Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Candice Luth. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Candice, thanks for joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

Small business ownership definitely has it’s ups and downs. For me, I am so thrilled to have finally followed my passion for weddings, flowers, and events. It was over a decade in the making and officially taking that leap was both incredibly scary and so exciting! I came from 15+ years in the corporate world (specifically commercial real estate development, property management, and immigration). While I worked in that space, I was also slowly building my business and working several weddings a year. With several years in the service industry (bartending and retail) when I was in college, I felt like I had a lot of knowledge that would lead to a successful wedding career. Both of those prior “regular jobs” definitely molded me into the business owner I am today and really have helped me in so many ways. From a passion for guest experience to the back ends of running a business, I’m definitely grateful that I have those prior jobs to refer back to. Now I am able to enjoy the flexibility and creativity that comes with running my own business. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows – tax season is still the worst, and summer wedding season is totally booked and busy with little down time – but it feels so fulfilling to be living out my passion. I always tell my husband (and business partner) that we are meant to own this business for as long as it feels nourishing and realistic. I spent too long unhappy in past careers to stay in something I am not passionate about.

Candice, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Having spent one of my first days on earth crashing one of my parents’ parties by simply being born, it’s not a huge surprise that I want to spend my life planning events. After majoring in English Lit at the University of Washington, I went off into the corporate world without a ton of direction or knowledge of what I really wanted to do with my career. I remember watching The Wedding Planner (with J. Lo) in high school and thinking that sounded like a fabulous job, but it never seemed like something realistic. I ended up working for a commercial real estate development/immigration/property management company for about 14 years and during that time started to plan all of their corporate events and holiday parties. I LOVED it. After planning my own wedding in 2011, I realized what a passion I had for planning and creating beautiful events and weddings and started to run my business part time. I taught myself how to become a florist, planned a bunch of friends weddings, and then just kept expanding. And it was such a joy! Finally, at the end of 2022 my husband Christopher and I took the leap and took our business full time.

Why I love working on weddings:
Helping couples plan events that feel meaningful, personal, intentional and one of a kind gives me so much pleasure. It makes my heart soar getting to watch our clients (most of whom truly end up feeling like dear friends!) share their love with one another and their nearest and dearest. I definitely cry at every wedding! We truly feel incredibly honored to be chosen to help with one of the most special days in a person’s life and I feel lucky to have been in this business now for over 10 years. I’d like to think of myself as a sort of “wedding fairy godmother”. It is so exciting to take someone’s vision for their wedding or event and bring it to life. We feel really honored and grateful to get to work with people on life’s most meaningful days and take stress away from them so they can be truly present. I am a hopeless romantic, a type-A Virgo, super compassionate and empathetic, and a true creative, so I feel incredibly lucky to combine all of these traits into a career that I love.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We had a wedding a few years ago out in a remote location. It was held at a kid’s summer camp and the vibes were super fun! The couple was based out of Los Angeles (we’re in the Seattle area), and had flown in their favorite chef for the event. They had also hired catering/waitstaff from Craigslist. Definitely wish they would have consulted us on that first!! The waitstaff (two college kids who had little to no wedding experience) decided mid-event that it was “too hard” and they just quit mid-wedding! There were several super VIP folks as guests at this wedding and we couldn’t let a moment go by where guest experience was lagging. Our team swooped in, waited tables, and made sure everything went off seamlessly.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

We really just try to go above and beyond wherever we can and treat everyone with kindness and compassion. Weddings are stressful and everyone involved from the couple to the vendors can run on high emotions. We try to be the calm in the storm and do everything we can to help out and make things run smoothly for everyone. A smile and a helping hand really go such a long way!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.luthevents.com
• Instagram: @luthweddingsandevents

Image Credits

Kielen Elizabeth Photography
Cate Ronan Photography
Wiley Putnam Photography
Cameron Zegers Photography