On a rainy Wednesday morning, KC Wed Pro members descended on Hawthorne House, a quaint yet spacious wedding venue in historic Parkville, Missouri. The event was hosted by Megan Lemon to aid the local community in business development, particularly ROI’s and spending with intention. We’d love to give you a March workshop recap to share it all!
In a survey, the KC Wed Pro community overwhelmingly responded to a need for guidance when it comes to finding and booking clients, as well as maintaining a balance within their workload by pricing accordingly. 100% of responders said they had trouble making investment decisions to better their business.
The workshop began at 9:30 with a half hour of networking before Meg from WedKC brought the room to attention and introduced the keynote speaker, Elizabeth Lang, who is the co-owner and general manager of the venue.
She began the session with a short biography on how she ended up in the position she’s in today. She mentioned the success Hawthorne House has seen, the work-life balance she has achieved and aims to instill in all her staff members, and the importance of delegating your tasks to trusted employees.
In an industry like ours, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and burnout is nearly unavoidable. Elizabeth outlined four main investments to focus on in order to build a sustainable and successful business: Staff development, CEO-level clarity, spending and pricing with purpose, and maintaining weekly rhythms.
The main highlights:
- Look after your staff as you would look after yourself and ensure they’re equipped with the tools they need to succeed
- Delegate tasks with confidence
- Use a framework: employees describe issues factually, bring three solutions, pitch their favorite, and take full ownership of implementation
- Building trust and patience is necessary
- Find clarity by having conversations based on facts, not feelings
- Ask yourself what would create the biggest return
- Pricing reflects more than just being present on a wedding day
- Don’t focus on your competition, it leads to imposter syndrome
- Your why is not their why, and your personality is why couples will choose you
- You serve couples differently than other businesses do, so your prices should be different, but purposeful
- Establish weekly rhythms
- Create boundaries and stick with them because boundaries create capacity
- Start with The Big Three (three top priorities for your day) and focus on nothing else until those three things are addressed
- Brain dump your other to-dos in a separate location
The presentation was followed by a quick Q&A session that addressed various topics like how to outsource social media marketing, what it takes to maintain work-life balance, how Hawthorne House’s business is structured, and Gen Z client trends as they relate to making business adjustments.
The panel then introduced themselves and their breakout sessions. Elizabeth would remain in the dining room to talk more about identifying and offloading tasks while Heidi Johnson of Polka Dots Event Rentals would be leading a discussion on building weekly rhythms and productive business habits. Broc White of Le Luci Lighting and Design teamed up with Taylor Paige from The Perfect Touch KC to give a presentation on balancing between the personal and the business side of brand social media. The fourth group was about pricing with confidence, featuring Ryan Rainey of Elite Sounds.
All attendees were encouraged to pick up a brunch cocktail before finding their chosen session’s location. There were grapefruit and orange juice mimosa choices as well as Palomas. Signage provided by Yellow Brick Graphics provided more than just drink information. There was also a schedule posted to give guests the full rundown of the day.
As the halls filled with wedding professionals searching for the right breakout session, some staff members with Brancato’s Catering prepared a buffet table.
Volunteers with WedKC milled in the lobby, directing any stray wanderers, taking social media content, and strategizing on their next moves. Meanwhile, the volume began to die down as each session began.
After each session was completed, the wedding professionals returned to the ballroom for another Q&A that briefly recapped each session. Tables were then dismissed for lunch provided by Brancato’s. Some people posed pictures at The Photo Bus photo booth while others refreshed their drinks. The rest of the afternoon was left for more networking.
Here are a few of the main points from the individual breakout sessions in case you missed it!
Heidi Johnson on Building Weekly Rhythms
Create a Weekly Anchor
Pick one non-negotiable time each week that is purely for you, like a Wednesday afternoon or Friday morning. Dedicate it to self-care, whatever that looks like for you. You’ll have something to look forward to and it can rejuvenate your energy.
Theme Your Days
Rather than reacting to whatever is thrown at you, assign purposes to blocks of time. For example, you might use Mondays for administrative tasks, Wednesdays for couple consultations, and Thursdays for photo editing. This creates a repeatable rhythm so you have a productive structure to follow.
Everything Needs a Category
Each task has a purpose, so categorize them and fit them into your themed days. You may need to quickly reply to clients, but if it comes through at 10pm, it can probably wait until the morning. Knowing which label your tasks fall under and assigning it correspondingly can help lessen your anxiety.
Know Your Glass Balls vs. Rubber Balls
Some responsibilities, if dropped, shatter: those are your glass balls. Others can bounce back. When you’re juggling everything at once and want to add something new, you have to put down a rubber ball first. It will come back to you eventually or you can toss it at another juggler.
