We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hannah Brooks. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hannah below.

Hannah, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

We all know that as of lately, inflation has taken a toll on all of us, but in my little world more specifically: the wedding industry. Vendors and venues have to charge more to stay in business, and couples are fighting for their bank accounts and livelihoods trying to plan a budget-friendly wedding, or even just afford a wedding period. With all of these challenges, it can make business for a wedding vendor very tricky. Competition between other vendors and prices plays a huge role, and then after you receive a booking you have to feed your family and pay taxes on it, making it feel like you barely made anything.

I once had a wedding when I was just starting in the wedding industry and I only charged them $1,000. I had no clue what I was doing and I did full wedding planning with them for months and months. After that wedding and the cost of my time, travel, and materials, I ended up spending more than $1,500 myself. So, I went into ‘debt,’ because little did I know, I needed to incorporate the cost of all of those things into my price. And I hadn’t even considered taxes at all…haha! I learned my lesson and I am grateful for the challenge, but it can be hard to make your business profitable in this industry if you don’t plan for all of those things, especially in our current economy.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Of course! I was working a 9-5 job in the city, feeling stuck. There was a day when I was folding laundry on my closet floor while talking with my husband about all of the things I wanted to do and accomplish “one day…” (wedding planning being one of them). He simply asked me, “Why not just go for it?” I stared at him for a moment, and then I thought to myself, “Well, it costs $0 to build a website, I wouldn’t have much overhead, and I could start small with word-of-mouth referrals, friends, and family.” So I did! A few months later, I had a website, Facebook, and Instagram page. My name and business started to take off from there.

Now as I am almost 5 years in, I am so grateful for the little nudge my husband gave me to pursue my dreams. I have done over 100 weddings over the years, and plan to expand into the realm of destination weddings soon. I have been married to my husband for 4 years, we have lived in Indiana and Illinois, and we have currently landed in Chicago, IL. I am a lover of all things planning and schedules. As a wedding planner, I offer month-of, day-of, partial planning, and full-service planning for couples. I am based out of Chicago, IL, but I travel all over the United States. I believe what sets me apart is my ability to sense what the bride and groom want/need. I am most proud of how I can capture the stories and visions of the bride and groom and bring them to life for the biggest and best day of their lives. A common phrase I use is, “Your wedding day should be the most stress-free and enjoyable day of your life.” I say this because if you have the right systems and planning in place, your wedding day should be so special and by far one of the most stress-free days of your life!

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

Instagram, Facebook, word of mouth and vendors referring couples to me! Never underestimate the power of word of mouth and sharing a social media post/page!

Any advice for managing a team?

I am currently in the process of hiring a few team members for HBE! I am so excited. While I don’t have all the answers and am just jumping into this, I think in order to be a good leader, you have to keep your team motivated and focused on the same goal and purpose. I am so excited to do this.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hannahbrooksevents.com
• Instagram: hannahbrooksevents
• Linkedin: Hannah Brooks
• Other: Etsy-Hannah Brooks Events
  Pinterest-Hannah Brooks Events

Image Credits

ReeseMedioCo