I can't believe I decided to start a blog! I mean really, who in the world do I think I am?! But, on that note, I'd like to introduce myself to you:
Name: Kendall
Location: RVA
Favorite Color: Burnt Sienna
Favorite Food: tacos (also pizza, also ANY baked good, also mozzies)
Kids: 4 bonus babies and a 6 year old doxie
Hobbies: surfing food photos on Pinterest for hours on end, drooling over wedding photos of strangers, reading, baking, binge watching crime dramas, dance parties in my kitchen
Guilty Pleasures: Justin Bieber and drug store romance novels
Ideal Wedding Style: Tuscan chateau meets desert boho..not sure how that fits, but my ideal wedding is the love child of these two vibes.
What better way to kick off my bumpy road to being a witty blog writer than to share more about who I am, what I do, and why I do what I do. For starters, my name's Kendall and two years ago I was sitting in my living room passing around the 3rd bottle of wine between my husband (then fiance) and friends of ours talking about our wedding plans and goals that we all wanted to reach at the time. Blame it on the wine or good company, or both, but it hit me all of a sudden that I really felt so at home planning my wedding! Call me crazy, but I never felt the insane stress or anxiety when it came to planning our wedding. In fact, I enjoyed every bit of the madness that comes with finding vendors, touring venues, and scouring the internet for inspo. I also was able to plan our entire wedding in about 4 months, with no help. And it was in that moment that I realized maybe I have a knack for this! So, Mahogany Hill Weddings was born :) My passion for organization, weddings, and helping people came together in my passion project of starting a small business. These last two years have definitely been a learning experience and I am so grateful for it.
Starting a business is no easy feat, and especially starting a wedding business in the non-traditional way. So many of the vendors I have met and worked with, particularly coordinators and planners, started their own businesses after being an assistant under someone else's wing. I on the other hand started my business from scratch and without the client base that comes with already being known and seen in the industry. And when I tell you that it has made things a challenge *whew* it has been a C-H-A-L-L-E-N-G-E. I have gone to so many networking events, paid for marketing, boosted ads on social media, and pretty much thrown my business cards out of my car window to spread the word. But I can say, these efforts are what have given me the opportunity to network and meet some pretty awesome folks. It also forced me to get out of my shy bubble and start saying hi to strangers more often! Some of my best connections in the industry have come from sending emails or sliding in the DMs of a fellow vendor just to say hi and offer to buy them coffee. The "coffee with strangers" phase of my business journey is one that I hope to continue! (So if you're into coffee and making connections, feel free to send me an email or slide in my DMs).
There have been so many triumphs and so many heartbreaks, but through it all I have become stronger and a better businesswoman! I also have had so many opportunities to meet new people and form bonds that I otherwise wouldn't have had. So, I am taking this opportunity to say thank you for following along! Thank you for being here and thank you for considering me as your coordinator. And even if you aren't considering me, thanks for reading my story. I hope that for anyone out there that's looking for inspiration to chase their dreams, I can be a light and the spark you need to bet it all on yourself.
xo,
Kendall
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Milota Photography