This time of year calls for reflection and thankfulness. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love that it is simply tied to family & friends gathering to enjoy food and celebration. The beauty of thanksgiving is that there are no tangible “gifts” that are given but gifts that are much more meaningful as they can’t be purchased. Love, compassion, humility, laughter, thankfulness and joy are all exchanged during this precious time of year. I feel so fortunate that as I reflect on 2016, I find myself reflecting on my company’s 20th anniversary as truly one of the highlights. I was surrounded by family, my team, clients and the incredible wedding community we have here in Kansas City. As I prepared to celebrate, I wanted to bring a lot of fun and sentiment to the celebration. My inspiration came from childhood memories of Elvis as well as a really cool, velvet Elvis party I attended in college. After the fun was figured out and the creative team was built, I found myself focusing on what the celebration really meant to me. It occurred to me, that it was not about me and the company that I built over the last 20 years, it was actually the community that BUILT ME over the last 20 years and I wanted to share that in some way. First, I wanted to make sure everyone was spoiled with delicious food, decadent desserts, gorgeous decor, live music, Elvis sunglasses and of course, giant Elvis cut outs to smooch! Then, the focus of the celebration became my words and what I would say to all of those who would surround me that night. I think the best way to showcase how I feel about the celebration is to share my speech from that evening here. My intention at the end of my speech that there would be no one left in the room and everyone would be on the dance floor with me so keep that in mind as you read.
To go back 20 years, I do have to start at the beginning so with that being said as I call your name, please come to the dance floor.
“I was a girl who always loved weddings and when the opportunity came along for me to start a business, the wedding world was the first that came to mind. At the time, I was at Hallmark and expecting our first son, Roark. I knew I wanted to find a way to work and be home with him. That is when the idea of wedding planner came to mind and I immediately looked into getting my certification. Kevin and I talked it over and as most of you know, he is a huge supporter of entrepreneurs so his support of me starting this venture has always been unwavering. I called my parents and told them about my idea. My dad & Cindy said, let us see a business plan so I took out my 3 ring notebook and wrote one. My mom ask about the certification courses. I researched and found the one I thought would be best.” Can I please have my parents, mom, dad & Cindy and my husband, Kevin and our 3 kids, Roark, Neelie & Ryker come up here with me. “I would not be here without your support, you are my beginning, my middle and my legacy. I love you all with all of my heart. Thanks for believing in me 20 years ago and still today and for funding the beginning of Simple Elegance.”
In 1996, with the support of my family, Simple Elegance was born. I also want to acknowledge Kevin’s parents. Cliff & Nancy Browne who have certainly heard more than there fair share of weddings stories and my brother Kale and my niece Kloe, Kevin’s sister, Tana and my niece Shae and great niece Eden who are all here to celebrate too. My sister Tara is moving to Florida with her family this weekend so they were unable to attend but she too has been a supporter of SE from the beginning.
“I had planned to work from my home and do a few weddings a year, I soon realized in 1998 with Kevin who traveled for work and a toddler and wanting to expand our family, that I would need to find help. Back to Kevin here, he was and still does push me to strive for more and continue to grow. There are days that he wears me out but a friend recently looked at me and said, “your husband saw it before you did.” It struck me incredibly hard because it is so true. Kevin has always been able to see what I can do even when I couldn’t see it myself. With Kevin’s support, I reached out to a coworker that I had worked with at “Wedding Expressions”. Tracy came on board and helped when I needed it and also did a few weddings when I had Neelie in 2000. Tracy impressed one of our bride’s sisters so much, that that sister, gave me call and ask if I would be available to plan her daughter’s wedding, Who is she? Well, her name is Barb Jump and her daughter is Julie Mitchell. After Julie’s wedding, Julie called me and said she and her mom were interested in getting into the business. So, in 2002 I hired them as planners. Quickly, they were my rocking mother/daughter team and we were off and running. In 2004, another bride named Marci was interested in becoming a wedding planner and she certainly had the skill set so after her wedding she came on board in 2005. Tiffany was the next planner that I hired in 2005. She assisted for many years but then decided weekends were too precious to be away from her beautiful daughter. In early 2006, a photographer I am certain you all know, Jessica Roark hired Marci to plan her wedding. During her wedding, she learned that Marci’s husband would be relocating to Florida so Marci would be leaving SE soon. Jessica put a bug in the ear of her friend, Becca Spears and they both let a certain someone know that there was about to be an opening at Simple Elegance. Who was she? You guessed it Holly Davidson. She joined the team in December 