Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Slaughter Nuss.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Growing up, I wanted to be a choir teacher and in 2017, graduated from UTSA with my Bachelors degree. I moved to Buda in 2018 to be a middle school choir and theatre teacher. After COVID, I left teaching to follow a new passion – wedding planning.
I attended Planner Life Academy digitally, learning from a luxury planner based in California and began my journey of assisting and interning for Austin wedding planners. Through Planner Life Academy, I was connected with a planner just 20 miles south of me, Ashtyn, the owner of Lila Lane Events & Planning. We love to call this our serendipity! Ashtyn and I immediately clicked and became friends. In 2022, Lila Lane had grown, and it was time to bring on another planner, she asked me to join the team. Since then, I’ve had the joy of planning wedding, personal events, and corporate events along side her.
In 2023, I was introduced to ILEA (International Live Events Associate) – Austin and asked to plan their annual membership drive. I later won Best Overall Event for this. In June 2024, I joined the chapter board and am currently serving my third year on the board.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
When I first entered the industry, I was very focused on finding my “dream client” based on their vision, design preferences, and budget. As I’ve worked with more people and had more opportunities, I’ve realized that my dream client has much more to do with the person than the wedding itself.
Beautiful designs and grand budgets can certainly be fun, but I’d much rather spend my time working with kind, genuine, fun people who value my experience and expertise. I’ve learned that the relationship you build with a couple, and seeing the love they have for their people, can be just as rewarding as the wedding you create for them.
One of the hardest parts of being a wedding planner is navigating the many opinions and emotions that come with a wedding day. There are hundreds of decisions that go into creating an event, and it can be easy to second-guess yourself along the way.
Wedding days are unlike most events because they are naturally imbued with so much emotion. That can be a beautiful thing to witness, but it can also bring out stress and heightened emotions in people. As the planner, we often become the face of the wedding for couples, guests, and vendors. When everything goes smoothly, we get to share in the gratitude and excitement. But when the weather doesn’t cooperate, the food is cold, or the timeline falls behind, we’re often the ones who absorb that frustration.
Learning how to stay calm, trust my expertise, and help everyone else feel confident, even when things aren’t going perfectly, has been one of the biggest lessons of my career.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
As a Lead Planner with Lila Lane, I get to walk alongside my couples from booking all the way through their wedding day, whether we’re coordinating their wedding or working together on full-service design and planning. I love that every couple and every wedding is different, and I have the flexibility to build my calendar and schedule around the couples I connect with most.
That flexibility has also allowed me to pursue opportunities outside of individual weddings, including serving on the board of ILEA Austin and being part of the planning committee for ILEA Live Fest!, an international event coming to Austin in August 2027. I love that my work allows me to be deeply involved in both the weddings I plan and the larger Austin events community.
My clients appreciate that I’m honest and approachable. I want my couples to feel educated and empowered to make the decisions that are right for them and their wedding, rather than feeling like they have to do something simply because it’s what a planner, Pinterest, or TikTok says they should do.
I’m not there to tell them what they have to do. I’m there to share my experience and expertise so they can make an informed decision. If I think they’re going to regret something later or if a decision could negatively impact their guests’ experience, I’ll absolutely tell them. Otherwise, I want their wedding to feel like theirs.
I want my couples to feel like they have a right-hand woman throughout the entire planning process and on their wedding day. Whether it’s answering the random questions that pop up, providing helpful documents and resources to get them out of the TikTok rabbit hole, or simply being a smiling, safe space on wedding day, I want them to know I’m always in their corner.
At the end of the day, I want my couples to feel like they didn’t have to navigate the process alone. They had someone they could trust, lean on, and call when they weren’t sure what to do next.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
Ashtyn (in a few of the photos below) is the owner and Lead Planner of Lila Lane Events & Planning. She started the company in 2020, and when we first met in 2021, she was already incredibly organized, driven, and successful. More importantly, she was one of the most genuinely supportive people I had met in the industry. She truly personifies the idea that a rising tide lifts all boats.
During our first meeting, Ashtyn actually thought I wanted to start my own planning company, and she was immediately ready to share all of her advice, documents, tips, and tricks with me. Thankfully, I didn’t want to start my own company! Instead, I got the opportunity to watch her grow Lila Lane from the outside and then join her in 2022.
I’ve learned so much from watching Ashtyn build Lila Lane and from working alongside her. She has created a company where collaboration is valued and where there is room for the people around her to grow, too. A lot of the opportunities I’ve had in this industry would not have happened without her willingness to share what she knows and encourage the people around her.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lilalaneevents.com
- Instagram: @lilalaneevents
