We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Suher Haidar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Suher below.

Hi Suher, thanks for joining us today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? The world needs to hear more realistic, actionable stories about this critical part of the business building journey. Tell us your scaling up story – bring us along so we can understand what it was like making the decisions you had, implementing the strategies/tactics etc.

Scaling up has always been my number one objective in my business and like many things in life, It is NOT an overnight success story. Every day is an opportunity to grow and evolve and learn from past mistakes. especially those mistakes that help you scale up your business expectations.

At times it did feel like an overnight success or it may have looked that way from the outside. But endless nights, a plethora of mistakes and huge sacrifices were the backbone of my / everyone’s success.

I started reaching my business goals when I learnt and understood the value of what I offer. I do things differently and price structure the way I see fit for my business growth. So when the time came to level up, I had to take a step back and really manifest clients that understood the power of value and quality of work that I offer.

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?

For those that know me, know I think big in everything I do and that goes for my personal life as well as my business life. So when it came time to be serious about Wedding planning, I took this dream of mine and did what I had to do, to get to where I am now. I run a beautiful company with a great team of bright, intelligent young women. I have been in this industry for many years and with that opportunity, I have seen ups and downs that really strengthens a person’s soul. Yet, here I am still standing ( Insert Elton John song

I took over Francine Ribeau Events in 2020 and everyone around me thought I was crazy. The unknown in our world was still out there and to take on a business in the middle of it all did sound a little unconventional. But I learnt so much from Francine and was certain that I would take her many years of hard work and make her proud.

I am creating a design house. A Wedding Planning company that really captures the personality of my clients and brings their love story to life. Attention to detail is by far my best trait and I wont quit till I get that for each and everyone of my clients.

As for my future clients, At Team FRE, we advocate for our clients to ensure they are heard, happy and ready to celebrate their special day. We always add a ton of fun in the process. Because, if it’s not fun, is it really worth it?

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Oh that is a tough one. 3 things come to mind. 1. Not everyone has to like me and it took me a long time to be totally fine with it. I am as unique as I can be and for many years, I adapted to the social role. But in the past few years and after many years of attempting this, I gave up. I threw caution to the wind and made sure that everyone that crossed my path, knew all about me, what I do, how I do it and what I stand for.

2. Delegating has been something I recently started learning. As the company got bigger, I started to sink in this rabbit hole filled with, to do lists and never ending projects. I asked for help and to this day, I am still learning how to take a step back and trust the foundation of this company. With a great team, the sky’s the limit.

Can you talk to us about your experience with buying businesses?

I acquired Francine Ribeau Events in 2020 and it was such an easy process. We agreed to a price, went through the contract together and signed it when the time was right. Francine stayed on as an advisor / friend when needed and I know to this day, she is only a phone call away. We decided to keep the name as is for a year and then changed it to Forever Refined Events. I kept the initials the same because I LOVED Team FRE. Has a cool sound to it.

We agreed that I would have access to the vendor list and the connections to all the vendors that were made in the past. When the offer was handed to me 2 years ago, I was not really ready for it. But the second time around, I jumped to it. I had been an admirer of Francine’s work long before I started working with her in 2015. So the fact that I was about to buy this company was one of the biggest career accomplishments I had to date. I am so proud of myself for taking that leap and look forward to a long and prosperous adventure with tons of fun… Obviously!

Contact Info:

• Website: suher@foreverrefinedevents.com
• Instagram: forever_refined_events
• Facebook: Forever Refined Events
• Linkedin: Forever Refined Events
• Yelp: Forever Refined Events

Image Credits
White wedding: Edward Honiker, To Be Designed. Encore exp, L’auberge Hotel, Miller Makers, Sweetcheeks Bakery, BBJ / La Tavola Yellow wedding: Justice Photography, Sweetcheeks baking company, Adore Folklore, Catalog atelier, BBJ/La tavola Linens, Sunkissed native Colorful wedding: Figwicz Photography, BBJ linens, Catalog atelier, Adore folklore