065: Ashley Thompson, The Power of Yes

Happy New Year! Meet my next guest, Ashley Thompson. 

Ashley Thompson is a Las Vegas native who started Ashley Creative Events in 2017. As you'll hear in this episode, Ashley found her passion for events at a very young age when she was inspired by the events her mom would plan and host. Ashley knew weddings were the end game and she carefully created a resume to learn every bit of the event industry until she found her way to starting her own business. 

Today, Ashley leads her company as the owner and creative director. She focuses on understanding her clients' priorities and carefully crafting the intentional touches and moments that reflect their vision. Ashley Creative Events has been featured in Martha Stewart, Brides, People, Style Me Pretty, Inside Weddings, The Knot, and more. 

Ashley's never stop learning attitude included Planner Life Academy online course, which is when I was introduced to her and her brand. Watching her grow, evolve, and shine over the years has quickly turned me into an Ashley Creative fan.

Ashley's passion for events and love for hospitality are so evident in the events she produces. In our conversation, she mentions what an absolute honor it is to be someone's planner. And she talks about how saying yes early on in her career and even still today have had such a positive impact. 

We chat about bringing on a full-time right hand and the massive turning point that was for her business. We chat about percentage-based pricing and we talk about what planners should wear at the luxury, ultra luxury level. 

Please enjoy my conversation with Ashley Thompson. 

 

Connect with Ashley Creative Events

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Heather Hoesch OlsenHi planners, meet my next guest, Ashley Thompson. Ashley Thompson is a Las Vegas native who started Ashley Creative Events in 2017. As you'll hear in this episode, Ashley found her passion for events at a very young age when she was inspired by the events her mom would plan and host. Ashley knew weddings were the end game and she carefully created a resume to learn every bit of the event industry until she found her way to starting her own business.

(00:01):
Today, Ashley leads her company as the owner and creative director. She focuses on understanding her clients' priorities and carefully crafting the intentional touches and moments that reflect their vision. Ashley Creative Events has been featured in Martha Stewart, Brides, People, Style Me Pretty, Inside Weddings, The Knot, and more. Ashley's never stop learning attitude included Planner Life Academy online course, which is when I was introduced to her and her brand.
Watching her grow, evolve, and shine over the years has quickly turned me into an Ashley Creative fan. Ashley's passion for events and love for hospitality are so evident in the events she produces. In our conversation, she mentions what an absolute honor it is to be someone's planner. And she talks about how saying yes early on in her career and even still today have had such a positive impact.
We chat about bringing on a full-time right hand and the massive turning point that was for her business. We chat percentage-based pricing and we talk about what planners should wear at the luxury, ultra luxury level. Please enjoy my conversation with Ashley Thompson.
The Planner Life Podcast, your go to resource for wedding planner insights, expertise, and stories tailored just for you. I’m your host, Heather Hoesch Olsen, an experienced wedding planner, decade long educator, and your wedding planning best friend. Join me each week for real talk, real planners, and real experts. For conversations, hot topics, and advice to support you in your wedding planning journey.
Heather Hoesch OlsenHi planners, welcome to today's episode. I am so excited to have on a very special guest, Ashley Thompson. Hi Ashley.
Ashley ThompsonHi Heather, thanks for having me.
Heather Hoesch OlsenI'm really looking forward to our chat today. We finally got to meet in real life in a very like serendipitous sort of way when you were on vacation with your husband and I was like, hey, hi. But prior to that, other than, you know, talking through Planner Life Academy, we hadn't had the chance to really talk too much. So I'm excited to get to ask you all the questions and learn more about your story today. But before we do that, if you don't mind sharing who you are, where you are, and what you do.
Ashley ThompsonSure. So I'm Ashley Thompson with Ashley Creative Events. I'm out of Las Vegas and I am a wedding planner and event planner out of obviously Las Vegas and doing events kind of all over, I would say more so on the West Coast. We focus on about six to eight weddings a year at this point and keeping it super, I hate the word boutique, but boutique in the way that you know we're not producing hundreds and thousands of events a year. We're keeping it really tight knit and so it feels like that very luxury almost concierge level service if you will with our clients.
Heather Hoesch OlsenI love that. Tell us a little bit about, you're a Vegas native, right? What was it like growing up in Las Vegas? Were you already introduced to events just by nature of where you grew up?
