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

Alright, Gretchen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

Although there are so many amazing and beautiful ways to decorate events these days, many of the current trends can be wasteful – the amount of garbage, paper and plastic waste from one wedding averages at a massive 400 pounds. When considering the amount of weddings that take place just in a single weekend in the United States, that is a quite lot!

When I first started The Royal Soirée, my boutique event décor rental business, I knew that I wanted to make sustainability a key value of the company. I didn’t want to contribute to the amount of waste in the event industry. What this meant was that I had to look at events differently, and try to think outside the box of what I had seen done before. My solution came from one of my favorite hobbies – antique shopping! I realized that by featuring beautiful, one of-a-kind antique heirlooms and thrifted treasures, I could realistically create minimum-waste events. Our décor pieces are hand curated from local small businesses, and embellished with a flourish. Although our curation process takes time, meaning that we cannot accept custom design requests, we are proud to offer carefully thought-out events with NO single-use items. This also allows clients to easily choose from our selection of pre-designed event themes, which makes their entire event-planning process convenient and enjoyable.

My hope is that more businesses in the event industry will explore how they can reduce waste, and that clients will see that you can have an absolutely fabulous celebration without single-use disposable items. It just takes some imagination – which, luckily, we are in no short supply of at The Royal Soirée!

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?

Hello, I’m Gretchen!

I am the Founder and Owner of The Royal Soirée – a unique event décor service in Phoenix, Arizona, that was created out of my love and passion for immersive event decorating.

Planning the décor for special parties and celebrations has been my absolute favorite thing to do since I was a young girl planning my family’s themed parties. Years later, after studying Theatrical Scenic Design at Arizona State University, landing an internship with the Walt Disney Company, and working as a wedding planner to help hundreds of couples achieve the weddings of their dreams, I decided it was time for me to start following my true passion – event décor! Pulling from my experience in set design and events, I was thrilled to launch a new level of themed event décor to the Phoenix area. The Royal Soirée is a truly one-of-a-kind event décor service, drawing on my years of elaborate party hosting to bring an exciting new experience to my clientele. Clients can select from a variety of pre-designed themes, and our special team of magic-makers arrive and do everything to prepare your space for a celebration to remember. Something unique about us is that all of our events feature NO single-use disposable items, as sustainability is at the heart of everything we do!

Features and benefits of the immersive event packages:
· Hand-crafted, artisan level event décor, fully themed and prepared for the client.
· Turnkey service – full styling, delivery, set up and removal, with every necessity provided
· Sustainable service – no single use items; many props are antiques and personally styled elements

It has been such an honor to be able to build an event company that does things differently – as a young girl planning over-the-top themed birthday parties for my family, I never imagined that I’d truly be able to go out on my own and make event crafting my full-time career. As I move forward as a business owner and designer, I try to keep my ultimate goal in mind: building magical memories for my clients and their loved ones!

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

In my experience, there is truly no better advertisement than the testimony of our clients! I’ve learned that no amount of paid marketing can beat the result of a happy client recommendation. As consumers, we naturally tend to ask our friends and family for their advice when looking for a new service. We value word-of-mouth, real life experience over ads and promotions. While it’s important to have an excellent online presence, if you focus your efforts into making each and every one of your projects the best it can be, business will naturally come through your clients’ rave reviews! I recommend being sure to go that extra mile for your clients, as that effort alone can be a steady source of new clients and opportunities.

 

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

I’ve been a hostess for the majority of my life; always planning my next exciting themed party or special occasion. After college, when I found some time on my hands on the weekends, I started helping friends and family decorate their parties on the side just for fun – not really planning for it to take off. However, word got around of my services, and I found myself being asked by more and more people if I would consider doing larger-scale event décor. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to do what I love, and make a business out of it! I kept doing small events on the side while I worked as a wedding coordinator, learning everything I could about how to build the perfect celebration. Now, with The Royal Soirée, I use my event experience and creative talent to bring my “dream events” to reality!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theroyalsoiree.com
• Instagram: @theroyalsoiree
• Facebook: @theroyalsoiree
• Other: TikTok: @theroyalsoiree

Image Credits
Beth Moore Photography Silvana Braggio Photography Andrea Stevenson Photography