We were lucky to catch up with Stephanie Le recently and have shared our conversation below.

Stephanie, appreciate you joining us today. Your ability to build a team is often a key determinant of your success as a business owner and so we’d love to get a conversation going with successful entrepreneurs like yourself around what your recruiting process was like -especially early on. How did you build your team?

I started my business at the tail-end of 2017 with just myself. Initially, my thought process was to pursue my business for 1 year to see where it would take me. If it didn’t work out, I was going to finish up my contracted clientele and look for a full time job in the hospitality industry where my education is based out of.

As a micro-business in a niche industry on O’ahu, I was accustomed to seeing many peers and colleagues operate solo with contractors by their side to help them fulfill the wedding day needs. As a young wedding planner, I relied on my friends and family to help me execute my first few weddings. It was so great being able to work with my friends and family who I trusted wholeheartedly to help me carry the wedding day to success. Over time, the business grew, which was great! But my friends and family were also growing into their own career paths. Some received promotions at work which changed their work schedules, others finished school, and some started families. Relying on my personal network for events was getting harder, and with the schedule of events becoming busier, I quickly realized that I needed more help in order to execute the wedding day festivities.

Using available resources and feedback from couples to continue pursuing my business, I searched through word of mouth recommendations, Indeed.com postings and reached out to my former college to see if any students were interested in internships that could lead to a job post graduation. I was at a point in my career where I recognized that I needed to hire help, but having full time employees wasn’t readily in reach yet.

It was a learning experience getting to meet new people, learning about their strengths, weaknesses, and what their goals were when stepping into the wedding industry. Some candidates interviewed well but on the job performance was lacking, while others may have had a weak resume but a strong willingness to learn on the wedding day and further their capabilities. The more candidates I interviewed and trialed on the wedding day, the more I learned about myself and what type of person I wanted to grow with our team. It really opened my eyes to see where I want this company to be in the future. I spend so much time with each couple planning their wedding and in turn I want to ensure that my team cares just as much for the couple. Being sincere is so important to me. I found that the best coordination team is the team that cares for each other and everyone around them. Today, I am proud to share that we have a team of day of coordinators and a growing team of planners as well.

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 back background and context?

I am a full time wedding planner and coordinator on the island of O’ahu. I am born and raised on O’ahu and I studied at the University of Hawaii Manoa where I received my degree in Travel Industry Management. At first, I thought I was going to work at one of the major hotel chains on O’ahu, but my path led me to start off in banquets and catering operations. It was through that outlet that I discovered my interest and joy in special events. I had the pleasure of assisting on corporate events as well as social events, but I found that weddings were the most engaging.

My planning style is a mixture of checkboxes, detailed questions, and spreadsheets, but also fluidity in adapting to the client’s planning ethic. Every couple is different in how they plan and see their wedding day. I work primarily over email and Google Workspace, but some couples require in person meetings with worksheets, sketches, or a combination of both remote planning (email, phone) and in person (or Zoom) planning. Depending on how the client prefers to plan and communicate, I’ll adapt all the information discussed with them online to share with the team for day of execution.

My team’s coordination style is also based on fluidity and adaptability. On the day of the wedding, the coordinators are juggling so many different hats and skills. We check in with all vendors, set up the tablescape, build small DIY projects, adjust decor, check the floor plans, cue musicians, and are always ready with our wedding day kit to help the couple stitch up their split pants, sew a button back on, clean up any lipstick stains, and adjust dresses with fashion tape. There is so much that goes on during the wedding day that I can’t list every single thing that we do. However, with every wedding and event, we are always learning something new, whether that’s a skill, a technique, knowledge, or a fun fact about the couple and our vendor community.

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

Authenticity and a genuine interest in helping others. As a wedding planner on O’ahu, I believe it is so important to have heart in this industry. I grew up with the value of caring for others and filling their cup when you’re able to and knowing when to set boundaries to refill your own cup. When you show others that you genuinely care, you attract that energy and kindness back. That doesn’t equate to making every sale or getting every booking, but it means giving kindness to others. Whenever a client contacts us for the first time, we sit and we ask questions to learn more about their story, who they are, why they’re celebrating, and what their vision is for the wedding day. During this call, we give advice, feedback, and honest guidance. Sometimes that means we’re a great fit for each other, other times it means there’s someone else out there who is a better fit for them. We don’t gate-keep at Esselle Weddings. So on that call, we will make recommendations and referrals to couples and encourage them to find the best fit for them. This applies to our vendor community as well. We look out for others, support each other, and truly become a team who can rely on each other.

Any advice for managing a team?

As a manager, supervisor, CEO, etc,.. it is so important to remember that your team is your base. They are your foundation and you need to nurture and support them. Weddings are supposed to be fun and enjoyable and I believe that energy needs to be replenished regularly. We give so much of ourselves to our clients and it’s important to reground the team and remind them that they matter . Without the team, the business may not exist. Get to know your team, learn their quirks, and treat them as more than just hired or contracted help.

Our team goes out for leisure outings once every quarter where we relax, enjoy each others companies, and reflect on the past quarter and how we can improve moving forward. We also debrief once a month to figure out what is or is not working for the team. I also take it upon myself to do wellness checks with the team to make sure they’re okay and not running on thin ice. You never know what a person is going through outside of work unless you ask and listen. Overall, I can truly say that I love my team and they make work so enjoyable throughout the long hours!

Contact Info:

• Website: esselleweddings.com
• Instagram: @esselleweddings
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esselleweddings

Image Credits

• Kpix Photography
• Seeking Films
• Christie Pham Photography