We were lucky to catch up with Hannah Pettigrew recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hannah, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

My original plan was to start my business after I finished my master’s program and got a little more experience under my belt. I had an opportunity when a bride asked if I could plan her wedding. She was a bride that I sold a dress to at the bridal store I work at and I could not pass up the opportunity. Right then, I decided I needed to get the ball rolling and start my business. I had been thinking of a name for my company for a while and saw that Something Borrowed Event Company was available, I knew it was the name for me. I had to file through the State of Texas and make sure everything got approved. Once my name was approved, I was able to move on to the next steps.

The branding of my company was the trickiest part for me. I had an idea of the style of the company I wanted to have but was struggling with my colors and logo design of it. I met with my friend’s Mom who has her own marketing business and she had helped me with the logo design, color palette, and website design. This process took me about a month to do and then I was ready to launch. I launched on October 1st, 2021, and honestly, it was one of the scariest yet most rewarding things I have done.

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.

In high school, I worked at a bridal store called Lasting Bridal Couture as a bridal assistant. I was able to witness so many brides finding their dream gowns but did not get to see the end of their stories. I had talked to my sister and she had told me that being a wedding planner was a job, so from that day I was determined to have my own wedding planning business.

I am the owner and lead planner for Something Borrowed Event Company. I offer full planning, partial planning and month of coordination. Full planning is for the couple that needs someone with them every step of the way and overlooks any big decisions that needs to be made. My partial planning package is someone who needs help the last few months of their engagement so they can sit back and relax. My month of coordination pakcage is for the couple who is needing someone to step in that last month of planning and to execute the day perfectly.

Something I am most proud of is how fast I have grown into this industry. I never anticipated on having as many weddings as I have booked within my first year. By the end of this year, I will have completed ten weddings, which is beyond what my expectations were. I have also added two girls to my team to be my day of assistants, so I am getting to step into the role as a mentor to these two girls and it is such an honor. Something that sets me apart and that I would like potential clients to know is that when you hire me as your planner, I am someone that is going to vouch for you on your day and make sure your day is as stress free as possible. I have gotten many compliments from past clients and vendors I have worked with about how calm I am on the day of. My goal is to be as prepared as possible, no matter the circumstance I am prepared to fix it with ease. My goal is for my clients to not even know if something had gone wrong on there wedding day, because ultimately that is why they hire me.

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

When I first started my company I was not exactly sure where to market my business other than through social media and ads. I was not going to have my first wedding for a few months so I decided that I needed to network with some vendors by planning a styled shoot. Networking with other vendors is key when first starting out because not only do you get to connect with some fabulous vendors, you might even get some new clients out of it. I have noticed that most of my clients have come from either word of mouth from other vendors/clients or from Instagram. Although I am still learning Instagrams’ algorithms, I have found it is the best way to advertise.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

In college, on top of being a student athlete, I worked a part time job as a hostess and saved as much money as possible, knowing what expenses were in my near future. Before starting my business, I had done some research on how much I would need to spend towards my business to get it up in running. Once I had saved more than enough, I was able to start Something Borrowed Event Company. Currently, I have a full time bridal consultant job at Lasting Bridal Couture to support myself while I am growing my business with the goal being fully self-sufficient from Something Borrowed Event Company.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.somethingborrowedeventco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somethingborrowedeventco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somethingborrowedeventco

Image Credits
Brady Lewis Photo & Film Samantha Paige Photos Foxbelle Weddings Kimberly Correa Photography Paige Danielle Photography Opal & Onyx Photography