It’s officially been 2 years since we incorporated Grace and Truth Weddings. In some ways it feels like a different lifetime, in other ways it feels like the blink of an eye.
We have been through pregnancies, births, deaths, celebrations, mournings, encouraging times, discouraging times, and many more emotions. I guess that’s part of why it feels like a long time ago. This was a huge leap of faith for us and we have experienced just about every emotion on the spectrum, multiple times, in our two little years of business.
Two years seems insignificant in the world of success and business, and sometimes we fall prey to playing the comparison game. If you’re in the Birmingham area, you know that there are so many wedding planners to choose from. And they’re all amazing. Eye-catching instagram feeds, modern and chic websites, testimonials and relationships with every venue and vendor. They seem to have it all, and here we are. Just starting out, still trying to find our voice, still building relationships. In all these ways it feels like we haven’t made any progress.
But then we sit and we reflect and we talk about all the things we have learned. And I’m always surprised at how far we’ve come. We’ve made mistakes, we’ve had lessons learned, and we grew from it. And that’s how I know one day we will make it. You can’t go into a new adventure thinking you’ll land on your feet every single time. Sometimes you fall flat on your face. I guess that’s one of the perks of working with your best friend. You don’t have to get back up on your own. You always have someone to look at, laugh with, get back up with, and make a plan to go forward.
We’ve learned lots of practical things like what to add and take out of our emergency kit. We’ve also learned real things. Things about the way our industry works, and about working with people, and about working with each other.
Never underestimate yourself. {she says as she underestimates herself}. Really though. I think we have both learned that under pressure we can do whatever we have to do. I’ve slid in between closing elevator doors like Indiana Jones on the run from a mummy. Ally has stood in between two lines of sparklers with a lighter in each hand like a true pyromaniac. And afterwards, if you look at our apple watch, it would show you that we each died for a little bit because those things terrify us. This entire starting a business and working hard and being a mom and hoping it all works out thing is like standing in the elevator door with your eyes closed and walking through sparklers with a can of hairspray. But we want it bad. And we are going to make it happen.
Over communicate. If you have to think about whether or not you have communicated, you probably haven’t. There is really no such thing as over-communication. This is something we each learned from being married first I think. Granted, it’s a little different asking someone to fold the laundry and take out the trash than making sure every vendor has a timeline and is on the same page. But the principle still applies. The more you communicate, the more people communicate back. This applies to literally every aspect of what we do. We have to communicate with brides, parents, bridal parties, vendors, and each other. Thank goodness there’s two of us because between emails, texts, timelines, Marco Polos, and then husbands and toddlers in the background we could easily end up in the loony bin. But we have finally found our groove and we have a system of communicating with each other that helps us to communicate with others. Each of our prior job experiences has equipped us for this. Ally hates emails. She prefers talking to people in person. I much prefer emails and never make a phone call unless completely necessary. Every lesson we have learned just affirms the way we work together.
Be kind. Honestly, it’s not too much to ask. But the truth is that some people can be hard to work with. Not everyone always jives. People have different ideas, different perspectives, different ways of communicating. It’s not bad. It’s what makes us all unique and our own perspectives are all valuable and what makes us all come together to make beautiful wedding days. We love getting to talk with different florists, photographers, and videographers. They each have their own perspective and artistic vision. We have a certain way that we like to do things as individuals and as a team. Do we agree on everything all the time? Absolutely not. But when we communicate our perspectives and thoughts in a kind way, we have a discourse and come to an agreement every time. There has never been an unsolvable problem.
Here’s to two more years of learning hard lessons and growing into real business people. Happy Birthday, Grace and Truth!