Plan with me Online

300+ wedding & event professionals at your fingertips. All Local - All Vetted.

Inspiration

I have been planning and executing weddings, events, and conferences for nearly 30 years. About 8 years ago I started my own wedding and special events venue "On Sunny Slope Farm" which is on my family's historic farm. I also began working at a hotel as a sales manager for weddings and social events about 3 years ago. I have met and collaborated with hundreds of local wedding and event professionals over these years. Referrals are a part of my businesses but fairly and easily sharing those with all my friends in the business became overwhelming as that list grew quickly and now is over 300. Because of my background in building websites, integrations, social media marketing, email marketing, and networking, I found it easier to build a website with advanced functionality than to manually manage everything myself.

Over the last five years, I have built a local directory site that allows my fellow professionals to post a listing and helps promote them in my various social media and email marketing channels. The fees for that cover what I need to pay to run the site, most times. Over the last two years, I have built "Plan with me Online" to further help couples, planners and professionals easily and quickly connect. With COVID-19 there is an even greater need for this service and I hope that more and more people can become aware of how helpful it can be as they need to plan or re-plan their weddings or events.

What it does

Couples or planners post their event as a "job" on the site. The website then generates notices and emails to the 300+ professionals that need their services based on their needs. Professionals can then submit their services as a quote, resume or direct message that is posted in a private message area on the dashboard of the couple or planner and is also emailed to them. All the while protecting the couple's or the planner's privacy until they choose to reach out to their chosen wedding or event professionals.

How I built it

I understand that what I have done is not that unique. Other than the intentional work on making sure that the service that this tool offers is local, personal and fair to the network of couples, planners and professionals that I work with.

I started with a WordPress site. Added SSL and firewall protection. I chose a theme and customized it based on my locality and the need that I was trying to address. I added plug-ins and functionality that was necessary. Some were paid for and some were free. I connected my social media sites, used HootSuite, connected my Mailchimp and my Survey Monkey APIs, and added the network of people I work with.

Challenges I ran into

My biggest challenge has not been technology. I started programming computers in high school in 1980 when punch cards were new. Rather, my biggest challenge has been building awareness outside my network. I would love for more people to be able to use the site and for it to be helpful, especially in these days.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

While planning a wedding or an event may seem trivial at this time, celebrating love and life in the midst of disaster is important. And the losses that couples are feeling currently after having spent tremendous amounts of money planning for a day that they will not see in the near future is real. So I am proud that I am at least trying to help ease that pain and plan for happier days. I am proud of the network of professionals, couples and planners that I have built and that I am able to continue to relate to them and help them in an ongoing way. I'm proud that I have been able to connect things that were not connected previously technologically in ways that function well without a tremendous amount of management needed. All the while being able to add a personal touch along the way. And I am proud that I am able to help my local community in these ways.

What I learned

I have learned that it really is not hard to build something. It is hard to get people to use it and to understand that if they do, it might help them find an easier road.

What's next for Plan with me Online

I will continue to do what I have been doing. My hope is that somehow what you are doing here might help build awareness of what I am doing in my locality.