What Makes us Different at RRE | My Perspective as the Newest Member of the Team
Hey y’all!
I want to start off by saying thank you to all of our readers who have been following along the past few weeks! Blogging is a completely new experience for me, but I can tell you all that it is definitely growing on me. Speaking of new experiences, today I want to tell y’all about my experience so far as the newest member of the Rebecca Rose Events team.
Growing up, if you asked me what I wanted to be when I was older, I would usually answer with “Pastry Chef”. The idea of baking cakes and sweets was always something that intrigued me, and to this day, it still does! I have a huge sweet tooth and love to bake sweet treats whenever I can! As I got older, the question was no longer, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” The question became, “What are you going to study when you get to college?” To that question, I would always answer, “I am going to culinary school to become a pastry chef!”
Nancy Ray Photography
As the years went by and I finally needed to decide where I was going to go to school, I realized that I could always go to culinary school later on in life, but that I needed to have a college degree first. I decided to go to the University of Houston, to study Hotel and Restaurant Management… Go Coogs!!!
During my first semester at UH I discovered a new passion, one that I was so much more excited about than I ever was about baking. At that point, I realized that the world of weddings and events was the one for me, the industry that would steal my heart forever.
While I was in college, I interned for a wedding planning firm in Houston, and learned so much about this amazing industry. I assisted many different planners, worked countless wedding weekends, and attended many strategic planning meetings with planning partners. I also held an event planning leadership position within my sorority, Delta Gamma, where I planned our socials, formals, and date parties. Upon graduating, I was offered a job to work closely with my third passion, which was the world of beverage. For a little over a year and a half, I was an on-premise liquor sales representative, where I learned sales techniques, many tasty cocktail recipes, and time management skills. I knew during my time in beverage sales that I was missing the satisfaction and joy that the wedding world brought me, so I decided I needed to make a large change in my life.
I looked all over the country for different planning teams, but instantly fell in love with Rebecca Rose Events. Their aesthetic, style, and planning approach were something I found so incredibly unique when compared to anyone else. I knew they were the team I needed to be a part of... the real question was, how would I do it? How could I make that dream become a reality?
To this day, Betsy and I joke that what was intended to be a quick “chat” phone call to get to know one another, turned into a 2 hour long phone call, that felt like two friends catching up. I instantly knew that both she and Becca shared that same passion with me, and that they would do anything to make sure their clients were happy.
Now that I am actually a part of the RRE team, I can tell you first hand how right that instinct was. Moving to North Carolina and joining Becca and Betsy was the best decision I have made in my life to this point.
At RRE we do nearly everything for our weddings. We work with amazing venues across the country, caterers, musicians, rental companies, photographers, lighting specialists, and the list goes on. But perhaps the most special thing about RRE, is that when it comes to the design and look of our client’s weddings, there is virtually no outsourcing. We are the stationer, we are the florist, we are the full creative production team that sets up and tears down each and every event. This different and unique approach really sunk in when I worked at my first RRE wedding. I remember looking at both Betsy and Becca and telling them how happy I was to be back in the wedding world, but how much I needed to learn from them because that wedding was unlike any wedding I had ever worked previously!
Past events I had worked, would be completely set when I arrived, or were in the process of being set by the production team. Those production teams were amazing and I appreciated them for everything they did for those events. But I have to say... I feel that much more excited and energized on a wedding day when I can look into a room that is completely set up and I know I was there from the time the first table went out onto the floor. It is crazy to think that you can work from 8 AM to 2 AM on an event day, without stopping to sit down, and still feel so passionate and invigorated. Those long wedding days, or weekends, are the times when our team grows closer, we learn from one another, and we improve on our individual skill sets.
Nancy Ray Photography
That is just what makes RRE different on a wedding weekend. There is still the whole planning aspect with the RRE team that is so different than what I previously knew. When I first learned about our creative session process at RRE, I thought to myself, why is this not an industry norm? For those of you who don't know, each wedding planning process begins with an incredibly comprehensive full day creative session. Combining so many details and tasks into one day of planning, designing, and getting to know each other is so beneficial for not only ourselves as planners but for our clients too. It's such a fun way to really dive deep into logistics and aesthetics all at once. More on our creative sessions soon!
Finding my way back into this industry, I have learned that there are many different approaches to planning, design, and production. I know that if I could go back in time and decide if I wanted to be a part of this planning team or another, I would always choose Rebecca Rose Events.
XO - Nicole