How did you get started in wedding and event planning?

I’ve always had a passion for baking, a passion inherited from my mom. When birthdays came around in my family, we all knew a delicious cake would soon be awaiting us. As I started growing older, I realized that while my mom made cakes for all of us, no one ever made one for her on her birthday. I decided it was time to change this sad tradition. Easier said than done! The baking part was easy for me, but what was difficult was the decorating part, as I wanted something absolutely beautiful for her.

My mom used to love roses, so I wanted to make a cake with lots of pretty roses. Knowing my decorating skills were extremely limited, I decided to take a few local decorating classes. Here is where my passion for cake decorating was born. After numerous classes and cakes for practice, needless to say, the family was tired of many cakes and shortly thereafter, all my practice cakes found a new home at work. My co-workers saw the pretty little practice cakes and started inquiring about cakes for their kids’ birthdays, etc. Cakes To Remember was then born. On a side note, for my mom’s next birthday, she had a beautiful cake decked out with so many sugar roses!

Shortly after, our services expanded to flowers, as my sister and then business partner, who had a love for floral decor teamed up to create Flowers To Remember. Our services continued to expand to event planning, when we realized we were already assisting many of our clients in the planning and design area. A company rebranding was needed…A Day To Remember was then born, encompassing all of our services into one company.

What are all the types of services you offer? What is your most popular service?

For thirteen years, A Day To Remember offered event planning and design, floral and cake services. In 2013, A Day To Remember decided to remove cake services, as the demand for event planning and design was really strong. As lead planner and business owner, I was also the company’s baker and work was spreading me thin. It was a difficult decision, but one I’ve been happy to make. I now have more time and dedication to my clients, and I’ve traded in part of my creative outlet of cake design to stationery design!

I was a graphic designer in my former career, so stationery was a great service to offer after experiencing an unpleasant experience with a stationery house for my personal wedding.

Our most popular service continues to be Event Planning and Design.

What advice do you have for someone who is new to the industry?

Pay your dues! Intern with other event planning companies, as this will allow you the opportunity to realize if  this is the career path you want to take. Event planning is NOT…I repeat…It is NOT glamorous, but by golly, it’s rewarding!

What are the biggest factors that have contributed to your successful business?

Biggest factor has to be the passion I have for my job…if you can call it a job. Being the daughter of an entrepreneur, I knew what it was going to take to run a business. When I decided to take the leap, I put myself in God’s hands and I’m proud to say I’ve never looked back. It doesn’t hurt that I’ve put heart and soul to build the company to what it is today.

You are very involved in your local events community. How has that helped your career?

Being involved with NACE has been one of the best decisions as a business owner. I now sit on the board of  the Houston NACE chapter as Programs Director, as I feel I need to give back to the organization that has helped me so much. My business has grown due to my commitment and relationships I’ve forged through our NACE members.

You can connect with Claudia here:
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Claudia, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us!