THE BUSINESS DIARIES | Rhiann, Lucy Till French Weddings
“Identify the skills you have and the skills you need. If you can’t or don’t have the time to learn the skills you need, find someone you like who can do it better than you.”
Wise words about outsourcing from my latest guest on The Business Diaries! Rhiann is the CEO of Lucy Till French Weddings, as well as an American Wedding Planner in France. Rhiann’s story began in 2015, and she has since planned elegant weddings in Provence, the French Riviera, the French Alps, and Lake Como, building an established team of planners + designers along the way. Grab your morning coffee and find out what it takes to be a destination wedding planner in France…
How long have you been running your business for? How was your business born?
Lucy Till French Weddings was born in 2007 when founder Lucy Till organised a family wedding, and realised, for one, she loved the process and two, there was little to no one doing this in France.
I joined her team in 2015 after finding an advert online looking for a wedding coordinator. I remember thinking that the offer sounded too good to be true and made sure we met in a public space for our interview!
At that time I was 26, and had a history of organising 2 proms, multiple theatrical productions, teaching and a passion for thinking on my feet, I thought I could really be good at this job. After my first wedding at a private hamlet in the hills, I was hooked. When Lucy retired from wedding planning in 2019, I bought the company and have been running it since.
What did you want to do for a career? Was this something you’d always intended on doing?
Not at all! I have had several aspirations, lawyer, actress, makeup artist, journalist, poet, but at the heart of all my interests, there was always a hint of romance that attracted me to those fields.
When I got into wedding planning I loved it because it was a combination of so many different skills from creative to pragmatic, including lots of math- yes! How many meters of aisle will there be? How many tables and chairs can fit into this space? How much string, tape, confetti, booze do we need to plan for? It balances out my creative side, which never sleeps, ideas can come to me in dreams, in hotels, in the wall paper pattern of a venue...
What is one thing you know now that you would have told yourself when you first launched your business?
This covid thing is here to stay; that was a tough way to begin.
What has been one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a business owner, and how have you overcome it?
I would lie if the reply wasn’t again covid. That aside, as I think that is a common denominator for all of us in the business today, it was getting started. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to create a business in France, and it’s not something to take lightly. It’s also extremely important to understand the financial side of the business, hire a wonderful accountant, (my first was a nightmare!) Once I passed that step I was able to make plans for the future growth of the company.
Tell me an invaluable lesson you have learnt as a business owner?
Building an incredible team is the best thing I can do.
Being self-employed can be a struggle! How do you stay motivated? Do you have any productivity tips?
I start my day with a meeting at 8:00 to get me out of bed. I also have a shared in-house To Do list with my team to keep us on task, so that at the end of the day, I know exactly what we have accomplished, and where we will begin the next day.
Is there anyone (within the industry, celebrity, friend or family member) who inspires you and what you do for a living?
Lucy Till herself! I always admired her ability to adapt, her elegance, her way of transmitting knowledge and underlying motivation to do this job at all, to celebrate life. She continues to inspire me to this day and we continue to work together in a new way as she is a wedding officiant!
Name me your go-to podcast, audio book or song that you listen to while working?
I like it quiet mostly. If I do listen to music, it would be during moodboard creations and it would tie into the song selection of the couple. It’s also a Lucy Till tradition to listen to the wedding songs of the couple on the way to their big day.
I’m all about supporting small businesses. How can your followers / customers / clients support your biz?
That’s such a sweet question. Instagram is a very important part of how our clients find us. Engaging with us there would be huge support!
What’s one thing you dislike about being a business owner?
Logging receipts. It’s such a bore.
What’s one thing you love about being a business owner?
The freedom of creating a brand that feels true, telling a story that is Lucy Till French Weddings, and making dream weddings a reality. That’s more than one, oops!
What is a common myth about your business / field of expertise?
That the wedding planning life is oh so glamorous! We work long hours, sometimes 20 hour days, and then need to be back the next day to put on another event. We do get to work in glamorous locations and destinations, but the key missing word is we work HARD in those locations. But we love it, it’s an adrenaline rush.
If your business could be remembered for one thing, what would it be?
It’s a new direction my company is going to take: working to combine luxury weddings and sustainability.
What’s something your followers / customers / clients wouldn’t know about you?
I grew up on a farm in Texas and was a veritable rodeo queen!
What is one piece of advice you’d give to someone starting their own business?
Identifying the skills you have and the skills you need and if you can’t or don’t have the time to learn the skills you need, find someone you like who can do it better than you.
What do you have in store for your business? Is there anything exciting around the corner?
Our project this winter is to include with every wedding going forward ideas to be more sustainable. It’s not about being perfectly green for us, but it is about being better, doing more good and finding the ways in which we can unlearn some harmful, wasteful wedding practices and set stride on an even more beautiful, greener path.
Describe being a business owner in three words. (E.G Rewarding, freedom, challenging).
Invigorating, Exciting, Limitless