +1.732.422.6362

I'm Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you'd like to suggest other topics for "The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast" please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com. Look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

Listen to this and all episodes on Apple Podcast, YouTube or your favorite app/site:

©2025 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com

Are your weddings and your business accessible the way you think? Listen to this episode and find out. Hi, it's Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I am so happy to have a new friend on. Rosemary rusetti is a PhD and an expert on accessibility. Actually, I'm going to let her tell you that. So we met at the National Speakers Association Conference and we started talking and she had just written an article, article for weddings about accessible weddings. And I said, we need to talk about this. So, Rosemarie, thanks so much for joining me. Thanks for the invitation. What a coincidence that we happened to meet just a few weeks ago. You know this. This is opportunity, right? Opportunity is you. You're talking to someone. You never know where it's going to go. I. And I can remember. So just to tell people you've been in a wheelchair for 25 years. Right, right. A little more than that, actually. More than that now. Okay. And that was from an accident? Yes. This was in June of 98. While riding my bicycle. Suddenly a 80 foot tall tree collapsed on me and paralyzed me from the waist down. So it was just a freaky kind of thing. There was no rain, no storm, no threat of anything. My husband and I were celebrating our third wedding anniversary. He thought it was a gunshot and he saw it halfway down and tried to warn me, but there was nothing that I could do. £7,000 on top of me with live power lines. I think about some other speakers that we know, like Chad Hymas against just accidents like that. My friend Charlie in New Jersey, who I also met at nsa. I was going in to get lunch and I turned around, as I always do, to hold the door and there's Charlie in his wheelchair. And I held the door. And then we went and had lunch together, found out we both live in New Jersey and became friends. And you and I met in the hallway of an NSA meeting. And here we go. And now we get to start our friendship. So you have recently written an article. Tell us about that. Well, I wasn't the writer. Chappelle Johnson was the writer from the Knot. I was just interviewed. Fortunately, to contribute my thoughts as an accessibility consultant. I travel all over the US working with meeting professionals. I work with convention centers, restaurants, hotels. And so when I was contacted about the wedding venue, I was just full of ideas. I've been to a lot of weddings in my wheelchair. Being a sense of belonging to and helping people throughout my career to make a difference so that people, no matter in what venue they are, that's What I look at the specialty of venues. And of course, weddings occur in all sorts of locations, inside, outside. So it's my privilege and pleasure to make a difference so that no one has a blind spot or they say, I just didn't know. I wasn't aware. Thank you for bringing this to my attention as I work with the planning committee in advance. Yeah. I mentioned to you that I spoke at the Inclusive Wedding Summit, beginning of the year. Brian Lawrence put on with Brenda Ferraine. I'm sorry, Brenda, I just messed up your name. And we wanted people to know inclusivity was not just lgbtq AI plus. Inclusivity is also for physical disabilities. It's also for body type and culture and all these different things. And one of the things I. You mentioned the word blind spot. I spoke a lot about that because, you know, those of us that are not physically challenged, we wouldn't notice when there is a doorway that you couldn't go into because it's too wide, because it's not wide enough, because there's a sill. That's not right. You mentioned a bathroom. You told me there was a bathroom that said it was handicapped accessible. What was it? The. The door that went the wrong way? The door goes on the inside, blocking the access for me. And then once I tried to get in and open the door, it. There was a wall there, so you really couldn't get in. I don't know why they thought it was accessible, but I brought the general manager of the hotel immediately and I said, take a look at me trying to get in here. I can't even get in. Why would you put accessible on here? Because somebody looked at a piece of paper and it said, the doorway needs to be this wide and whatever. Check mark, check mark, check mark. But never really tried it. I remember I was in California at a venue, and I was doing sales training, and a coup happened to come in for a tour. And it was a very rustic thing up in the mountains. Beautiful, but clearly not accessible. I mean, these were like log steps going down. But I know that they had handicapped parking and elevator ramps, all those things. You just couldn't see it where we were walking. And I said to the couple, do you have any guests that have mobility issues? I brought that up to them in the question. I'm not assuming they do, but let's face it, if you're inviting 150, 200 people, there's a good chance, right? There's somebody with a cane or a chair or something, right? So I asked them, and they said, no, we don't think so. I said, well, if you find out that you do, we're fully handicapped accessible, handicapped parking, elevator ramps. Everyone will enjoy every minute of your wedding. You know, letting them know that should it come up, that, let's face it, it doesn't have to be someone you know had something like yours. It could be somebody that, you know, broke a leg skiing and all of a sudden, you know, they're on