Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Krishana Oxner | Luxury Cake Artist Tracie and Jennifer Mackins Bridal Boutique Co-Owners . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Krishana Oxner | Luxury Cake Artist Tracie and Jennifer Mackins Bridal Boutique Co-Owners , appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
Tracie + Jennifer Mackins: Tracie graduated in Fashion Design and Marketing at the American College in London. Jennifer has a background in wedding planning after graduating from JCSU in political science. After owning a bridal concierge business for 3 years they felt that owning a bridal boutique where they could provide the service and quality dresses that they saw were missing and very much needed.
Krishana Oxner: Learning the craft started on accident but on purpose all at the same time. Through my interest in watching my mother bake, and watching shows like “Cake Boss” and “Cupcake Wars” I started to experiment on my own and of course one thing led to another birthing a beautiful baking business. Through learning, I’ve worked hard, shed tears, celebrated. I’ve probably made every singles mistake possible when it comes to business but it led me to where I am today.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
For Mackins Bridal Boutique, of course the wedding industry was their natural and intentional lane from the start.
For Krishana as a luxury cake artist, I started with a lot of birthday cakes because it’s the most obvious thing. Eventually as I grew as a person and business owner, I realized my deep interest for weddings and having involvement in the biggest day of a brides life.
Krishana wanted to find a not-so-normal way of getting peoples attention and that was by getting in her target audiences faces by putting a creative twist on the things that they would need for their event anyway. The event portion was the icing on the cake (pun-intended)
The Cake and Veil Bridal Event was specifically designed to streamline the wedding planning process for brides by focusing on two key elements: the wedding cake and the wedding dress. This aims to provide a more targeted and efficient experience for brides.
Unlike typical bridal expos, C&V Charlotte brings a luxury element by curating an experience with signature cocktails, bridal activities and the essence of intimacy. Additionally, while the primary focus is on cakes and couture bridal attire, the event also offers quality vendor recommendations for other wedding needs. This tailored approach ensures that brides have access to the perfect elements and services to help make their special day memorable and stress-free.
The extra excitement around what we do involves an interactive event with cocktails flowing other vendors and swag bags to seal the deal.
What we’re most proud of is being able to band two totally different black women-owned businesses together for one common goal – to make sure the bride is seen and being able to deliver through trusted vendors.
More importantly, we were complete strangers that was able to pull off a successful event that left people asking “when is the next one”
We want brides to know that we constantly have them top of mind and we’re always thinking of ways to innovate the bridal journey.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
For Mackins Bridal seeing our designs come to life on Brides as they began part of their life journey! Seeing something on paper or on a model doesn’t compare to seeing someone walk down the aisle in one of our dresses!
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Krishana: Nobody knew this but leading up to the event I was strapped for cash.
I had just started a new full-time job after quitting for a year to attempt the full-time entrepreneur journey.
Honestly, I had to do what I had to do to get money without asking other people. It just so happens that I took 3 other last minute birthday cake orders outside of the 75 desserts I had to make for Cake and Veil to make enough money to pay for my half of materials and photographer for the event. That same week was my first week at my new job. I was tired and cried like a baby because I didn’t know what I was going to do but the job had to get done. I don’t take credit for it. God gave me the strength and resources.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Cake and Veil Charlotte
Image Credits
Cake and Veil Charlotte Christan Freudenburg | In Bloom Photography NC