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

Vicki, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

I always believed that if I wanted that big house, happy family, and nice vacations, that I needed to have a career within a corporation. I needed to have that steady paycheck and work 40-50 hours a week. In 2018, I was a front of the house manager at a restaurant and I remember having a conversation with the head director of the company. She asked me “what are your goals in the next 5 years? Where do you want to be in your career and your life?” I proceeded to tell her how my husband and I were wanting to start a family, and how I wanted to continue to work up the management ladder. Her response, “that’s great, we will be sure to hold a shift lead position for you, after maternity leave.” I remember walking away from the conversation thinking, why would I need to be demoted. Why can’t I have a family AND a career? I could do both!

In late 2019, I had my daughter; 3 weeks after going back to work, I quit my management job. She was right, I couldn’t do both. I couldn’t work late hours and all the weekends; I would miss out on EVERYTHING. Then I asked those questions again, but for real this time, where did I want to be in 5 years and what did I want my career to actually be?

That’s when I decided to make a career move and start my own wedding planning business. Named after my daughter, I started LuLu Events. Unfortunately, the fear of money didn’t allow me to do this full time. I found a job that was Monday thru Friday 9-5pm, then Covid hit and I had to leave that job. My business was at a halt because everything was shut down and no one was booking weddings. For the first time in 15 years I was unemployed. Shortly after, I was able to get a job in insurance, working Monday thru Friday 9-5pm, which allowed me time to start growing my business.

Over the course of 2 years I worked a full time job in insurance, and continued to build my own business; but, all I did was work. I managed to put my family on the back burner without even realizing it.

We expanded our family with our baby boy, in Jan 2022, and by August 2022, I quit my insurance job and took my kids out of daycare, and am now focusing on my family and my business. I’ve been able to be present in my family’s life. I’ve watched my kids grow and have reconnected with my husband. I have more time to breathe and actually enjoy life.

Want to know what I would’ve done differently? I would have stopped thinking that the only way to survive was if I had that steady paycheck every two weeks. I didn’t need to work for someone else to be successful; I just needed to believe in myself and my business. I honestly believe what was holding me back the most, was the fear that I HAD to work in a corporation if I wanted to help provide for my family.

If I had to start over, I would’ve paid more attention to what my business and my family needed. I would have noticed that I could’ve left that job years ago.

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?

My name is Vicki and I’m the owner of LuLu Events LLC. I am a wife and mother to 2 young kiddos. I’ve worked in the restaurant/catering world since I was 14, doing everything and anything. I learned great management, leadership, and multi tasking skills from the industry.

I officially started my business back in 2019, but had been helping friends plan and coordinate their weddings for years prior. After having my daughter in 2019, I had to decide what I REALLY wanted in my career and that’s when I realized that I wanted to be a wedding planner.

My business provides full wedding planning and day of coordination to couples in the NorthEast area of Florida. I work with a lot of destination couples. Over 70% of my couples don’t live in Florida.

As a wedding planner I am the couple’s voice on the day of their wedding. I am their visionary, and their security guard. I do all the behind the scene work to make sure everything is perfect. I set up all the decor that a vendor doesn’t, I make sure vendors are sticking to the timeline, I ask guests to leave the couple alone so they can take time to eat their dinner. I make sure that my couples don’t have to worry about anything during their big day.

When I get booked by a couple, I want them to know that I am here for them. I’m not the type of vendor that says, “that’s not in the package you booked” I want my couples to know that if they are having an issue or if they need to just vent for a second, they can text me. I want them to be able to trust me. I want them to get off a call or walk away from a meeting thinking “wow, I feel so much better and less stressed”

I can’t tell you what makes me stand out from others, but I know that when I walk into a venue on wedding day, it’s not just me on my team. All of the vendors are on my team. I want to make sure that my vendors have what they need, and make sure they are taken care of. I have been a bartender before, I have pushed a certain button on the DJs set up, just to make sure they can eat, drink, and pee. If my team is working well, then our wedding is going perfect. I will do almost anything to make sure that my couples day goes as perfect as possible. I had a bride that was getting dressed for a special dance with her groom, and she forgot her bra; I gave her mine. I’ve had to pin a bridesmaid’s dress with safety pins because her zipper broke, and then made sure she was standing a certain way in photos so you couldn’t see the pins. I tell all of my couples, if you ever have a moment where you go “hmm I wonder who is going to… “ it’s going to be me. One bride came up with the phrase, “stay calm, Vicki’s got it” and I want all my couples to know that going into their day.

I take a lot of pride in my work, and I have been thankful to have such great couples and families to have worked with so far. If there was one thing I wanted potential clients to know about, probably that I am here for them. I’m here to make their wedding day the most magical day. It doesn’t matter what my opinion is, if you want it done a certain way, then let’s do it. I’m here for them.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I try really hard to go above and beyond wherever I am. I consider myself to be a team player. I don’t go into a venue thinking I own it and that I’m the most important person there, because I’m not. When I go to venues on wedding day, I make sure to be kind to everyone and to help as much as I can. There is one venue that is in the middle of nowhere, and the first time I went, I realized that the associate working for the day had to rely on another employee to bring her food. Next time I went to that venue, I called and asked if I could grab them anything on my way in.

I think it’s really important to pay attention. DJs can’t walk away from their station once the party starts, so I make sure to check on them and grab them drinks and snacks. Sometimes the bar is backed up, I go back there and see if they need some restocking. If I notice there is one person putting 150 chairs out, I’m going to go and help them.

I think showing that I am part of the team has really helped me make my connections with other vendors. I have a lot of vendors that enjoy working with me, and I strive for that. I want vendors to smile when they know I’m the coordinator for the day.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Shortly after starting Lulu Events, I learned that there were three things I needed to focus on: referrals, reviews, and social media. These are the three things that couples look at when they are looking for their potential wedding team. Couples are always looking at reviews and social media to see your recent work and hear what your past couples experienced with you. The main reason they are looking at those reviews and social media is most likely because another vendor mentioned your name. Like I said before, it’s important to me that vendors enjoy working with me. I am constantly asking vendors if there is something I could’ve done better to have made their night easier. I started noticing how much my business was growing once I started doing this.

As well as, I’m very lucky to have such a supportive husband, who really believed in me when I told him I wanted to take my business full time. We both knew it was a leap, and a scary leap; but with the growth of the business, and saving money on daycare, we knew it was the right time. I even took this opportunity to see that my business needed the next step and did a full rebrand. I updated my website, and systems; and now I’m ready for engagement season. I’m excited for the future of my business.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.luluevents.co
• Instagram: Lulueventsco
• Facebook: Lulueventsco
• Other: I’m on the knot and wedding wire as well

Image Credits
Brittany Morgan photography
Sarah Cebulski Photographer
She exposure Photographer
Larissa Soroka Photo
Rebekah Sage Photographer