Ashley ThompsonKind of, yes. So actually, yeah, I call myself a unicorn because there's not many people born and raised in Las Vegas and then end up staying there. I grew up in going down to the strip to go to fun restaurants and to see shows. And you get that sense of hospitality where we're from. We get a sense of a fun atmosphere, lots of culinary experiences, atmospheric entertainment and so much to draw inspiration from. So I think naturally that's what drew me to the event industry, but also my mom actually threw some amazing events for us as children. And so seeing her produce, I say produce, although they were just like, know, Spice Girls birthday parties and, you know, sleepovers for my friends, but she did such a good job at it. And it kind of led me to thinking like, this could actually be a career and something fun to do.
Heather Hoesch OlsenHow early were you starting to have these thoughts? Because I think for some of us, it's like we dreamed about weddings being the bride, not the planner. When you were younger, were you familiar with weddings or was it just other events? Then at what age were you thinking, maybe I could do this?
Ashley ThompsonIt was other events actually, and I feel like the first event that I actually started to kind of realize that this is something I wanted to do was a surprise birthday for one of my friends in high school. And it was a luau themed. And we had it at our house. It was a swim party. And I thought it would be really fun to just get the girls together, throw a little party. Back in those days, it was going to Party City and finding like leis and those crazy things that you set on the table. And I just loved it, you know? And so then that's when my friend was like, hey, I think you could actually really do this for a living, you know, something that you're really good at. So I ended up going to college with that idea in mind and really taking it from there. But as you know, this industry seems really glamorous, but it sometimes really isn't. So it was important for me to understand what that looked like and if it was something that I really wanted to explore. So in college, I actually went to the University of Arizona and there I interned for a wedding planner. It was my senior year of college and I laughed because I feel like I was literally thrown into the fire of the wedding industry. She had an event, it was in a backyard and I would say it was maybe like, 50 people, so very intimate. She had a buffet table set up with sternos and that table ended up, it wasn't locked. That was my first thing I said, okay, that was a learning lesson. I need to lock all the tables because they will fall. So there was a bunch of plates on the table, sternos, flame, and bam, it hit the floor. But not one guest, not the bride and groom, no one knew because everyone was outside, this was inside, we cleaned it up with enough time for no one to notice. And I thought in my head, this is what I want to do for a living. And I feel like a lot of people relate to that and the fact that you're thinking that this, you either go into it going, my gosh, this is what I want to do. I love that. Like we're, you know, troubleshooting or you go in the opposite direction and say, I want nothing to do with that. That was crazy, you know?
Heather Hoesch OlsenTotally, What a good lesson learned. I worked in catering early on and I had that same sort of lesson. It's like if you do not double-check, it will fall. It's kind of that simple.
Ashley ThompsonYeah. I will never forget.
Heather Hoesch OlsenSo what sort of weddings were you learning when you were interning? Was she doing luxury right out the gate or was it kind of more of a mid level or lower level?
Ashley ThompsonI would say it was like mid to lower level. She was new to the wedding industry herself. I still keep in touch with her. She's wonderful. And she was such a great mentor to me, but it was actually during that time when I was a senior in college, it was during the recession. So there were no jobs to be had, you know? And so it was important for me to just like throw my name out there. Email as many planners as I could get in touch with just to get that experience that I wanted. And she was the only one to respond to me. And so we sat down for coffee and she was like, hey, come join me. I can't really pay you much, but come hang out, see what I do. And I think I only did like a handful of weddings for her, but it immediately taught me that that's what I wanted to do.
Heather Hoesch OlsenI love that. And it just takes one person saying yes to open the door for you to really be able to feel it out. I think we're all really lucky when we find someone to really sit down with us with open arms show you what they do.
Ashley ThompsonExactly.
Heather Hoesch OlsenSo then after Arizona, did you go back to Vegas and did you jump right into weddings or what was your next step?
Ashley ThompsonSo I did. Yeah, I knew that I wanted to go back to Vegas only because I felt like that was the Mecca of the event world. That's where I could learn the most. That's where I could get the most experience. And although I loved being, in Tucson, I loved that space. I just felt like it was more of a college town and I needed to get out of that space to learn. So went back to Vegas and I actually worked for a golf course to start out.
