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After Samantha Mitchell was laid off from a marketing job after just seven months in the position, a friend suggested she try out event planning. After all, Mitchell had been the ringleader in her family and social circle since she was a teenager. She knew how to plan a party.
“I was planning events in high school at age 16,” says Mitchell. “It started with the Black history program at Nicolet High School.”
She launched her event-planning business in 2016. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she shifted into micro weddings with fewer guests and a minimalist approach – a more personal format she had long dreamed of, where it’s all about the details. “Having a more intimate setting that’s really thought out is just a beautiful thing,” she says. “When we’re planning a big, grand wedding, we lose sight of those important, intricate details.”
One couple wove teal into their wedding – including a pin on the bride’s dress – to represent a parent who died of ovarian cancer (teal is used to signify that disease). Often a couple’s favorite foods and colors, especially as they relate to their ethnicities, are brought into the theme.
“There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing the joy and happiness in my clients’ eyes,” Mitchell says, “and successfully getting the bride down the aisle. I get to meet so many amazing people. I’m a relationship builder.”
Mitchell is also the person who might have to run errands for panicky couples, like the time she had to leave a ceremony to retrieve something the couple had left at their home. Or another time when she helped “a couple cut their wedding short because they couldn’t wait to settle into their suite for the night.”
ADVICE: “Who is really the person you want to bring into your special day? Shop around. There are so many amazing vendors in our city,” says Mitchell. Also, from a more practical standpoint, “plan ahead. Things are booking up far in advance.”
