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 photos to info@plannerslounge.com. We are excited to feature Kenya wedding planner Muthoni Muiruri today!

Name: Muthoni Muiruri

Business Name & Location: Portrait of a Bride, Nairobi, Kenya

Years working in the Event Industry: 2.5 years

Years Owning Your Event Planning Business: 2.5 years

Website: www.portraitofabride.co.ke

Business Facebook Page: portraitofabrideke

Instagram: @portraitofabride_ke

What is your typical day like?

My typical day starts at 5:30am when my alarm goes off. I always seem to struggle to get out of bed so I will check my social media accounts and find out what was going on in the industry while I was asleep. Instagram is always a good ‘wake me up’.  I still have full-time job and I try to be in the office before 8am. I check my emails over the lunch hour, respond to any urgent ones, and schedule meetings during this time.

My wedding planner day comes into full swing at 4pm. This is when I schedule my meetings with clients, consultations, vendor meetings, design meetings, and walk-throughs. and vendors. When I do not have any meetings scheduled, I go home (which doubles up as my office) and work on my client’s budgets, wedding design, and contracts. I also use this time to update and work on new content for my blog which I run concurrently with my wedding and event planning business.

How did you get started in the industry?

I would say that planning found me and not the other way around. I have always had a passion for planning and organizing events – from parties, showers, get-togethers, and weddings. I would generally do it for friends and family for free. Planning my own wedding was the big eye-opener. My planning journey was a roller coaster ride which had many highs and lows in equal proportion, and I loved every second of it. I was hungry for ideas and inspiration and spent months scouring the internet and magazines for ideas.

I came out of the experience with a wealth of knowledge, but most importantly, with the realization that Kenyan brides would benefit immensely from a frequently updated on-line platform featuring achievable and unique big day inspiration and professional guidance to navigate through the wedding planning process.  Hence, Portrait of a Bride was born.

What inspires you?

Beauty inspires me. Love inspires me. The coming together of two people in a celebration of love inspires me.

I derive a lot of inspiration from Munaluchi Bridal and Black Bride primarily because they focus on women of color like myself. I also draw a lot of design inspiration from Pinterest and my clients. Every bride has an idea of how they would like their wedding to be. My job as a planner is to help them conceptualize and realize those ideas.

What are your favorite online resources for your business?

Munaluchibridal.com and Blackbride.com

Pinterest – My entire wedding concept was planned on Pinterest.

Aside from wedding and event planning, how do you spend your time?

I love reading; you can always find me with my kindle reader devouring a book. I love long drives. I also immensely enjoy my wine.

Muthoni, 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.