Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Kimball.
Hi Rachel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I started my wedding and event business in August 2020 upon my graduation from Texas A&M University. While I do love the wedding industry it was not initially the career that I was seeking directly out of school. I had multiple job offers in the field of military recreation and events that were pulled due to the pandemic. I worked in the wedding industry throughout college and loved all of the experiences that I had, but it was not the current career that I was seeking. I always planned to return to the wedding industry after getting to travel the world with the military, but that wasn’t going to happen with the majority of the world being shut down. Creating my business essentially landed in my lap. I wasn’t initially seeking it, I was volunteering and working with a family friend who owns a local florist and historic venue and it slowly went from working an event every so often to working the entire busy fall wedding season. With this opportunity, I was networking and having the pleasure of meeting and working with several wonderful brides. I was approached about coordinating a wedding at a different venue and realized how much I truly loved getting to work with brides. This idea kind of emerged that maybe I should do weddings fulltime and slowly build a name for myself. With all that being said, while I was starting a business, I was also continuing my education. I began my Master’s at Texas A&M with specifics in events and tourism, but continued to seek employment with the military, and found myself hesitant to book weddings more than a year out. When I graduated from school, I was in a tough spot mentally, I had a 10-year plan that was blown up due to the pandemic. I knew the contracts I wanted to take with the military, I had all of my travels mapped out, and I had the goal of after 10 years rejoining the wedding industry where I would have more experience and potential clients. I spent all of my undergraduates doing multiple internships in the military, wedding, and events field, networking, finishing my degree in 3 years and earning multiple certificates to better prepare myself for my graduation and introduction into my career. Continuing my education or starting a business was nowhere on my mind at this time, but somehow both became exactly what I needed. During summer of 2021 I had the opportunity to study and live in Israel where I attended several international events and even represented Hebrew University on campus. I traveled to Israel with the nonprofit organization that I am currently working with on planning and executing college campus events. Upon returning from Israel, I then had the opportunity to work at Texas A&M in the RPTS department teaching and coaching event students, planning and executing campus events, and even bringing several students onto some of my weddings and events. In January of 2022, I then branched out into taking on corporate event production contracts where I began working on high volume and budget events including conferences. My role with corporate clients is primarily in event production and logistics. This was a huge change of pace, but helped push me to continue to grow in my knowledge and dedication in the event industry. I have also recently begun working with a non-profit organization working on college campus events. I don’t know exactly where this will lead yet, but I am excited for this new role as well! This industry means SO much to me and gaining experience throughout various types of events is a continued passion.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I started this business, it was not easy, I knew enough to get me going, but I didn’t have a value for myself yet. I was doing weddings for free or dirt cheap, just learning how to negotiate and finding my value took a lot of market research and ultimately trial and error. After about 6 months of doing weddings, I realized how much true joy I had in it and began building my confidence and expanding the number of clients that I was taking on, and truly creating a vision for my brand. I additionally found myself struggling to make connections, and establish myself as a creditable wedding and event planner in the industry since I was fresh and new. While I had worked weddings and events myself before, I didn’t have the same credibility that others in the industry had with years of experience in the industry, making me not the “ideal” coordinator for some brides. Some of the biggest struggles were just adjusting to being back in the DFW area, starting my business, and building a brand and name for myself. One of my biggest challenges since joining the events industry in 2020, and even back when I started in undergraduate in 2017, has been my age. I have consistently been the youngest in all my roles, with the military, as a wedding planner & designer, in corporate event production and now with the non-profit organization. I have a lot of event experience in several different niches, and often have to remind myself that I have a strong educational background that helps support my real world experience as well. Finding and believing your value isn’t always easy and it is easy for me to forget what I am worth, especially when I am surrounded by so many more incredibly talented planners, designers and creators. I wouldn’t describe my last few years as smooth, it has been maneuvering, building a career and name for myself during a pandemic and being told ‘no’ a lot. Overall, starting this journey and my career during covid has made me more resilient and taught me more than I could possibly explain though.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I consider myself to be a creative, a designer, and a planner, not only do I coordinate, but I also do conceptual design and full planning and logistic management. One of the passions that I found in working in the events industry is getting to work with vendor teams on styled shoots. A styled shoot is essentially styling and designing an entirely fake wedding, with the purpose of either creating new content for all the vendors involved or submitting it for wedding and bridal publications. What I would say that I am known for in the area is being a certified wedding planner and coordinator, not only do I have professional experience from working for two separate venues, but a florist, as well as planning large-scale events for the U.S. Navy and having a bachelor’s degree, along with finishing up my Master’s. My education is of extreme value to me and a niche, it allows me stand out from others in the industry and is something that I have great pride in. When I am asked what makes booking me different from someone else, my answer always begins with my education and variety of my unique experiences. I pride myself in the connections and networks that I have created. While weddings are my specialty, my experience in the industry is far more than that, including concerts, festivals, campus events, planning and designing trips and tours, conferences, elopements, and more. My experience and knowledge in the industry is vast, from planning, and executing events with less than 10 people to those with up to 5,000 attending and working with budgets of $10,000 to that of $1.2 million dollars.
Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc.?
I keep up with new bridal and wedding trends by checking out magazines including North Texas Wedding Magazine, Brides of North Texas, Brides of Houston, and Brides International. I also regularly check out my vendor friends’ blogs to read up on what they are up to. One of my favorite blogs to read is Heidi Thompson, as she offers a lot of advice and insight on the wedding and event industry, as a young woman. Pinterest is another source for any and all in the wedding industry to get ideas for trends and inspiration. My personal reading taste includes Colleen Hoover, Sara Dessen and Sarah J. Maajas, I have also recently begun reading more historical pieces specifically on the Holoucaust.
Pricing:
- Full Planning & Coordination – Beginning at $1,750
- Partial Planning & Coordination – Beginning at $1,200
- Day Of Coordination – Beginning at $725
Contact Info:
- Email: rmkeventsbyrachel@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.rmkeventsbyrachel.com/services
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rmkeventsbyrachel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rmkeventsbyrachel
Image Credits
Courtney Lynn Photography
Jillian Grace Photography
Nidar Photography
Kailee Taylor Photo
Madison Neely Photography
Riley Wurm Photography
Scott Yoder Photography