Again, because I had weddings in my mind as my main focus, I wanted to start from the very bottom and learn everything. So I was a, I think they called me a wedding assistant and I built the dance floors, I set the tables, I bus tables. I worked a couple of golf tournaments here and there and it was just such a good learning opportunity from the very bottom of what it takes to put an event together from every vendor and perspective. And then from there, I knew that I wanted to learn. That was my biggest thing. I just wanted to learn as much as I possibly could. So I got an interview with a DMC and event design company, one of the very well known in town, and I was applying to be an executive assistant. So I went in and I saw the makings of what they were doing and I thought this is it. This is going to give me the experience that I need.

(00:22):
Heather Hoesch OlsenAnd for those who don't know what a DMC is, would you mind explaining it?
Ashley ThompsonYes, sure. A destination management company. So being in Las Vegas, know, large corporate businesses come out for their conferences and they're looking to a DMC to handle all of their transportation needs, all of their dining experiences, in smaller groups or larger groups. They throw big events for those companies and almost are a full service, whatever you need type company. So that gave me all sorts of, you know, inspiration and education on what it takes to put together a large event of that capacity. So yeah, we would do events as small as a dinner party to massive 4000 people on Fremont Street where there's food trucks and all sorts of games and activations and all sorts of things. So it brought a lot of education to me.
Heather Hoesch OlsenWhat an incredible experience because I think so often we get kind of pigeonholed even as we're learning. We're learning from a planner who only does a specific type of events or we're at a venue and they only have a specific type of client. So working for that sort of company really allowed you to see so many different things. How many years were you working there?
Ashley ThompsonSo I was there about six years in total. And when I first started out as the executive assistant, I was in that role only for a couple months. But I can't even believe I had the power in me to do this because I actually am very shy in the grand scheme of things and a little bit more introverted. But I said to her, is this a position for growth? And she thought, you know, we've actually been thinking about it a lot. I think that it would be a better fit for you to be in the sales department and to be able to sell under the director of sales, be her executive assistant. That way there is that position to grow. And so I thought, great, whatever you think that will get me to grow within the company, I'm interested. So that's what I did. And then again, somehow I had the balls to tell my then boss, the director of sales at the time, hey, I think that there's something to be said about the wedding industry. Have we ever done weddings? And she said, well, you know, we don't really focus on that because we don't feel like there's much to that side of this business here in Las Vegas, just because it is so corporate driven. But, you know, if we see one come through, then you can work, you know, alongside that, maybe catering manager or whatever it was trying to put on the wedding. And, we'll see. Let's see from there.
And I said, great, let's do it. So anything that was wedding related came in. I was putting my fingers in it. I was getting my hands dirty in the wedding industry. And from there ended up starting the wedding side of that company, almost launching the wedding branch, if you will.
Heather Hoesch OlsenAnd in those early days in weddings, was there anything that really felt like a light bulb moment or I do want to do this or I don't want to do this or oops, I said yes to something that maybe I shouldn't or maybe I said no to something that I shouldn't?
Ashley ThompsonI think that was me constantly reminding myself that I knew that this is what I wanted to do and I wanted to start my own business in weddings. It was just trying to get myself to learn all parts of it because maybe, you know, in my mind, I wanted to be a wedding planner, but what if the design side or just being in this role is where I want to be, you know, instead, because there are so many cool parts about the wedding industry that, you know, maybe it wasn't that I had to be a planner.
But as I started to learn and design for that company, I realized that I loved the design side. And more so I wanted to build a company for myself where I can have a little bit more work-life balance. Because what was happening in that industry was we were saying yes to everything andd they're very hospitality driven. And I love that about Las Vegas. I really do. I think that builds that almost concierge level service that I was mentioning in the intro, that we will do it all to make sure that that event is successful. And so being able to kind of understand that, although, yes, I want to say yes to everything, but I also want to go back to my own business and be able to have that work-life balance. That was important to me. So that's where I left that company and said, I'm going to start my own business. And I laughed because my boss when I put in my two week notice, she goes, I knew this was gonna happen. And I'm like, well, okay, I'm glad, but like, I can't wait to work with you in the future. And we do, we work together all the time, which is really cool and a fun relationship to have. But I knew that the grind that I was putting in in that job was not sustainable for me to have a family and to be able to be there for, you know, my kids' soccer games or recitals. And, I laugh because, and I think you could agree, like you have this nine to five job, quote unquote, we are pulling crazy hours, but owning a business is more than that. You know, you're working all the time. You're grinding all the time. But I knew that, like there's ebbs and flows to it. There's times where we're gonna be working hours upon hours in our busy seasons, but in the slow seasons, I'm able to say, I'm gonna work a couple hours and then I'm gonna go like hang out in the pool with the boys, you know, and or I'm going to go on a vacation with my husband because he understands that I'm grinding and out September, October, November. And then, you know, maybe in December we can have like a date night. And he understands like, OK, I just got to put the time in, let her work and then we can hang out in December.
