We recently connected with Jeannine Kennedy and have shared our conversation below.

Jeannine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

I worked my first wedding for free when a friend’s daughter got married. I genuinely wanted to observe the process as much as possible from start to finish. Otherwise, I would have just been imagining what the process was like. I learned so much from that first wedding, which built my confidence and equipped me for the next one. I asked for copies of contracts, to sit in on vendor meetings, etc. and I read everything I could get my hands on about weddings. I still enjoy learning more about my field and have carried that craving for learning over into floral design and our farm.

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?

I started my wedding planning business when my only child was going into Kindergarten. I had been a stay at home mom and wanted to still be available for him and the idea of working from home was very appealing. I had always worked in the corporate world, so this was a big learning curve for me. Being disciplined with my time and solely responsible for my success was difficult in those early years.

When the market tanked in 2008, people stopped contracting full service wedding planning and the DIY movement took off. I refused to water down my pricing or minimize my services, as this is the hardest physical work I have ever done. So, I took floral design classes and added design to my services. Sometimes I provide both planning and floral design. Sometimes I only provide floral design, but I am beyond confident in the service(s) that I provide to my clients, and I still enjoy what I do after almost 20 years.

I haven’t paid for advertising in over 18 years, all of my business is by word of mouth, which is probably what I am most proud of about my business. Of course social media helps, but being on the preferred vendor list for some of my favorite venues and having clients refer me to friends and family is GOLD!

After learning floral design, my interest naturally turned to gardening. When my husband inherited a few acres where his family used to have a large garden, we decided to plant a few types of vegetables and flowers and “see what happens”. We are now in season two for our farm and we really enjoy it. I think this could even be my plan for early retirement from the wedding industry. For now, it works really well between wedding seasons. Spring and Fall are busy in Georgia, but July and August are not considered peak season at many venues due to the heat. This allows me to take those months off and work on our farm instead, just as everything is ready to harvest. We really enjoy offering this to our local community.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think that vendors enjoy working with me because the heart of what I do is serve others. I will gladly take out the trash or clean up a spill and I never see anything generic like that as “not my job”. I feel that as the planner, the success of the event as a whole is my responsibility.

I also take good care of my vendors. I will ask them if they need a water or if I can make a dinner plate for them. They work hard, are on their feet for long hours, work in excrutiating heat and are still incredible in their abilities. I see them as a friend first, and as a vendor second.

Clients appreciate my attention to detail and calm demeanor. Those are the two things that are mentioned over and over in my client testimonials. I am the first to arrive and the last to leave, and I have a policy of returning calls, texts or emails within 24 hours or on the next business day.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

One of the reasons I chose to go into wedding planning was the fact that it is a very low cost start up. I bootstrapped my start up costs in 2007 and now keep my overhead as low as possible.

I opened an American Express credit card account that had an amazing cash back offer and purchased a new iPhone with it, everything else, I purchased over time as needed.

I have made purchases over the years that I thought I needed, equipment wise. The truth is that a lot of it is in storage in my basement. I’ve also been extremely tempted a few times to open up a brick and mortar space, but I just can’t justify the expense.

I really strive to keep my annual expenses (insurance, website fees, hosting, etc.) low so that they can be covered with one or two contracts. And I write off every possible expense on taxes that I can – a huge perk of having a home office.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kinshipandvine.com
• Instagram: @kinshipandvine
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kinshipandvine