We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jade Taylor Corona. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jade Taylor below.
Hi Jade Taylor, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear how you think where to draw the line in terms of asking friends and family to support your business – what’s okay and what’s over the line?
When I expressed my dream of becoming a wedding planner, my family rallied behind me with unwavering support. I think they truly put all the puzzle pieces together and realized that all my abilities and passions were completely going to be fulfilled with this career path. They always thought I was the smartest person in the room and that I would become a lawyer or a writer. which, for the longest time, I thought could be true. I recently graduated with my bachelors in forensic psychology, and although I can use a lot of the things I learned during my time in university, I wanted to use my highlighted skill set. Creativity, communication, problem solving, leadership, and attention to detail. When this new career path was announced to my family and friends, this excitement wave began with the statement, “I want you to plan my wedding in the future.” Which is so touching because, when I first started this venture, everyone I knew was single or in a serious relationship and not yet married, so I had so many opportunities to prove myself. My first client was my cousin. We had a small budget and a huge dream. So cliché, but true. It’s probably my favorite wedding I’ve planned, from the moment we started picking out color palettes to her walking down the aisle and stumbling around the reception hall. I was truly so proud of the work I created and thankful for the opportunity. I had praise for months, and the praise turned into more opportunities.
I then announced I wanted to move to San Diego for business and pleasure. My family was so supportive, no matter how far away I was. I’ve been planning weddings and events here and occasionally traveling back home to complete weddings and events there as well.
I know that at the end of the day, my family is waiting around for a FaceTime call to tell them about every detail of the wedding I planned and attended. It’s like they’re watching a rom-com through my eyes. In the past two years, all the weddings and events clients I have obtained have been based on references from family or friends. Which is exactly how I wanted my business to start. I’m finally at the point where I’m getting clientele from past clients, which is still such an exciting building block, but overall, I know for a fact that I would not be where I’m at today without the support of my family and friends.
Jade Taylor, 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?
Three years ago, I was invited as a date to a stranger’s wedding. I had not attended a wedding since my parents, and at that age, you really don’t care what’s going on. So, when I attended this stranger’s wedding, I had no bias. I went in with an open mind, and I left a completely new person. I left that wedding knowing exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, which sounds so bizarre. I immediately started doing extensive research on how to become a wedding planner. I bought countless books and magazines that were all about weddings. If you were to look at my bank statements, you would think that I was getting married. I remember the first realization that this was subconsciously what I was always supposed to do. As a child, I would always say I wanted to have a wedding, but I did not want to get married, and I would always tell people that over and over. I don’t know why I didn’t click for anyone to be like you should be a wedding planner, but I think, as stubborn as I am, even if someone else said it, I wouldn’t believe them until it was my own idea. I’ve always been very creative and crafty, so all the design elements of the weddings were right up my alley. The only thing I felt as if I was missing was the love portion. I’ve never been someone who’s truly believed in love. I grew up in broken homes and was constantly of being surrounded by adults I looked up to getting divorced. So the concept of love was something I had to teach myself. And since being in the wedding industry, I can confidently say I believe in love. Watching two people go through so much stress and color patterns and cake tastings has truly rewired my brain. I’m a sucker for love now. When I first entered the industry, I had a really big goal: I wanted to focus on unique weddings. Weddings that were something out of the box. I’ve always been so open-minded growing up that I wanted a chance to pursue a wedding that was perfectly curated for my clients and that was mended to their personalities and the bond within the relationship. Of course, I wanted the wedding to look beautiful in photographs, but you want the wedding guest to say, “This is so them.“ This is where I believe my people skills could truly come in. I love my consultations being very in-depth, so I truly get to know my client and not just on a surface level, because if they have a vision in mind, I want that vision to come to life, and I want to know why they have that vision in the first place. When it comes down to the wedding day, if a problem comes up, I want to be able to fix it in a way that I know would be suitable for my client. I want to feel as if I’ve known this client forever, even if it’s only been a year or less than a year.
I am truly so passionate about my career. Although times can be stressful overall, I get so excited doing what I love and helping clients plan one of the best days of their lives. I am surrounded by love and happiness, and I honestly couldn’t ask for anything more than that. I’ve always had this irrational fear that I would get stuck doing a job that I hated forever, something that would just make me miserable, and I would be stuck, so I’m so grateful that I found something that I love doing so early on in life, and it’s a job I can continue doing for the unforeseeable future because people are going to continue to get married. and then have kids, and then their kids are going to get married. It’s an amazing field to be in. I’m so excited to see where the next few years take me.
Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?
i’m still in the very early stages of my career, but when I very first started, I was wide eyed and had no true idea where to gain clientele. Of course people are getting married left and right how do I get someone to choose me? Do I stand in the middle of a busy street with the sign that literally says, “choose me as your wedding planner!“ At that point I probably would’ve done it because I was so passionate and I just moved to a new city and I needed to really get the ball going. Then I met Natalie Osborn. An angel sent down from heaven or should I say up from Australia! I will always be forever grateful for Natalie for the support and dedication. I remember when I first had her sit down meeting with her she took me on as event coordinator and I told her about my idea of not only helping her with the proposal business. (ProposalsofSD). but my idea to kind of Collab alongside her because the client gets down and one knee and proposes and their significant other says yes there’s a wedding that needs to be planned. That’s handing out business cards or shooting up a follow up email saying hey, we know a wedding planner if you need one and that has been, the best idea and Collab I could’ve thought of in the moment and of course, Natalie could’ve said no and said hey, just come support me and my business, but she has always gone above and beyond to help me find clients and I’m forever grateful if she needs a kidney she can take both of mine ! but all seriousness, I definitely feel like there’s so much more potential in that proposal to wedding pipeline we can take advantage of as our business start to build up more so I’m so excited where her business is going to go, and my business goes, and this partial Collab that we have in supporting each other I’m just excited to see where everything goes in the near future.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
my clients happiness. When my client forwards me their photos and videos it is simply my greatest pleasure. I will sit for hours and hours and look through every photo zooming in and out, smiling with them in their photos. Re-watching the videos with tears streaming down my face. I feel like when I am day of coordinating the weddings. I’m in work mode I’m doing my job and making sure that everything that has been planned for months is falling into place and everything is going smoothly and I am so behind the scenes. when I go home, I reflect on everything I witnessed, but when I get those photos and videos, I get to see what they saw truly see the beauty of it all. And it is truly remarkable. As much as I’m trying to explain the feeling, it’s still a moment that leaves me speechless and it’s my favorite part even though we have to wait 2 to 3 weeks after the wedding has occurred to get these photos and videos from my clients. And let me tell you they always pick the best photographer and videographer for the wedding. and then being able to forward this a few weeks later, I get to check in and see how the married life has treated them even though it’s only been a few weeks. I always get the funniest stories back. It’s overall so rewarding.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jadetaylorweddings.square.site/
- Instagram: Jadetaylorweddings
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaden-corona-a1b8a0141?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
Image Credits
Ben Camacho Photography