Dec
20
The Start To Your Beginning
The publication of Gao + Yang’s wedding day is in The Knot! The feature was chosen for its auspicious qualities, red anchored this wedding at the University of Illinois.
I started Inspire Your® in May 2019 in Champaign after a move from San Diego. I had little connections to this area outside of a small farm town about 45 minutes away. I opened my wedding planning business with drive, excitement, optimism, passion and the hope I could start working with couples to create their dream day…But how do you create someone’s dream day? One of the most important days to reflect the unity of two individuals to become one. A day that reflects their beliefs, families, journey, love, personalities, story and traditions.
As a wedding designer, I put much thought into that question. So, I started to answer that question.
Step One: Devote hours creating, changing and reflecting on a design guide. Eventually I created the You + Your Designs Guide. The name is a reminder to myself and my couples, the day should reflect them both. Not my wedding vision, not societies wedding vision, not the trends for the year wedding vision, not just one individuals’s wedding vision…but you and yours.
Step Two: Invest weeks researching, connecting and reaching out to creative professional wedding vendors. With the entrusted wedding vision of the couple’s day, I had to learn what resources and services were available. With old fashion networking beliefs, I compiled a list of 150 wedding vendors. I sorted them by region, pulled up a map (remember I am not from here) and started sending emails to connect. I scheduled appointments for one region and drove around the city meeting vendors.
Step Three: Listen to what the couples want and what the wedding vendors can create. Then work in designing a dream day that is intentionally, thoughtful and meaningful.
Therefore, to have my first wedding design be published by one of my industry peers and then be recognized by a wedding publication for its “Auspicious Qualities, Anchored In Red”… lets me know I created a wedding day reflected of Liquing & Yangson’s beliefs, families, journey, love, personalities, story and Chinese traditions. A wedding that was truly reflected of you & yours.
Photo Credit: Rebekah Albaugh Photography