Heather Hoesch OlsenTotally. And I would assume that Vegas is really seasonal in terms of it's just so hot in the summer. So is your season opposite of summer?
Ashley ThompsonYes, so we have, I would say two peaks, it's kind of like April, May, and then September, October, which is really funny because there are so many limited weekends in that timeframe. But, you know, we book out those specific dates pretty early and then fill in the gaps where we see fit. That to say a post COVID life, we're getting weddings in January, February. We're having weddings in August, although it's very, very, very hot. We're just kind of reallocating where the event is going to take place. You know, maybe we don't have the ceremony outside and the receptions inside and all the things, but yeah, it's a little different post-COVID.
Heather Hoesch OlsenSo tell me a little bit about growing your business. We don't want to just hear how successful it's been, but how it would have been some of the challenges and hurdles that you've faced. I think especially as you go out on your own and you're like, okay, I've done this under the umbrella of someone else. What were some of those first steps and were you hitting any roadblocks or challenges early on?
Ashley ThompsonEarly on, feel like I think a lot of people say this too, as they say yes to everything to just get the experience and the reviews and things like that. And that's exactly what I did. We were saying yes to so many things. And I think it kind of helped me understand the clientele that we had and what we wanted to focus on, kind of our ideal client. We understood where we wanted to take the business, we didn't want to have millions of events. We don't want to take on five weddings a weekend. I knew that I didn't want to have a team of 20 planners. Instead, I wanted to really shoehorn a smaller clientele taking on a couple weddings a year and then sprinkling in a couple events because I actually do love the event side of everything. But I think one thing that people don't really talk about in the early side of owning a business is just the financial side of it all. You book a new client, they pay you your deposit. Now what do you do with the deposit? You don't just go cash it and run off to the mall, you know. There's ways to kind of allocate those funds to make sure that you have enough for taxes and you have enough for your operating expenses and you have enough for to then, you know, provide for yourself. And so I think one of the biggest pieces to kind of the success of my business financially was understanding where all of those funds go. And I learned about profit first. I don't know if you've heard, have you heard of this book? Okay. So that was a game changer for me. And that is almost like the envelope, you know, method, if you will, where you kind of leave funds for each category. And then it made me realize even down to how much I have in the operating expenses folder, you're envelope, if you will, to say, okay, maybe I could go to engage or I could go to this conference and be able to, or even for education, know, being able to put that money towards educating myself to then be a better planner versus just saying, I can't afford it because, you know, we're only taking on X amount a year and I don't have the funds to do that. Well, you actually do in the grand scheme of things. So that was really cool to kind of wrap my head around and understand.
Heather Hoesch OlsenWhen you say we, how quickly did you have a team? Did you have a wedding day support team? Did you start to have planners that are taking their own weddings under you? What did that look like?
Ashley ThompsonGood question. So I actually had just day of planners on my team for when we were producing weddings and events. I say we a lot because I've actually brought on our director of events. Low. She is my right hand gal, the brunette to my blonde, the whole deal. She's very much logistics brained. I am a little bit more like on the creative side, design focused and she became a part of my team really right at the start, she was doing day of with me. She had a full-time job. She had at the time only one kid. And so I knew that she was a good fit for my business. And so I wanted to bring her on more. She was able to do every day of with me and then she actually, would say around 2020 is when I started to, when things started to clear up a little bit, I said, I really want you to join the team full time. I know you're really eager and you're excited about it. And I feel like it's going to give you that work life balance that you're looking for. She was pulling, you know, 7am to 7pm at her corporate job. And she said, I really want that. I need to talk to my husband ASAP. So that's what she did. And she actually joined my team full time in 2022. So I think one of the bigger things about adding someone to the team is again, that could be a little frightening as well. I remember going to a networking event and telling people, as of Monday, I have someone joining my team full time and I'm nervous. And they told me, I have a feeling this is going to slingshot your business. Just give it your all. It will be fine. It really will slingshot. And I said, okay, here we go. And we jumped in and it's done exactly that. You know, within the last two years, I feel like having another set of eyes on everything, having another brain, having just two of us has been so good for not only the business, but also for our clients, because they feel like, you're getting two for the price of one. If I'm not available for a phone call, you know, she's available and vice versa. And another key point to that is we both have families. And so, things come up, kids get sick, there's school situations all the time. So to not feel like we're constantly being like, sorry, we have to move this or sorry, we have to move that. There's always someone available.
