We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erin Fogg a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Erin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
When my husband and I got married 14 years ago, one of the most important aspects of our wedding, to us, was that it reflected us as a couple. That our wedding was a personalized and unique experience for our guests and ourselves. We thrifted and crafted a lot of our own decor, from family pictures incorporated into the centerpieces – to heirloom pieces from my mom on the welcome table – and even a giant Chewbacca cut out as a photo prop.
Through out the journey of planning our wedding, we had so much fun curating all the little details that would go into our big day. Details that we were having to source ourselves – because we didn’t even realize that wedding and event rentals was a thing until we were further along in our planning and had purchased a lot of items already. The event rental companies that we did find were all very corporate – which was definitely not our vibe or our style.
After our wedding day that was filled with so many unique and personal touches that we had created and packed and set up and cleaned up and was taking up room in our garage…my husband asked for the garage back. I asked if my mom and I could start a business. And we haven’t looked back since.
For the past 14 years, we’ve curated a boutique rental business that specializes in the eclectic. In the details. In helping create those memories of an amazing wedding experience. We provide pieces that no one else has. Over the years, we’ve incorporated styling and design services to go along with our rental inventory – which is something that not many other rental companies provide in our market.
Erin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Erin. I’m a wife, a mom, a daughter and a business owner. I grew up in the theatre world, dancing and acting my way through school. I then graduated college with a technical and performance theatre degree – which has definitely come in handy in the wedding industry! We do a lot of our own builds for our business – tables, arbors, signs – using many of the tools that I learned in the theatre world.
My mom and I own our wedding rental and design business together. We specialize in unique rentals and a personalized experience for all of our clients. We have so much fun doing what we do.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Building relationships with other vendors – with my peers and my direct “competitors” has set the tone for my reputation in the market. I produced a wedding show for a few years, back when my business was a baby business. It was such a great way to meet other wedding professionals and get to know them on a personal level. Those friendships that I formed are still going strong, and some are now my go to people – not just on a business level, but in life in general.
Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?
Honestly, the biggest piece of advice is to train well. To listen to feedback, and to trust your team to do the best job that they can do. If you have high standards, and your training is high level – your interactions with your team are based on respect and caring and understanding – your results will be there. We make sure that we pay our worker bees a living wage. We listen to them and treat them as I wish my bosses treated me when I was in the work force. A little kindness and humanity goes a long way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.powerofloverentals.com
- Instagram: powerofloverentals
Image Credits
Dionne Kraus Photography