2006. I quickly found out that Holly had serious game and was incredibly driven. She was eager to learn and was going to take on the world of wedding planning with me and we were going to grow even faster. She pushes me to be my best and has been an incredible person to have by my side almost every day and we were in very close proximity the years we were in my dining room planning and brainstorming. I have a deep appreciation for all that she has done to grow Simple Elegance. She has become very dear to me not only professionally but personally too. In 2008, I was thrilled that one of my brides from 2007 was interested in coming on board. So Lindsay Howes brought her sweetness and love for weddings to SE. By 2010, we were plugging along and the business was growing quickly. I brought on Hattie Cummings and Lindsey Dierks as day of coordinators and Holly managed them as the day of business began increasing greatly. In 2011, I realized that my dining room had outgrown the business so I moved SE into office space. It was so great to have a nice place for us to work, collaborate and meet with clients. That year also brought us Erin Webb who was one of Holly’s bride’s and she began assisting, taking weddings as well as working on our social media and blog. She is certainly gifted in her marketing skill set and we are all jealous of her hair. 2013 came along and Holly decided she wanted an intern for the summer and found Lauren Kadel to fill the spot. Lauren spent the summer working with Holly and assisting in the office and at weddings. When it was time for her internship to end in the fall, I decided she was too good to let go so she came on board and has been learning, growing and rocking weddings ever since. In 2012, I had a wedding reception at the Overland Park Convention Center and began working with Lisa Forbes, I thought she was great to work with and in 2013 our paths would cross again at The Wedding Market Expo. Lisa stopped me after one of my presentations and we connected again. We all know how that story ends, I hired her! She brought her venue experience and her love of weddings to SE and has been an instrumental part of growing the business even more for the last 3 years. In 2015, Nichole Kempf came on board and this year is doing her own weddings at SE. I am excited to see where she is headed as she has a bright career in front of her.”
Next we have our assistant team, these fine ladies give up weekends to work by our sides as we direct our weddings. We simply couldn’t do it without them. Kristen Viall, Haley Elder, Veronica Neutzler, Chelsea Turk & Amanda Weatherford. Thank you all for the excellent support you provide our team on wedding weekends!
I also would like to have the spouses and parents/families that are here for my lead planners to come up and stand with them. I want to personally thank you for supporting their dreams, their long work hours, the craziness that can ensue when we are working on weddings. It is a stressful but amazing career to have but it would be impossible for us to do it if we didn’t have the support of our families. So, THANK YOU!
I have also always said that I have hired people that are smarter than me and I mean it. The team standing before you all have a tremendous gift of service to SE and our clients and vendors everyday. They are gems to me and I am truly humbled by them.
Speaking of clients, I know we have a few of our clients here so I would like to ask that you all make your way to the dance floor. Thank you for hiring us and trusting us during such a precious time in your lives. We don’t take it lightly and appreciate you more than we can say.
We couldn’t make our clients dreams come true if it weren’t for the fantastic talent we have in Kansas City. I now ask all of the talented wedding vendors to come to the dance floor. I thank you for working with us for our clients, for referring us and for always coming through. The smiles on our client’s faces at the end of the wedding day wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for your mad skills.
I would now like for you all to look around the dance floor and see how many people you are surrounded by.
THIS is how you to get to 20 years!!!
Each and every one of you are a part of the history and continued journey of Simple Elegance. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Here’s to another 20!
Thank you so very much to the incredible creative team who helped me put this party together! Your generosity fills my heart!
Mickenzie from Yellow Brick Graphics www.yellowbrickgraphics.com
Feasts of Fancy- Andy & Kathleen, Dana & John and their amazing staff that will be working this evening. www.feastsoffancy.com Sidelines for the flowers and décor- Karyn couldn’t be here but Kelsey and Sarah, Denise are here. www.heysidelines.com All Seasons Event Rental- Vernon Greene for the couches, linens, blinged out ottomans, highboys, chairs and more. www.allseasonseventrental.com EpagaFOTO photographers for capturing the evening- Jessica Roark www.epagaFOTO.com The Open Air Photo Booth from John & Cate Desprico of The Photobus Co. www.thephotobuskc.com Chef Shop Stark- Nancy Stark for our treats tonight www.chefshopstark.com
Innovative Lighting for our GOBO. www.innovativelightingdesign.com
Lost Wax & Chris Davis for making the night rock on. www.jukeboxxmedia.com
And my husband Kevin, who purchased the liquor!
Cheesy Elvis stuff.. that’s on me.
Elvis has left the building but Simple Elegance certainly has not! Here’s to many more hunka, hunka years!
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