We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brittney Poole. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brittney below.

Brittney, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

I believe that to be successful, it takes the right mindset and attitude in how you act in both your work and personal life. Whether it’s long-term goals or small everyday tasks, approaching everything with a positive outlook and open mind allows a person to successfully maneuver through even the most difficult challenges of life. I also believe that having a community to support you in your endeavors significantly helps in being successful.
I first began to develop this viewpoint when my high school required everyone to learn about “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. We were challenged to implement these habits into our daily lives such as “being proactive” and “beginning with the end in mind”. I implore everyone who has not heard about these habits to read about all of them as it greatly impacted my lifestyle and set me up for success even to this day. As I continued through high school into university, I was continuously finding myself surrounded by people who had aspirations in life but didn’t always want to put the effort into achieving them. I decided to focus on getting good grades and working to pay off my college debt, and by the time I got my first professional job as a teacher, I had believed that my hard work and dedication was what it took to be successful. While those are definitely great traits to have, I quickly realized that this was not what defines success.
Shortly after I started my career in teaching at 22 years old, my father unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack, and I found myself questioning my life choices. I had sacrificed my personal life in order to achieve my goals, and I had come to the realization that you can always make money back, but you can never get time back. This circumstance, while unfortunate, was also the catalyst for what changed me into the person I am today. Following my father’s passing, I found myself looking at the positive in every situation and being thankful for the smallest blessings that came my way. I also found that learning to have an open mind to change and opposing viewpoints, along with the thirst for knowledge has helped me define my most valued trait as being a life-long learner. Lastly, the community of friends and family that continued to support me through thick and thin made all the difference in how I moved forward through this grief and current life events. All of these points have led me to the conclusion that having a positive attitude, an open mindset, and community all support the drive and passion that a person needs to be successful.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I first became interested in event planning while I worked as an administrative assistant for a local church back in 2019, where I gained a lot of experience in organizing schedules, budget tracking, back end business tasks, and of course, planning and running events at the assembly. I later started interning for a short period of time with a local wedding and event planner in 2020 and once covid halted events during this time, continued my thirst for knowledge by reading books and online education about the wedding industry. Eventually I was working as a teacher full-time while executing events on the weekends, and after becoming married myself and wanting to start a family, I decided to quit teaching full-time to pursue my own wedding planning business.
After starting my business, I decided to continue my education by joining the Certified Wedding Planner Society. There, I received my certifications in wedding planning, wedding design, styled shoots, floor plans, and most importantly, my master certification in wedding planning, to which I am proud to be one of only 5 wedding planning businesses in Virginia to hold this educational achievement. My contributions and dedication to improving the wedding industry has also earned me the title of Industry Advancement Director at the Certified Wedding Planner Society.
My main goal as a wedding planner is to bring to life the vision the couple has for their wedding day. Many couples find the task of wedding planning extremely stressful and time consuming, and so I strive to bring joy and peace of mind to couple’s wedding days by creating a professional and comfortable environment to achieve goals together as a team. My business primarily offers wedding planning, event coordination, and event design services, and our most popular services include timeline and floor plan creation, providing professional vendor recommendations, and wedding day management. Every single wedding is unique, and therefore, my team creates a personal plan to fit each couple’s individual needs. Above all, we care about each and every couple we work alongside and help them create the moments they’ll remember for a lifetime.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Building a genuine relationship with both clients and professionals in the field was crucial to building my reputation in the wedding market. In addition to client check-in throughout the planning process, continuing to nurture client relationships post-event through social media interaction has opened the doors to interacting with their local communities of friends and family and ultimately receiving referrals. Similarly, supporting my fellow professionals on social medial through simple interactions such as the act of “liking”, positive comments, and sharing their content to my social media, has elevated my reputation in that professionals are reciprocating these interactions, which results in higher brand-name awareness and leads reaching out to inquire about our services.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

My most effective strategy for growing clientele is embracing the idea of community over competition. Hostile treatment of others in the same job occupation is a breeding ground for negativity, and I believe that the wedding industry has no room for such behavior when there is no do-over for couples to make their wedding day spectacular. I have learned overtime that there’s enough business for everyone and therefore, getting to know other local wedding planners and referring potential clients to them when I am unavailable or don’t feel that they’re a right fit has helped me build a network of trustworthy contacts that I can rely on to continue receiving clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.fmweddingplanner.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forevermomentsweddingplanner/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ForeverMomentsWeddingPlanner
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/fmweddingplanner/

Image Credits

Photography by: Love Lomax Studios, Sarandipity Photography, Mini Crop LLC, and Sabrina Jolie Photography