Hello friends! This week I want to introduce you to a one stop shopping service… this wedding planning collective is able to refer you to individual talented people. Think one company that you can book with that has a LOT of local vendors that you need for your wedding. They match you (a bride or a groom) to handpicked vendors that will work best for you and make it as easy as possible for you to plan and execute your wedding. I’ve got Sammie and Josh on the blog today to get you where you need to be in your planning process.
What is the Wedding Collective (perhaps in your own words lol)?
The Wedding Collective is a collaboration of local, independent Minneapolis wedding professionals across over ten essential wedding services. We have hand-picked some fantastic local pros and brought them together in one location for couples to choose from and avoid the lengthy process of searching and asking around. You could just do a google search, but let’s face it, you are going to get a lot of noise, and there’s no guarantee that that vendor will be a good fit for you. Couples can select professionals in whatever services they need, and then book, plan, and manage everything in one place.
The reason we started The Wedding Collective is because couples, on average, can spend as much as 900 hours planning their weddings (unless of course, they hire a planner!). We are trying to help by bringing together trusted professionals in every essential service into one location to reduce the planning time and make it more convenient. We also pride ourselves in connecting them with talented local pros that maybe they wouldn’t have known about before.
Yes, they (we) don’t know all vendors. We can’t! There are just too many people in this world. So, what is the biggest benefit clients receive by using your website and the vendors you offer?
The biggest benefit to our clients is that they don’t have to spend hours and hours searching for vendors online, looking in magazines, asking for referrals, checking availability, scouring through pricing proposals, and so much more. We have done the work for them and brought it all together in one place! Couples work with us to book one to over ten services, and we collaborate with them to connect them with the right vendors that match their style and preferences. In addition to that, we can save couples a ton on their budget by bundling services together.
Yay for bundling! So what type of vendors are a part of the Wedding Collective?
We have over ten services today including photography, videography, DJ Entertainment, photo booth, full service and day-of coordination, officiant, floral, live reception bands and ceremony performers, transportation, decor rental, stationery design. We will also be adding an online suit/tux rental service that ships the highest quality formal wear right to our client’s doors. We partner with some of the most talented, trusted, and experienced professionals and businesses in all of these service categories, and we are adding more as we continue to grow.
We also offer an online planning system, Sammie works with you through that process, to ensure that all of the details of your day are accessible to every vendor. And then on the day of your wedding, a planner can be added to your wedding collective experience to manage your event.
The most important piece is that we assist our clients in managing it all!
What are your roles?
Josh Bast is the Founder and Director of Operations. He has been in the wedding and event industry since 2009 when he started VIP Photo Booth, one of the oldest and most award-winning photo booth companies here in the Twin Cities. Sammie has an extensive background in the wedding and event industry, she is currently the Director of Events at The Wedding Collective, and is heavily engaged in the day-to-day activities serving our clients and local wedding professionals.
What is your mission, since now we know that you are the founder…
Our mission is to reduce the amount of time a couple spends planning their wedding. Weddings are meant to be the best day in a couple’s lives, but what they don’t realize is all of the planning, searching for vendors, contracts, emails, meetings, and so much more that lies ahead after getting engaged. We have done so much of the work for them by bringing together trusted professionals in one place.
That sounds amazing, I personally like teamwork but I also like doing that research work – who is your client? And what if they like planning things?
The Wedding Collective is not for everyone, but for the couples we work with, they are busy with careers, school, family, and other personal activities…and are looking for ways to make wedding planning an enjoyable experience, without disrupting those things. Whether they have a large or small budget, we proudly serve any couple that doesn’t know where to start, or isn’t sure where to go to find trusted vendors.
We work with some of Minnesota’s finest businesses in every service category. We have hand-picked each vendor for their own individual merits, expertise, and more…so we are very proud of every one of the professionals we represent!
Great vendors, got it. So right now wedding season (at least in the states where it snows in winter) is winding down, how do you fill your ‘off season’?
Does any Minneapolis wedding professional get an “off season” 🙂 during the slower months, we tend to focus on ways to improve our business and find new and innovative ways to serve our clients. For fun, Josh enjoys traveling with his wife and 11 month old and is a big Wild fan. Sammie spends her free time volunteering and traveling, leading relief efforts both domestic and abroad. She also enjoys some down time as well!
We have various promotions and bundling discounts available, so please get in touch to schedule a free wedding consultation! We will discuss your vision, what’s important to you, and find ways to connect you with the right vendors to serve you and make planning fun!
For a limited time, share this blog post on social media and receive 1 free hour of wedding planning with Sammie! If I were you, I would share like it was my J-O-B.
If you’d like more information about photographer, videographer, DJ, photo booth, transportation, hair and makeup artist, florist, planner, band or musician, officiant, or decor rentals at your future event you can find The Wedding Collective on their Website and Instagram,
Next time on Getting Married in Minnesota, Meet Bridgeman’s Icecream.
Tell me, do you have any other questions? Leave them below! If you know of someone looking for a wedding ANYTHING, I mean practically any vendor for their Minneapolis wedding… tell them about The Wedding Collective![clickToTweet tweet=” I just met a great wedding vendor on Head Over Heels… THE Wedding Collective!” quote=”Introduce your friends to VENDOR” theme=”style6″]
Prosperity, Love & Happiness,