We were lucky to catch up with Erin Kelley-Garrison recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Erin, thanks for joining us today. The first dollar your business earns is always special and we’d love to hear how your brand made its first dollar of revenue.
My first client opportunity was an accident because I made a few suggestions during a wedding rehearsal that my husband was the best man in! My husband served as the best man at his high school friend’s wedding, and the rehearsal was a bit disorganized. The couple getting married was caught up in the whirlwind of life, leaving them with little time to iron out to the all the little details. So, I jumped in and began mapping out a timeline, helping to organize all their hard work to match the vision of their big day.
The mother of the groom approached me and said, “Erin, I don’t care what it takes, you are planning ALL of my family’s weddings.” It just clicked; I enjoyed doing this, reveling in the chaos of coordination. A few months later, I received a referral from a woman who worked with the groom’s mother. Her family was in a similar predicament, and the bride and groom didn’t initially see the need for a coordinator. They believed it would be a waste of money. In our first meeting, I was nervous, fearing they’d sense that I had NEVER coordinated a wedding. However, as I invested in them as a couple, focusing on curiosity about their existing plans and identifying what was missing, we hit it off.
I joke that the day of that wedding was both the best and worst day of my life. It was sweltering outside, with only ONE pitcher of water for 150 guests, and the bartender never showed up. I spent 10 minutes in the bathroom giving myself a pep talk and the next eight hours absolutely KILLING it. Every request, I said yes to and fulfilled.
The next morning, my feet had blisters, my entire body ached, and I was riding the biggest high I had ever experienced. And the rest is history!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Erin Kelley-Garrison, and I hail from one of the most extensive families in my tiny village in Missouri. I was fortunate to live no more than 15 minutes away from any one of my aunts and uncles. Growing up, my safe haven was spending time creating elaborate games to play with my cousins. I planned everything down to who got to wear which Barbie skirt during dress-up. I regularly thought that if I set all the rules and did all the thinking, all our ideas would come to dazzling fruition!
I carried those ideas all the way into college and onto the doorsteps of my sorority. I quickly learned that, no matter how much I planned, even as president, there were always MANY visions that had to come together. The truth was, I just enjoyed spending time with people and building a sense of community! It was important to me that, while I couldn’t make every event fun, I could make everyone have fun at an event!
After completing graduate school, having planned large events for student organizations, I knew I wanted to do this more than anything. I joke that I squeezed a lot of “life” into May 2019, but I truly did. I graduated from grad school, planned a wedding, bought a house, and planned a honeymoon. After that, I took a break from planning anything for a while, right up until my husband was the best man at his best friend’s wedding.
We attended the rehearsal dinner and ceremony, and things just kept getting off track; it was evident that several people were just exhausted. I was so desperate to help where I could that I jumped in and started mapping out how people were walking down the aisle, where the bride and groom should stand, all the way to a mock timeline for the ceremony. It was like a fish coming right back to water, and people noticed. The groom’s mother ended up recommending me to a close friend she worked with, and I booked my first wedding coordination gig!
Not long after that, I met with an acquaintance and quickly made plans to create a wedding planning business together! After a lot of research (which I highly recommend), lots of prayer, and informational interviewing, Pop & Fizz Event Co was born! We spent six months working hard to understand what made us different, and we both agreed that honoring people, their experiences, and their vision was the most important thing to both of us. We wanted planning a wedding to be like talking with your BEST friend, someone you could text when you scored a great deal while shopping and be there to help when things ended up going sideways.
No sooner than my partner and I paid for the LLC, we scored our first official client! Four months into us officially being launched, my partner and I parted ways so she could manage her other business that had blown up!
Then it was just me! I had some serious imposter syndrome, but my church truly rallied for me, and it felt like anytime someone knew someone getting married, having a bridal shower, or a graduation party, they recommended me! I was getting so many leads I felt like I had hit the jackpot! I have since then decided that to do my best and to have people remain at the center of my business, I would limit the number of clients I would take for a year.
The main thing I instill in all of my clients is that I don’t just invest in their wedding but their marriage. We often spend so much time together that my meetings aren’t just about logistics! I want to truly get to know the people I serve, and I love hearing about what they are most excited about for their future. I often use that information to make their day not only special but uniquely theirs. For example, if I notice that over time a couple has a low social battery, I build in decompression time just for them. If I notice that a couple is particularly close to their family, I find suggestions or ideas on ways to incorporate their family story into the little details!
The thing that I hope a potential client would take away from my social media, interacting with me, or being referred to me by past clients is that I am deeply invested in people. I love to serve and bring about community, and I truly believe that weddings are the first and often best place to do that. Hiring me is really like ensuring your best friend is with you throughout your entire day, often making space for you not just to enjoy your day but to make memories that you’ll never forget
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
I believe that because I invest so heavily in people and truly enjoy what I do, I gain repeat clients. I often help with a wedding and, within a year, get a call to do a baby shower! This profession is sweet like that; you get to witness the evolution of these complex and deeply invested people, and I love that. When growing close with couples, I often receive word-of-mouth referrals, and I take that responsibility seriously. Often, couples refer me because they want the experience they had for themselves for their friends. That helps filter clients for me as well; I thrive in couples that are truly intentional and aren’t always going with flashy trends but are here to let themselves shine through all the timeless details.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson that I had to unlearn and one that I often find myself revisiting is that of a scarcity mindset. I am always worried that I won’t book another client, or when I see another business similar to mine doing well when I am slow, I think there is something wrong with my business. The truth is, even if I could coordinate ALL the weddings that happen each year, I wouldn’t want to. I wouldn’t get to know my clients the way I would want to, and I wouldn’t leave room for me to be a human outside of my work.
Knowing that and practicing it is hard work, and I find it easier when I relate it back to a core value of mine: creating community. In order for people to create community organically and in a way that honors them, not just ANYONE can tell that story. It has to be the right person, and sometimes that just isn’t me. I also find that having a mindset of collaboration over competition has been helpful! There are seriously talented people in this profession, and I could not have learned as much as I did or created as many memories as I did if I let my ego and insecurities drive my professional relationships.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.popandfizzevents.com/
- Instagram: popandfizzeventco
- Facebook: Pop & Fizz Event Co.
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pop-fizz-event-company-llc
Image Credits
Brandi Keltner