crutches or something. So I think there's three parts to this. One is the weddings, which we're talking about making those accessible. But we also have association meetings, we have the wedding industry coming together and those need to be accessible. And then you also have your businesses, the people that are listening here, your businesses. And you mentioned you worked in a, you're a horticulturist, you worked in a flower shop. Yes, I did. I worked at a garden center. I worked in a flower shop. So I'm very familiar. I was not in a wheelchair at that time. That was before my injury. But as I think back in terms of could they get into the flower shop, what were the aisles like? What. What would be an obstacle for something in terms of something on the floor that someone would run into and, and get hurt, as well as if there's a table that the family is going to sit down and and look at some samples of photos. How high is that table or that counter? So that someone who is short statured or in a wheelchair would be able to participate and see what is in that portfolio. Right. You're mentioning again employees, not just customers. When I worked at the Knot in their office in New York City, there was someone of short stature and there was a little step stool. And so Steve could get to all the files, Steve could get to anything he needed to and that was made for him. And know Steve was just another employee who could do everything he needed to do because the accommodation was made. So when you're thinking of hiring employees, like for your flower shop, can they get into the cooler to get to the flowers? Can they get to all the things? So what are you seeing? Let's start with the weddings themselves. Someone is a wedding venue. Who's listening in here? They're a wedding venue. What kind of accommodations? What are the things that they should look for and what could they do if they wanted to get, you know, professional help? So you don't run into what you, you did with the bathroom, which is check in a box. That doorway is wide enough, but no, you can't use it. What are the, the tools that they could use? Well, they need to do a site visit, of course, with the family and understand who is coming. And Alan, it's not always that a person has a disability and the family knows it in advance. And there's accidents that happened the week before or a surgery that was important. And now this person is, is now using crutches or they just broke their toe yesterday. And so they're temporarily in a little scooter. So things happen temporarily. Sometimes they happen at the wedding even. And so we don't like to talk about that. You have to have a, have a plan B, and always think in terms of the whole experience. If they're arriving by car or they're going to be dropped off by a ride share, you know, that's the first impression in terms of how they're going to get to the venue. How easy is it to park? Are there enough accessible parking spaces, especially the van accessible? ADA has a lot of documents. If you just go to ADA.gov or you look up accessible parking, they have a whole chart indicating how many of the spaces should be marked as accessible parking versus the number of total parking places. So thinking in terms of where they're located, also, they should be close to the entrance, not in the back. They should be on flat surfaces, not on a slant. So that when I come out of my van, I'm going really fast, like the luge in the Winter Olympics. And this is again, this is the blind spot because, you know, some of us would look and see, okay, the handicap parking is close to the front door. Not realizing, yes, you know, you're going to roll out of your van and want to be able to stop. Right? So this is again our where you need someone who, whether or not they're in a chair themselves, understands those things. And there, what are the liabilities then? What are the liabilities if someone, because I know some of the venues that are listening might be historic buildings, you know, on the National Register. And you have very, you have rules about what you can and can't do. In terms of modifications, how does that affect accessibility? Well, I was in London not too long ago and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is 300 years old, a pretty historic building. And I thought, how am I ever going to get into that cathedral with all those steps? Don't you know, they thought ahead. They had integrated beautiful ramp. It was just absolutely gorgeous with the same stone that they had used throughout the entire cathedral. So don't give me the example of a historic Building not being able to be renovated. A lot of times they'll look at a lower window and then they'll start investigating how can that lower window be architecturally designed as a new entrance with an elevator or a lift system. So there are a lot of architects that specialize in historic building modifications. And it doesn't always have to be the front door like the cathedral in London. It was a side entrance, which helps everybody that's paying admission to go see the cathedral, all the volunteers, all the clergy, everyone was benefiting. So there's a lot of people that didn't want to go up all those steps. So they had this very nice curved ramp that you could just walk up or roll up. And it was lit at night also, and it had handrails. It's beautiful. It would also be appreciated by your DJs and other people rolling their equipment in and having a nice gentle ramp to get up to get their things in there as well. So if someone is in a building that it's historic and on the register, that they can't do certain things, this override, I would think this should override that. Right? Making it accessible should override not being able to make modifications. Well, if they can afford to make the changes, they should be making