My New Business?!
Coordinating My First Wedding
The Roots
Growing up, I loved to sing. Singing eventually led me to children’s musicals at church which led me to voice lessons. My voice teacher led me to a musical theater program where I found a new love for acting and dancing.
As I began performing, I also started helping out with the younger students’ performances, behind the scenes. I would pull the curtain, make sure people entered on their cue, and make sure everyone’s costume and mic was working properly. I discovered that I also loved being an unseen part of a production.
In high school, I also started singing at church. I would get there early every Sunday to practice, and I loved being a part of the team that made Sunday mornings happen.
Little did I know, all of this was preparing me for a future passion - planning & coordinating weddings!
Starting the Business
The idea of working somehow in the wedding space started a while ago. One of my college friends, who I had started nursing school with years ago, started working for a wedding planner. Eventually, she started doing her own weddings, and I got the opportunity to help her with one. It was a jam-packed, fast-paced day, and I loved getting to see what she did!
Fast forward a few years, and I had gotten engaged! Planning our wedding was such a fun experience, and it was where I developed a passion for designing wedding days unique to the couple. We had a small and pretty non-traditional wedding day, and I wouldn’t change a thing! You can read all about it here and here.
After we had been married about a year, I started thinking about starting my own wedding planning and coordinating business. That is where Simple Weddings was born!
A couple months after making the website and social media pages (which I had told no one about), one of my sweet friends had gotten engaged. We were planning together on a teacher work day when she mentioned that she needed someone to coordinate her wedding. I immediately said, “I’ll do it!” And she immediately took me up on it.
I am so thankful for her, her fiancé, and her family’s trust in me!
My First Wedding!
Prior to the wedding day, the bride and I had two official meetings. Because she did the majority of the planning herself, the first meeting was for me to get an idea of all of the vendors she chose, decor she wanted, and all of her ideas and dreams for wedding day! The second meeting was only a couple weeks out from the big day, and this was the meeting where we were able to finalize the timeline and other details.
Before we knew it, it was wedding day!
I arrived pretty early because hair and makeup started at 8, and I wanted to be around to make sure everything was going smoothly. Most of my morning was spent alternating between setting up and checking in on everyone.
The weather had been calling for spotty showers all week, but it had been hard to pinpoint exactly when and where. Well, one of those showers ended up being around 11:30, right on top of us. I had to pull everything in once it started pouring, and I got soaked. Luckily, the summer sun came back out right after the rain and dried everything up pretty quickly.
After the rain, it was a very busy next couple of hours getting everything dried out and set up again. I was putting up candles, wiping down wet tables, setting tables, laying fans on chairs, and walking a ton of steps (over 27,000 by the end of the night).
Right before the ceremony, it started to drizzle again. Not anything major but enough. Luckily, my sweet husband arrived a few minutes early and was able to help me light candles and dry a few things off.
Then, it was go time! My sweet friend and her fiancé got married, and we had a great reception celebrating!
All day I kept thinking two simultaneous thoughts - this is a lot of work & I really love this!
I loved decorating, running rehearsal, keeping up with the schedule, solving problems, crossing off to-do’s, keeping everyone calm and happy. It was truly so much fun!
Lessons Learned
In everything we do, it seems like there’s always something to be learned. Here’s a few from my first wedding coordinator experience!
Having help on wedding day is really nice. Next time, I will definitely evaluate the tasks I have to do and which ones may require some extra help!
It’s time to invest in some new tennis shoes. I got a blister on one foot and on the other foot, I got a purple bruise on my big toe? Not exactly sure what happened there, but I think new shoes should help remedy it. If you have recommendations for a good walking shoe with tons of support, let me know!
I love weddings! I love what they mean, and I would really love the opportunity to be a part of helping more people create and carry-out their dream wedding day.
If you are getting engaged or married soon, please reach out!
As always, thank you so much for reading!
Take care,
Caroline
So exciting! I was an intern for 2 best friend event planners and I wrote for their blog/helped set up events/weddings and I absolutely loved it! Such a fun and rewarding job with lots of hard work :)