Michelle Bromley is the owner of Here To Help - A full-service wedding and event planning business located in Austin, Texas. She is our FIRST featured Interview!
1. Please
tell us about your business and how you got your start in the wedding industry
here in Austin.It’s been quite a journey but I am now the Owner and Senior Event Planner & Designer for Here to Help! (aka Allison’s Events by Michelle). Although my team and I specialize in wedding planning and execution, we also plan fundraisers, galas, birthday and Christmas parties and any other social event you can think of. Associate Coordinator Amanda Ervin, CWEP (below) recently booked a 30th birthday party with a Rocky Horror Picture Show theme to be held at Palm Door. We are all excited for that one!
I have been in the event industry in Austin, Texas for fifteen years. I have worked for venues, catering companies, a charter cruise ship and planning companies. I got my start at a Bed & Breakfast on Lake Travis. I helped the owner transform the B&B into a full-blown wedding facility where I was responsible for everything...sales, planning, set-up/tear-down, event execution and management...I mean everything. And then I was fortunate enough to help create the wedding program for The OASIS restaurant. During that time, the Austin Chapter of the networking organization known as ISES, The International Special Events Society, was formed and I joined in 2004. I served on the board of directors for that chapter from 2005 to 2010 and have won an array of awards from this organization. In return for my service to this organization, my career as a full-blown wedding planner has taken off a lot quicker than I feel it would have without ISES.
2. What sets your business apart from the
competition?
For one, my team are all (or soon will
be) Certified Wedding and Event Planners.
I think that it is very important moving forward that brides (and anyone
else looking for special event planners) check for certifications. In addition to industry organizations such as
ISES, NECI and LWPI hosting certification programs, universities and colleges
all over the country are adding event industry related tracts to their
offerings, and soon it will be hard for those to start or stay in business that
don’t have the education necessary to produce some of the biggest milestone
events in people’s lives.
3. Tell us about one of the most challenging aspects
of your job.
By far, the most challenging aspect
of my career is educating newly engaged brides that they NEED a planner. In most cases, family steps in and says that
they can plan the wedding and execute it and dismiss claims and experiences from others about things not
running so smoothly on wedding day. I
have even heard stories of families being torn apart because of a wedding day
that went awry and no one had the experience to handle the issues or deal with
the situations and they snowballed quickly.
As a Psychology major in college, I understand the human condition to
learn by experience rather than heeding advice.
However, many wedding days could have been saved and turned into the
happy, memorable celebrations they were meant to be if an impartial,
experienced planner or even day-of coordinator had been hired and utilized.
4. Name one thing about your job that most people
don’t know.
We can negotiate on our clients’
behalves and save them money (even as much as our fee) because of our
long-standing vendor relationships.
Other wedding professionals like to work with planners because of our
experience and our clients benefit from those relationships and experience.
5. What is one piece of advice you would have for new
planners in the industry?
GET CERTIFIED! I know you said one, but I have two…join
networking organizations. Word-of- mouth
is the best marketing tool you have and how can people talk about or refer you
if they have never met you or seen you in action?
6. What
are some of the trends you see happening right now?
Signs,
signs, everywhere are signs! Also,
vintage-modern or retro-industrial is still all the rage in Interior Design as
well as events.
7. How has the rise of DIY brides impacted what you
do?
Not really negatively at all…brides still need
someone to set out the decorations they’ve made and make sure they do all their
traditions within the allotted event time.
Maybe more day-of clients rather than full planning…I’d have to track
that.
8. What is your best advice for couples who try to
plan everything on their own?
Have you ever been
engaged before? Have you ever planned a
wedding or even an important life event before?
Your relationship will be budding and developing during this process and
I have seen couples take the stress of the wedding and turn that into
relationship stress. That does not need
to happen! How are your family
dynamics? Does your mother want to plan
everything? Does she want what you
want? I have also seen family
relationships strained because of wedding planning. My advice is to hire an impartial,
experienced planner to advise, execute and deal with any issues that arise and
you along with your family and friends be guests at the biggest celebration of
your life and ENJOY! No one in your
party needs to be sweeping and mopping a venue in formal dress at the end of a
very emotionally charged day.
9. Please share one of the most memorable weddings
you have done.
I
have planned and produced a lot of memorable weddings, but one of my favorites
was held earlier this year at a family residence in Westlake. The groom came across my website and told me
he was hiring me for two reasons: 1. Because I made an impact on him with my
advice of why couples need a planner, and 2. Because we listened to the same
80’s bands and danced our rumps off at the clubs of that time period. He asked me if he was going to be able to
hire me and still stay within their budget of around 8K. I made him aware of the Austin averages and
said it would be challenging but if he took my advice and hired the vendors I
suggested, we could do it. He did and we
did! They both resided and worked in
Arizona and I didn’t even meet the groom in person until the day of the
rehearsal. The bride only came down once
to visit and we jam packed all the vendor meetings in while she was here. I also got to design the décor. That is one of my favorite elements of any
event so I enjoyed seeing the final product.
It was a magical intimate backyard wedding and I was honored to be a
part of it. (Photos below).
Photos by Ron Parks Photography
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