My next guest is Adrienna McDermott of Ava And The Bee. As a former wedding professional and current agency owner who has served over 250 vendors around the world, Adrienna is a sought-after thought leader in the world of wedding marketing and strategy. After spending many years as a bridal boutique owner, wedding planner, and florist, she intimately understands the challenges that vendors face in the always-changing digital world and how important it is to stand out from the rest.

Ava & the Bee, is the in-house marketing studio for wedding professionals ready for inclusive, results-driven marketing that creates freedom in their business and cultivates a client connection and experience before they even speak with you.

In this episode Adrienna shares her story and how she got an early start by leaping into a wedding business and partnership. She shares how an impactful moment in her life led her to shift gears and how Ava and the Bee was born.

As I am sure you can tell by the guests we have on here, I love experts that are or were formerly planners. I think it’s so helpful for us all to hear their stories and to learn from experts that really understand the unique struggles the wedding industry faces so you have solutions to those challenges as well as the advice and insight into how to improve your business strategies.

In this episode:

• Adrienna’s Story

• Balancing the Client Experience and Business Strategy

• Reinventing Yourself in the Wedding Industry

• The Importance of Supportive Wedding Community

• Starting a Marketing Agency for Wedding Professionals

• The Importance of a Strong Website

• Building Trust and Consistent Messaging

• Advice for Planners at Different Stages

• Leveraging Your Vendor Network

• Services Offered by Adrienna's Agency, Ava & the Bee

Connect with Ava and the Bee

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest

DIY Website & Social Media Audit

https://avaandthebee.myflodesk.com/website-audit

Today's episode is brought to you by the Planner Life Academy online course.

What is the most important thing to do when you want to become a successful wedding planner?

Whether you're just starting out or you're ready to level up, these questions constantly creep in. How can I charge more? How do I book more clients? How can I do this better? This must not be this hard. Everybody else seems to be doing better than me. I've been there.

And I've learned so many things the hard way so that you don't have to. The thing is, the path to overcoming doubt is different for everyone, and you can't Google your way to success. I have done over 900 weddings and events, and I've learned so many ways to improve my customer experience, organization, design skills, and wedding day process.

And after years of hosting in -person workshops for planners, we created an online course so planners can learn what they need to succeed from the comfort of their own home.

If you want to do this, you can, and we're here to show you how.

And this just isn't any wedding planner certification. It's everything I have learned over the last 20 years poured into an easy to learn online course that will teach you how to start your business, implement processes. How to create templates, how to guide your clients through each and every step of planning, how to be a great leader, and more importantly, how to build a great reputation so that you can build a sustainable wedding business.

The Planner Life Academy online course is 45 topics, over 16 hours of video lessons, and all of our templates to help you make immediate upgrades to your business.

Friend, please stop doubting that you have what it takes to succeed.

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Visit plannerlifeacademy.com to start today.

Meet my next guest, Katie Webb Brundige of the powerhouse company, Intertwined Inc.

Katie brings a wealth of experience to the table as an entrepreneur with 18 plus years of experience in hospitality, events and design. She specializes in full service luxury event planning, overseeing everything from production and curated design to vendor coordination and executing multi -day experiences.

Her keen eye for refined aesthetics and unwavering attention to detail allows for her to craft unique spaces and creative displays for weddings, galas, and charity functions locally, nationally, and worldwide. She received her bachelor's degree in hospitality and tourism management with an emphasis in event management from San Diego State University. Postgraduate, she served as a meeting coordinator in planning events for three Fortune 500 companies.

Currently, she's the co -founder of Intertwined Inc., which consists of brands Intertwined Events, Become Intertwined, Reserve, and RadCamp, which is an incredible nonprofit that supports those with developmental disabilities.

As planners with a similar career timeline in the same Orange County market, I've had the pleasure of a front row seat to the impressive company Katie and her business partner, Megan, have built. If you're a planner really wanting to build a strong brand, a strong reputation, and a big team, here is someone you should definitely look up to. I'm honored to call her a colleague, a peer, and a friend.

In this episode we discuss:

• Volunteering, and the impact that had on her life and career.

• Katie’s background in Corporate Event Planning.

• Intertwined Inc and it’s growth and evolution over the years.

• Growing a team, hiring and team culture.

• Developing systems and processes, especially during downtime, can help streamline operations and ensure a smooth workflow.

• Finding balance as a business owner is challenging but important.

• Running a wedding planning business requires treating it like a business.

• Transparency, trust, and ethical practices are crucial in the wedding planning industry.

• Raising prices is necessary for growth.

• Networking and building relationships are key to growing a wedding planning business.

Connect with Katie

@intertwinedkatie | @intertwinedevents | @radcamp

Intertwined Events | Become Intertwined | Reserve

My next guest is Alison Lesser Keck. Alison and her husband Bryan are the owners and brilliant minds behind Alison-Bryan Destinations. Alison is a San Francisco and Santa Barbara native who has produced over 400 weddings, from exquisite gatherings in private estates to massive weekends to week long productions in destinations globally. Alison and Bryan have been recognized by Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Brides, Over the Moon, and Elle Magazine as one of the top wedding planners in the world.

In this episode, Alison and I discuss how she and Bryan got an early start in five -star hospitality that really set them on a path for luxury -experienced focused weddings. We talk about the importance of building strong relationships, how destination weddings require a passion for travel and logistics, how having systems in place is essential for scaling a wedding planning business. We talk about how faking it till you make it is actually terrible advice and how important it is to set boundaries and take care of your own wellbeing to avoid burnout. We talk about how many years of experience reinforces our belief that trust and connections with clients are absolutely imperative to create unique and personalized experiences.

In this episode:

• The Journey to Destination Weddings

• Scaling the Business and the Role of Systems

• The Dynamics of Working as a Team

• Moving from Michigan to Santa Barbara

• The Importance of Being a Traveler in Destination Planning

• Navigating Different Cultures and Customs

• Staffing Strategies for Destination Weddings

• Evolving Your Business and Setting Boundaries

• Creating Trust and Personalized Experiences for Clients

Favorite takeaways:

• Building strong relationships is crucial in the wedding planning industry.

• Pivoting to destination weddings requires a passion for travel and logistics.

• Having systems in place is essential for scaling a wedding planning business.

• Understanding cultural nuances is important when planning destination weddings. Start small and specialize in a specific destination to build knowledge and expertise.

• Respect and understand local customs and practices when working in different cultures.

• Build a core team that has been with you for years and hire locals for specific tasks.

• Set boundaries and take care of your own well-being to avoid burnout.

• Build trust and connections with clients to create unique and personalized experiences.

Connect with Alison-Bryan Destinations

Website | Instagram