Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Natalie Rice. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Natalie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar your firm earns is always special. We’d love to hear about how you got your first client that wasn’t a friend or family.

Event planning for me started as a hobby. I was always planning my next party and loved to blog and share on socials the things I loved most about hosting.

I had helped a few friends plan their showers or coordinate their wedding days and then what seems like alI at once, a handful of my personal connections asked if I was accepting wedding planning clients. And in 2019, Natalia’s Event Planning LLC, was born.

I’m so grateful that the start of this business was organic. And I’m a big advocate of establishing a personal brand because, I believe that the consistency I showed in my personal life led to the launch of NEP!

Natalie, 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?

Outside of NEP, I am a wife to my husband, Steven and mother to our 2 year old daughter, Eva. These two are my life’s biggest blessings – this business truly wouldn’t be possible without the foundation Steven has built for our family and I hope that one day events can be something my children and I can share together!

Something I love most about Natalia’s Event Planning is that we offer boutique event planning services. Accepting a limited number of projects each calendar year, we specialize in a personalized approach to events. Our focus is on quality, not quantity because we enjoy creating bespoke design for our luxe and visionary clientele. The opportunity to work with and for each of our clients is a pleasure and joy! 

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

The event industry is both visual and relational. Most of the partners on an event project are artists in their own right, so we find it’s critical to showcase the creative design of each event on digital and social media and believe this has helped build our reputation within the market.

Not only does consistency on social media allow future clients to engage with our brand, but it highlights the small businesses that contributed to the project and creates a community amongst the event professionals.

However, the event community doesn’t start and end on social media. Genuine relationship-building is also critical to the success of a small businesses. Whether it’s lunch, a thank you card, or a friendly phone call vendor-to-vendor, all of these are important ways to establish trust and camaraderie across the industry.

The relationships we establish are reflected in our list of preferred creative partners. And sharing this list our clients helps them to feel even greater confidence in the planning process because they know that we are working with businesses we personally know and trust. Each preferred partner maintains a standard of excellence that we can stand behind and this is the kind of consistency that better supports the NEP brand!

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Without a doubt, consistency on social media! Most of our leads the last two years have been generated through social media. When meeting with clients for the first time, they are aways eager to share that they found NEP on social media and love our refined and romantic approach to design!

We are intentional with posting multiple times a week on our feed and sharing on stories daily and believe that this allows our current and potential clients know that we are active with our branding which translates to the level of engagement they can expect of us on their planning project.

Contact Info:

• Website: nataliasventplanning.com
• Instagram: nataliaseventplanning
• Facebook: nataliaseventplanning
• Linkedin: Natalie Kohls Rice

Image Credits
Amber Victoria Photography, Holly Noel Photography, Sarah Babcock Photography, Off The Path Photography.