July 11, 2006
Something new | A chat with Diane York, founder of Diane York Weddings & Events in Portland.
By Kerry Elson
Founded: October 2005
Employees: One, plus three freelance assistants
Startup costs: $6,000
Projected revenues, year one: $6,000
Projected revenues, year two: $18,000
Contact: 232-4923
29 Oregon St., Portland 04103
www.dianeyorkweddings.com
Tell me about Diane York Weddings & Events.
What I do is pull everybody together and offer a tremendous amount of moral support to the bride. I really think of myself as a professional mother of the bride. I do everything from getting people started to helping them choose vendors [for the wedding]. The most important part is trying to help people with the budget. I try to help them use it wisely to get the kind of event that they have dreamt about.
Who are your clients?
My clientele is the professional couple, mostly the bride because the women usually do most of the organizing. [My typical client is] the woman who is really busy in her own professional career and simply doesn't have the time to take care of the myriad details.
Most of my clients are from out of state. I've got people from British Columbia, Texas, Massachusetts ˆ in September I have a couple from California. So my market is people who are professional, who have some ties to Portland or to the Maine area.
How did you become a wedding and event planner?
Three years ago Woodfords Church [in Portland] asked me to handle their rehearsals and ceremonies and to take care of the finances that go with the wedding. It's a very large church and they didn't want to have to deal with the weddings as well. About a year into it, I suddenly realized that I had been given a gift because I had been organizing events in the Portland area for over 30 years, mostly for nonprofits as a volunteer. Everything suddenly gelled. I decided that this was what I wanted to do.
How did you go from planning events on a volunteer basis to planning weddings as a business?
Formalizing it meant getting the website [and] really putting my name out there far more than I ever had before. My experience from doing so many events gave me the confidence to branch out and do something by myself. I've always been in sales, whether it was in retail or advertising.
What sets you apart from your competition?
I don't consider other people doing the same type of job as competition. I have a very nice working relationship with other coordinators. In fact I got a referral from another wedding coordinator in the York area and another [from a] woman in Boothbay Harbor. When you share you get stuff back. It never fails. I think the people who are successful at doing what I'm doing are mature women who have figured this out.
How much does it cost to have you plan a wedding?
It ranges from an hourly rate, from about $50 an hour for some services. It could be $25 an hour if you just want me to be there the day of the ceremony, to make sure the flowers are there, to make sure the photographer isn't late, to make sure the deejay or the band is all set up.
I also have packages that range from $350 to $1,500. My $350 package would be getting the vendors and saying, "here are three photographers, here are three florists, here are three deejays, here are three bands ˆ now you choose."
Then I have a $650 package, which is six weeks out from the wedding, when I check on all of the vendors and make sure all the payments are in order. For the $1,500 package it's soup to nuts.
How do you market yourself?
I do a tremendous amount of networking. Whenever I go anywhere, I'm shameless about giving out cards. I'm really pleased with my website. I get a lot of inquiries from that. I also give my brochures to hotels, beauty salons ˆ that's huge because if your hairdresser doesn't know about something, nobody knows about it.
What are your plans for growth?
My plans for growth are just to continue marketing myself. I want to do this for the next 10 years. I would hope certainly by next year to triple what I'm doing this year and just grow steadily from that. Five years down the road, I would like to have a full-time employee so that I can do the groundwork and someone else can run the events for me.
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to kelson@mainebiz.biz.
Employees: One, plus three freelance assistants
Startup costs: $6,000
Projected revenues, year one: $6,000
Projected revenues, year two: $18,000
Contact: 232-4923
29 Oregon St., Portland 04103
www.dianeyorkweddings.com
Tell me about Diane York Weddings & Events.
What I do is pull everybody together and offer a tremendous amount of moral support to the bride. I really think of myself as a professional mother of the bride. I do everything from getting people started to helping them choose vendors [for the wedding]. The most important part is trying to help people with the budget. I try to help them use it wisely to get the kind of event that they have dreamt about.
Who are your clients?
My clientele is the professional couple, mostly the bride because the women usually do most of the organizing. [My typical client is] the woman who is really busy in her own professional career and simply doesn't have the time to take care of the myriad details.
Most of my clients are from out of state. I've got people from British Columbia, Texas, Massachusetts ˆ in September I have a couple from California. So my market is people who are professional, who have some ties to Portland or to the Maine area.
How did you become a wedding and event planner?
Three years ago Woodfords Church [in Portland] asked me to handle their rehearsals and ceremonies and to take care of the finances that go with the wedding. It's a very large church and they didn't want to have to deal with the weddings as well. About a year into it, I suddenly realized that I had been given a gift because I had been organizing events in the Portland area for over 30 years, mostly for nonprofits as a volunteer. Everything suddenly gelled. I decided that this was what I wanted to do.
How did you go from planning events on a volunteer basis to planning weddings as a business?
Formalizing it meant getting the website [and] really putting my name out there far more than I ever had before. My experience from doing so many events gave me the confidence to branch out and do something by myself. I've always been in sales, whether it was in retail or advertising.
What sets you apart from your competition?
I don't consider other people doing the same type of job as competition. I have a very nice working relationship with other coordinators. In fact I got a referral from another wedding coordinator in the York area and another [from a] woman in Boothbay Harbor. When you share you get stuff back. It never fails. I think the people who are successful at doing what I'm doing are mature women who have figured this out.
How much does it cost to have you plan a wedding?
It ranges from an hourly rate, from about $50 an hour for some services. It could be $25 an hour if you just want me to be there the day of the ceremony, to make sure the flowers are there, to make sure the photographer isn't late, to make sure the deejay or the band is all set up.
I also have packages that range from $350 to $1,500. My $350 package would be getting the vendors and saying, "here are three photographers, here are three florists, here are three deejays, here are three bands ˆ now you choose."
Then I have a $650 package, which is six weeks out from the wedding, when I check on all of the vendors and make sure all the payments are in order. For the $1,500 package it's soup to nuts.
How do you market yourself?
I do a tremendous amount of networking. Whenever I go anywhere, I'm shameless about giving out cards. I'm really pleased with my website. I get a lot of inquiries from that. I also give my brochures to hotels, beauty salons ˆ that's huge because if your hairdresser doesn't know about something, nobody knows about it.
What are your plans for growth?
My plans for growth are just to continue marketing myself. I want to do this for the next 10 years. I would hope certainly by next year to triple what I'm doing this year and just grow steadily from that. Five years down the road, I would like to have a full-time employee so that I can do the groundwork and someone else can run the events for me.
New Entrepreneurs profiles young businesses, 6-18 months old. Send your suggestions and contact information to kelson@mainebiz.biz.
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