We were lucky to catch up with Ophelia Childress recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ophelia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I would say yes. It’s cliche but it’s real. One of the best compliments I received from a client was that “she thought I was her only client”. I am all about being professional but very transparent and relatable and reliable! In the Event Planning / Wedding industry. A client can become just a number quick and I try my best to make sure that is not the vibe you get from me. I recently discussed this with a few vendors at a wedding . While having multiple events during a weekend may be great financially. The unique service style that I offer would conflict with piling multiple clients during the same weekend. If it’s your wedding weekend I want to give you, your family my sole attention days leading up to your event. I have a team of Coordinators that work with me on the day of. But when people invest and choose me as their planner for their special occasion. I want to honor that. The only time I didn’t show up was last year (Life or death situation) when I went into labor early and had my baby on my clients wedding weekend lol. And we have remained connected and good friends to this day. Her day still went as planned due to the year of planning we did and organization, communication of my team. So my business can definitely run successfully without me. I was so amazed like, literally the doctors were coming in talking with me after I had just had Baby Nas and was like you need to stop working and relax you just had major surgery. I was drugged up but I had to make sure Ariel and Rodrick got down the aisle as planned. I just always make sure I’m present and mentally engaged to give the best service. And I’ve seen so many people over book themselves and the client feels shortchanged.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I am Ophelia Childress the owner of What’s The O’ccasion Wedding & Event Planning here in Nashville, TN. I am married to the most amazing man on the planet Kwan Childress (K) and we have two amazing boys Kobe and Nasir.

I am all About family and having people over to enjoy some Good food, drinks, and laughs.

Nashville has become one of the hottest cities to visit and it definitely has become one the top cities where people celebrate and get married. Being born and raised from Nashville I have some hidden gems of connections in this city and can almost literally be a one stop shop for whatever it is you need. I was inspired by Planning my own wedding five years ago. I also like to direct people (my husband saids Boss people around lol) . It’s truly a gift that I have to help with all the logistics of putting on an event together and then the day of executing that event. What’s The O’ccasion WEP came about in 2020 during the pandemic when we were shut down. I was working from home with my 9-5 medical billing when I received a call out of nowhere that I was getting laid off effective immediately. So I decided to dive into things. And I have been swimming ever since.

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

Yes. There are a few but one of them takes the cake. We had a wedding here recently where the clients planned to have over 400 guests. Lucky for me I had had a large guest count that exceeded over 400 before so that didn’t phase me. I was hired as coordinator only. The couple planned their entire wedding themselves. My Month of Coordination Package is for me to take the things the client has planned and organize them to the best of my ability so that my team, the vendors hired, and the client’s day can run as smoothly as possible. One thing about me: I create a detailed timeline for any event I do. So I try to stay within my timeline range. While me and my team are use to all sorts of things that go down BTS on wedding day. This one was one for the books. And I truly learned how to pivot. Due to unforeseen chemical leak in the building we all had to EVACUATE! Yes. Less than 2 hours before the guest arrived and every vendor there setting up had to leave the building. Fire trucks, chemical bomb squad etc. And if you work in the event industry. 30 minutes is like an hour. We lost almost 40 plus minutes. People got sick. It was a lot to handle but my main job was to make sure people were safe and out of the building and did not enter until we got clearance to do so. It definitely delayed our timeline and we had to go with our rain plan due to the rain but I made sure that WTO did our best at managing the guests, vendors, wedding party etc. Glad to say we still got our clients down the aisle and they were able to share and celebrate their love story so much so the Bride gave us a 5 star review.

Is there a mission driving your creative journey?

Yes. I love being able to create and execute visions. A lot of people mistake planning for setting decorations. And that is not what I do. It’s so much more to event planning than how it will look the day of. I have come to learn that I don’t have to over-sell my services so that the right people come to me and understand and know my worth. I am still learning and will never stop evolving in this industry but to be firm about who I am and what I want to represent. Every client is not for me, I’ve learned that and I’m glad about it lol!

I handle so much more than the pretty pictures posted on Instagram. Although according to google I have one of the most highly stressful careers. I love it here! I have become my clients besties, therapist, and family. The text at 2am, 7am saying I can’t do this… or hey can you help me have a conversation with my Mother-in-law?! Or even when people say I want to have an epic Birthday party, I just want to show up and party. It’s an honor that people trust you with their big days. People hire me for peace of mind. Knowing they can show up and if something arises that you have hired the right person to handle it.

People trust me with very important milestones in their life. And I take it seriously. My goal is to always make an impact, especially being a black woman. Black Love, & people celebrating, and creating atmosphere is something I truly enjoy.

Contact Info:

• Website: wtoweddingandeventplanning.com

• Instagram: whatstheoccasionwep

• Facebook: What’s The O’ccasion Wedding & Event Planning