We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessie Carrubba a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jessie , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How do you think about vacations as a business owner? Do you take them and if so, how? If you don’t, why not?

Definitely! The wedding industry shuts down for a couple of months during the winter season so I use this as an excuse (not that I should need one, wedding vendors work so damn hard) to vacay somewhere warmer. If you let your work consume you 24/7 it will never end. I have to acknowledge that there is always work to be done – I will occasionally engage in some basic brand development activities over the break. It’s a useful time to recoup and redefine your direction. Overall, it’s mainly a time for my personal life to take the wheel and be the driving force behind what I do, so that’s what I make of it.

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

I began my own event design and styling business three years ago by freelancing for other stylists. Just by gaining experience, I was mentored into the designer I am now. When I ventured out on my own and became a vendor, I fell in love with the creative freedom I had gained in curating unique solutions for my clients. Seeing a wedding flourish from start to finish and having your name on is without doubt my favourite source of joy.

I studied a creative degree in university where I learnt some important transferable skills. Even if I hadn’t done that though, I think I still would be doing what I do. For that, I’m proud of myself. I’ve never been afraid to see something I like and to give it a go. I’ll give anything a try! I approach every client similarly and am aware that I’m designing for them and not for me. These are characteristics of a wedding designer that are built on foundations of luxury and quality.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I kept freelancing (on the day styling for other design businesses) all throughout the debut of my business and I still do. This gives me the opportunity to learn from more experienced designers and meet a plethora of vendors who all do their job uniquely. There is the perfect vendor list out there for every couple, so the more vendors you know, the better. Networking and word of mouth are huge in the wedding industry. Instagram has also played a large part in my growth and quantity of new leads.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

When you purchase a design package you’re allotted a certain amount of face to face or online (zoom) meeting time. Emails and text messages are entirely unlimited. Planning a wedding is extremely stressful for a lot of couples so I always make sure I’m switched on a majority of the time to help them with any SOS alerts I might get.

Contact Info:

• Website: jessiecarrubba.wordpress.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/jessiecarrubba

Image Credits
@pheebs_fotografi @byrachaelkhoo @kristencookstudio