2023 Wrapped, 2024 In Progress

2023 – you were a big year both personally and professionally. We started the year by moving into our freshly built home and promptly getting the exciting news that we were pregnant with our second child a month later. Pregnancy wasn’t kind to me the first time around, so I was fully prepared for it to not be nice the second time either, but I had to buck up because wedding season was starting early. Between March-October A Piece of Harmony Events planned/coordinated 28 events. Not the most events I have taken on in a season, but I am proud to say it was the most profitable year for me to date (all well pregnant and with a toddler).

The business started out 2023 by winning, for the second year in a row, best wedding planning firm in the Idaho Panhandle. We also took second in our more local poll, Best of CdA. Seriously cannot thank you enough to everyone who voted, shared links/posts, wrote reviews, and continuously referred the business – it means the world!! May and June were the busiest months for weddings & events in 2023. Between the last week in May and the first week in June I had 5 total events. In theory, when you are booking those, it sounds manageable, but when the time comes you realize how overwhelming and tiring that can be. Especially when you are the main logistical contact for most (if not all) of the vendors. Biggest piece of advice for managing something like that… take A LOT of notes. Write everything down. You will not be able to remember it all – even if you have the memory of an elephant.

On the personal side of things, June & July were really tough for me physically. I wasn’t quite showing too much of a bump yet (that started around the last week in July), and we had really only told our close family + friends at that point about the pregnancy, but I was definitely starting to feel pregnant. I won’t get into the nitty gritty list of symptoms, but it’s crazy how different each pregnancy can be for the same person, yet still as miserable. Ladies, you don’t have to love being pregnant to love what comes at the end of the 40 weeks (give or take a couple weeks). My son is a literal angel of perfection who I wouldn’t trade for the world – and I say that even though we are still not sleeping super well at night. 

Fall seemed to be just as busy for us as spring. Chris and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary, we had to have the concrete for our entire driveway and 3-car garage repoured due to cracking, and I took my first solo road trip with a toddler over to Seattle to visit family. The event season ended with a major bang down in Palm Desert, CA. Yep, my first destination wedding as a planner! This experience was so much fun and I am so grateful to the amazing couple who asked me to hop on that crazy ride with them. I will be doing a full blog post on their wedding in a couple weeks, so be sure to come back and check that out – it was such a special and intimate day that I will never forget! However, next time I do a destination wedding I really don’t plan to be 32 weeks pregnant. But, it was still such a perfect way to end a beautiful season. Chris and I even stayed an extra day to make it a little “babymoon” and we drove up to see the Joshua Tree National Park (some of his old high school & collage stomping grounds for rock climbing). We then spent the next almost two months preparing to welcome our second child – Elliott. He quickly came into the world via 39 week induction on December 5th and we have been obsessed with him ever sense. He is such a chill baby (unless he is hungry, then you better watch out) and Audrey is loving being a big sister. He is the perfect completion to our family!

Now that we are about two weeks into 2024, I am already itching to get back into the swing of event season. This year is going to be one for the books! We are in the midst of planning so many amazing weddings & events, it makes me giddy just thinking about it. A Piece of Harmony Events is turning 5 this year and, again, I cannot thank everyone enough who has supported me, hired me, and come along on this journey watching the business grow. I am so proud of everything I have accomplished thus far and so grateful for all the connections and friendships I have made along the way. In celebration of this milestone, I am planning to make a couple of cosmetic changes – to the business, not myself (ha) – that you will start to see over the next couple months (projected to be completed before May). I hope you continue to follow along as we help to create more beautiful and core memories for couples + families alike. Wishing you all the best in this next year-long chapter of life!