Cut What No Longer Serves You
Identify what makes you feel fulfilled and brings you joy. When you’re more stressed than satisfied, you’ll feel burned out and reactive to any mistakes that happen. Regularly assess what’s on your plate and realize that not all money is good money; some services drain you more than they pay you.
The Routine Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect — It Just Has to Be Repeatable
A bad week doesn’t mean the system failed. It means next week, the balls are still where you left them last, waiting for you to try again. Grace for yourself is part of the structure and is ultimately to the benefit of your clients, too. It means you can show up better for them, build stronger relationships, and pull off things you ordinarily wouldn’t think is possible.
Elizabeth Lang on Identifying and Offloading Tasks
Why Entrepreneurs Struggle to Delegate
There are a number of limiting beliefs when it comes to offloading tasks. The most common is a fear of losing control. Some of us believe that it’s easier or it will get done better if we do it. This thought pattern plays into a fear of losing control, pushes for counterproductive perfectionism, and enforces the negative idea that our identities are tied to the work we do. Instead, we need to properly train and trust the staff we’ve hired.
How To Buy Back Your Time
Ask yourself the following questions:
- What do I love doing?
- What am I good at?
- What drains my energy?
- What is replaceable?
Where to Start
Remove your low-energy and replaceable tasks. Shift your
focus on leadership development and collaborate with your team to build systems that actually work.
How to Follow Through
Transition from delegating tasks to giving ownership over tasks by:
- Setting aside regularly scheduled meetings for strategic training,
- Creating opportunities for mentorship and shadowing
- Allowing decision-making opportunities with a gradual manner
- Focusing on building trust that goes both ways
Broc White and Taylor Paige on How to Market Yourself Without Losing Yourself
Addressing The Tension We Feel
Social media pressures us all to perform a version of ourselves on camera to stay relevant. We look to trends and viral hooks rather than making something that connects with others authentically. We’re always catering to the algorithm instead of prospective couples. If your marketing doesn’t feel aligned with who you are, it’s going to feel exhausting and unnatural. You’ll end up working twice as hard to keep up appearances.
Identifying Why We Lose Ourselves
- Trend chasing
- Appearing too polished
- Performing as an authority instead of embodying confidence
Learning What Person-Forward Marketing Actually Is
Person-forward marketing lets clients know who you are and what it may be like to work with you before they inquire. They can understand your personality, your values, and how you think to see if your goals align. Don’t focus on selling your services, focus on what makes you the perfect fit for them to hire those services. Connection will win over sales tactics every time.
Understanding The Difference Between Authenticity and Strategy
Personality gets couples in the door, but your process is what keeps them there. Be strategic about what you share, how you share, and when you share. Ensure that whatever it is that you’re posting stays professional, but is playful enough to let your clients see who you really are.
Using Your Community as Marketing
Intentionally interacting with and becoming a part of a community is a form of marketing. Invest in your couples by investing in the people you meet at industry gatherings, or reach out online to create relationships with new vendors you might want to collaborate with.
This is how you create a healthy working community that advocates for each other: by showing up, building trust, making referrals, and creating longevity. Remember that building community is not a strategy, it’s an integral part of our work-life balance that fuels our personal fulfillment as well.
Building a Brand That Feels Like You
- Identify your core identity
- Write down 5 adjectives that describe you
- Write down 5 adjectives that describe your current social media account
- Ask yourself if they’re the same – if they’re not, realign.
- Audit your content
- Can a new follower identify what you care about?
- Can they hear your voice?
- Does your personality shine through?
Generating Sustainability and Longevity
Maintaining a personable online presence is difficult, but following these steps makes it easier to achieve. When you’re misaligned with your content and audience, it inevitably leads to imposter syndrome, burnout, client confusion, additional work, and booking clients you’re ill-equipped to handle. Finding that alignment filters clients for you, reduces sales friction, increases trust before inquiry, and makes content creation feel like less of a chore.
Ryan Rainey on Pricing with Confidence: Structuring Packages That Support Profit and Balance
Starting in the industry as a DJ, Ryan built his career by mastering both the creative and technical sides of live events—audio, lighting, video, staging, and show production. Today he oversees the production of hundreds of events each year ranging from weddings and corporate experiences to medium-scale concerts. Ryan is known for his practical approach to building profitable event companies, focusing on strong pricing strategy, operational systems, and scalable production packages. His leadership style blends hands-on production knowledge with a CEO mindset that prioritizes sustainability and long-term growth.
His session was a round table discussion about creating packages and pricing structures that accurately reflect your services. The conversation included topics like past experiences, business comparisons, profit-driven reasoning, current implementations, and financial tips.
We hope this March workshop recap inspired you to join us at our next workshop event!
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