Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Lange.
Hi Sara, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It started when I began working for a wedding photography company back in college. There is where I found my love of wedding culture and a drive for beauty in these events. After I graduated college, I then worked for a top DJ and entertainment company where I coordinated events for them. I found that although I was extroverted and loved to have fun, I also was very type A and couldn’t bear to let anything fall through the cracks when it came to managing a team of 14 DJ’s and then coordinating the weddings and events they played at. Well, that is the job in which a realized I loved wedding planning. Don’t tell anyone this but I told all my friends and family that I was a “Wedding Planner” which in a way, I was. Although my official title was “Event Coordinator”. I was definitely particular to weddings. Through this outlet, I began working as an ACTUAL wedding planner at Barr Mansion, one of the most incredibly gorgeous venues to ever exist.
I worked here for about one whole week before COVID-19 decided we were better off working from home and causing the largest wedding exodus in history. I was heartbroken because working here was truly a dream job of mine. With everything that happened that year, I sure did learn a lot. Definitely, how to pull off a wedding with a pandemic riding on my back and boy did it teach me a lot. Towards the end of last year, I realized that the biggest thing missing from my life was being able to be my own boss and be entirely in charge of planning a wedding with my couples. Come January 2021, I knew it was time to begin my journey as a full-time, self-employed wedding planner. I bought my LLC, did some tax stuff, made some calls and before you know it, I was booking my first wedding with “Diletta Elaine Weddings” listed as the planner on duty.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. One thing though that I am eternally grateful for is the support I have. Through all of my various jobs and trying to find out what my true dream career was, I had voices telling me to “Go for it” and “Do what you think is best for you”. My family, friends and my own fiancé have never ever tried to talk me out of something because it didn’t sound promising. They only ever encouraged me and I hope to pay it forward one day with them. However, I have always been someone who overthinks in my job. That is until now. I have never been more sure that this is what I wanted to do. But beforehand, catch me applying at a boring corporate job just because it would have been a steady job and pay was decent. I’ve worked for great people and not so great people but the person I really wanted to work for was myself.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am a full-service wedding planning and coordination company based out of Austin, Texas. I work with clients who do not know where to begin to full day-of execution to clients who have everything planned but just need someone there, the day of the wedding to make sure everything goes smoothly. One thing I do that is uncommon is begin the day-of coordination process 6 months before the wedding date. I feel this helps me get to know the couple and their vendors much better well before it’s showtime. It gives me the time needed to provide the best service to them while already being the middle-man for the couple and their vendors. Secondly, my planning style is very hands-on. I don’t have a SET workflow that I follow because every couple is so different. Some couples have nothing prepared or thought of when they hire me and that is such a joy because it means that us three will work together to make everything happen and seeing their face day of when the venue is decorated, the band is playing and the bouquet is brought in is the best feeling in the world. Like YASSS we did that.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I would say I have always been a risk-taker with the advantage of being able to fall back on a comfortable job if needed. I think if you don’t have what you want, that there is something you need to change to get what you want. I am not saying to not be smart about it, however, something I have learned is that there will ALWAYS be a reason to say no and be scared of the outcome. I had a million reasons to stay back at my retail job and not go for my dream of owning my own wedding planning business but I had said this for years and had never really felt fulfilled. I can confidently say that taking this risk had produced the biggest blessing.
Pricing:
- $1,400-$3,400
Contact Info:
- Email: info@dilettaelaine.com
- Website: https://www.dilettaelaine.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dilettaelaineweddings/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DilettaElaine
Image Credits
@rebekahpaulphoto @rootedtrumpetphotography @kattieknottsphoto @juanjosephoto
