Welcome to our “Day in the Life” series! We feature wedding and event planners from around the world with many different levels of experience. If you would like to be featured, download our questionnaire here and email your responses and photo to info@plannerslounge.com. We are excited to feature Nashville wedding planner Krisy Parker Thomas today!

Name: Krisy Parker Thomas 

Business Name & Location: Southern Sparkle Wedding & Event Planning in Nashville, TN

Years Working in the Event Industry: 1 year

Years Owning Your Event Planning Business: Less than a year (Started in February)

Website:  www.southernsparkleweddings.com

What is your typical day like?

My day starts at around 6:45. Our sweet rescue dog, Savannah, doesn’t understand the meaning of sleeping in. Once she gets her morning walk, the work day officially begins. I start off with checking my email and responding to any unanswered emails. I have a “24 hour rule” where each email must be responded to no later than the next day.

After responding to my emails, I check the website for comments and reply to the comments. If it’s a blog day, I make sure my blog is proofread and then published. Then I go on my social media round up to check Facebook, Pinterest,  and Instagram. I try to post at least every day on Facebook and Pinterest. And at least every other day for Instagram. Facebook has been my main source of social media because I have more followers.

Then I participate in my blog round up. I LOVE blogs. Not just wedding blogs, I love fashion blogs as well. I have my full list of blogs that I check every day. Reading these blogs is the equivalent of reading a newspaper for me.

My afternoon consists of wedding office tasks. Creating timelines, scheduling meetings with vendors, emailing my clients, and research for my preferred vendor list. I try to wind down by 5:00 and begin my role as a wife, to my husband Chris.

I love to cook, so I try to make a meal every night for us. After dinner, I check Facebook and my email one last time before completely unplugging. My husband and I then watch our favorite TV shows and head to bed.

How did you get started in the industry?

The anticipation and tears of joy from the mother as she helps her baby girl with her veil, when the nervous groom sees his gorgeous bride as she walks down the aisle with her beaming and proud father,  and the honored family members who hold back tears as they give their speeches during the reception. These are the moments that literally give me chills and butterflies in my stomach.

I am sure that most girls begin thinking about their wedding day from a very young age. Thanks in part to Disney. We see the gorgeous Disney Princesses in their spectacular gowns, and from that day on, the countdown to when we get to have our fairytale wedding begins. However, I think what sets me apart from most little girls is I LITERALLY started planning my wedding. I had a notebook, and not just any notebook. My wedding notebook was a three ring binder filled with magazine clippings for bridesmaids’ dresses, flowers, and cakes. I had spreadsheets detailing an estimation of cost varying from the flower expense, the DJ expense, even down to how much the mother of the bride dress would be. Not only did I have the full entire bridal party, I had the officiant, wedding singer, and the most important part…the groom.

Fast forward through high school and college…and I had a career in commercial banking. My organization “genes” are being put to full use as I assisted three executive members of the bank. I kept up with their calendars, set up catered lunch meetings, and kept them a float during the work week. Despite the fact that I was very good at my job and the executive members “don’t know how they survived without me” (quoted from my reviews), I was not happy. I didn’t wake up excited to go to work every day. At that office, I was surrounded by friends who knew exactly what their calling was (in finance) from the moment they started college. So I felt sadness and borderline jealousy that I didn’t have the zeal and excitement about my career.

On March 4^th, 2013, the love of my life proposed. Our 6 month engagement consisted of me setting up the vendor appointments, reviewing the contracts, creating updated spreadsheets (my “notebook” documents were a tad outdated), and handling all of the logistics. I was extremely blessed to have my amazing mother handle the design aspect of my wedding. She has always been my go-to with anything design related. She has some experience in interior design, and she just gets me. I told her how I envisioned our wedding, and she made it come to life. I hired a day-of coordinator to handle all of my hard work and planning. After the wedding, she mentioned that I should plan weddings for a living. This struck a chord with me. Why had I never thought of that before?! I had helped and assisted with all my other friends who were planning their weddings. This included setup of their receptions.

After finding the Bridal Society with the help of my mom, I became a certified wedding planner through their program and haven’t looked back since. I booked my first wedding and helped a dear friend make her destination wedding dreams come true.  Then in July, I booked my first “non-friend” bride. This was so exciting. My goal for the year was just to get one wedding booked for 2015. I feel so blessed that there have been so many steps to lead me to where I am today. I now wake up happy and excited to get the day started. I LOVE my business, and I love planning weddings.

Where do you find design inspiration?

I LOVE blogs. Wedding & fashion blogs are my favorites. I draw inspiration from these blogs, as well as Pinterest. I live in Nashville, so I feel like you can’t help but be inspired living in the Music City. I also draw inspiration from chatting with my business partner, my mom. She has an amazing eye for details and is always creating one-of-kind items for brides.

What are your favorite online resources for your business?

As I mentioned before I check blogs on an everyday basis. I am OBSESSED with the following blogs.

The Perfect Palette, Style Me Pretty, and The Pink Bride.

Krisy, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story and a day in your life. If you are an event planner and would like to be featured, download our questionnaire today and email it to us along with a photo. If you aren’t sure about being featured, take a few minutes to read how it can help your business.