Heather Hoesch OlsenAnd do you feel like it really doubled your capacity?
Ashley ThompsonIt did. I feel like internally in our business, it looks rock solid. With our process, we've really groomed it to be something that is just a well-oiled machine. And it's because she has the brain that I didn't have because I was busy grinding. I was busy taking care of my clients where I wasn't able to work on the back end work. And she was. And so to have both sets of assets to the company has been such a game changer. And again, like I said, we only take on a limited amount of events. And so it just gives that level of, you know, hospitality and concierge level service to every single one of our clients. Because I think one of our goals is to make it feel like we're not planning anyone else's wedding when we talk to each of our couples and we all, know, every planner says that we're like, we're really hopeful that it feels like that. And we've had our couples say that and that's like the biggest compliment to me because there are a lot of moving parts behind the scenes.
Heather Hoesch OlsenAbsolutely. Where do you get most of your clients? Are they from client referrals, venues, marketing?
Ashley ThompsonI would say it's a mixture of venue referrals and Instagram, funny enough. We've gotten a few Google leads and one of our very best clients came from Google. So I can't rule out Google completely, but I'm sure we can all agree sometimes those Google leads come in and you're like, what? You know, I have 500 people and $5,000 make it work. But I would say that Instagram has been a great tool, a marketing tool for us, being able to showcase our portfolio. But we don't put all of our eggs in that basket. We really focus on our venue partners. There are a handful that we just really focus on throughout the year. Vegas is a small market, so really taking care of the people that take care of you is so key to the success of our business. And we like working at some of these places, so we want to be there more and to be able to do that is really cool.
Heather Hoesch OlsenAnd when you say take care of them, what might that look like for you? Is that time? Is that presence? Is that making sure they have photos and videos for their assets? Is that bringing them clients? What does that look like for you?
Ashley ThompsonA little bit of all of it. You know our biggest point is to just make sure not only that our couples are happy at the end of their wedding day, but also our vendor partners, because they're the ones that are grinding it out with us. You know, they're working hard too. And so we always laugh because our team is actually really fun and energetic to be a part of a wedding. And so we want to make sure that our venue partners and our vendors are having fun as well. But as far as taking care of them, we want to make sure that they're happy, they're comfortable, they aren't experiencing any stresses and how can we help those stresses in a wedding day? On top of that, you're right, time. Time is a big thing. We want to make sure that we're spending that time with them. But I think one key thing is not asking them out to coffee and to lunches. You know, they are busy too. But asking them if they need any assistance with anything, sometimes they're putting on galas or they're doing small little networking events. How can we partner with you to help you in that to make sure that you, you know, all that stress is taken away from you, you know?
Heather Hoesch OlsenI love that. don't think planners often think enough of, I'm not crazy now. How can I help other people? We kind of just fizzle out and like flop into the couch. And the reality is that opening that up to helping some of your other partners could be how you get some of your best business next year.

(00:43):
Ashley ThompsonYes, absolutely.
Heather Hoesch OlsenSo as you brought on Lowe and you've seen your business really change over the last couple years and in order to bring on a person full time and take six to eight weddings a year, I'm assuming we're into the luxury, ultra luxury market at this point. What does that look like for you?
Ashley ThompsonSo our clients, as far as spend go, I always look at it as a per guest price versus an all in because it can mean such different things. You know, a hundred thousand dollars to plan a 500 person wedding looks very different than a hundred thousand dollars to plan a 50 person wedding. So we are at an average $1,800 per head. And that was 2023 stats. So I'll let you know about 2024 stats, yeah, this year was a good year for us. But yeah, I feel like that's kind of our rule of thumb. And when we're getting inquiries from our clients, we aren't completely ruling out everybody. We don't want to be that no, no, no, we don't take on any thing under this, this, this. We have those conversations, talk to each and not, I wouldn't say on the phone. We do kind of like have a little bit of a filter on our email address to say, hey, here's another planner that may be a better fit for you. If it's a drastic number that would just not be feasible for us. But we're trying to eliminate having a call with every single inquiry that comes in. But those ones that are maybe something that we wouldn't consider right out the gate, we still jump on a call with them because maybe they just don't understand what a wedding costs. They've never done this before. They don't know that if they want X amount of flowers or a great photographer that's from another country, all of those things add up at the end of the day. And so we just wanna educate our clients a little bit more and our couples to understand where their financials kind of divvy up throughout the wedding planning process.
