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

Shelby, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

I started by listening: to friends planning their weddings, to vendors and professionals working hard to bring dreams to life, and to the community as the greater Indy area evolved into what it is today. From the beginning, I’ve studied our buyer and tracked patterns of what they’re looking for that doesn’t yet exist. The Sixpence, my first largescale start up, was born from a combination of my experience in major hubs, feedback from buyers in my hometown, and an obvious hole in the market. One year before graduating from college in 2019, I had begun my research (reader, a spreadsheet of every single place you could get married in Indiana, with filters and qualifiers). By the time I reached graduation, I had done the hard part: concepting something that was truly needed and building a plan around how we might feasibly execute that concept. We closed on the land the following February, and announcements of The Sixpence came to the public in September of 2020. While there was so much I didn’t know then, I knew that people were looking for what I was building, and that this provided confidence in a turbulent time (first major investment of capital, right out of college, COVID had hit and we were already all in).

In order to move beyond the idea phase, from a high level, I had to draw up a business plan, do financial projections, secure funding, find property, re-zone that property to be commercial, find operating partners, budget the project, secure contractors and do the building design, name the company, decide on design + marketing, connect with the existing market of wedding vendors in Indy, tour the property, and and and…! Simply, I had to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and find people I trusted to get on board with this project. Not even 5 years later, this hospitality group has grown beyond what I ever thought possible, and it comes down to those 2 things.

Shelby, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

We study our client more than anything else. Trends aside, competition aside, we invest our research + development energy into our buyer and what they’re looking for. In 2019, when this journey really began, my background in photography and videography combined with observation of what did not yet exist led us to crafting purpose-built venues. Purpose-designed and purpose-built venues are at the core of what we do: we believe a client should never have to choose between aesthetics and functionality, and with us, they never will. We design and build venues from scratch, allowing us to have full control over the function and flow, and also create stunning backdrops and striking spaces for life’s most precious moments to unfold. Put simply, there’s so much a couple have to consider and plan for on wedding day… a back up generator and handicap accessibility should never be one of those things. When doing research and development, I found that Indiana had some solid venues. Some venues were fully appointed in terms of function: plenty of bathrooms, plenty of parking, appropriate AC/heat, but they had carpet that needed swapping out 10 years ago and terrible indoor lighting. Photos would come out orange and there was always something catching my eye in the background that was an eye sore.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I don’t talk about this publicly very often. While Chris, my father, Seth, my then-boyfriend now-husband, and I were building The Sixpence, my mother, Tana, and middle sister, Riley, were living in Riley’s Children’s hospital with my youngest sister, Haley. The month after we closed on the Sixpence property, starting our significant financial investment in the project, COVID had hit, effectively shutting down the world. Then, on my 24th birthday in June, Haley was diagnosed with an incredibly aggressive form of Leukemia and we immediately moved into Riley. She lived there for over 6 months. Because of COVID, my dad, Seth and I could not see her, and she was not expected to survive. Somehow, some way, Chris, Seth and I really clung to each other and to the challenging + huge project of The Sixpence that we had begun … we really would have had every reason to stop, or wait, or kick the project down the road. It was a trying time for our entire family, and in hindsight, I don’t think “resilience” even scratches the surface of what me and my family went through. But it taught me a lot about how deep me and my family’s well goes of what we can face together.

Fast forward to today – Haley Grace received a life-saving stem cell transplant from a donor we hope to meet one day, and is now studying at Taylor University pursuing a degree in events, marketing and PR. We look forward to her getting involved in what we are building in the future. (:

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

Reputation was tough at the start. I didn’t have any relationships in the Indy events market, and there were many industry professionals that had been here for years or decades. More than once, some of those individuals sat me down and offered “advice” that I didn’t know what I was doing and wouldn’t be successful. The interesting thing is, I think our fresh approach to client service, experiential venue design, and world-building marketing was so different that it caused these reactions from them, and yet, it’s what set us apart and allowed us to build our reputation. We disrupted a market that needed disrupting. But reputation is more than just that. Sure, breaking in and shaking things up is exciting, but once momentum fades, the consistency of excellent follow-through is what takes us the distance. Almost 5 years in, and our differentiator is this team. The Sixpence team is made up of some of the very best in the industry, and with varied skill sets, personalities and backgrounds. Our team is one of intentional collaboration and trust, and I truly believe that’s what sets us apart.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thesixpence.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_sixpence?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesixpenceweddings
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@the_sixpence
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-sixpence-whitestown?osq=The+sixpence

Image Credits

The Lang Co.
HoneyLens Imagery
Reese Media Co