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

Alright, Katie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I started my event planning career in 2016, working for a small business doing corporate events. The company mainly worked with Fortune 500 companies to do networking gatherings, trade shows, national sales meetings and every year a televised event. I quickly learned it was rewarding to complete an event knowing I was the one to make it happen. It felt like I had a super power because I was creating events by using a lot of imagination while bringing in characteristics of what the client was expecting. Literally seeing something out of nothing! It was truly remarkable to do events all over the United States and fulfilling a dream of doing events on Disney property. Even though I was enjoying my perks of flyer miles, I was traveling a lot and being away from my family. I knew in order for me to be happy I needed to be able to be closer to home.

In early 2018, I was newly married and felt completely lost with what I wanted to do with my career. I hated putting in my resignation to corporate events but I felt it was the perfect opportunity to clear my head. My husband and I had just moved into our new home and I had more than enough time to think. I knew being a stay at home dog mom wasn’t for me but didn’t know where to begin with my job search. In college, I studied as a finance major but loathed the idea of working in a cubicle. I felt like there was a lot of little things I was good at but couldn’t figure out how to narrow my skill set to a career. I was filling out hundreds of job applications. I would either get disappointed during the job interview because it was nothing like the description or I would get turned down. It was frustrating and stressful as I felt like options were being limited.

After having the absolute worst day, I cried a lot and then started to pray. I asked God,”Please help me during my time of need. Help me to see what I need to do in order to fulfill your purpose.” I can’t make this up but it was like I had a “light bulb moment.” After all this time and struggle I knew I needed to be doing what I love to do with events. I knew I didn’t want to get back into corporate but really liked the idea of doing birthday parties and showers. May is a huge birthday month for my family and it gave me an opportunity to get a start of showcasing my work. After each event, I would do a review of what I could have done differently and started journaling ideas of what to do for next time.

At the beginning stages of building my brand, I was working hard to keep expenses low while still turning my passion into a career. One of my biggest struggles was creating a business name. I could research everything else as to building a business but to actually being personal with a name was incredibly hard. All the planners I admired were using their names to emphasize their business but felt like there were hundreds of people with the same name as me. Strangely enough I got the name for my business from a flea market find. I was home decor shopping when I saw a structure of a fat dove on a shelf. At the time it was just a fun piece for me to put on my mantel; however, when I showed my great-grandmother all she could do was smile. Questioning my choice of purchase, she proceeded to tell me the women in my family have been collecting fat doves for years. It was something small but it was sentimental because they would think of each other when they would see their fat doves. It was a perfect moment in time that I knew I would always cherish. Shortly after I created a website, Facebook account and switched my personal Instagram to business with a new handle @onefatdove. All because it started from simply one fat dove.

After sharing my new business with friends and family I was getting amazing feedback. People loved my business name but also loved me sharing tips on how to throw a fun filled party from me writing blog posts. There were at times, people questioning what I was doing. Lots of people disregarded me as a joke. My job to them was a hobby as I was doing smaller events to create content for my business page. It was hard to constantly get backlash of others idealistic views of my business while being rejected by potential clients all because I was too new. In the end it became a driving force for me to prove I could create a successful company while managing a team of like minded individuals. I would prove to others my drive of creating everlasting events for people to cherish for a lifetime was obtainable. I would prove to them you didn’t have to accept a job just to pay the bills. I would become living proof that loving what you do does have a purpose to success. Not only professionally but to personal endeavors as it helps to constantly have goals and to dream big.

The moment I got my first break was when I had a mother reach out to me for her daughter’s wedding. She said they have everything planned but wanted to have someone be there for day of. The only negative was the wedding was in 6 days! Going through the contracts, putting together the timeline and still going to the event working a 17 hour day was one of the most joyous moments of my business. Not only was it the launching point of booking new clients but it also made me realize all of my little skills I knew I had could be used as a wedding planner. Though there have been many lessons and monumental moments in my life starting One Fat Dove, I am so grateful for each opportunity of building new relationships with wedding couples to plan a happily ever after.

Katie, 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?

One Fat Dove is an event planning company seeking to be intrinsic to all social gatherings. We range in events from weddings, showers, birthday parties and holiday gatherings. As OFD grows, we are very proud to be servicing clients and witnessing moments that will be cherished as the happiest of times. We build trust by learning our client’s personality traits and this shows in the details illustrated at each event. One of my proudest moment as a wedding professional was to be showcased on the cover of The Southern Social Magazine. It was also the moment in time I learned I can always do more to become the best version of myself. The work showcased was fun, flirty and a few details of my favorite things.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

You will always have to build or transition your marketing approach to having a target audience. People’s views of what they envision for a wedding is solely based on what is trending. People want to be inspired while scrolling through vendors social media or website. Advise I would give is to not have an ego. Just because you have a social media presence doesn’t mean it is being reflected into new bookings. There will always be new, fun filled ways to expand your marketing approach. Be open to learning while continuing to grow your business.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Funding for my business started at costing me nothing. As I started evolving and needing to market on different platforms I ended up getting a second job to help with my limited expenses. With event planning having a flexible schedule is everything so I found a local restaurant where I was able to be a server on weekdays. It was the best decision I made because I continued to learn how to serve others. It gave me a deeper knowledge of formal dining and the art of knowing how to pair alcohol to the food being served.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://onefatdove.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onefatdove/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefatdove/
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/onefatdove/ The Knot: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/one-fat-dove-forney-tx-2023086 Wedding Wire: https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/one-fat-dove-forney/79db0f7ba247c56d.html

Image Credits
Photography Credits: Hannah Way Photography, Sami Kathryn Photography, Kelly Costello Photography