Diary Of A Wedding Planner

Did I Always Know I'd Be an Event Planner?

For those who’ve wondered if I always knew I’d end up as an event planner, the answer is a big NO!  

I never thought wedding planning would be my career path. But life is full of surprises... things change, people change, passions evolve, and all these changes shape who we become.  

I started out running an ushering agency, and while it was doing okay, I felt unchallenged. It was too easy to get ladies to become ushers, and at some point, it seemed like everyone was doing it. If there’s one thing I dislike, it’s doing something that feels easy. I crave challenges, they fuel me.  

That desire for something more led me to the event industry. During my days running the ushering agency, I realized how much I enjoyed making guests feel comfortable and ensuring events ran smoothly. Those moments gave me joy.  

Still, I didn’t immediately think of becoming an event planner. But as time passed and my passion for events, especially weddings grew, I decided to take the leap and follow that spark.  

I didn’t have the funds for professional training. So, I trained myself. I devoured anything I could find about weddings, bought old wedding magazines, and spent hours reading.  

I remember asking a friend of mine, Dr. Niyi, who wasn’t even in the country at the time, to send me wedding magazines. He thought it was such an unusual request, but he got them for me anyway. (Thank you, Dr. Niyi!)  

Every night, I read for at least two hours. Those magazines and articles became my training ground. Today, I can proudly say I’m a self-taught wedding planner. I learned everything on the job, through trial and error, and sheer determination.  

The journey wasn’t easy... far from it. From struggling to find clients to making major mistakes, I quickly realized that what I read in those magazines was very different from what working at actual events taught me.  

But those challenges shaped me into the planner I am today. And now, I’m excited to share that journey with you in the upcoming episodes of my Wedding Planning Diary.

Stay tuned as I dive into the lessons, mistakes, and wins that have defined my career so far.  

With love,  

Olamide,

The Journey (Series 7)

Let me start by apologising for the long break, I have been so busy with weddings but I am back now. Thank you for all the mails, it has also encouraged me to create time to write.

So where were we? Ha ha! My gbese (debt). Over 200k in debt, I knew I had to start something and fast too. I was able to save up a little money from my previous job (an advert executive at one of the foremost fashion magazine, Wow! Magazine.

I have always saved money from coins to notes (thank you daddy for buying us piggy banks from or tender ages)

I had about N80,000 saved up and I paid part of the debt with N70,000 and kept N10,000 for other unforeseen circumstances that may come up.

I decided to come up with another method of advertising what I did. I talked and wrote about our services and why it was a necessity to have hostesses at events and people were beginning to buy the idea and then the big break came! 

This was in April 2015, please be reminded that the first audition was in July 2013. So this was almost two years after. 

So after the last free ushering job in April, 2015, I got another call from a wedding planning company. They wanted to use my hostesses! I was delighted! I charged a sum of 6k per hostess. It was a two day event, so I was paid for two days each for the hostesses. The agreed but I still didn't have the required outfits and colour. I bought each outfit for N1,500/outfit (for the white outfit), and also spent N1,800/outfit for the traditional attire. so I was left with N4,500 and N4,200 respectively.

I paid the hostesses N8,000 each for both days. Not much profit but it was something. 

After the job, I continued with the advertisment, letting people understand the importance of hostesses at events and somehow, more doors started opening. We had atleast 6 or 8 jobs from April till December. It was a relief. We also had about 5 weddings that we planned. 

In my next few posts, I will be talking about my wedding planning journey. 

In all, perseverance pays eventually. It may be hard at first, you may derail from the initial passion into other things, people may not believe in your dream (and honestly, they dont have to) as long as you believe. 

Keep at it. Persevere and be ready for all the hardwork, disappointments and delays that may come with trying something new.

And with God on your side, you will succeed eventually.

Love,

Olamide~ The Heiress

The Journey (Series 6)

You can't spell Challenge without Change.

The break or so I thought.

I started getting the attention of potential buyers, started taking orders and ordering from this online store. Hmmmn, the suffer wey I suffer no be small. I ordered for so many items at once because my customers just kept placing orders. My first set of orders were accessories. It took forever to get to Nigeria. 

Eventually, after about 7 weeks, they eventually arrived but to my surprise, they looked totally different from what the online picture displayed. I was devastated. 

How do I explain to the customer who had waited for almost two months that her goods were not the same thing and there must have been a mix up somewhere. Eventually, I had to return the money. (first loss)

That did not stop me, I forged ahead and ordered for more things, including bridal wears for some brides, I had calculated at most two months maximum for the goods to arrive, but to my disappointment, the goods never arrived. I had disappointed a bride, I was crushed. I apologised profusely but it all fell on deaf ears (Who could blame her). I had to yet again return money to another customer.