these changes. It's a business imperative. Why would they not? With the population, it's getting older especially. And so when you look at 1 in 5 or 1 in 4 people, depending what country you're in, has a disability, they're not always mobility related. There's all kinds of hidden disabilities in terms of not apparent disabilities too. So it's a business imperative. Why not? That gives you more diversity in your workforce and your volunteers as well as the customers or the visitors, more attendance, more participation, a better view for belonging. And what about the maybe, I'm going to say maybe unconscious, maybe conscious bias where someone sees you in a wheelchair and thinks you don't have other abilities like that you couldn't arrange flowers or you couldn't make alterations on a dress or whatever it is, I'm sure. Have you experienced that yourself? No. Okay. Unfortunately. But you heard about it. My resume and experience on credentials and recommendations and client list is proof of concept. Right. For yourself. I'm talking about other people who are looking to hire, you know, and they would see someone in a wheelchair and say, oh, well, maybe they can't do the job. But it might require some, you know, some, you know, accommodation. It might. And there's, there's money for that. There's tax advantages. Also there's grants, there's funds, there's organizations that will help a business, especially a small business, that says, wow, I've got a new employee, but there's no restroom for them. I'm going to have to modify our restroom. And that's going to be costly. And so can they do something and then take the advantage from their tax. They can talk to their tax accountant and understand that it's not that difficult. And then you mentioned grants as well. Who would those grants be from? Well, it could be a small business administration. It could be your local county, could be your city. Go to your local library and start searching for building modification grants for accessibility. Or go to AI these days and search for that because it knows everything, right? It'll find those things there. So thinking about our industry conferences, if you're looking to plan a conference, they should be asking those questions, right? You planning the conference should be asking about that facility. Like you said, it's not whether you know today whether or not someone has a mobility issue. It could happen the day before the conference or again, hopefully not at the conference, but the day before the conference. Although we should talk to who was it Pat Dwyer who fell off the stage at a conference? And there were some. Oh, it was Tim Guard also. Tim Guard got too close to the front of the stage, fell off, is lying flat on his back. And he had such a good comic mind. He says in his microphone, I'll make, I'll now take some questions from the floor as he's lying on his back in front of this stage there. So what are the kind of questions that someone would ask? You're planning a meeting, you're going to a venue. What should they be asking in terms. Of the meeting planners? So you're, let's say you're planning a meeting for your group, your association, right, Your chapter of a national group. You're going to go to a venue. What should they be asking? Well, they need to know who else is going there, of course, in terms of the attendees. Well, they'll know sort of that. But if they're, what should they be asking the venue that they're thinking of having this at? Well, they should look at the venue's website. That's the first thing. And see if there's an accessibility section there. That's the first clue. And are there pictures and to what extent they have fully disclosed the accessibility services and all of the things that are available to them. They can also go to the city's website. Like, I live in Columbus, Ohio. So you go to experience Columbus, look at their accessibility landing page and the things that they have to support accessible destinations and accessible venues, accessible hotels. So there's a, that's the first step. I would look online to see how much a priority accessibility was for that venue. And then we just start. There's lots of checklists out there. Not, they're not a few of them. I mean, you'll be overwhelmed. They're all over the world. There's checklist after checklist. So just start searching for accessible checklists, venue checklist, accessibility checklist, and just follow along or hire an accessibility consultant like me to work with them. So, so if you're a venue that's listening. I don't know that I've ever seen an accessibility page on a wedding venue's website. Now truth be told, I wasn't looking for one, but I do look through and I do consult on websites. I don't remember ever seeing one. I, my site is accessible. I have had people talking about that. So if you don't know what that is, look in the bottom left corner of a website. You'll see what looks like the Vitruvian man, you know, standing with their arms out, a little icon showing you that that site is accessible for people with visual impairments, adhd, seizures and so forth. But an accessibility page. So if, if a venue is listening, what should they put on that page? You said, you said pictures. So I guess that would be parking, ramps, elevators, things like that. Bathrooms, right? Oh, sure. Maybe an adult changing table, for example. I was married here in Columbus at the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. And it's a hundred year old Palm House that I was married in. It was before my injury, of course, but, but now as I go there as a visitor in my wheelchair to go around and see the new elevator that was put into the Palm House, the adult changing table, which many people aren't familiar with. You may have guests that have an adult that needs to have their clothes changed