We were lucky to catch up with Iver Marjerison recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Iver, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Years ago I was asked to officiate a friends wedding, after that, I decided – hey, this is pretty cool, maybe I’ll try to do it some more. So I put out a Craigslist add as an officiant, and that same day got my first booking. Soon after that, I realized there was a gap in the market for people looking to plan small weddings (aka “Micro-Weddings” or Elopements). So much of the wedding industry as a whole is all about these big expensive events, and so many couples don’t have the desire for that. I started focusing specifically on smaller weddings, and started to build a system for all the components needed for these sort of events: the ceremony site, the photographer, officiant, flowers, etc. Overtime this business slowly continued to grow, and now I help people plan small weddings full time.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I got into the business of small weddings simply as a desire to help people save time and money. The wedding industry is built for big budgets and big events, that’s not really something I’m personally drawn to professionally, so I’ve focused on smaller stuff. Most of my clients have less than 20 guests total, and they are looking to keep things simple. I help them find a nice outdoor location (like a mountaintop or garden), I connect them with their needed vendors (photographer, officiant, etc.), I make sure they have their marriage license taken care of, and I help them find a nice spot to go to dinner afterward. This style of micro-wedding allows couples to focus on each other, and have a stress-free day. Not to mention, save a ton of money haha.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
When I first started in the wedding industry, I was coming over from my work writing food guides. In the food world at the time, social media was everything. I was able to do all of my marketing via Instagram for free, simply by staying active and posting quality content. For a long time in the wedding world, I tried a similar approach of “free” social media marketing. After a year or two of slow growth, I finally started to experiment with paid advertisements – and it was the best decision I’ve ever made.
There is nothing “free” about spending all day trying to hustle on social media. If I could go back and do it all over, I’d take every hour I spent on Instagram driving ride share, and I pour the money I earned into ads.
Of course this doesn’t apply to everyone. Many people are able to make social media work for them, but for me the time spent was never worth it. Every dollar I spend on marketing gives me more time to focus on providing top quality services to my clients.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
From the very beginning I had a very simple plan for this – provide the highest level of service possible, and until you get fully established, do so at the lowest rate in the market. While this may seem obvious, I see so many people that start a business and immediately try to set standard prices – why is someone going to choose the new guy if you haven’t proven yourself AND you cost the same as the guy who has?
If you can provide a quality service at a lower price than everyone else, you will get business. Then, of course, you need that business to leave good reviews.
Eventually, once you’ve established yourself, and have a list of 5 star reviews, then you can start to adjust your pricing to closer match the market (though personally I think the safest way to run a business is always overperform and undercharge, but most would disagree with me on that haha).
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ColoradoMicroWeddings.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/micro.weddings
Image Credits
ColoradoMicroWeddings.com