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 Georgia wedding planner Rachel Keco today!

Name: Rachel Keco

Business Name & Location: Salt and Silk Weddings, Augusta, Georgia

Years Working in the Event Industry: about 8 months

Website: www.saltandsilk.com

Business Facebook Page: Salt + Silk Weddings by Rachel Keco

Instagram: @saltandsilkweddings

What is your typical day like?

My typical day starts around 6 AM when I get up to attempt to get ready before my one year old wakes up. I get her fed and changed and while she plays I spend a few minutes on my business Instagram account posting for the day. Then my three year old son gets up and it’s hard-core mom-mode until about 1pm!

From 1-5pm my in-laws (who live with us) take care of my children while I work. I work from home or a coffee shop most days and fit all client and vendor meetings into this afternoon time slot. I do try to time block and devote certain days of the week to blog posts and website maintenance, some days to social media planning, some to marketing and networking efforts, and of course, current client management more often than anything!

After working, it’s back to mom mode until about 10 pm, when I either get back on Instagram, clean out my inbox, or if I’m feeling overworked, just watch Netflix for an hour and then go to bed. My days off are typically Sundays and Mondays. This lifestyle is only made possible by my extremely supportive husband and his parents. I could never juggle motherhood and running a wedding planning business without them!

How did you get started in the industry?

My husband and I had our big “wedding day” during our fifth year of marriage to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. We originally got married in a courthouse and always wanted to have a big wedding and reception to celebrate with our families. After planning that celebration for over a year from several states away (the wedding was in Fort Worth, TX and we lived in both Monterey, CA and Augusta, GA during that year of planning), I realized I loved everything about the process. I loved the logistics of planning, the beauty and aesthetics of designing everything, and in the end, the actual event was well worth all the long months of planning and I wasn’t quite ready to tuck away all that knowledge and experience I gained through the process. I talked it over with my husband and decided I wanted to dive in head first and start my own planning and design business. 

What inspires you?

I take a lot of inspiration from my travels and the many places we have lived as a military family. In my first styled shoot to celebrate my launch, for example, I took inspiration from my study abroad experiences in Prague and planned a design centering on the work of Alfons Mucha.

For my clients, I take the direction for my design from getting to know them and what is important to them. This always forms the core vision of their design plan. Once I feel I have established that, I scour Pinterest for things that fit their personalities and ideas, and always keep my eye on my favorite Instagram accounts, like @greenweddingshoes, @offbeatbride, @aislesociety, and @rocknrollbride.

What are your favorite online resources for your business?

Oncewed has been huge for me. They offer free webinars on a regular basis and whether they are specifically about planning or feature professionals in related industries like floral and photography, I always come away from watching those webinars with new ideas and renewed energy for my own work.

Another invaluable resource for me has been my local Tuesdays Together/Rising Tide Society Chapter. Getting involved with them has helped me meet so many helpful and amazing vendors in my area who have strengthened my own wedding business through partnership and also just giving great advice. I would recommend any professional, whether just starting out or well established, look for a local chapter. If one doesn’t exist, consider contacting Rising Tide Society about starting one!

A tool that literally runs my business is Google’s app suite. From Google forms and docs to my business email and drive account, I couldn’t stay organized, communicate with clients, and share information with my vendor teams without it!

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

Work (both my wedding business and my day job) take up so much of my time that I try to spend every spare minute I can with my kids and my husband. We are both big coffee drinkers and make it a point to scope out the best local coffee shops each time we move so we can grab coffee and go on Saturday morning strolls outdoors with the kids.

Rachel, 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.

Photography by Alex Blair Photography