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

Emily, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your business sooner or later

I have wanted to own my own wedding planning business for as long as I can remember. The journey to get here couldn’t have been more meant to be. Naturally, I am a planner when it comes to my own life and aspirations so I had a 5 year plan that I was determined to stick to. This included finishing my degree in Business Administration, moving out to Grand Rapids, MI, and slowly dipping my toes into the industry before taking the leap to be a business owner. That is, until Covid-19 interrupted those plans. As it did for many, it left me wondering whether I was on the right path and unsure if there would be any wedding industry still standing once we got to the other side of the lockdowns. Once the lockdown began to lift and venues slowly started opening back up again, I saw a window of opportunity and went for it. I went all in, quitting my full time job and moving out to Grand Rapids, MI to give my business a fair shot and gain as much experience as I could under already thriving local planners and coordinators. The rest fell into place. I booked my first client before I even had time to process that this was really happening, and then a fully booked wedding season to followed! Looking back, I am so grateful that I didn’t cling to my 5 year plan and jumped in when I did. I connected with the right people and could not be more grateful for the trust and support I’ve received along the way from my clients and fellow vendors alike!

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?

My name is Emily Kutt and I am a Grand Rapids, Michigan based Wedding Planner. My business was born out of a passion to serve clients by making their wedding day and the process leading up to it seamless, enjoyable, and stress free! The longer I am in this industry, the more I recognize how important it is to have a professional by your side through the process. I wear many hats on the wedding day, I pride myself in being my clients unbiased advocate, logistics connoisseur, set up guru, and emergency handler. No matter how perfectly you plan a wedding, there are likely to be a few hiccups along the way. I strive to continually improve my process to put out fires before they begin and even if they do, my clients are in luck because I thrive in situations where quick thinking and problem solving is required! I truly believe your wedding day should be spent enjoying it instead of working it for the couple, the families, and the wedding party alike, so my ultimate goal is to handle everything behind the scenes so you and your people don’t have to lift a finger on the wedding day and can be present without a care in the world.

Dearly Beloved Wedding Planning offers 3 different curated planning packages since I know that the need of each couple varies. Full Service Wedding Planning, which provides start to finish wedding planning for the couple who wants complete peace of mind during their engagement season. Partial Planning, which help those who have laid the foundation of their big day but need assistance keeping the remainder of the process of track. And finally, Day of Coordination. This is for the couple who has planned their own wedding day but wants to hand off the execution of those plans to a professional.

How did you build your audience on social media?

This an on ongoing learning experience for me! I have recently discovered how important staying consistent is in order to build your audience on social media. This can apply to a few different areas- staying consistent with your brand theme, posting regularly, and deciding on your tone from the beginning and sticking with it. The best way to do this is to download a social media planning app. This will help you plan out an aesthetic instagram feed that represents your brand, help you determine when to post your different forms of content like informational vs. your work, and give you more freedom to dedicate an afternoon to planning out your next couple of weeks on the platform instead of the burden of what to post next looming over your head day to day.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think what helped me build my reputation the most in my market was simply showing up in a consistent way with my clients and fellow vendors alike. Networking is such an important aspect of owning a business in the wedding industry, so building trust with those I work with regularly was so important in building myself up as a reputable vendor. On the client side- I believe it to be so important to set extremely clear expectations throughout the planning process so my clients are never left guessing what is next or feeling confused on what my responsibilities are throughout the process. I do this by over-communicating timeframes and deadlines, sending out welcome packets that outline my process, responding to their emails promptly, and delivering exactly what was promised to them before the estimated delivery date. I place an emphasis on anticipating my clients needs based on what I’ve seen in the past. Heavily reiterating expectations puts my clients at ease by eliminating confusion, taking the responsibility off of their shoulders to find out what’s next, increases trust, and ultimately builds up how reputable I am in my market.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dearlybelovedweddingplanning.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearlybelovedweddingplanning/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086655383173

Image Credits
Mikayla Jean & Co.