Today's Vendor Spotlight features, two sisters, Britnie James & Ishantis Jamil, who at a very young age, knew that event planning was in their DNA! They held on to the memories of their grandmother and mother entertaining for family events and has put those values into their own business, La Bella Décor, and their divisions, La Bella Graphique and La Bella Sucré.
Where are you located, and what areas do you service?
We are located in Toledo, OH. We are able to service all areas of Ohio and Michigan. We also are willing to travel beyond our surrounding areas if needed.
Were you an Event Planner before you started planning your wedding, or was there a revelation while you were planning your wedding, that this was something you could turn into a business?
As children and teenagers, we were always intrigued by event planning, so we started to include ourselves in our family gatherings and other small events. Eventually we started getting calls from other family members and close friends for us to help with birthday parties and baby showers. We officially made it a business during my wedding planning.
Tell us about La Bella Decor's Brand.
La Bella Decor is an event planning company currently focusing on décor, graphic design, and gourmet desserts/candy buffets. As children, we were inspired by our late grandmother who was a professional chef. Her skills, along with her southern hospitality, are what started our dream of being event planners. Watching her prepare and present different foods for events, we fell in love with the art of displaying food and décor. She loved serving others in any way she could, which was instilled in us by her and our mother. We have been officially in business for about 2 years now. We coordinate and do décor for any event however, we are most known for coordinating baby showers and children’s parties.
Our stationary brand, La Bella Graphique, specializes in invitations, websites, business cards, monograms, and personalized labels.
Last but not least, we have La Bella Sucre’. This part of our business specializes in candy buffets and gourmet desserts. All of our desserts are home made with top quality ingredients. Our number one goal is to leave our clients completely stress-free when it comes to planning events.
Tell us about your very first event?
Our first event as La Bella Décor was a baby shower. The theme we chose was “baby diva” with a zebra print and hot pink color scheme. We planned, hosted, and designed every single detail of the baby shower including games, favors, table setting, centerpieces, booking the venue, designing the invitation and all stationary needed for the day of the shower. When the mom-to-be walked in, she was blown away. She was so emotional and full of excitement as we rolled out each detail and surprise one by one. It was definitely well worth the hard work we put in. I remember discussing afterward how we just felt like this was the beginning of a BIG future for us both. It was indeed a challenge and it brought us a lot of learning experiences but It was also confirmation for us both that this is our gift, this is what God called us to be.
Where do you see La Bella Decor in the future?
As we grow as entrepreneurs, we desire to be a “one stop shop” providing every event planning detail, with the dream of one day being able to include catering, venue rental, and music entertainment along with the details we already specialize in. In our future we would like to be able to own our very own venue for rental purposes. I am currently in college majoring in business, so that I can gain the knowledge of how to obtain that level of entrepreneurship.
Any advice for someone out there that may want to start their own business?
Any advice for someone out there that may want to start their own business?
Yes, educate yourself first. If I could change anything about our process so far, I would have attended school earlier in life. The education prepares you for whatever it is you need to know and have as far as owning a business. Some things we are born with, other things, we have to learn. It is also important to have a solid business partner. Someone who wants what you want, challenges you to dream bigger, and who you can trust with every single part of your business. Also, things WILL be rocky in the beginning but if you know this is what you desire to be in life, keep holding on to that dream. The rocky moments are only temporary.
And there you have it! If you have a dream and a passion, hold on to it! I am looking forward to watching this team of sisters, grow and take on the event planning world!
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Until Next Time...Make Your Next Event.....
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