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

Charlie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

What I love to see in my industry is a rise in weddings where Couples are focusing on the guest experience more than the small details. What I mean by that is remembering exactly why they are having a wedding in the first place and that is to celebrate with each other and their loved ones. In five, ten, fifteen years from now, they aren’t going to remember what colour the napkins were, or that the signature cocktail didn’t match the Bridesmaid’s dresses. They are going to remember the dance floor being full, the moment of walking down the aisle and seeing one another at the altar, and the precious times they had with loved ones that they may or may not get a chance to see anymore.

These types of weddings are crucial for Wedding Planners to encourage because these lasting memories are the ones that bring back referrals to our business. These are the moments that Couples will think about years from now and remember – my Wedding Planner helped me make that day so seamless, fun and made sure I had time to just enjoy every moment. Not that they put rose petals down the aisle right before I walked, or ensured the Florist lit all the candles before the guests arrived. While these small aesthetic and logistical details are skills that Planners have and we are really good at executing – we want to be sure that we also make the Couple feel present on the day and just worry about being in the moment with their friends and family and enjoy it.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The Pretty Plans journey has been a long one to say the least. The Owner and Lead Planner Charlie has been in the Wedding Industry for over 12 years and has built the business from a 1 person team to just shy of 10 members in our boutique company as a whole.

Charlie surprisingly to the public (but not surprisingly to other Wedding Planners), stumbled across this industry over a decade ago and never looked back. It was a small internship for another Wedding Planning company that really set her on the path to wanting to learn everything about the world of Weddings and that is where she eventually branched off and started her own journey.

Throughout the past decade, she has worked in the Bridal Industry, assisting engaged couples to find their perfect outfits for the day, she has worked alongside Caterers to understand the flow and logistics of food service and has also worked for other Wedding Planning companies learning how to take on high volume client lists and manage hundreds of weddings at a time.

While working for these other companies, she always had Pretty Plans on the side as her passion. Working 9-5 throughout the week and then working whatever remaining hours at the end of her day on her own business and then working all weekend on the events she tirelessly planned with her clients.

To say it was a long time of working countless hours to finally make the jump to full time with Pretty Plans is an understatement. However, the journey was worth it and now she gets to help other Planners under her wing and on her team, learn her craft and continue on their journey of becoming a skilled Wedding Planner themselves.

With Pretty Plans now being an established company in the Southern Ontario Wedding Industry, we are now able to serve more clients looking to host an unforgettable but attainable wedding or event and are taking on more clients per year than ever.

We pride ourselves in being not only a Wedding Planner for our clients, but also a support system, a listening ear to brainstorm with and ultimately have become true friends with a lot of our clients over time. While we are extremely talented at the design, the logistics and the organization of planning a wedding, we commonly find our couples are most impressed with how supported they felt by just having us along for the ride with them.

Being our passion, it makes it so much easier to want to do better for every client we take on and exceed all couples expectation of us each time we plan.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

A pretty clear and apparent time that illustrates our resilience was of course during the pandemic. Charlie had just quit her full time job and had made the leap to going full time with her company Pretty Plans at this time and then COVID hit and everything changed.

It was a scary time as she relied so heavily on this income to help her through her first year as a full time owner of her very own small business.

With much persistence and constant checking in on her clients throughout this time of uncertainty, Charlie built a very strong trust system with her clients and ultimately found that they leaned on her more than ever. With rescheduling dates, communicating changes with Vendors or even cancelling or postponing due to the ever-changing rules and restrictions, it was a nightmare for most couples getting married and she felt that they needed her more than ever before due to the overwhelm.

Charlie ended up having one of her best years in 2020, surprisingly, and it was all due to her compassion towards her clients, her sympathies and ultimately, being that support system for them that lead them to upgrading their packages from just month-of coordination to more full planning or referring Pretty Plans to other couples they knew who were going through the same troubles as well.

It was the most stressful but rewarding time for Pretty Plans as a whole.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson that had to be unlearned throughout building this business was that not all jobs can be done by one person. Thinking that you can wear multiple hats for a long period of time while running a company is not sustainable and does not allow you to give 100% to your clients.

It took a long time to realize this and ultimately invest in hiring, having other Planners and team members take over other parts of the business and let in the extra help to make sure we can avoid burnout. This was a crucial mistake that was made in the beginning but thankfully we all lean on each other now and support each other all aspects of the business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.prettyplans.ca/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prettyplans.ca/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/prettyplanscoordination/
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/PrettyPlansWeddings?ref=shop-header-name&listing_id=1637202726&from_page=listing https://pin.it/2Rur2ElSl

Image Credits
515 Photo Co. Tara McMullen Photography Emily Michelson Photography