The days leading up to your wedding can be filled with last-minute errands, confirmations with vendors, emails, phone calls, and guests RSVPing wayyyy after they should have, which can be super stressful for you, the bride! Instead of worrying about the details of the day, it’s best to simply focus on enjoying your last few days as a “Miss”, stress-free! So whip up a mimosa, or grab a cup of coffee, and read about some ways you can avoid stress leading up to your wedding day!

In my last blog post, I shared 10 Tips to Opening a Successful Creative Business, and one of the tips I touched on was participating in styled shoots! They are an excellent way to grow your business, network with other like-minded vendors, and receive professional photos of your work in exchange for your time, products, and/or services! For the next several weeks, I am going to walk you through a styled shoot, and share some information on how they can be successful for your business, and why I think they are worthwhile!

Recently, I have received more and more questions about my business from people who are curious as to how I started a sustainable and thriving creative venture. I certainly don’t attribute all my business growth to my own deeds- the creative community around me is so strong and supportive, and I am SO thankful for all the wisdom, advice and learning I have gleaned from my creative friends! In the past year and a half, CIE has grown from a little dream in my wedding-obsessed head, to a full-scale floral and wedding design and planning boutique. How did it happen, you ask? Here are 10 tips that I embraced to help me open my creative small business! 

Grab a cup of coffee and let me tell you about my business BFF- Honeybook. It is the best tool that I have in running my small business, BY FAR. I love how it was created for creative entrepreneurs, because it really does meet virtually all of my needs for a software system that manages contracts, invoicing, questionnaires, reminders and more! As a small business owner, branding is so important, and I love how everything that is sent from Honeybook is perfectly aligned with the Courtney Inghram Events brand. Their platform continues to update, and I love how they are always improving the site and making it more and more intuitive! Since Honeybook has just recently rolled out some new updates, I wanted to share a few tips and ideas on how to best utilize Honeybook for your small business!

Color palettes. They can be one of the more difficult things to nail down for your wedding, and creating a color palette can really determine the entire theme/style of your celebration! There are so many different options with color; you can use muted shades, bold shades, many shades, one shade… dark shades, light shades, neutral shades… the possibilities are truly endless! In my time spent as a floral/wedding designer, I am always helping my brides narrow down and really focus in on a color palette, and I wanted to share a few of my tips (and the free color board program I use!!) with you today!

I have been slacking on the blog lately! I have been so busy, with our move to Richmond, weddings, just life in general… but I am so excited to share some gorgeous photos from Jess and Ryan’s April wedding today on the blog. 🙂 Jess and Ryan were friends with Jason, my husband, in college, so I was so honored when I was able to design their wedding flowers for them!! 🙂 Jess and I quickly bonded over spending a lot of time watching the guys play baseball at William & Mary, and I can’t wait until live closer to them (it WILL happen) so Jess and I can hang out and do wedding stuff together all day! Their wedding photographer, Sarah Brookhart Photography, did an amazing job on the photos- I am OBSESSED with them, and Walker’s Overlook in Walkersville, Maryland, was the picture-perfect location for their romantic outdoor wedding!! Enjoy these flower-filled photos, and enjoy your weekend! I know I will, since it is our ONE YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! I cannot believe it has already been a year since I married the love of my life <3