We often think luxury has to come with a high price tag, but what if it’s really about how you make people feel?

In this episode of Mind Your Wedding Business, Kevin sits down with Kawania Wooten, owner of Howerton + Wooten Events and founder of The Enlightened Creative, to unpack what it truly means to democratize luxury in the wedding industry. From handwritten notes to CRM-powered magic, Kawania shares how thoughtfulness, hospitality, and intentionality can elevate every client experience—no matter their budget.

Together, they explore the difference between hospitality and customer service, how to empower your clients (instead of overwhelming them), and the surprising ways technology can help you show up with more heart, not less.

Highlights:

• What “democratizing luxury” actually means and why it matters
• The difference between hospitality and customer service (and how to spot it)
• Why luxury is a mindset, not a dollar amount
• How to make every client feel like a VIP, no matter the service tier
• Small touchpoints that leave a big impression (including your voicemail!)
• Using CRMs, DoorDash, and Instacart to create concierge-level care
• Why vendors are your clients too, and how to treat them that way
• The power of being present long after the wedding ends
• Practical ways to elevate proposals, emails, and client interactions
• How empowering your team to bring the magic can strengthen your brand

Whether you're working full-service or “month-of,” this episode will challenge the way you define luxury, and inspire you to build a business rooted in care, connection, and consistency.

Connect with Kawania:

Website

Instagram

LinkedIn

Connect with Kevin:

Wedding IQ

Fantasy Sound

Instagram

YouTube

TikTok

LinkedIn

All right, folks, welcome to another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business. I have here Kawania Wooten, and she's going to be talking to us today about democratizing luxury. But before we do, Kawania, can you please tell us a little bit about yourself and how we got you here today?

Okay, well, first, thank you so much for having me. It's a great honor. I've been following you for a while. Oh yeah. And I am based in Maryland in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area that we lovingly like to call it the DMV. And I'm an M part of that. And I own a company called Howerton Wooten Events. And next month I celebrate 18 years.

thank you.

⁓ of running. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. And it's interesting, I found myself here because I got fired. I got fired from corporate job and it was the craziest thing. And for years I used look back and be a little sad. And now I think, how could my life be any other way? So it is ⁓ one of those ⁓ crazy stories that ended up being something great at the end, but

⁓ that's amazing.

⁓

I started my business because I've been planning corporate events and meeting planning for years. And then I spent a little time in the TV industry, planning events and the creativity. I got to use that and it was hard for me to go back. And ⁓ so I found myself in the, in the social side of all of this. When I kicked off, when I launched my business in 2007, where I

Hmm.

incorporated social events such as weddings and whatnot to allow me to pick up the creative side. And then around COVID, meeting planning started getting creative. So it's been a nice little full circle moment. I ⁓ launched the Enlighten Creative, which is an education business for the wedding industry in 2018. And at that point I did it more because I felt like we needed more. I wasn't saying there weren't any already, but more.

Mm-hmm.

non-judgmental spaces where people could learn and not feel like someone's going to say, you don't know that already. ⁓ And so I wanted to be more of a kindler, gentler ⁓ place where people could gather their knowledge. So that's how I found myself here.

Mm-hmm

I love it. I love it.

it's always my aunt told me one time is when one door closes, another one opens. And that's exactly what I thought of when I when I heard your story, because it's so true. It probably was a blessing that you got fired. And at the time, you probably didn't feel that way. But yeah.

work.

No, as a

matter of fact, what my dad said to me was, you're so focused on the door that closed, you probably don't even notice the doors that have opened for you. Yes. So you're Anna, dad.

how funny. So that's, I love that. yeah,

the guy, wise, they get telling us and teaching us how to do it. So all right, perfect. Well, and I learned the DMV. I didn't know about that with all three of you right there. That's what you guys refer to yourself. So that ⁓ you educated me already today. All right. So all right. So what is democratizing luxury mean to you, especially in the context of wedding planning?

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Ha ha ha!

⁓

Mm-hmm.

And then at the end, she said to me, well, it's such a shame if you call yourself luxury, why doesn't everybody receive luxury? And it made me take a pause because I thought she's absolutely right. I need, and around that same time, that was 2021, would say the next year, happened to read the book Unreasonable Hospitality. And then all of a sudden, the two were starting to click that we...

wow.

Okay.

I need to look at how I can provide luxury services to my clients regardless of the service they ⁓ select with us. And not just that, that I should be thinking luxury and every time, every moment that we touch them so that they're not asking for it, that they feel it and regardless of the service they pick. And it's not something related to money because

Mmm.

people will say, I don't have that level of clients. And I'm like, no, no, no. ⁓ It's a mindset thing. How do I, when I touch people, when I say hello, even when I pick up the phone years ago, I remember taking a class with a woman called the telephone doctor. have no, mean, telephone doctor, she's probably not doing that anymore. But one of the first lessons she taught me is to smile before I answered the phone. And that changed the tone of

how I say hello, which makes the person in the other end feel very welcome. So my voicemail greeting has that vibe. I hear people, forget about my voicemail greeting because a lot of people don't call me, but people who do leave a voicemail saying, I love your voicemail greeting, you know? And it's, that's just the energy that you want to bring to the table. But it's great to say, people feel good. And it's a vibe, but it's taking a step back.

