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

Allison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I went to Gettysburg College for Psychology and Spanish and had no idea that event planning was in my future! A couple of years after college, I began working for a nonprofit in Newark, NJ. I worked very closely with the Director of Development and helped to plan the annual fundraising events. This is where my love of event planning came alive! From there, I went on to work at The Boston Consulting Group in Philadelphia, where I planned all of their elaborate internal events – everything from smaller offsite happy hours to alumni events to a Christmas party (basically a wedding) and family retreat, which was an offsite full weekend event for all staff and their families. After learning a lot about the events industry, I knew at some point I would like to start my own business.

In 2016, I got married! Leading up to the event, I knew the one thing I did not want to plan was my bachelorette party. I had planned all of my friends’ weekends and wanted to show up and have fun with all of my favorite people with zero stress. A group of 18 of us was traveling to Nashville, so it was a large undertaking to plan this party – especially, for people who did not do this for a career (and had full time jobs). As the RSVPs for 18 people came in, it hit me what a big task it was to plan a full blown vacation to a destination none of us had traveled to before was. This is when I realized the need for a bachelorette party planner. I did some research and this type of service did not exist 6 years ago! I immediately got to work and opened Bach to Basic in August of 2016. We have grown tremendously every year since and are now planning luxury bachelor and bachelorette weekends all over the world.

Allison, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Bach to Basic is a luxury, all inclusive bachelor and bachelorette party planning service. Founded in 2016, we are one of the very first bachelorette planners to hit the market. We coordinate group travel in any destination – in the US or abroad! While we have planned events in over 85 destinations so far, some of our most popular destinations include Nashville, Scottsdale, Charleston, Savannah, Tulum, Cabo, the Hamptons and Miami. Bach to Basic curates high end, experience based bachelor and bachelorette parties and can book everything from accommodations, activities, meals (dining out, catering, private chefs, etc.), transportation and decorations and party favors to ensure your weekend is as seamless as possible.

What makes Bach to Basic unique is that everything we do is completely custom to the bride or groom and party guests. None of our itineraries are exactly the same, and we create custom mood boards and logos and branding for each event. Our goal is to fit the wants and needs of each particular group in the destination they are traveling to so they can enjoy an elevated experience that was curated just for them. We put together custom websites for each group that each guest can reference throughout the process as we alter the details to create the perfect bachelor or bachelorette party.

A new service we are offering as of 2022 is providing an onsite concierge! A member of the Bach to Basic team travels to the destination of choice and stays locally near the group to provide services throughout the weekend. This is meant to create a VIP experience and allow all guests to full enjoy themselves while on vacation instead of dealing with the minute details and hassles that come with coordinating travel for a large group. We very much see this as being a standard for the future of luxury bachelor and bachelorette party travel and are excited to be the first company to offer this service.

At Bach to Basic, we love what we do and we love seeing so many people come together in the name of love, exploration and celebration!

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

As with all brands, building a reputation in the market is a process and takes time. Being the first bachelorette planner in the industry and expanding our reach over the last six years has been incredibly rewarding and has established Bach to Basic as a well known entity in the wedding world all over the country. We have been cited in Cosmopolitan, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Insider, BRIDES and more, and worked with well known individuals such as Katelyn Brown, Madison Prewett and Jena Sims which have legitimized our brand and acknowledged our services.

One of our best resources has been word of mouth and client reviews. Seeing so many repeat customers and friends of friends booking with us is not only the highest form of flattery, but solidifies that we are providing an excellent and much needed service.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I started this business with no knowledge about how to manage a social media account so started at square one! All I knew was that it would take time, but it would be the primary way to inform bride to be’s about this new and unique bachelorette planning service. I would spend hours following potential brides and all of their friends on Instagram almost every day. It took an incredible amount of patience and effort learning the ins and outs of social media marketing but slowly, I started to see some progress. The more bachelorette parties we planned, the more clients were posting about our services and the more vendors we worked with, the more we were able to cross promote with other small businesses. We were able to tap into influencer accounts and provide some services in exchange for exposure. As our audience grew, we gained more and more traction and it became one of the most powerful tools for bringing in new clientele.

My advice to new business owners would be to have (a lot of) patience. Be creative and find other businesses that are willing to collaborate. Offer some services complimentary in exchange for collaborations vs paying large amounts for advertising. Find out where it is best to invest your time and go for it!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bachtobasic.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/bachtobasic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BachtoBasicEventPlanning
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/42744553/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaNVhCZ88wPdkRKjGT9WYsQ
• Other: Pinterest – www.bachtobasic.com/bachtobasic TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@bachtobasic?lang=en