I’m so happy to say we had a very successful wedding season! All our weddings were executed to perfection, our couples were happy and in love, and as you can tell…I did it all while rocking my baby bump along the way. HUGE shoutout to my team – I couldn’t have done it without them. I officially launched Simplicity Events in 2020 right in the middle of the pandemic .. some may say I’m crazy to have launched an EVENT planning business during a season where we were forbidden to gather (lol – was I crazy? Maybe a little) but, looking back, after over ten years in the event planning industry and my passion for creating a service standard of my own within this field, it was absolutely the right choice.
The first couple to book us was for a full-service planning experience only two weeks after we launched! We navigated ever-changing provincial protocols, delayed venue contracts, vendor pricing increases, and product shortages. Despite its challenges, I can wholeheartedly say that planning events and the industry as a whole is what I love.
From the get go, it was very clear to me that I wanted to bring “sexy back” to event management and coordination – the industry has some of the most creative designers in the world but I also want to shed light on the coordination and management aspect of creating an event experience. It’s not just about the “pretty”, it’s about the road to the “pretty” and turning the “pretty” ideas into reality. The event experience is as much for the guests as it is for the hosts and Simplicity Events’ mission is to be industry leaders and experts in doing just that.
Lessons Learned
True Leadership: We planned weddings for couples who live in Ottawa, on the other side of Canada, and even in the States – yes, two of our couples were actually living in the United States during their entire wedding planning journey and we were the boots on the ground advocates they needed to bring their dream day to life. Planning a wedding from afar has its challenges and that’s why we’re so happy to be the leader our couples need to do the work and do the work right. Our main approach when it comes to leadership remains to understand who our couples are as a unit and as individuals in order to ensure that with every meeting, phone conversation, or email – we’re representing their wants and needs above anything else so they can truly feel like they’re the ones communicating even if they can’t be there themselves. Managing personal and professional relationships, asking all the uncomfortable questions, and seeing issues from a mile away are only a few of the leadership qualities we’re proud to represent.
Importance of Vendor Relationships: We worked with quite a few vendors throughout the city this past summer and we were able to establish long-term working relationships with all of them. We did so by truly understanding how each vendor works and what they need to make their lives easier and do their jobs with no fuss. I learned that in order to keep my couples and their needs the priority, I have to also make it my mission to understand what their vendors need in order to deliver the way my couples expect them to. Managing relationships with the entire vendor team and keeping an “all hands on deck” approach throughout the entire wedding planning journey is a must.
Staying True to Us: It’s really important to us to keep the client-service experience our professional priority. Making our couples feel heard and understood whether they are a full-service client or a wedding management client is something we pride ourselves on. Regardless of the price our couples are investing, they deserve to be treated the same way no matter what. Each couple deserves to feel like they’re the only couple we’re working with and we will continue to ensure that level of service for the years to come.
Here’s what’s to come over the next few years ..
We noticed a few gaps in certain service elements across the industry and within our local community so we’re working on fine tuning our service offerings to address these gaps. We’ll be offering a brand new service in 2024 and expanding our services to even more cities in Ontario and Quebec.
Simplicity Events will continue to grow, serve more couples far and wide, and redefine true client-service no matter the price point – I’m so excited for the future and can’t wait to take you all along our journey.
xo Amanda
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