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 Arkansas wedding planner Meredith Corning today!

Name: Meredith Corning

Business Name & Location: Meredith Events in Northwest Arkansas (Rogers, AR)

Years Working in the Event Industry: 8 years

Years Owning Your Event Planning Business:  6 years

Website: www.MeredithEvents.com

Business Facebook Page:  MeredithEvents

Instagram: @meredithevents

What is your typical day like?

My day typically starts at 8 AM with a nice cup of coffee. I am admittedly slow in the mornings and take this time to read articles, check email, and scroll through social media.

Since I work from home, I totally embrace the “my work is me” lifestyle. I do not force myself to start or stop working at certain times.  My work happens organically and tasks are completed throughout the day at my leisure and often into the night. Because of this lifestyle, I rarely feel stressed out or rushed.  This comes after years of trying to develop work habits that sound amazing in articles written by “successful” entrepreneurs who have a cookie cutter model for all to follow if you want to be like them – these never worked for me (ha)!  

My day is spent communicating with clients and vendors, creating wedding day timelines, scheduling initial client consultations and meetings, developing floor plans, blogging, planning my social media feed, pitching my previous weddings to editors for publication, and designing beautiful weddings for my clients.  My husband and I typically take a nature walk in the evenings since we live next to a bike trail – this is how I unwind, keep healthy, and stay grounded.

I love to cook dinner for my family and enjoy moments like these to connect with the things in life that matter most. I am a total night owl and stay up pretty late, usually reading and researching things that I am interested in.  

How did you get started in the industry?

My background is marketing and public relations in the fashion industry.  I am an art school graduate and have taken A LOT of formal educational courses over the years in writing, literature, interior design, and yes, wedding planning.  I’m not even sure the formal education is worth mentioning as I am firm believer in learning by doing at this stage in my life.

I started in event planning in 2011 on a whim. I had a fashion blog that led me into planning fashion shows and events until one day I had the idea to plan a boutique bridal show. Segueing into wedding planning was an easy transition from the fashion world and I love all aspects of weddings in the same way I loved the fashion industry.  Elements of trend forecasting, color palettes, design, expression, organization, and hustle encompass both worlds making weddings a perfect fit for me by adding the element of love (awwww).

What inspires you?

This could be a really long list!  To narrow down, I love Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, 100 Layer Cake, Green Wedding Shoes, and Rock N’ Roll Bride to name a few industry publications.  

For the business side, I read PR Couture, Hub Spot, and Jenna Kutcher’s blog.

For lifestyle and inspiration, I follow artist, Guinevere von Sneeden, and author, Laren Stover – they give me the warm and fuzzy feelings.

What are your favorite online resources for your business?

My saving grace is canva.com.  I literally use it all the time for marketing materials, social media, and even floor plans. Unlike a lot of my planner friends, I do not use any paid software for my business. I rely on free resources like hellosign.com for my contracts and squareup.com for invoicing. When I started my wedding planning business, I had zero capital and these tools just stuck with me.  

I am sure we all use Pinterest, but it’s worth mentioning as a great tool for planning, staying connected to your clients’ vision, and for marketing yourself. I have recently started using Planoly’s app and mapping out my Instagram feed, but I do not use it to post for me as I heard it will affect your posts’ algorithm.

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

Totally boring and cliche answer here, but I love spending time with my family.  I have been married for seventeen years and have two totally amazing daughters, ages sixteen and eleven. Our favorite place to travel is Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a small, quaint town nestled in the Ozark Mountains. It is full of artists, musicians, good food, and even better shopping. In fact, we just relocated to be closer to this area of the state because we love it so much and feel so at home in this “neck of the woods.” I have traveled many places over my lifetime, but there’s no place like home.

Meredith, 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.