We recently connected with Brandy Wheatley and have shared our conversation below.
Brandy, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Travel! I love to travel to new places as well as revisit some of my favorite places. I feel this really inspires me and it’s one of the best ways I have found to keep my creativity fresh! Finding inspiration in the lobby of a hotel, admiring the architecture of a building or patterns in fashion/interior design. While I am not a designer by trade, I find that staying current with the latest interior design trends ties into creating a cohesive wedding design.
I have always been an outside the box thinker, one that doesn’t want to repeat the exact things twice and I find that traveling helps us see what is beyond!
Magazines! I love to read, I love to turn pages and I love to find inspiration in quotes, pictures and articles!
You can find numerous magazines as well as coffee table books both in my home and in my office.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Thank you for having me, my name is Brandy Wheatley, owner and Lead Planner of Blue Chalk Events. My business began as a second dream of mine, my former career was an elementary teacher, yet I was seeking something to call just my own. In 2019, I launched Blue Chalk Events to serve intentional couples during one of their biggest life milestones. As of this moment, I have been blessed to have been a part of over 70 weddings and witnessing the beginning of a marriage just gets better and better.
Blue Chalk Events is founded on relationships. Fostering relationships with my industry colleagues as well as my clients has been key to finding success in the early stages of business ownership and will continue to be a core standard moving forward.
What I love most is simply the relationships that I have with my couples and their families. We spend at minimum six months, sometimes 2 years or more, together during their engagement and planning season. My clients truly become like family. I am grateful for the trust that they put in my business. It is an honor to get to celebrate love for a living and I do not take it lightly. I pour my heart and soul into each wedding/project I am involved in and am excited for what is to come in the future of BCE.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
1. Organization/Detail Oriented- I often say how both my careers have similar alignments in the characteristics and qualities that help make this journey successful. DETAILS! If I told you that there are at minimum over 5000 details for each wedding, it would give you just a small glimpse of life as a planner. From conception of the wedding date through the send off at the end of the night, a planner is the vendor who is most responsible for the entire event. I can be heard saying to people that “I only get one shot!” and that is what continues to drive my organization and details. There are no “re-dos” on a Wedding Day. I will spend countless hours scouring the details to ensure things go as smoothly and successfully as they can. In that same light, foreseeing potential concerns or roadblocks, is also a detail that can’t be overlooked. Weddings always have to have emergency/contingency plans, sometimes multiple options to consider “if this, than that”. It is all about the details and if you don’t give them the attention they need, it will show.
2. Communication- This goes without saying! If I don’t communicate, then the entire ball is dropped and details are lost. So much of what I do, no one sees, it is very important to establish a clear line of communication and expectation early on! Communication looks differently depending on who your target audience is, vendors/colleagues or clients. Leaving nothing to chance and following up are keys to effective communication.
From the beginning, I knew that in a world that we are accustomed to immediate gratification, that communication needed to be clear, personal and prompt. It also needs to be professional, appropriate and precise. We live in a world that is full of shortcuts and abbreviations, however, as a professional, it is my job to communicate with the highest form of etiquette and professionalism. Communication to clients, to industry professionals and any one involved in making the wedding a success.
3. Trustworthy- In this industry, this is vital. Being a new business, I had to prove myself and what I was capable of in order to gain the trust of my fellow industry professionals and potential clients. You can tell someone how great you are, have the best laid plans and design, but ultimately it is the action from those words. You have to put in the hours, build rapport, make yourself a little vulnerable, and continue to go above and beyond to do what you say you are going to do.
Building and gaining someone’s trust is not easy and not something that is just given.
Once you have earned someone’s trust, you must work to keep that trust. Being stagnant or complacent is just not an option if you want to keep the trust you have gained.
I feel incredibly honored and blessed to have gained the trust from my fellow industry professionals and my clients. It is not overnight, but man it is so rewarding to know that others believe in you and trust you with such an important role!
My advice to anyone embarking on a new journey would be to stay true to your core beliefs, focus on what you want and work hard to achieve just that. Find a mentor in your niche and learn from them. Be open to feedback, be ready to dig deep into your craft and fostering relationships that you can build from. Keep showing up!
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
The ideal client for me is someone who loves the details and who puts their complete trust in my hands.
They are open and lean into the guidance that my five years of industry experience can provide them. An ideal client for me, is looking for that personal experience, they can be as hands on or off as they so desire.
Trust, the ideal client will have complete trust in the process knowing that their day will be smooth no matter what tiny fires there may be for me to put out! They will be able to be present and celebrate with their closest friends and family! An ideal client for me is looking for peace of mind, for experience and for a personal experience that is fun, guided and informative!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bluechalkevents.com
- Instagram: bluechalkeventsllc
- Facebook: Blue Chalk Events, llc
- Other: Pinterest- Bluechalkevents
Image Credits
Danielle Villemarette-DVANDCO (headshot)
Kelsey LaNae Logsdon -Kelsey LaNae Photography (Blue Garden Wedding)
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