I was always tensed and these customers won't stop calling to ask when their items would be delivered. It was always one issue or the other. If it was not the size, then the material will be inferior or not the same design as what was ordered for. I still have items in my closet that arrived late or wasn't the actual size ordered for, that I had to return money for.

Then I decided to try Dubai, I thought to myself, if one door closes, another will open. It opened alright but... I don't know which was worse. I was introduced to someone in the business and he lived in Dubai, what he did for me was to go to their market, send pictures of what they had in stock and send to me. 

I would advertise and get customers to make payments and then would send the money to him to purchase these goods and send to me in Nigeria. The first few times went smoothly but subsequently, his clientele base grew and he started mixing orders. I once had about 20 handbags mixed with my orders and I had to pay customs for clearing these items. 

I was angry, unhappy and grumpy. I was not fulfilled and I was spending money that I did not have.

During this trying period, one thing that remained constant was the fact that I still wanted to continue the ushering business. It always kept rearing its beautiful head to tell me that she was still waiting for me to return to my first love. *big grin*

It was on one of these disappointing encounters with another customer that I decided that enough was enough and I was going to face La' Heiress squarely. 

By this time, I was in debt. I had no money. I had spent all I had on the Personal shopping business and I still needed to pay off debts incurred from my disappointed clients.

I thought it was the end, where was I going to get money to pay off my debts, I was the definition of "temi ba mi". 

It was a verying period for me, over 200k debt. 200k may look small but it was a lot of money to me then. I contemplated committing suicide but I guess I loved life too much to take my own life. Lol

To be continued...

The Journey (Series 5)

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.

The journey was indeed slow. Slower than I thought, I started appreciating all the business owners that I knew. That was when I knew that life was not all roses and one had to be prepared for the thorns as well.

I had a friend Bola (now my closest friend), who was into the same ushering business. Whenever she had a job, she will ask me to provide some hostesses, so I got to advertise her jobs on my social media platforms. 

Nobody needed to know who brought in the jobs as long as they kept coming and people continued believing in the brand. That was all that mattered at the time.

After our first job, there were about 5 other jobs in the period of a year. One of which was in Osogbo. I charged less, ran into huge debts, transported the hostesses all the way to Osogbo in my aunt's bus and back to Ibadan. ( the bus consumed so much fuel that I had silently wished we used the public transportation system instead). I was sad but happy because I was able to get another set of outfits, which also meant a new set of pictures.

In Osogbo

With six Jobs in a year! I knew I had to do something and fast! I couldn't continue like this. I decided to take on a couple of jobs for free the following year (2015) and it wasn't easy. I had to explain to my hostesses my plans and why I had to do it. Some understood while some simply made up excuses not to come on the days they were needed. 

A big shout out to our La' Heiress hostesses who stayed with us when the going was tough! Perpectua, Anastacia, Oyinkan, Busayo, Rose... My love for you girls is priceless!

Three free jobs and I now had pictures that I could show potential clients. I felt I had arrived, that the jobs will be flying in now that I had some pictures but little did I know that I was still VERY wrong! This was in 2015.

1st Free Job (January)

2nd Free Job (January)

3rd Free Job (April)

I waited and waited, continued my vigorous advertisement but all to no avail. I was frustrated, devasted, angry with myself for making yet another mistake (or so I thought). Then I got tired, I gave up and decided to venture into other things and this was when I decided to go into Personal Shopping fully. 

I had ventured into personal shopping sometimes in 2014 but it was supposed to be a side business. I had saved up some cash from my advertising job with a Media Agency (WOW! Media Concepts) and also from my youth service, so I felt ready to launch my new business. 

I got to know about a popular online store that sold anything and everything you could think of and without much enquiries, I went in blindly and started taking pictures from this online store and posting it on my social media platforms. It wasn't long before people started patronising me. Little did I know that this period was going to be one of the most difficult and challenging times in my entrepreneurial journey. 

To be continued...

La' Heiress Is 3 Today!

La' Heiress is 3 today! (27-06-2016)

Unfortunately, I have not been able to come up with anything to celebrate our 3rd year anniversary. The one thing I did do was to reflect. I reflected on the memories, the good, bad and the ugly memories. And then I thanked God for how far he has brought me.

As lost as I felt then, I just wanted to start and hoped it would count for something. I was unsure, I was afraid, I was happy and sad at the same time. 

Looking back today, I am glad that I started, it has been a challenging journey but God has been faithful. I am not yet where I want to be but I am on the right path.

