Reflecting on another wild & amazing ride through our wedding season/year!
It's always good to take the time to reflect on the past year and all that has happened. While I've been slacking with our blog posts .... my intention is to get better in 2024 .... I figured this was a good topic to start with.
It was a year that started off with a major event for me … foot surgery. As a planner and this being my livelihood, it was a planned event since I needed to do it in the off season because as you can imagine, it would be a wee-bit difficult to do it during the wedding season when I’m typically on my feet for 12-14 hours during an event! While I was able to continuing working from my couch, recovery was long & still not 100% since I'll be heading back in next week for another round!
With that being said, in spite of how it started, 2023 was probably one of our busiest seasons since we started on this wedding planning journey! And, that, I’m very grateful for. :)
Let's give you some of the highlights. Even though I started 2023 with a major surgery, I co-founded & launched a new membership organization, The Sapphire Event Society. It was organization designed for wedding & event professionals to network, engage & learn more about industry & business-related topics. It was a year filled with amazing speakers, topics and live events. While there was some interest for it, sadly, it didn’t take off as well as we had planned and we made the hard decision to not continue in 2024. Trust me, there's always something brewing, so stay tuned on what I have up my sleeve!
On a personal note, for the last two years, I've been going back to college, so I truly needed to be very good with my time between doing my school work & running a business full time! I graduated with honors with my Bachelor's Degree in Business Management. It was all worth when I got to walk across that stage!
Our wedding season kicked off with Mother Nature giving us a run for our money our first wedding in May with a rain storm that was for the books! We called it the “monsoon wedding”!
Thankfully, they were able to take all the photos {perfect reason to do a First Look!} before any of the rain started. We were also lucky to get everyone under the tent for the start of the ceremony moments before the skies opened up & it didn’t stop all night! Which, as you can imagine, made for a wet & muddy event; our DJ & bartenders were standing in no less than 6 inches of water, so we had to get a little creative in finding items {fiberglass squares, wood, old cabinet door} for them to stand on in order to try & keep things at least as dry as we could! Yet, you’d never have known it since our clients, their friends & families danced the night away as if the sun & moon were shining bright!
Image courtesy of Spring Smith Studios
This weather pattern continued through June & our next few events! Thankfully, we always discuss Plan B when the ceremonies are planned to be held outdoors! They were just as beautiful despite having to implement plan B & made for unforgettable memories made!
Image courtesy of Andrew Hager Photography
Image courtesy of Chris Keeley Photography
I enjoyed a quiet, relaxing July & took a road trip to Georgia with my best friend to see her parents. I came back to kick off the rest of the season in early August and didn’t come up for air until I hopped on a plane in December for the Christmas holiday! Mother Nature cooperated for the rest of the season with sunny, warm & cool days and no other Plan B ceremonies needed to be implemented!
I absolutely love when our couples bring their personalities and uniqueness to their weddings! I can say, there are no ‘cookie cutter’ weddings around here! From stunning patterns, bright colors, hot pink with disco balls to simple fall/winter colors & décor. We loved it all! It reflected what our clients love & their personalities!
Image courtesy of Jennifer Halla Photography
Image courtesy of Catherine Band Photography
Image courtesy of Chris Keeley Photography
Image courtesy of Kevin Le Photography
Image courtesy of Eric McCallister Photography
Image courtesy of Cynthia Dalene Photography
A highlight in my career is when I had the second opportunity to officiate a clients wedding! It truly is an honor to do & pretty nerve wracking as well! They wanted someone they knew, yet, would be able to tell their love story from a different perspective. From the laughs and tears of joy, I can say, I accomplished that mission!
Image courtesy of Cynthia Dalene Photography
I also had the honor of planning a Celebration of Life for a client who wanted to do something special in honor of her late husband and what he loved. After discussing a few ideas and options, I can literally say I “worked my magic” for her because I was able to secure the last box section for the final Bruins regular season home game; which they won & headed to the playoffs! But, let's not talk about how that season ended! It was something she first said to me that she wanted to do, so I was so glad I was able to make it happen for her & her family since her husband was an avid hockey player & Bruins fan!
Our season ended just days before Christmas, when I had the pleasure of designing, for the third year, a Winter Solstice open house for a local NH non-profit organization. It’s always so much fun to transform an entire office space into something of a winter wonderland for their staff, members & partners to enjoy.
From the business perspective, I always strive to educate myself by attending industry-related conferences, so this year, I headed to Orlando, Florida back in March to attend the Special Events + Catersource conference, where two of my industry friends were speakers. While I was there, I had to take a day to enjoy the roller-coasters, Harry Potter's Hogwarts & all the scenery at Universal Studios.
It was a week filled with knowledge, inspiration & networking! A few key nuggets I took back with me were:
o Being reminded that the clientele is changing & that I need to adapt to them
o Creating an experience for both my clients and their guests
o Knowing my worth and remembering that not every inquiry is my ideal client
o Upcoming trends of bold colors, patterns, experiences & nostalgia
o Updating & putting systems into place, setting boundaries, self-care
o Mental Health in the events industry
o Learn who the VIP’s are and take a moment during the wedding to ask how they are.
I’m looking forward to what 2024 holds for both the business and our clients!
If you’re interested in working with us, don’t be shy & shoot us an email!
Cheers to another fantastic year & the new opportunities that lie ahead!
~Tracy
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