Heather Hoesch OlsenI completely agree. I think all too often I hear planners say, I don't even get on the phone with anyone who doesn't seem like a perfect lead. And I don't think that's a great idea. I think you should obviously filter to a certain degree, but be open-minded that education should be step one, and then you never know what sort of client can come out of that conversation.
Ashley ThompsonAbsolutely. And I just think it's such an honor to receive an email and an inquiry from somebody because they've looked through whether it's your Instagram, your portfolio on your website, and they said, wow, I want that person to plan my wedding. I see their work and I want that to be my wedding. What an honor. And so to just be ruling them off and saying, nope, I don't work at that budget. It's just, it's not in my nature to be that way. And so we want to make sure that people feel like we're kind and then we're if it's not a good fit then we're passing them off to someone who would be a better fit for their budget and to explain why this person would be better. What's really cool about that is I've had a couple girls work for me day of that have now launched their own businesses and so for me to say hey they've worked under me they know how we work and now they're launched this amazing business and they would be a great fit for you. So that's been kind of our cool little like connection there.
Heather Hoesch OlsenYeah, I love that. It's always so nice to be able to pass it on. And we've all been at the beginning phases where we're charging less and talk about an honor is getting a referral from someone that you look up to and someone who's been a mentor to you. And that's really special.
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Expert Strategies (00:50):
Proven techniques for handling anything that comes your way, from last minute emergences to tricky client dynamics, Confidence under pressure
Let's talk a little bit about pricing. So I appreciate that you and I have had some of these conversations offline and that you're willing to have them today. But in terms of pricing, think that there's this big push for percentage-based pricing, but not always with the clientele to go with it, or not always for the right market, or not always just really sold in a way that still creates value for the client. So would you mind sharing what percentage-based pricing looks like for you?
Ashley ThompsonSure, so right now we price ourselves at a minimum and then we say if you go beyond that budget number, then it turns into a percentage. And I think that's easier for couples to digest, to understand like you're not just gonna charge me, let's call it 10,000 or 10 % for my wedding. It's to understand, okay, this is where that minimum happens. And then if you go over that, that's where it turns into percentage. I think it's just easier for couples to understand that way.
Heather Hoesch OlsenAnd is that tipping point something that's different for every client or is that a consistent tipping point that switches to percentage?
Ashley ThompsonFor me, it's consistent. We are at $15,000 minimum with us, and then we turn to 10 % is where I'm at currently. And so that means that we are jumping into that budget right out the gate. Honestly, sometimes if I'm really eager to get a couple, then I'm doing that budget while we're talking on the phone for our inquiry call because I think that it's something so important to kind of understand where the financials are going to divvy up. And so then that gives them a clear understanding of, okay, here's how much we're gonna be spending with Ashley. And again, in the inquiry side of the process. It's a little bit more vague. You know, there's ranges because we could say, hey, we want a $7,000 photographer. Well, they end up with a $30,000 photographer at the end of the day. And so to be able to show them a range of where it could grow gives them a really clear understanding. So it also erases the fear of, am I just gonna jump into this process and she's gonna want me to spend more money on a really cool chair or are we going to spend a ridiculous amount of money on stationary because it gives her more money at the end of the day? That's not the case because we are making sure that they're getting that budget and they're signing off on that budget to say, okay, here's column one. Column one is X amount. And this is where you told me you want your budget to be. In column two is where that could grow because of an after party add on or again, that more expensive photographer, yeah, choices. And that's where that could land. And then they say, okay, we're good with this, let's move forward. And then we start sending our vendor recommendations to each category. And I think it just creates this feeling of, okay, she's an expert, she knows what she's talking about, she does this over and over and over again and then they feel like also they're taken care of and dad or mom or whoever is financially responsible for the wedding is saying, okay, I've given my stamp now run with it.