I have given up. I have lost hope but most of all, I have learnt, I am stronger and I am moving forward, little by little we are getting there. 

Thank you to everyone who has ever believed in me or the brand. In some way, you all have been a source of inspiration to me. 

In the spirit of the our 3rd year anniversary, we would be offering our full wedding planning services to a special couple. 

This couple will also be eligible to receive all our complementary gifts and services which are:

- A customised guestbook

- Our Customised backdrop with the couple's pictures, a red rug and wedding props

- Our La' Heiress gift bag for the bride

- Two on site event coordinators and many more...

* You must follow our instagram account; @laheiress

* You must be getting married between January and July, 2017.

* Your Wedding must be in Lagos or Ibadan.

* Tell us why we should plan your wedding in 150 words. Please add your wedding details, location and date.

Send all details to: olamide@la-heiress.com

May the odds be in your favour! 

Happy Anniversary to La' Heiress. 

The Journey (Series 4)

The race is not given to the swift but to those who endure to the end.

We now had more than enough hostesses to start an ushering agency. We charged each potential usher N1,000 for their forms during the audition and this kind of put me under a lot of pressure to get the girls jobs.

But the jobs were no where to be found. I started wondering if I had made yet another mistake. Some of the ladies started sending me stinker messages. 

I had honestly thought that once I had gotten the hostesses, the jobs will automatically start flowing in. I was wrong, very wrong. 

I started thinking about my former bosses and how easy I thought they got jobs. Then I suddenly remembered one of my bosses statements, in which she asked us (her girls) if we thought it was easy for her to get ushering jobs. 

It had never occurred to me until that moment, that it wasn't going to be easy and I was going to have to work hard to get jobs, to gain the much needed experience that was needed for my agency to grow. My heart sank.

I was under immense pressure after demanding N1,000 from the girls, the stinker text messages were getting to me. Potential clients wanted pictures of previous jobs done and I had none to offer while some other clients wanted outfits that I did not have then. 

This went on for about 4 months, I was vigorously advertising on every platform available. Then one good day, I received a call from an old friend. He told me it was his younger brother's wedding and his contribution was to provide the hostesses for the event and he thought about me because I had been advertising relentlessly on all my social media accounts. (you are the best person to advertise your business) story for another day.

He told me their colour for the day and I told him I would get the outfits. He also mentioned that he did not have much money and that he really needed to contribute his part for the wedding. From N5,000 per girl that I charged him, he bargained to N3,000. I was desperate, I needed the job to keep the girls and also to give me some ray of hope.

I accepted.

It was after I had sealed the deal that it dawned on me that I had to get outfits, I became frantic, I wanted them to look nice but I also needed to make or buy an outfit they could reuse again. 

I also kept thinking of how much I would be able to give the ladies if I bought the outfits from the N3,000 which wasn't even near enough. 

I had to get money somehow. I bought a black and white striped peplum top at N1,500 each and I had to buy 10. I asked the girls to bring black pencil skirts. I also bought red accessories (belts and fascinators) since their colour had a touch of red in it. This cost me an extra N500 on each girl.

I paid the ladies the whole N3,000 and was left with nothing. In fact, it was a loss because I had to spend my money to buy the tops and accessories but I decided not to see it as a loss but rather considered it an investment, an investment that was to jump start La' Heiress Hospitality Services to greater heights.

To be continued...

The Journey (Series 3)

I am learning to trust the journey even when I do not understand it~ Mila Bron

I started with the planning, I still wasn't sure about it but I decided to start. I had this friend, Barrister Akatu AKA Mister Fantastic, as the name implied, he was fantastic, he was my go to person. I don't think anyone believed in me then as much as he did. He was never tired of telling me how much he believed in me and he was just the right person to be with at the time. 

From the moment I told him about my plans, he went from gear 1 to gear 5 in no time. We were able to fix a date for an audition, he went all out for me. He coined the name La' Heiress, so I owe it to God and him. He will always be the number one fan of La' Heiress. He would call me from work if an idea popped into his head, he would send pictures of outfits he thought the hostesses could wear for events. He was EVERYTHING. 

This simply goes to show that with the right person by your side, the right counsel and encouragement, you can pretty much achieve anything. 

During this period, I remember asking friends and family members to help advertise on their different social media platforms but no one was willing to, except a few and I could not force them. So I vigorously advertised on my social media platforms, I wasn't ready to give up, I had spent too much money already to give up now.

We had our first audition on the 27th of July, 2013. We had over 50 ladies which was more than I had thought we would have. It was a huge success.

To be continued...