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

Hi Schuyler, thanks for joining us today. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

When most people start a business, they get the business license, insurance and bank account, then immediately think “we need clients and we need money”. We were feeling confident because we came in with solid systems from our previous jobs ranging from venue manager to caterer. We had been planning weddings separately and together for years, so we merged our best systems to create our company. What we didn’t do from the beginning is surround ourselves with the right professional support. If we had gotten an accountant and a bookkeeper the first year in business, we would have saved a lot of time and stress.

After a few years in business, we were ready to level up – we got a “starter accountant” and began to look at real numbers. We started to focus on education, which is something we would suggest from Day 1! We went to WeddingWireWorld Expo, Wedding MBA Expo, local networking events, listened to podcasts and joined virtual seminars/trainings. We even ran a TuesdaysTogether group in our area for years to meet as many people as we could. We focused these meetings on education and enlisted guest speakers to help our entire local wedding industry grow. We have honestly learned so much about business and our industry from our local community! After 10 years in business, we finally leveled up again and got a Business Mentor. We joined Brandee Gaar’s Wedding Pro CEO program and it catapulted our growth and focuses. We continue to learn and grow through mentors and encourage everyone who is starting off to consider a mentorships program, whether it be local or virtual, like Brandee’s.

Have industry professionals involved at the inception of your business to do it right the first time! They can guide you how to run a legal and profitable business when laws and regulations are ever changing so you can focus on the things you do best! People like a Business Mentor. A solid accountant that focuses on educating us and helping you work through Quickbooks. A bookkeeper that takes the time to understand our business. A payroll company that handles all kinds of legal requirements. A CRM program that aligns with our business structure and industry trends. We’ve had to back track a lot since starting A Little Party… if only we had this support from the beginning!

Schuyler, 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?

A Little Party Events is located in the Central Virginia area and owned by Schuyler Somers, Katie Lester and Anna Pretty. We were three friends working together in the wedding industry in all facets – venue management, event sales, Food and Beverage/catering, coordination/planning, etc. In 2014, we found ourselves with an opportunity to start our own planning company. Katie’s family had sold their wedding venue while I was leaving my job as a Venue Manager in the hotel industry, so the three of us joined forces to create A Little Party. Now 12 years in, we’ve grown our company from the 3 of us planning and executing together to an incredible team of 23 planners/assistants that averages 80-100 weddings a year. We do everything from Event Management to Full Planning in the Lynchburg and Forest, Virginia, where the three of us reside. I’m proud to say that one thing that sets our team apart from others is our coordinator and planners experience. You’ll hear us talk about education a lot – because it’s a priority to us! Educating our team is something we value. Learning from each other and the vendors we work with gives us the confidence to run a well executed event.

While our team is super detail oriented, we also have a huge focus on logistics and systems. We try to talk through all the potential hiccups and handle them prior to the day — weather is the obvious hot topic, but we go deeper by talking through how flow and functionality impact the couple’s and guest experience. This allows our planners and coordinators the ability to go into wedding day feeling prepared and knowledgeable about the couple’s priorities. Most importantly, it allows our couples to feel confident that our team has everything handled and they can enjoy their special day!

Have you ever had to pivot?

In the beginning of our event planning business, we paid everyone as 1099 contractors. We started to hear industry professionals questioning this on podcasts, but everyone we knew was doing it that way and our accountant at the time seemed good with it. Then we got audited by the Virginia Employment Commission… right before Christmas Break, when we thought we had all our ducks in a row to close out for the end of the year. Come to find out, this is not an acceptable category for event professionals like ours and they had to be actual employees and run through payroll. We find that there are still a LOT of wedding industry professionals out there paying their team as 1099 contractors and try to educate anyone who wants to listen. This changed everything – how we paid people, taxes, monthly expenses, our pricing for our clients and vendors and how we scheduled our team.

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

Vendor relationships have always been the backbone of our growth. We are grateful for EVERY client referral and we’re incredibly blessed that our local vendors have also enjoyed working with us and refer us to their couples. When starting our company, we had a relationship with a local venue that we still work with today, executing all their weddings. Over the years, more and more vendors have realized the quality experience we give our clients and show up for us in ways we could never explain. We try to do the same for them, working together with a common goal of a happy client at the end of an evening. The little things matter – keeping communication strong, informing them of updates/changes, looking out of their needs and ensuring they can provide the best quality product possible. When these “friendors” (as we call them) see how hard we work for our mutual client and their services/product, they want to work with us as much as we want to work with them!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alittlepartyevents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alittlepartyevents
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alittlepartyevents/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/schuyler-somers-01465a87

Image Credits

769A2351 – Robert Matthews Photography
1D3A8200 – Robert Matthews Photography
51 – Megan Vaughan Photography
AKP_4465_Original – Anna Kardos Photography
Julia-Stewart_062423_0533 – Jared Ladia Photography
09. – Adam Barnes Photography
1243-kelseycowley_wedding_heather&ryan – Kelsey Cowley
Schindel_Wedding_Dover_Hall – Mack and Co Photography