Meet Ashlie Smith | Wedding Planner and Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashlie Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashlie, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Growing up my mom and dad were real estate agents and so we were always talking about different homes they were listing and what not. Often times my mom would take me to walk through homes she was going to sell and I would find it fascinating how each home was laid out and designed. I constantly was drawing floor plans and thinking of unique ideas like hidden play rooms for kids to have fun such as a ball pit room or an area with a slide to the downstairs level. I was very imaginative.

Fast forward to seventh grade and we had a project where we needed to think of what we wanted to be when we grew up. We had to research schools, look into what that careers typical salary was, see what the steps were to grow in that industry and so forth. I remember telling my mom I don’t want just any boring desk job. And she told me, ” Honey you are so creative why don’t you look into Architecture?” So I did! That interest followed me through to College where I got my Master of Architecture and then came to work at an Architecture firm for 7 years.

The last two years working at the Architecture firm I found I wasn’t as fulfilled creatively as I had hoped. I found myself very interested in the Wedding and Event planning world. I had always been that friend that was planning events for my friends and family. Always styling the tablescape extra cute for get togethers, etc. And one day I just said you know what I can start doing this passion of mine on the side until I am at a place I can feel comfortable leaving and giving this a real shot. So I did just that!

What should our readers know about your business?
I am so proud of where I am today. I am absolutely so fulfilled creatively, I get to work with incredible clients and do what I truly love in life. I started out in the industry by working with a local venue in 2020 getting experience by doing tours for the venue and being the on-site venue coordinator on wedding days. I was able to get quite a few weddings from the tours I was giving at this venue which was great starting out. I also heard about styled shoots and how great they were to get experience working with other vendors and then in the end you would receive professional photos of your work. So I would spend hours setting up tablescapes in my house with items I purchased myself. And did a couple styles shoots in a short span of time which lead me to meet some incredible vendor friends and helped me to build my confidence.

Before I knew it I had 15 weddings scheduled for the first wedding season of 2021 and I felt I could leave my full time job and still continue to add more clients as the early spring months went on. That first season I did every wedding by myself trying to offer all the set up of clients decor as well as managing all the vendors and being able to check in with the clients throughout their wedding day. It was quite a lot but somehow before I knew it I made it through my first wedding season. From that season I learned that I wanted to be able to offer my clients full set up and take down of their decor/rentals and I would need more help if I wanted to be able to offer that level of service to them.

I began looking around at amazing small business owners I have worked with that year in some capacity and decided to ask if a couple of them wanted to add on some additional work by becoming my assistant coordinators on wedding days. Before I knew it I had 3 assistant coordinators. The next wedding season was 2022 and I felt we were able to handle so much more on wedding days and looking back on the summer I know I couldn’t have done it without my team.

Fall of 2022 I got an offer from another business owner to purchase her rental decor business. I had worked with her a lot over the past year and absolutely loved her items. I read the e-mail and immediately got chills, looked at my husband and said, “You’re not going to believe this, we have to make this work somehow!” We now have acquired that business and now we have tons of beautiful decor we rent out.

Something I think unique is that I offer my planning and coordination clients 15% off our rental decor. So not only can people come to us for Coordination, planning, or design but now they also can get their decor from us for their weddings and events. We just love helping our couples plan and design unforgettable weddings and events to share with their guests so they can spend more time creating beautiful and lasting memories.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband hands down has always been my rock through starting this business. He has been so supportive and it has been so cool to slowly teach him more about this event world I am in. Now that we have purchased a rental decor business he has been so hands on and plans to be a huge part of this side of our business with the packing of orders and deliveries.

Website: Designsbyashliesmith.com

Instagram: @designsbyashliesmith

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designsbyashliesmith/

Image Credits
Wedding Photos: Gina Paulson https://www.ginapaulson.com/ Branding Photos: Kara Ellen Photography https://www.instagram.com/kara.ellenphotography/