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New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination Interview

Arctic Club Dome Room Wedding by Luma Weddings & New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Rebecca Grant from New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination for the past couple of years on a handful of weddings around the Pacific Northwest. She’s always intensely detailed with each wedding day, but laid back enough to go with the flow of events. She’s the perfect balance that a wedding planner should be. Too laid back and things get let to the side. Too stringent and it becomes stressful upon everybody. Rebecca is great, and we recommend her skills to couple’s that we work with.

So, if you are looking for some of the best wedding planners in Seattle, make sure to contact Rebecca at New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination – and let her know that you found her through me.

Want to know more about New Creations Weddings? We decided to have a brief, informal Q&A interview with her to share with our couple’s at Luma Weddings. READ BELOW FOR THE Q&A!

Table of Contents

Q: How did you get involved with weddings & events?

A: Back in 2004 I picked up and moved to Hawaii and enrolled in UH’s Travel Industry Management program with a specific goal to become a wedding planner. I knew this was the calling on my life and perfectly incorporated my love of people, design, flowers, baking, food and business management. It was a match made in heaven! I ended up finding a wedding planner in Hawaii who was looking for a day-of assistant, and interviewed with her. We totally hit it off, and I ended up working for her company during the rest of my time on the island. I adore her, and consider her my mentor to this day.

Q: We think it’s awesome that you have honed in a specialty niche in the industry to better serve your clients. What made you decide to market yourself within this particular niche?

A: After moving back home to Seattle, and getting my business launched here, I very quickly realized that Hawaii had given me a wonderful gift. In Hawaii, about 90% of our couples were Asian ethnicity, so it was total trial by fire of learning and understanding the cultures and traditions that come along with Asian weddings. When I started networking in Seattle, I realized that no one had my knowledge or expertise in Asian wedding culture as much as I did. I knew that that was my way to set my business apart from the other amazing planners here in Seattle, so I started marketing myself as Seattle’s only wedding planner specializing in Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian and Samoan weddings. It has served me very well, with about 70% of my couples being Asian or interracial. I have even gotten to be a part of some Korean and Vietnamese weddings as well since being back in Seattle, and have throughly enjoyed diving deeper into those cultures as well. So yes, I’m the white girl who knows everything about Asian weddings. 🙂

Q: Didn’t you live and work in Hawaii for awhile? That must have been incredible! For all of those wishing to have a destination wedding in Hawaii, what are some of the most important pieces of advice that you could give them (other than hiring you, of course)? 🙂

A: As I mentioned, I was super lucky to start off my career while living and working in Hawaii. I am privileged enough to be able to work with local couples here in Seattle that are looking to plan a destination wedding to the islands. When planning a destination wedding, the biggest tip is find a wonderful team to surround you. Nothing is more stressful then not being able to physically meet or see people or places you’re considering for your wedding. Having a solid team around you who you know have your back and will make your wedding day a seamless process is invaluable. I cannot tell you how big of a difference it makes to have vendors who click well together makes on your wedding day. It is a wonderful thing to witness and be a part of, and creates a flawless day for the the couple. Even if your vendors haven’t worked together before, trust your planner in who they feel clicks well with them best- reliable response times, great tone, helpful. This will make everything fall into place for you, and just make planning a breeze!

Q: What are your favorite current wedding trends for 2017?

A: I am loving the return of COLOR!! For quite awhile now, we’ve seen the very soft/neutral color palettes. I love the vibrant colors coming back with greenery, pinks, magentas, purples, etc. I think color gives your wedding day more vibrancy, and personality. I think a lot of people just aren’t sure where or how to use it. That’s where a great planner/designer can come in with expert opinions in partnership with the florist to create magic.

Q: Who is your ideal type of client? We love adventurous couples, ourselves!

A: I love clients who are trusting and let vendors do their thing. It is a huge deal to put your wedding day in someone else’s hands (especially if you are a control freak like me). I totally love it though when my couples take my advice (having done over 400 weddings, I have just a bit to give), and trust the team around them to make things happen. When you let go and trust, magic happens, believe me! Letting your vendors flex their creative juices allows them to bring out ideas they’ve always wanted to try and creates weddings that are truly unique to each couple. While images on Pinterest are beautiful, it’s not your wedding. Let’s take the concept as inspiration, and make it yours!

Q: You have a lot of experience in the wedding industry, and it’s great that you are finding that tricky work-life balance in the wedding industry. For wedding professionals reading this blog, what is your advice to maintain that work-life balance during peak season?

A: I’ve managed to find a schedule that works very well for me (granted, it took me about 2 years to find this). I take Sunday’s and Monday’s off (unless I have a Sunday wedding of course, but always Monday’s), and Tuesday as a full work-from-home day to get caught up on the weekends emails. Because I am a work-a-holic and can’t turn my brain off or not check my emails, I have to be very intentional of physically removing myself from the office (home). On Tuesday’s, I escape for a bit to take my weekly horseback riding lesson. On Wednesday’s I take my dog to his puppy training class, and so on. I have also gifted myself the gift of house-cleaning. Saving the 4+ hours it takes my cleaner to clean my house allows me to get projects done that otherwise would be put on the back burner because I would have had to clean my house (and those that know me know I love a clean house!). 🙂 You’ll find your balance, just don’t be afraid of self-care. I know starting out, you are making no money, and potentially even in debt. Self-care does not necessarily mean spending money. Go for a walk, play with your dog, hang out with friends. Something to keep your sanity and keep you out of the office 24/7. I know it’s cliche, but you can’t take care of others if you’re not taking care of yourself.

Q: We’ve noticed that some clients plan their weddings for up to about 2 years, some as short as a few months. What do you find to be the ideal length of time to plan the “average” wedding, in your experience?

A: I personally think the best range is 9-12 months of planning a wedding. Any longer than a year, and sometimes vendors aren’t booking that far out (making it really hard to plan your wedding). It also allows you too much time to look at other ideas, and lose your vision for your day (am I right Pinterest brides?). Moving along within the 9 months to a year keeps you moving at a pretty good pace, and allows you to stay focused and have a clear vision for your day. I have worked with couples in the 2-year range, and it’s too long, you just want to be done with planning and married already, but you can’t get anything done except your venue and a handful of vendors. On the flip side, I have planned a wedding in 28 days… So that can be done too, but you have to be a very fast decision maker and have a fairly open budget. 🙂

Q: What are your social media links? We would love to share those with everybody visiting our blog and share the love for New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination.

A: IG: @newcreationswed FB: https://www.facebook.com/newcreationsweddings/ Twitter: @newcreationswed Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/NewCreationsWed/

Website: New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination (HERE)

Rest of the team:
Arctic Club Seattle – A Doubletree by Hilton,
Crimson Haze Event Lighting,
Windsong Classical Trio,
Salon Maison Bridal Beauty & Style Bar,
Columbia City Bouquet,
Peak Digital Cinema,
Music Masters,
The Frosted Cake,
Street Treats,
Vintage Ambiance,
Sweet Buffet Lady,
Emerald City Photo Booth LLC

Thank you again, Rebecca. Always a pleasure!

For a look at a wedding that we’ve worked together, check out the photos of Alana + Garrett at the Arctic Club Dome Room wedding in downtown Seattle.

Tags: New Creations Wedding Seattle. New Creations Wedding Planner

Arctic Club Dome Room Wedding by Luma Weddings & New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination

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