We were lucky to catch up with Raina van Setter recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Raina , thanks for joining us today. Parents play a huge role in our development as youngsters and sometimes that impact follows us into adulthood and into our lives and careers. Looking back, what’s something you think you parents did right?
My father was a high school teacher and my mother was an elementary school teacher. My mother eventually left teaching to become a stay at home mom. Both my parents are incredibly creative artists. My Dad’s medium mostly being wood and metals where as my mom’s you could say use to be paint and canvas but eventually became glitter, balloons and florals. When I was quite young my mother started her event decor company, Showstoppers!. She and my Dad, who continued teaching, worked tirelessly together as a team creating beautiful decor for every event imaginable. Some of my earliest memories are working along side my brother on these events. They not only taught me what it was to be a team player and a hard worker, but that even if you are the boss, never ask someone to do something that you wouldn’t also do yourself. Such a valuable lesson! That and always keep your team fed. Ha!! Ha!! By the time I was fourteen I was assisting with event planning and by fifteen I was a lead planner at Showstoppers!. I was wrangling bridal parties and getting couples down the aisle with ease. I like to joke with my clients that I was born to be a wedding planner! The only time I was not working in this industry was when I took a short detour after college to work in theater. I soon discovered that I was fortunate enough to find my calling when I was still young and that I missed being in the events industry, so that detour didn’t last for very long. I am fortunate that my parents, while retired, are still an excellent sounding board both for creative design ideas and industry innovations as well as always being there to offer sound business advice when needed. Sometimes I think they are as invested in my couples as I am since they are always asking me to share their sweet love stories…everyone loves love, though, right?!
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?
Weddings & Events by Raina is a Nashville based boutique event and wedding planning firm that has prided itself for the past 15 years on creating bespoke stylish and memorable events in the greater Nashville area. Our team has planned and been a part of nearly 1,000 events, the quality of which, can be reflected in the countless reviews from happy clients and their families.
Our clients hire us for the concierge level of customer service we provide them, their loved ones and their event guests. We treat every client like they are family. Every event and client is unique and we believe in getting to know each person to more accurately design an event that reflects them and enlist a team of vendors that ideally match their style, budget and personality. We offer a range of planning packages to fit what you need and where you are in the planning process. Luxury planning, full event planning, month of planning and day of coordination. We are ready to help you plan your unforgettable Middle Tennessee celebration.
In addition to having been a wedding planner for 26 years total, I am also a licensed Tennessee Wedding Officiant who has presided over more than 450 joyful couples weddings, elopements, and vow renewals. In addition to planning and officiating, my team and I also provide business consulting specializing in helping venue owners grow their wedding & event venues.
I got into the wedding & event industry in a rather unorthodox way…I was born into it! My parents owned a wedding and event decor company. My entire life I have been working in this industry either for my parents or their friends who were photographers, videographers, DJs, balloon artists, florist, cake artists and caterers. Having worked in each field within my industry I feel that I have an even better grasp than most on all that goes into an event and can better communicate with other vendors because of my previous experience “in their shoes,” so to speak.
My team and I always do our very best to go above and beyond for all of our couples. With any of our planning packages they have unlimited access to their planner via phone calls and emails. It doesn’t matter if they have our luxury planning package or our day-of planning package. It is our mission to help you say YES to less stress! Thankfully our clients seem to agree given that we have over 100 five star reviews on Wedding Wire and Google.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I believe in working harder than anyone else in my field to prove to my clients that they are important and that they are valued. We truly go above and beyond to make sure that they feel heard (family dynamics can certainly come into play where weddings are concerned) and that their hard earned money is being well spent. Not only do we take the time to carefully go over budget items with them, but we also have a detailed hour long conversation about their event vision. This not only enables us to get a very clear picture of exactly what they want for their celebration but also we can hand pick vendors that we know will not only fit into their budget but will also excel at bringing their vision to life. This is truly reflected in the many five star reviews that can be found on Google, Wedding Wire and The Knot. We often get new clients while working an event because they see the efforts put forth. And word of mouth has been wonderful as well. We are so grateful to our clients that not only want to continue working with us on additional events by whom insist upon their friends and family working with us as well.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
COVID has everyone in the event industry pivoting. It was either pivot or die. Everyone was in a panic. No one knew how long it would last or when the world was going to reopen. Weddings & Events by Raina had 32 weddings booked at the time the world shut down indefinitely. We only lost one couple to cancellation. This was highly unusual from what we heard from fellow vendors who has couples cancelling on them left and right.
We offered our couples the option to wed on their original wedding day, free of charge. Being a licensed wedding officiant in the state of Tennessee, I was able to make this happen with ease for them. This took a load off their minds knowing that they had even a small sliver of “normalcy” during such an uncertain time. From there we pivoted their entire event. A day didn’t go by during the shut down where my team and I weren’t working to find them available venues for their guest count, assisting them with securing registered nurses for contact tracing and rescheduling vendors for when it would once again be safe to congregate. I believe that our efforts not only saved us from going under but also continued to reinforce our company motto of “Say YES to less stress” as that was an incredibly stressful time for everyone, yet we managed to keep our clients happy and in high spirits.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eventsbyraina.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weddingsandeventsbyraina/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weddingsbyraina
- Other: https://vimeo.com/729833094 – Highlights https://vimeo.com/642834010 – Saddle Woods Farm https://vimeo.com/350551883 – Noah Liff Opera House https://vimeo.com/180120185 – Oaklands Mansion https://vimeo.com/392374243 – Arrington Vineyards
Image Credits
Ivory Door Studio Ardee Chua Photography Jenna Henderson Photography John Myers Photography Laura K. Allen Photography