Today we’d like to introduce you to Stacy Hillstead.
Stacy, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
With a background in Journalism and hospitality, I always found a passion for serving, learning about people and telling their stories. After college, I moved to Los Angeles and began a career in Interior Design and sales. After my now husband and I decided to move again to San Francisco, I found myself dabbling in hospitality and landed at Pottery Barn corporate. While I knew this path wasn’t my “forever goal”, right around this time, I found the wedding industry (or more so the wedding industry found me). My first role in the wedding industry was running sales for a national photography studio. After several years learning the ins and outs of wedding photography, I came to basically fall in love with more of the planning side and landed a management position with a California-based wedding planning company. Low and behold, this became my passion… I realized I loved everything about weddings from getting to know couples, finding out their story, their style, their vibe and helping bring their vision to life – this is my jam! When we found out we were expecting our second child, we decided that Dallas would be our home so we made the move back to Texas. The goal was to take a break from weddings and spend time at home with the kids. But we quickly realized that this was where my heart remained so almost three years ago, after our move to Dallas, we began Maxwell+Gray Events. Initially, my goal was to do events among different industries but the wedding scene in Dallas has become all-consuming (in a great way) so we are so very thankful, humbled and blessed to be able to do what we love in such a great community of creatives!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I would be lying if I said it was a “smooth” road. In fact, there’s been so so many bumps and twists and turns and in all transparency, the hardest of them all has been juggling motherhood and being a small business owner at the same time. On paper, starting a company when I had a 1-year old and a 2-month old is absolutely nuts but that’s what I did… but looking back, there’s never a “perfect time” for anything. The hardest part of getting to where we are now has been figuring out the business – the terms, hiring, expanding vs. waiting – the going through seasons. But this is how we learn. I can honestly say that if things hadn’t happened like they did (the good and the bad), we wouldn’t be where we are now. And we’re still learning. I’m still trying to figure out how to juggle three little kids, be the mom that I need to be, the wife that I’m called to be and the business owner and planner of our team and brides. It’s a rollercoaster and far from perfect. But if there’s any piece of advice I could give, it would be to GO FOR IT. My dad always said “If you do what you love and do it with all your heart, it will be blessed.” And I’ve found that in a crazy way, we’re helping make a difference in others’ lives and we wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s messy, tiring and the late nights and weekend work aren’t for the weary, but we love love love it and life is way too short to NOT try and do what you love and do it with all your might. For my hope and prayer is to show these kids that they CAN be a world-changer, an influencer for good and spread light and joy in whatever their heart desires.
What should we know about Maxwell+Gray Events? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
So, we offer Wedding Coordination to brides (everything from month-of to partial planning to full-service). We help with both the wedding weekend logistics, timeline creation, floor plans, design, setup, vendor management, etc. I’d say as a brand, I’m most proud of the way we interact with couples and vendors and truly try to find joy in everything. I know it sounds cheesy, but a wedding day is literally the most exciting day in someone’s life and most people working on the wedding day are there for 8, 9, 10+ hours and if we can’t have fun and love what we’re doing and help create an atmosphere of joy, then we’d be missing the whole point. It’s our mission to serve couples, their families and friends and vendors all on board to create a memorable day.
Looking back on your childhood, what experiences do you feel played an important role in shaping the person you grew up to be?
I don’t know if I would say that one particular experience led to me being a small business owner BUT I do remember starting work at 15. I worked from the time I could drive, all through college, post-college through having babies and until now. My parents always pushed me to work but more than anything, they always made sure to tell me to follow my passion and not just work for a job but whatever it is – whether you’re washing cars or sitting at a corporate desk or cooking or painting or creating or heck, owning a business, to do it with all your might. I started that mentality when I was 15 and would say it’s definitely pushed me to always dream big. And that dreams will just stay a dream unless we work to make it a reality. I’m a dreamer for sure. And some may laugh but I’d prefer it that way. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: www.maxwellandgraystudio.com
- Phone: 210.313.0281
- Email: maxwellandgraystudio@gmail.com
- Instagram: @maxwellandgray
Image Credit:
Rachel Elaine Photography, Sarah Kate Photo, Jessi Ingram Photography, Lauren Peele Photography, Christina Childress Photography, Lauren Nicole Photo
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