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 featured, download our questionnaire here and email your responses and photo to info@plannerslounge.com. We are excited to feature Denae Brennan today!

Name: Denae Brennan

Business Name & Location: Denae Brennan Weddings & Events, Rochester, MN

Number of Years Working in the Event Industry: almost 8 years

Number of Years Owning Your Event Planning Business: It will be 1 year in May!

Website: www.denaebrennan.com

Twitter: @denaebrennan

What is your typical day like?

I am still working a full-time “day job” so my day starts with a typical routine of getting ready then heading into my corporate office. Thankfully that job does allow me to access my wedding business email, so I typically check that first thing in the morning and respond to any urgent messages. Then most of my wedding work is done over my lunch hour or after 5pm. I try to schedule vendor meetings over lunch or in the evenings, and since all of my clients work a full-time job as well, they are typically only available to meet during these times too.

Once I get home from my corporate job, I go into wedding planner mode and head straight to my home office where I try to work an hour or two before my husband gets home from his job. We always try to eat dinner together, and we often cook together, so I make sure to step away from the computer for a while to enjoy his company. Then it’s usually back to work until 10 or 11pm. It’s not ideal right now but we’re making it work until I can jump into wedding planning full time!

How did you get started in the industry?

I just started in the wedding industry last year, and truly did not realize my love for weddings until I planned my own three years ago. However, I have been planning events for nearly eight years in some capacity. It started with an internship during college at the University of Kansas where I planned tennis and racquetball tournaments for a state-wide sporting competition. I remained in the sports realm for the next five years at the Fiesta Bowl, a non-profit in Phoenix, Arizona that hosts post-season college football games. There I planned several events for national media, and gained valuable communications, writing and editing experience as well. I then took a job as the events manager for an opera company, planning all fundraising, donor cultivation and stewardship events.

Then my husband and I relocated to Minnesota for an incredible job opportunity for him. While I searched for a job, I also did some searching of my soul. I loved planning our wedding and had never really stopped checking out ideas online and in magazines. The idea of working for myself was also extremely attractive! I decided to go for it and dove head first into researching “how to be a wedding planner” online. I already had the event background, so my focus was getting my foot in the door in the local wedding industry. I spent months researching local venues and vendors, and did a lot of reading on how to start and run a business, including taking a community education class on how to write a business plan. I also got involved with several different charity events to meet people and get my name out there. Then I decided to put an ad on Craigslist and booked my first client! Business has been growing ever since and I will celebrate my one-year anniversary since my first wedding next month.

Where do you find design inspiration?

Pinterest! Oh how I wish Pinterest existed when I planned my own wedding. It’s such an amazing resource for wedding ideas. Style Me Pretty is a staple and A Northwoods Wedding is great – I love its focus on Midwest weddings. I also like to get décor ideas from home furnishing catalogs like Crate and Barrel and West Elm. I think the best inspiration comes from my couples. I like to sit down with them in the beginning and really get to know them, figure out what they want their wedding day to look like, but also learn about what they like to do for fun.

What are your favorite online resources for your business?

I actually discovered Planner’s Lounge right after it launched and it has been one of my best resources as I build my business! I love Lara Casey from Southern Weddings Magazine for business and life inspiration. Sage Wedding Pros is AMAZING! Those ladies have been so helpful in many aspects of running a business. The ladies at AaB Creates have a great blog, Always a Blogsmaid, and have a weekly Wedding Pro Wednesday column that’s fantastic. I also follow Entrepreneur Magazine on Twitter for more general, non-wedding business advice.

Denae, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story and 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.