We were lucky to catch up with Taylor Martz Paffett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Taylor, thanks for joining us today. Crazy stuff happening is almost as certain as death and taxes – it’s technically “unexpected” but something unexpected happening is to be expected and so can you share a crazy story with our readers

As a destination wedding specialist, I knew the only type of wedding I could have for myself had to be a wedding in Mexico or the Caribbean! After the amazing proposal in Punta Cana by my husband, Will, the decision was made. We would be headed to Mexico in 10 months to say “I do,” Okay…… maybe before the proposal this decision was made. When you know, you know! The planning process and travel coordination was a breeze! I mean I do this every day. No stress. I am getting married at a gorgeous, new resort in Mexico to the man of my dreams with my best friends and family joining us. What could go wrong? Well…. about 5 weeks before the wedding I find out there was a fire at the resort we were headed to in just 5 short weeks. Peak season for travel. Limited inventory. Limited wedding dates. So what now? Well thank God I work in this amazing and crazy industry! There was no time to be sad or freak out. Guests bought their flights, we were flying to Cancun one way or another.
The first step was finding a resort to move 35 rooms to! With limited inventory everywhere, this was not going to be an easy task. First 2 back up resorts I wanted, no luck!
Now, us travel agents work with Tour Operators. They are our partners who we book through. They have relationships with all of the hotels so thy are essentially life saviors in many situations and especially this one. The amazing Tour Operator, ALG, has a fantastic team we work with. Richelle, who is one of our partners, told me to trust her… she had one specific resort in mind (TRS Coral) and she had a good feeling about it. She also made sure to let me know they had an amazing gym since she knew me and husband would be very happy about this! I put my trust in Richelle and tried my best to be patient. After about a week of telling myself it would be okay, TRS Coral came through! They had room for all 70 of us. What a relief. But now…. our wedding? I was in touch with the resort and quickly found out they did not have any availability for our wedding date. I started exploring off site venues and thankfully had an amazing wedding planner in Cancun, Shailly, helping me look at different options. As we did this, the weddings manager at TRS reached out to me to tell me she could give me a wedding at 6pm (my preferred time) but one day earlier. Was this really happening?! Was everything going to workout?
The venues they had available were better than I ever expected. We even loved them more than our original venues. Everything was perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I got my dream wedding but also a crazy story that will allow me to help my future couples for any crazy situation they have! It will give me an opportunity to help them change a negative situation in a crazy store that turns out to be positive in the end!!!

Taylor, 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?

To start, my name is Taylor (Martz) Paffett, Newly married so many people are still getting use to the new name! I own Vibe Thrive Travel which is a travel agency that specializes in Destination Weddings. I focus on Mexico and the Caribbean with hopes to expand to Europe soon! Prior to getting into this industry, I worked in the medical device / pharmaceutical sales world. Now, how the heck did I end up in Destination Weddings? Well you know the saying, “Everything happens for a reason.” Well I am definitely one of those stories. I had a destination wedding a few years back. We were all young and dumb at one point, right? I was lucky enough to have James Berglie with Be All Inclusive (BAI) as my travel agent and built an amazing friendship with him and his beautiful wife, Laurie (co owner of BAI). Post 2020 they reached out to me and asked if I had any desire to give this whole travel industry a try! With the support of my boyfriend at the time (now husband, Will) I made the decision to start my own business! I worked my other job for a year and a half while I learned the business. James Berglie helped me become the agent and business owner I am today. In November 2022, I quit my full time job and took the leap of faith. It has already proven to be one of the best decisions I could ever make. The resources and connections I have being a part of the BAI team is absolutely amazing.

So what does a Destination Wedding Travel Agent do? Well I have the opportunity to help couples find a resort they want to get married at (or an off site venue) and get them in touch with the weddings teams. I am there with them throughout the whole process of the wedding and I am there to help wherever they need me. I mean, as a two time destination wedding bride, I have a few tips ;)
I then help them with the room block at the resort. I create them a website where there guests book their stay and transportation and help coordinate their travel. It is such an amazing feeling to be a part of this process for my couples. I love watching their dream weddings come to life. The best part about it all is I have the opportunity to build a friendship with these amazing couples. Most of the time, my job genuinely feels like I am just helping friends with their wedding and coordination of travel. At times, I can’t believe this is my job and I am so blessed to be in the position I am in. I am able to do all of this at no cost to my couples. I do not charge any fees for my service and this is something I am really proud of.

I don’t look at my couples / guests as clients, I truly look at them as friends. And this is what makes all of the difference. I get very invested in each couple. I want every couple to feel like they are the only one I am working with. I had the opportunity to hire an assistant a few months back to help run operations so I could spend even more time on my couples and giving them the attention they deserve.

I love what I do and I wouldn’t change anything about my journey that got me to where I am today!

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I started Vibe Thrive Travel as a side hustle. I was currently working in medical sales and did not know if this would become my full time job. James Berglie with Be All Inclusive taught me everything I know. In the beginning he would send me leads for brides that he knew would be a good fit for me. I made an effort to build relationships with brides and communication was key in this. Eventually my business started to take off and I finally was able to confidently quit my other job. Vibe Thrive Travel become my number 1 priority and this happened with the help of an amazing mentor and fantastic couples who trusted me to help make their dream destination wedding come true!

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

I had the opportunity to work with James Berglie as my own Destination Weddings Travel Agent in 2019. I became very close with him and his wife and co owner, Laurie Berglie. They made such a difference for my own destination wedding and helped make the process fun and stress free! When they approached me about starting my own destination wedding agency in 2021, I was so excited. I always was the friend planning all of the group trips and coordinating / organizing everything. I finally had the opportunity to put those skills to something I was so passionate about!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vibethrivetravel.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vibethrivetravel/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vibethrivetravel/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taylormartz1

Image Credits
J Arturo Aguilar Jessica Lamb Photography Madison Maltby