Hmm.

⁓

and thinking about everything that you do and how can you elevate it. And it doesn't have to be anything big. And one of the things, stories I like to share is ⁓ I have a slight addiction to eyeglasses. have, partly because I can't wear contacts and about, yeah, my super dry eyes, but in 2012,

⁓ bummer.

I went to this really cool eyeglass store in Alexandria, Virginia, and I went in because they had all these stylish eyeglasses in the window. And I thought, okay, maybe they can help me find a pair since I can't wear contacts. And I explained to the young man that I really want a pair, but I cannot see. So I can't tell you, and this is pre-Warby Parker, I can't really tell you how I look in these.

Hmm.

Yeah.

And he helped me find a pair of glasses, where the luxury came in is I went back two years later to get a new pair. You know, when your insurance says, okay, now you have new pair. Right. And when I made my appointment to come in, they had four or five pair glass, four or five pairs of glasses waiting for me. And so somebody must have updated their CRM and it could have been something as simple as a post-it note in my file.

Yep, you're good to go.

⁓

that said she needs help with her eyeglasses. And so I have gone back to that eyeglass store every other year for like 14 years now. I always tell people there's nothing else that made me say I have to go to them because there's stylish eyeglass places all over the place. And I drive 45 minutes to get, yes.

Wow.

Wow. wow.

So it's not in your backyard.

No, but what I'm the biggest lesson is what would stop a lens crafters or somebody else from doing the same thing. It costs this eyeglass boutique that I go to no money to ⁓ make sure those glasses were waiting for me. It is the mindset of this is a little extra way that we can take care of her, but you don't have to go. It doesn't have to be extra. It just has to be.

How do I go about taking care of people? ⁓ When my team writes messages, emails, Basecamp messages, we use Basecamp, for our clients, my rule is you can't, you have to address them by their name every time you write them. So I don't wanna see emails like, got it, confirm receipt. It seems efficient, but to me, you're not making your clients feel seen.

Mm-hmm.

hey, exceptions, how you doing? I just want to let you know I got your message. Or I just want to let you know we've taken care of this. I feel like it may seem a little bit overkill to me. When you say a person's name, you make them feel validated. And we underestimate those tiny little ways we can make people feel special.

Yeah. Yeah.

And I think that goes back to, I always have been taught that luxury is a feeling. And it's the way you feel. And both of your stories right there, go to that. It's how you feel every time you go into that eyeglass store and how you want your clients to feel every time they have a touch point with you guys. That's, yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

People want to feel validated, especially when they've laid down a big chunk of money and invested in your services. They even more so. But I always tell people humanity over things every time and that I can provide excellent customer care to my clients and I may never see them again. But if I make them feel warm and welcome, not only are they going to may come back for a legacy service, they're telling their friends about me.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

is they know they were treated well, so they feel comfortable referring me because of how I treated them. I could have had glitch after glitch. I don't, but if I did, wedding day, it would be one thing, but it's that they're going to say, but I felt so good hanging out with her or working with her. Actually, we don't say work. ⁓ My son ⁓ was in Montessori school and they were very intentional about their words.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And when

he was a little boy at three, they taught him that you don't play at school, you work at school. And I flipped that. don't, my team and I, don't say we work on weddings. We take care of our weddings. We take care of our couples because this is an emotional job. So I look at this very much as if we use these, if these are the words that we use, then our actions will mimic the words that we use. And that's how our clients hear it.

Hmm.

Mmm.

Yeah, and I love that how you said that. it's something as simple as, I enjoyed taking care of you and being part of your special day at the end instead. It was fun working with you. And it gets you into a different mindset. I love it. All right. So you mentioned one of my favorite books, Unreasonable Hospitality. And I think in the wedding industry, hospitality and customer service gets molded. so can you

Mm-hmm.

Like let us know the distinction between the two and why you think it's so important that wedding pros know that.

Right.

So, you know, it's just thing enough. Customer service is delivering a product, right? Customer service is providing, ⁓ carrying out the duties that I listed and the services on my website or in the proposal. Hospitality is making sure that I understand that it's a nice fit. It's how I talk to my clients. It's ⁓ making sure that

Mm-hmm.

If I ask you in the beginning, and we do ask a lot of questions in the beginning about their wedding, about them, and you mentioned that your father passed away, my whole team knows that. We will ask, is there anyone else you want to dance with on your wedding? Or if we're going to talk about walking down the aisle or anything like that. But we are very mindful of that because that's something we took note of so that the

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

doesn't have to keep reminding us of that. ⁓ Even how our website was written, it is written in a way that how we want you to feel when you work with us. When you ⁓ first talk, when you, ⁓ my goodness, I got a little Emily. When we send you a note in the mail,

There we go, Emily, we'll get it fixed.

more than likely that note is going to feel like it was a note from your aunt. And I say it like that because one time I ⁓ ordered fingernail polish. This is so crazy, but I ordered fingernail polish from some woman who had just launched a business. