I’ve been a Houston Wedding Planner for over 7yrs and time sure is flying by. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately. And also a lot of home remodeling, artwork, cooking from scratch, playing outside with kids and working out with my new bestie, the Peloton.

And I realized as I help one of my COVID Brides design what her ‘new’ wedding day will look like that I really love what I do. And the reasons why I became a wedding planner in Houston still exist for me today and I want to give you a little insight to my why.

How it all started…

This past Sunday was the 12yr anniversary of my graduation from West Point. And just 90 days before that graduation…I orchestrated a Black History Program at my school With the help of members from the Cadet Gospel Choir and the support of our military officer advisors, we put on a program that I am still proud of to this day. From getting a local dance company from NYC to perform to culturally rich culinary cuisines to executing an all-out production with various poetry, song and dance rendered–everything about that whole experience gave me life. Just months before graduating with a degree in Systems Engineering and preparing to lead America’s sons and daughters in the Army- I’d realized that my calling in life was to plan events.

Everything about reaching out to vendors, coordinating the production, timeline, room layout and promoting the event really lit a fire in me. A flame that still burns bright today.

But what about weddings though?

Now how did all of this translate from event planning to wedding planning specifically? Well I’d never thought about wedding planning before. In fact, couldn’t remember ever attending a single wedding up to that point in my life. But less than 10months after gratuating West Point, I was in Iraq serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. During that time, care packages from family brought me so much joy.

My husband (then boyfriend) would send me wedding magazines during that time. It was full of brides and all types of tablescapes that inspired design layouts for the military events I hosted as an officer. One day I was reading an article from a wedding planner in one of those magazines and it hit me…I don’t want to just plan events…I want to plan WEDDINGS!

The idea literally amplified my love of events SwaLaRue Events was born a few years later. When I got home from deployment I began soaking up all of the knowledge I could get my hands on about planning events and how to start a company. In January 2013, SwaLaRue events was born.

So that’s the story wrapped in iridescent wrapping paper. I became a wedding planner because I stumbled upon it through the pages of my wedding planning magazine. It was something that has always been in me and is now even in my preschool-aged children. They understand the value of designing a space, creating timelines and having a unique theme. Something they were literally born with.

So what’s your story? How did you get to where you are today?