We recently connected with Kellie Clark and have shared our conversation below.

Kellie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

In August of 2020, amidst of the pandemic, Erin (my sister and co-owner of Cedar + Sage Rentals) had her wedding. The venue was mostly DIY– couples are responsible for bringing in the food, drinks, décor, and tableware. Erin and her then-fiancé had tableware rentals lined up; however, the rental company canceled due to COVID-19. This led to us searching Facebook Marketplace, antique shops, and hitting up family and friends for mismatched china. We didn’t know it at the time, but the mismatched china that we spent months collecting would later become the first pieces of the Cedar + Sage Rentals collection.

Due to the regulations put in place from the pandemic, Erin’s wedding reception had to be moved outdoors and we are so glad it was! The property was transformed with chandeliers hung from the trees, hanging lights framing the dancefloor, and a cigar lounge provided by a local boutique rental company. Everything looked so magical and we both said, “This is something we could do.”

After decompressing from the wedding, we kept tossing around the idea of starting our own rental company. I spent much of my time listening to wedding business related podcasts, taking notes, and researching other event rental companies. I found that there weren’t any boutique rental companies in our area.
Erin and I both had full and part time jobs at the time. I work in the wedding industry and felt confident that we’d have no issues starting our own wedding and event business. I knew what couples were looking for and how to market our business to them in a way that would work. We finally decided to go for it.

What started with us storing the inventory at our parents house, borrowing our boyfriend’s and husband’s pick up trucks to transport the furniture, and saying yes to anything and everything has evolved into us opening an event space, buying our own company van, and doing more of the events that serve us. Although, we still store some of our inventory at our parents :)

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My sister, Erin and I started Cedar + Sage Rentals in 2020 during the pandemic. We provide furniture and décor rentals for weddings and events. Think cute lounge areas, photo ops, place settings, and picnics. In addition to the rental collection, we have an intimate event space where we host bridal showers, baby showers, parties, workshops, and more. We transform the space based on the theme of each event using couches, chairs, rugs, place settings, and décor from the collection.

We came up with the idea of Cedar + Sage Rentals when Erin got married. Since her wedding was during covid, many rental companies wouldn’t provide tableware which led to us sourcing 100+ sets of mismatched china. Erin and her husband rented lighting and furniture from a rental company. Our new collection of mismatched china and the rental pieces are what sparked the idea of us starting our own rental company.

In addition to Cedar + Sage, I also work in the marketing department at two wedding venues. My experience here has greatly helped our business to grow. From working in the wedding industry, I learned what couples want and how to market them. My knowledge of marketing and the wedding industry is what I think has definitely set us apart from other rental companies.

One of the main reasons we started Cedar + Sage was to help make events more sustainable. Erin and I both lead very Earth-conscious lives so we’ve carried that over to the business. We encourage people to rent instead of buying new to help reduce waste. Think of all of the orders people place on Amazon for their events and all of the packaging that comes with it. Bonus: the majority of our collection is secondhand (FB Marketplace, Habitat for Humanity ReStore, antique shops, etc.).

Not only does renting help reduce waste, but it reduces the amount of stuff that people are left with after their events. When you rent, you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to do with all of the items afterwards (trying to sell it all on FB Marketplace is a pain)!

Running this business is a ton of work– admin work, moving couches, coordinating schedules, organizing and cleaning inventory, moving more couches, etc., but it’s all been worth it and as we grow the business, we learn more about what works for us and what doesn’t.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

During our first year in business, we almost totally forgot about an event. We had just gotten back from vacation and the client emailed to confirm the time of delivery for the next day. I panicked (and probably cried) for a moment. We made sure all of the items were available and ready to go and we loaded up the van. On the day of the event, we pulled into the development of where the client’s house was. All of the houses were huge. I said to my sister, “A celebrity has to live here.” I quickly Googled the name and it ended up being an NFL players house that we were delivering to. As soon as we got in the van after delivering the rental items, we got in the van and called our parents, our brother, my boyfriend, and Erin’s husband to tell them our cool story!

Moral of the story: all small businesses have rough days; however, there is always a resolution and you are not alone.

How did you build your audience on social media?

– Connect with other businesses. Comment on their posts and react to their Instagram stories. – Make sure not every post is salesy. People don’t want to be sold to 24/7. Make sure your posts are informative, inspiring, and relevant.
– Add your social media links to your website and your email signature.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cedarandsagerentals.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cedarandsagerentals/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CedarandSageRentals
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cedarandsagerentals/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cedarandsagerentals

Image Credits
Brielle Kaschak All Things Joy