We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacqueline Grena a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jacqueline, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

One of the biggest wedding trends that I see right now is the shift towards unique experiences over traditional weddings and we are HERE. FOR. IT! It’s like a breath of fresh air in a sea of predictable ‘I do’s’, Couples are all about ditching the cookie-cutter wedding scene and opting for something extraordinary. Destination weddings are taking guests to breathtaking locales like an airbnb Mansion in Zion National Park, a luxury resort at the base of the Sedona red rocks, or a vinyard in southern california wine country,,,, It’s like turning their wedding into a romantic adventure.

And let’s talk personalization! Couples are all about infusing their weddings with their own unique flair. From themed decor and interactive experiences to curated food and drinks…. couples are creating a world that screams ‘This is us!’ One of our couples chose to incorporate their culture by teaching their guests greek dances, other couples are opting for smaller guest counts (or no guests at all) to get married in the middle of a national park. One of our most recent brides came from Arkansas for the full Vegas experience…. gorgeous floral installments, a firework sendoff, and the after-party on Fremont street complete with a zipline experience.

I love seeing couples throw out the old rulebook and choosing to celebrate in ways that are authentically them (whatever that might look like), and honestly, who wouldn’t want to create memories that are as exceptional as the love they share?

This is what we love most about the industry right now and I hope this trend is here to stay!

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 am the owner of SunRae Planning and Impressive Petals Floral Preservation and our teams are based in Las Vegas, NV and St. George, Utah. I love planning kick-ass events, going to spin classes and am a major fan of all things flowers. I believe that just about anything can be solved with a fruity martini and a spreadsheet and if that doesn’t work, its possible you’ll find me binge-watching Gilmore Girls.

Our teams specializing is creating authentic experiences for destination weddings, elopements, and corporate events (and then preserving the flowers – and memories – from those events!) If you are overwhelmed, hate handling logistics, have no interest in planning an event on your own… YOU ARE OUR PEOPLE! We can’t wait for you to get all the credit + compliments for the next vibrant event that we… cough cough…. I mean “YOU” plan.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I have always loved the event industry and knew that somehow, someway, this would be my life. After working my way through all sides of the industry through college, I found my dream job with the CVB in St. George, Utah. Through my connections with that job, I was given the little push I needed to start this business and it started to thrive right off the bat.

I never in a million years would have guessed that I would become an entrepreneur and for a couple years after I started my “side business” I even said the words “I will never take this full-time. I love my day-job and only want to do events like this part-time.” Little did I know how things would change…..

I reached a point in my business where I was burning the candle at both ends. Working early mornings and late nights to stay caught up while working my full-time job. During this time, I also got the crazy idea in my head that I needed to start ANOTHER business that developed from a hole in the market for southern Utah: Floral Preservation.

The day I put in my notice at my day-job was an emotional one to say the least. I had a fantastic team, a new boss who had been promoted and who had mentored me in my years with the CVB, and I truly loved my role. The shift to full-time was unique for me because it was a choice and at the same time…. it was more like life shoving me into it. My boyfriend and I were recently engaged but he lived in Las Vegas and I was based in Southern Utah and we knew that me moving to Vegas was going to happen in the near future. Unfortunately, remote work was not an option for the CVB so in order to move forward with a marriage to the love of my life, I did make the very tough decision to resign.

Sometimes life shows you exactly what you’re supposed to do and where you’re supposed to be and this was one of those moments for me. It was TIME to take my business full-time….ready or not!

This has forced me to grow because the bulk of our business and target market were destination clients coming to the Zion National Park Area but it was also time to immerse myself in my new “home” market. While my team in Southern Utah continues to serve our clients there, I have slowly begin to grow our Vegas team so that we can successfully operate in two locations. We are so excited about this growth and navigating this journey one step at a time.

It’s not perfect or beautiful but this is our story and I love seeing how far we’ve come since the moment I decided that this was the industry that I wanted to be in!

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

The passion our team has for creating event experiences that uniquely represent our clients stories shine through in everything we do. We LOVE what we do and it really shows because we take the time to get to know our clients and don’t put on cookie-cutter events. I think that our dedication to prompt communication is one of the biggest things that sets us apart and we hear time and time again how grateful our clients and fellow vendors are when they hear back from us so quickly and keep them in the loop. “Ghosting” is a hot topic in the industry and as a 2023 bride, I learned that it absolutely goes both ways…. brides AND vendors are ghosting each other so this was another reminder to me that our quick turn-around time is SO IMPORTANT on all fronts.

One of our core values as a team is “Teamwork” — within our own SunRae Planning team AND within the team of vendors that bring an event to life. We work with an entire “village” on event days and we literally could not do it without their help. Each vendor plays their own unique and vital role and we respect that they are the experts in their field. I think this is a big part of the reputation that we’ve built in Southern Utah and Las Vegas…. Vendors know that we trust them and have their back as we do what is best for our mutual clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Sunraeplanning.com
• Instagram: @sunrae.planning
• Linkedin: Jacqueline Grena

Image Credits
@ashleymeaganphotography @abigailtraverphoto @kate_elizabeth_photography @mareemiragliaphotography @captureyourlegacy @dalebenfield