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

Jessica , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I wanted my business name to really represent me and what I do, without naming the business after myself. I am a true daydreamer — I am constantly daydreaming about what I could do or how I could do something new or better. The word “rêverie” is a French term meaning: a state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts; a daydream. Only fitting, right? Thus, rêverie events by Jessica Reneé was born with a dream catcher icon as our logo–because *we* are the dream catchers to make our client’s daydream wedding or event a reality.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My start in events blossomed from owning and operating my family piano studio. After completing my bachelor’s degree in music for piano performance, my grandmother passed the studio down to me which I ran for 3 years. Through planning the studio’s recitals and fundraisers, I realized my passion for event planning. Since 2014, I have organized events ranging from nonprofit to corporate, and Miami quinceañeras to special events at Walt Disney World. All the knowledge and experience I gained through each one helped me grow into the daydreamer that I am, and ultimately, find my true magic in planning and designing weddings as owner of my own business.

What sets me apart from other wedding/event planners in the industry and in my market is that I specialize in Disney-inspired weddings. As a huge Disney fan, I love to incorporate hidden nuances of the couple’s favorite Disney movie that is special to them in my design of the wedding. It’s all part of the story-telling. Some people automatically think that a “Disney wedding” would look childish or tacky, but the way that I do it is very elegant, elevated and to most people, completely unnoticeable. But for the true fans (like myself), it’s everything.

I am most proud of how far I’ve come since day one. Although my business was legally established in 2017, I count from the moment I took the leap to be a full time entrepreneur in 2020. Yes, February 2020, right before the world shut down due to Covid-19. I only had one wedding on my calendar for that year and in 2021, I grew to 35. This year, we are serving over 50 couples and still growing, so much so that my husband, Austin, pulled the trigger and finally joined me in the business full time. Austin is a man of stability so a decision for entrepreneurship was a very big deal. I’m so proud of our grit and resourcefulness to get through everything a normal first-year-in-business would throw at us, in addition to surviving everything we were faced with in 2020 at the same time.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Very recently, I had a backyard wedding for a total of 60 guests. The floor plan included a tent not only as a design element but as a secondary location in case of rain. Plan A was to have the ceremony outdoors and outside of the tent, the dinner reception outdoors under the tent, and the dancing inside the house. Plan B would still accommodate everything from Plan A, but moving the ceremony to under the tent.

April showers bring May flowers? I had been checking the weather every day that week so I knew it would rain. On the wedding day, the forecast was changing every hour and looking like the rain would hold off until later in the evening — which would have been the perfect scenario to allow me to keep the original ceremony location. However, Mother Nature had other plans. It rained so hard about 2 hours before the ceremony that the tent was completely flooded. All of the linens on the dining tables were wet and the tabletop items were blowing in the wind. It was a total nightmare. We ended up having to pivot to a nonexistent Plan C and have everything occur inside the house. Quick reminder that the headcount was 60 people? For a wedding in the couple’s house? Yea. By this point we had about an hour and a half to start over: bring in all the chairs from the flood that was the backyard, dry everything, set up for ceremony, decorate…all while I was literally drenched and dripping wet from trying to salvage everything outside. Throughout the night there were 4 resets of the same room, all while trying to direct guests out of the way but keeping everyone (guests and staff) in the house. For myself and the vendors, it was complete chaos. For the guests, they had a blast. Everyone recognized the situation and admired us for how well we managed it and how great everything turned out despite the weather. Pivot accomplished!

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

I decided to focus my social media marketing primarily on Disney and Disney-inspired weddings so as to attract my ideal client. I completely doubled down on that niche, which is what I am known for in my local market and what I am good at. I started following any Disney wedding related hashtags on Instagram and commenting on posts using those hashtags — congratulating a couple on their engagement, complimenting the ring selfie…all the things. One such comment led to the bride following my page and loving my work. Since she lived out of state and was planning her Cinderella-inspired wedding to take place in her hometown of Cincinnati, OH, there wasn’t really any potential for us to work together. Until she sent me a DM asking for some design ideas for Cinderella. I decided to offer her a one-hour design consultation for an hourly fee where we could chat about ideas. Aside from design, I implored that this DIY bride have at least a month-of coordinator to help her execute everything she had planned on the day of–even if it was someone local and not me. I had no expectation for my involvement to go anywhere beyond that, but the bride loved my ideas and valued my advice so much that she requested a contract and sent a deposit the next day. She flew Austin and I out to Cincinatti to be her Fairy Godmother to execute her happily ever after exactly how she envisioned it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.reveeventsfl.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reve.events/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reveeventsfl/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rêverie-events-by-jessica-reneé
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rêverie-events-by-jessica-reneé-sanford
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/reverieeventsbyjessicarenee/_saved/

Image Credits
Personal photo — Emma Anne Photo reverie 1 — Grace Oliver Photography reverie 2 — Emma Anne Photo reverie 3 — Emma Anne Photo reverie 4 — Emma Anne Photo reverie 5 — Olive & Co. Photo reverie 6 — Emma Anne Photo reverie 7 — Emma Anne Photo