We recently connected with Allison McDonald and have shared our conversation below.

Allison, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Finding those key vendors can often be make or break for a brand. Can you talk to us about how you found your key vendors?

In the wedding and events industry, the vendor team for each wedding is the most important key to success. You can have all of the logistics, plans, and personal skill in the world, but all will be worthless if you don’t have a team you can trust to execute when it counts. Obviously, when you first get started you don’t have those relationships in place. When I was considering a business launch, I purchased a local wedding magazine and systematically went through the ads and scheduled informational interviews with anyone that was willing. It was a great way to learn and also build relationships without asking too much of busy established professionals. Now that I have been in business for multiple years, I have trusted go-tos for every category that I can refer to my own clients.

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?

I am owner and lead planner for Flourish Events, a wedding and event planning company based in St. Louis, MO. I offer a wide range of boutique planning services from month-of to full service. I’m proud of the personalized service we offer each client and the relationships we have built with other vendors over the years. I have been in the events industry for all of my adult life starting with a summer job working for a wedding planner in high school. I continued to do events for family and friends through college and the years after. In 2009, I made everything official and Flourish Events was born. I can’t believe it has been 13 years but it has been such a joy sharing life’s happiest moments with my couples and their families. It is hard to imagine doing anything else!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Well, pivot was the official word of 2020, right? The pandemic presented huge challenges for every entrepreneur but for those of us in the hospitality industry it was an especially stressful time. For someone that has built a business on the foundation of planning for every contingency, it was scary to be in a position where you couldn’t guess what was happening the next morning, much less the next 6 months. Like everyone, I had to think on my feet, come up with creative solutions and pivot almost every day of the week. I took huge 300+ person events and scaled them to meet venue and government restrictions with short notice and sometimes had to plan and re-plan the same event three times. For a short period, I also lived in the basement and rented my home through AirBnB. It was a great way to keep income flowing until everything started to come back.

Pivoting is not what I would call fun and was exhausting at times but we’ve come through on the other side stronger and ready to meet whatever comes next!

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

I would say it’s some combination of providing excellence for every client and just being nice!

We’re a small but mighty brand and pride ourselves on personalized service and customizable offerings to make the event planning process fun and stress-free. I’m very proud of the relationships we’ve built with other vendors and that we’ve become known for a collaborative style of event management. Clients appreciate the experience we bring to every event and the sense of calm that comes with hiring us to handle every detail. There isn’t (we hope!) much repeat business in the wedding industry so word of mouth and referrals are key. One of my event mentors early in my career taught the phrase ABC – Always Be Calm. That means keeping your cool when things seem to be running off the rails but it also means maintaining kindness and professionalism with everyone. People remember and appreciate that long after the lights are off and the last guest has gone home.

Contact Info:

• Website: flourishstl.com
• Instagram: @flourish_events
• Facebook: @flourisheventsstl

Image Credits
Sarah Corbett Photography Cary Klein Photography Your Story Photo + Cinema Steph Masat Photography