Heather Hoesch OlsenYeah, it's so important. I think anytime there's percentage in any way that you really establish and build that trust at the beginning so that you're not having really uncomfortable conversations at the end. I was recently coaching a planner who lost track of the budget a little bit in the middle. And then once final payments were coming due, the clients were feeling really bamboozled. And it's so important to be really transparent in how the spending's going and really make sure that the couple understands that if they're going over a bunch. In 21 years, I don't understand how this works, but for some reason, when couples spend over in every category, they're still shocked that they're over. And it's like, but why?
Ashley ThompsonEvery time. I know, right? And I would laugh because, you know, I honestly am still trying to troubleshoot budgeting because it is such a hard thing to manage. There's times where we try to tweak our process to make sure our clients are feeling comfortable throughout the process because for example, we had a wedding, I think it was two years ago, and the client invited, let's say 400 people. And then they're like, we'll be at 200. Well, you won't. It's in Vegas, people want to come to Vegas, and you're going to be over that. And if you are, you have to feed more people, you have to provide a table for more people, a charger plate, a menu, a chair, all the things and that adds up. Well, we get to the final like wrapping up of all of their, you know, final payments. And they're saying, well, how did we get here? Well, you had 100 extra guests, you know, and so we're really, really transparent throughout the process. We're constantly bringing them back to the budget to say, hey, this is where we're at. Just a heads up, just a reminder. And there's some clients who are like, cool, don't care, great. But then there's others that really wanna see and understand it throughout the process.
Heather Hoesch OlsenThank you so much for sharing that. I think it's just really important to hear how people are actually managing percentage pricing. It sounds good, it sounds shiny, but there are some things that you really need to make sure you're doing well so that you never really lose that client trust. Another topic that you and I have bonded over recently is a wedding day attire for planners and there's this kind of push in the luxury ultra luxury market that planners should be dressed to the events that they should be on theme that everyone should be coordinated and matching. What are your thoughts?
Ashley ThompsonI've been playing around with this over the last year or so. We tried out the whole matching your attire to the color scheme of the wedding, making sure all of our girls match and are wearing the same, whether it's the same exact outfit or the same exact pattern or color scheme, if you will. And I've also done it where we've all-worn, all-black professional attire as most wedding vendors and professionals do. And it was kind of an interesting thing because, I thought, okay, well, if we're entering into the luxury market, we need to be dressed in the way that our clients are dressing and all of those things. But as I did that, I realized that we're actually becoming more of a distraction to the wedding than we are to be more of like behind the scenes and behind the curtain like we are really supposed to be. And it was actually a good way to just see both sides of it. I immediately left a wedding that I did in July, I believe it was. And I said, you know, I felt like we were one of the guests and people were confused. Because we were wearing, you know, green dresses and summer attire, it was still a very professional looking dress, but I just felt like people were confused by me. They're like, why is this person telling me where to go? But like, she's dressed like me, you know? And I just think at some point, it's not about us, it's not at the end of the day, it's about us being able to produce the event effectively. And in that way, I feel like being in all black professional dress along with my team makes the most sense and makes everyone feel like we are a person that, like a point of contact for anything that they need for the wedding.
Heather Hoesch OlsenI agree. I've dabbled in both sides of it too, and I always go back to black attire. I recently started asking my clients. I would say, you know, for your welcome party and your rehearsal dinner, typically we wear like blues, grays, greens, you know, just kind of one step down from black. So we still look professional and people can kind of tell that we're in charge, but it's a little more lighthearted than the wedding day and the formality of that. And then I'll ask them if they have a preference. And sometimes they're like, we actually would love if it's on all white party or whatever, they would like you in white or beige or something that's close, light blue, something close to that. ⁓ and then recently, probably one of my higher spent clients, I said do you prefer that we match each of the events throughout the weekend? There were five. And she was like, honestly, I would prefer you guys in black. So people know exactly who you are and who to ask questions to. There’s this conversation around this ultra luxury client wanting you to dress a certain way, but I think it's important to ask. I just don't think that you should assume whether you like the matching attire or you prefer the all black. I do think it's important to ask the client because most of these clients attend high dollar, high value, big extravagant events regularly. And so they have an expectation there. And so instead of just assuming this is what we should do, I do think it's good to turn it to the client and say, this is typically what I do, what our company does, what would you like? And I think you're going to get the answer more often than not, that they do want you to make sure that you're standing out to their clients. Cause at the end of the day, just like you said, this is about hospitality. This is about guest experience and if they don't know who they're asking and who's in charge, it can get confusing.
