We recently connected with Emma Clark and have shared our conversation below.

Emma, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

I started the company Moss & Maeve Event Planning & Styling in 2018, after working as an assistant wedding planner for years. It started as this huge dream that seemed completely unreachable until I finally took a leap of faith and decided to make Moss & Maeve a reality.

In the wedding industry, one of the most important parts of building a business is the strength of your vendor connections, so I brainstormed ways to meet high quality vendors in the area, while also getting my name out there. I started reaching out to all different types of wedding vendors via email, introducing myself and asking to meet for coffee to hear about their businesses in detail. I also drove to every venue in the city and beyond, simply to introduce myself and leave a card for each venue coordinator.

I knew I would also need photos that demonstrated my talent and eye for design in order to create a website and online storefronts for brides to visit and learn about the services I offered. I decided to design a “styled shoot”, which is a faux wedding created with the purpose of getting content for your website and social media, while highlighting your strengths and overall design aesthetic. I asked vendors if they’d like to participate in the photo shoot in exchange for full use of the photos to use for their own marketing purposes. The photographer, florist, venue, rental company, jewelry store, and bridal boutique involved in the photo shoot all ended up donating their time and services for free. I think overall, my previous experience in the wedding industry, vendor connections and that first styled shoot helped jumpstart the business and it has only grown from there.

Emma, 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?

My name is Emma Clark and I’m the creator and lead planner of Moss & Maeve Event Planning and Styling. I’m a Boulder, Colorado native who loves yoga, hiking, and skiing (or really anything in the mountains!) As I completed my bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder, I worked as an intern for a wedding planner where my interest in this profession took off. After graduation, I moved to Denver and continued to work for and learn from incredible event planners based out of the Denver area before launching Moss & Maeve in 2018.

Moss & Maeve is an event planning and styling company located in Denver, Colorado and has been featured in several international wedding magazines and blogs including Rocky Mountain Bride, Ruffled, Style Me Pretty, Magnolia Rouge and Wedding Chicks. At Moss & Maeve, we work closely with our clients to deliver completely customized weddings and specialize in elegant and flawlessly-executed events. Our expert team of wedding planners will go above and beyond to ensure each client receive the wedding of their dreams. Whether the event is simple and intimate or extravagant and grand, our goal is to handle all of the most important details of the day so our clients can truly enjoy their once-in-a-lifetime wedding experience.

From day-of coordination to full-service wedding planning, Moss & Maeve provides professional event planning, coordination and styling services with a focus on beautiful and custom weddings. Event services offered include the following: event design, month-of coordination, partial wedding planning, full wedding planning, day of timeline creation, custom wedding planning checklist, vendor communication, coordination of the wedding rehearsal, vendor referrals, budget management, contract review, set up and breakdown of all decor, styling of all detail photos, etc.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Pivoting and handling stressful situations calmly is a huge part of the job and a reason why wedding coordinators are so important. Not every wedding day goes perfectly smoothly – in fact, I just worked on a wedding that was affected by the Marshall fires. Although the wedding venue had not burned down, the fire had gotten so close to it that it completely lacked power, water and gas. The venue coordinator informed us that there wasn’t a chance that the wedding could be held at the venue the following day. Also, the catering team wasn’t able to pick up the food order due to road closures from the fires, so there was uncertainty over whether there would even be food for the event. Some of the catering staff’s homes had also been affected by the fires, so there was much less staff available for the event as well. To make matters worse, a huge blizzard hit the night before the wedding, making it even more difficult for vendors to travel to the venue.

The bride and groom considered canceling and rescheduling their event, but ultimately decided to move forward with it since they had a large number of out-of-state guests in town. In under 24 hours, we had secured another venue and moved the entire wedding from one location to another. The caterers went to half a dozen different grocery stores to buy all of the ingredients necessary to cook a pared down version of the original dinner menu. I set every place setting and folded every napkin for each of the 200 guests so the smaller-sized catering team could focus on prepping, cooking and serving the meal. Somehow the ceremony and reception went off without a hitch and the food was a huge hit. The bride and groom ended up having a wonderful day regardless of all the road bumps leading up to the event and their guests enjoyed themselves as well!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing our clientele has been developing and maintaining positive vendor relationships in the wedding industry. Word of mouth and positive reviews from previous clients and recommendations from reputable vendors has been key for meeting and booking new clients. Social media, our website and online storefronts have also been great ways of showcasing our work. We receive a large percentage of inquiries from those sources as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mossandmaeve.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mossandmaeve/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mossandmaeve/
• Other: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/moss-and-maeve-denver-co-2028959

Image Credits
Sarah Porter Photography Heather Callanan Photography Samantha Ruscher Photo