Name: This team of entrepreneurs are sweeping the events industry with 'microweddings'
Uploaded: 2021-02-12
Duration: 5 min 39 s
Description: After teaming up in an 'accountability group,' they went on to create the Small Wedding Society.

After teaming up in an "accountability group," they went on to create the Small Wedding Society.

This team of entrepreneurs are sweeping the events industry with "microweddings"

Leadership

"Microweddings" sweep the events industry

a micro wedding is kind of like the hottest new trend in small wedding, So it's a distilled version of an actual, more traditional wedding. 4 to 5 couples get married on the same day, and they share the resources so the costs are split between them and they're staggered. So we have time to sanitize in between and make sure everything is reset for the social distancing. A beautiful, memorable wedding day that might be a little bit smaller than what they were originally envisioning, but still just equally beautiful and memorable and special for them. Really Before the pandemic truly had, um, you know, taken a hold in the US Gretchen Culver felt like there was going to be a need in her market for multiple couples getting married in the same day. And so she started working on her small wedding offering. She had a model kind of bubbling in her brain, and she was getting into this, and, of course, it came up in our accountability group are Accountability Group is a wedding and event planners across the country, So we have San Francisco, Chicago, Minneapolis and then Georgia and Alabama. Our group was formed out of a sale, of course, that we had all taken at various points in our career. Although we were in different markets, we were at that same level in our business. So we thought we could really learn from each other and be a sounding board. Bring what we each have in our own markets to other places because even though each market is unique, lots of things obviously overlap. When you're in our industry, it's a really safe space. And I think that's really hard to come by, especially as a female entrepreneur feeling like I have a place where I'm not judged that I feel supported and that I can really help um, grow my business and other people's businesses. They're a really great team, Um, with the way that we help and support each other through through life and through business decisions. Mhm. When the pandemic hit, we all do the same thing. So we all basically had the same thing happened to us, which is our business is basically shut down. You know you can't do 203 100 person weddings or destination weddings, that sort of thing. So I had been kicking around the idea of doing some sort of small wedding for a while. I talk to myself like this is a good way for me to see if this is a viable business opportunity for my company. A few others were like, You know what? Because we have been talking about it so much because I'm, you know, bouncing ideas off of them. Everyone was like, Yeah, you know, let's all just try It became this thing where we often you know what? We are stronger together. And if we push this concept out in multiple markets and really go out there and say kind of change the narrative of what a small wedding is and what a micro wedding is, it's going to really resonate with a lot more people. So they're not hearing it just from one source. And all of a sudden we started getting phone calls from Hey, I'd love to do this. Can we partner with you? And is there anything like this in New York? Is there anything you know? I love to love this concept. We were prepared for that at first, and then we said, You know, there's there's a need for this and That's how Small Wedding Society group Small Wedding Society, is a group of professionals from all over the country that are doing micro weddings and smaller weddings. We really love the idea of creating a place dedicated to people who serve the small wedding market, because that doesn't exist or didn't not just planners. It's people that specialize in small weddings. Now, whether that's photography videography, planning, catering, we knew that wedding pros we're going to need resources and also a way to, you know, to network with each other That way. We are a resource for couples out there looking for something different during covid or beyond. The pandemic in this last year has been incredibly isolating. And so what the small Wedding Society has done is it's enabled us as a team to feel closer, because we know that we've got allies that are really, you know, cheering on our success. No matter where they are, where we are our accountability group, we have each other to look, too. But we also all had mentors and business coaches as well. So you know, we've benefited from other people's experience and so I think we all feel like that the value of ours to be able to than pay it forward. Right? Paula. I think that a great team needs to have trust and accountability and honesty. I think that we would not be nearly as successful if we were honest and transparent with one another. We share everything. We are open books with each other, and I think in many industries there's this, um, there's this inclination to keep things like close to your close to your chest and to not share information. And that's where I think as a team, we're really unique in that we truly share everything. I think trust and vulnerability are the two things that you must have within your group. Otherwise, it is not going to work. You have to build trust first and then get the work done.