and so they don't fit on the baby changing table. So we need to have the adult changing table somewhere in a restroom. And I was so proud to see Franklin Park Conservatory has one. It's in the family changing room and you're bringing your children in strollers. Some of your children are in wheelchairs and they're big. These, these are children or 18 year olds or 20 year olds that still have a need for clothing to be changed. So it's adjustable in height with remote controls. Some of them have ceiling hoist systems so that you can use A sling to help get that person out of the wheelchair and onto the table in dignity. So those are some new things out there that I've been an advocate for, especially at convention centers. When I ask them, where is your adult changing table? Last Saturday I went to the Ohio State Fair and they've got one. So I'm like, thank you, thank you, thank you. You guys are on top of things. So I don't go into family changing rooms because I don't have small children. I don't have an adult who needs that. Would that be pretty common now in new construction where you see the family changing family? I'm not able to comment on new construction. I look at existing and so that's what I see. I think it's just underlooked. People think that the baby changing table is all you need. It's just an oversight as people are living longer with a disability and parents are keeping them at home and they are getting out in the community. They're going to special education schools and programs and participating. So in the past, they would have to put them on the floor of a restroom to change their clothes. That's not sanitary. That's not private. That's not right. There's no dignity in that. Absolutely. And again, this is one of those blind spots if you're not. If you don't have a relative or you're not living with someone who has that need. This is the first time I've heard the phrase adult changing table. Never heard, you know, never heard it before. Again. So thank you for shining a light on another blind spot because we can't do anything about something we don't know, we don't know there. So weddings accessible. If you're a wedding vendor going to do a wedding at somewhere and you have whatever your mobility issues might have, might be, I, I would think a site visit ahead of time, if possible would be good. So you're not finding out on the day what's going on. That would be nice. And then again, as a caterer, as a, as a venue, as anyone that is bringing people into their building. Bridal shops, bridal shops. I don't know if that was part of your interview with the Knot for that article, but accommodating the brides who might be in a wheelchair, I, I. Am an advocate of grab bars, wider doors, benches. So many times I go shopping and I have selected some slacks, some pants, some shorts, and I go in the dressing room and there's no grab bar. And I'm like, how in the heck am I supposed to do this. It's not easy when there's no bar to hold on to. Sometimes I just take the garments, hand them back to the sales clothes clerk and say, you are not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. You need to change this. I have told your manager time and time again, it still hasn't been fixed. Please get this fixed. I cannot buy this merchandise. Thank you very much. I'm leaving. Right, so Americans with Disabilities act, again, venues you should be making sure you're in compliance. Your physical property, your website. We should all be doing that. Regardless of the size of our business. Our website should be fully compliant so that people with, again, visual impairments, hearing impairments, seizures, adhd go down the line. All the things that you know. If you. Again, if you go to my website, alanberg.com, bottom left corner, click on the little person. It'll give you all the different options there on how to make that site more accessible for people with different. Different abilities there. Okay, so this is really interesting. I'm so glad we ran into one another because I love, I love getting the light shined on my blind spots because we all have them and we don't know that they're blind spots until the light gets shined on them. Then we find that out. But I was thinking not just about weddings, but also about there. We were at a conference, you and I together, and you have to be able to do everything we did. That's the point. But then also I started thinking, wait a minute. What if I was the one throwing that meeting? I want to make sure it's accessible for you as well. So thank you for, thank you for coming to the NSA conference so we could meet. Thank you for being interviewed for that article. Right. When we spoke so that it was fresh in your mind. Wait a minute. Weddings. We need to talk about this. And we will have in the show notes how to find out more about you, how to connect with you. If anybody has any questions there. But again, you have some resources in your counties, your state, federal, Americans with Disabilities Act. If you go look that up and, you know, let's just make our businesses and our, our weddings accessible to everyone. Absolutely. I can't wait to be invited. Me, too. I don't go to. I don't go to enough weddings, having been in this industry for over 30 years. Thank you so much. Thank you. It's been a pleasure. Thanks, Alan.


I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is Alan@WeddingBusinessSolutions.com or you can  text, use the short form on this page, or call +1.732.422.6362, international 001 732 422 6362. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.

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©2025 Wedding Business Solutions LLC & AlanBerg.com


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Alan Berg, CSP, Global Speaking Fellow

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