Ashley ThompsonAbsolutely. And I think even if your client does come back to you and say, I'd like you to be an all black to be that point of contact. I also feel like it's important to dress to the level that the guests are dressing at the wedding. So if it's a black tie event, you know, don't wear black jeans and that goes for all vendors. We actually send out an email to all of our vendors that are working the wedding to say, Hey, it's a formal wedding make sure you're dressed appropriately. You should be in a tux if you are the videographer, if you are the photographer. And please, for the love of God, don't wear a hat. To each their own and whatnot. But I do feel like, I want people to be able to show their personalities. And when a client is hiring a vendor, they know what they look like you know what their style is so it's important to make sure that you feel like yourself in that that way but I also think it's important to dress appropriately for a wedding and to wear the appropriate length dress for whatever the attire is for the guest as well.
Heather Hoesch OlsenCompletely agree. If you were to go back when you were putting in your two weeks at the DMC and about to start your own company, what advice would you go back and give yourself?
Ashley ThompsonI would say to be patient. I think that people go into a business and think I'm gonna get leads left and right, and I'm going to sell at this level and be able to produce X, Y, Z weddings. But I think that it really takes the hustle and bustle of learning from the very beginning of what does it mean to produce a wedding and what does it look like on the catering side and what does it look like for each vendor involved. I think really learning and understanding what each vendor does in the wedding really helps you become a better planner. I constantly was educating myself and making sure I was jumping into as much as I could on an educational front because I think you can always learn something no matter where you're at. So I joined WIPA.
And I think that's a great way to start, especially because they have chapters all over the place now. And they're constantly having that educational portion of the event. And as long as you get that one tidbit of something to take to your business, then it's a win. And I actually ended up taking your course back when I was starting. I remember I was still at the DMC at the time. And the only time I had was when I was at the gym in the morning before work. And so I would bring my iPad and I'd listen to Heather and I'd take notes on my phone, and it was something I looked forward to. You know, I was excited to learn. So I think there's so many opportunities out there, including podcasts like this, where put it on in the car on the way to a client meeting or when you're going out to lunch with your friends and you just need some background noise. There's always something you can learn. And no matter what I’ve invested in as far as education goes and I think that going to conferences and honestly, even just learning from your vendor partners, I know I've said that time and time again, but ending an event and saying, hey, what could I have done better? Or how can I make your life easier? We used to actually send out a questionnaire to all of our vendors after an event to say, what did you like about working with us? What did you not like? What can we do better next time? And I've actually had some really great conversations just from that particular questionnaire to say, you know, what could we do better and how could we better ourselves? And sometimes people don't want to do that because they're like, gosh, I don't want to hear what I did bad on I just want praise, but no, truly there's so much to learn from making sure that every vendor involved feels like they are all producing an event together collectively.
Heather Hoesch OlsenYeah, I think it's great advice. And when asking for feedback, while it can be scary, you're probably going to learn something you never would have learned otherwise if you don't ask.
Ashley ThompsonAbsolutely, exactly. Yeah, it's hard. I get it. It is hard to do. But, I've had coffee dates after getting a questionnaire. I'll actually just share because I think it's important to know. I had an officiant reach out to me and said, hey, that is the busiest time of the day. I understand. Like everyone's getting ready for the wedding. And, one of your girls didn't have the microphone ready for me or whatnot. And you know, it's just like little things like that, but it's an important part to the wedding. And so I said, you know what, next time I will have a dedicated team member for you to then hand you off the microphone, make sure you're getting your sound check done and completed well in time before the guests start to arrive. And this was a handful of years ago, but it's something that I've cared with me still is no matter what the vendor is, it's important to make sure that they feel taken care of and we have their back and they walk in and their job is easier because of us.
Heather Hoesch OlsenAbsolutely. Well, thank you, Ashley, so much for sharing your story and your advice. For those of you listening, I'll make sure that you can connect with Ashley in the show notes and I'll be sure to drop in the link to Prophet First. That's a book. If you have not read, you should. And be sure to connect with Ashley on Instagram. Thank you, Ashley. Talk to you soon. Be well. Bye.
Ashley ThompsonThank you, Heather. Talk to you soon. You too. Bye.
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