Tell us about your path to becoming a wedding planner.
The path to becoming a wedding planner was a fun one for us. I had recently gotten married and for a profession, had been teaching elementary school. I had truly loved my experience and thought, “Hey…wedding planning sounds like fun!” Vikki and I had been friends for many years and I knew she shared a similar passion for weddings as she was also planning her own. I approached her to start a company together and she politely declined! She was working as a producer for a travel show at the time and said she would be happy to assist me on some weddings. A few months later, we did our first wedding together, fell in love with the experience and the company was born. It wasn’t your typical path but one that helped shape us into the company we are today.
What started your obsession with the Beatles?
We both grew up listening to The Beatles. I mean who doesn’t love The Beatles right? When I got married, my father surprised my husband and I during our recessional and reenacted the scene from Love Actually where the band stands up randomly in the audience and plays All You Need Is Love. When we were trying to come up with our company name, a dear friend of ours said, why not All You Need Is Love Events? And it stuck.
Who do you think could name more Beatles titles? Shannon or Vikki?
Shannon. She may or may not have named her son Jude.
Your weddings usually have some pretty major budgets (which I assume makes some things easier and some things more complicated). What do you feel is the key to successful budget management?
For us, Aisle Planner has been a god send for helping our clients with budget management. The biggest hurdle that people face when it comes to budget is that they often have no idea about what the cost of a wedding will look like. It is our job to help manage expectations on what they want and what those wants cost. In the age of Pinterest and blogs, a lot of couples have a clear understanding aesthetically on what they are drawn too but no clue what it will cost. With the use of Aisle Planner, we are able to help show them the estimated costs that we personally would allocate to each portion of their wedding based on the final number they are wanting to spend and what is important to them in the scheme of their weddings.
How would you describe your style and what kind of couple tends to work with you?
We like to say that our style is infusing our clients and their style and personalities into every aspect of the day. We tell them that we want their guests leaving the wedding saying, “Wow. That was SO Kristy and Sam!” We somehow get the best clients! We tend to work with clients that have ideas of their own, but are open to our creativity and expertise, and they want a fun, beautiful, joyful and unique wedding of their own. They are truly wanting a partner through the process and we love to be that trusted friend for them. It’s a dream come true kinda job to be able to make sure their wedding is the best day of their life.
Does the team work on every wedding together or do you divide and conquer?
Vikki and I do all our weddings together. For the most part, we handle the full service clients who are wanting a lot more design and need the attention of two planners. That being said, we have an amazing team that works with us and that have been with us from the beginning. Some of these girls have gone on to start doing their own day-of weddings for us, so it is exciting to see the company grow and evolve.
How do you balance and/or incorporate each of your personal styles into your events?
I think ultimately what we try to do is make sure that the client is getting what they want. Vikki and I had our weddings so it isn’t our place to infuse our personal styles into someone else day. It is our goal to really pull out from the client what they want to see. We love brainstorming with them about all the little ways that we can infuse their unique qualities into their wedding. For instance, we have a bride and groom that are big sports fans. Instead of using your typical guest book idea, they are using a framed jersey of their favorite player so that it can hang on their wall. When their guests see it, they are going to love it because it is just so them!
Shannon, what is it like working with your sister?
It is amazing and challenging. Vikki has been more of a mentor to Molly than I have as I feel she has really been the one to teach her the ways of the wedding world. The best part about working with your sibling is that you have a way of understanding each other without speaking and a trust that is hard to find with anybody else. The funny thing is my parents refer to Vikki as our third sister as the three of us act like we are all related!
What are you most excited for in the coming months?
We have some pretty awesome weddings coming up in the next few months that we are excited to share! We love the soft pink and white weddings but the ones we have are going a little more glam and thinking out of the box and we are excited to see them come into fruition. We are also excited to have a little down time coming up and get to spend time with our families. Vikki has a 6 month old son and I have a 3 and half year old son so we are definitely busy! It is nice to be able to do what we love while watching our families grow together.
About the Author
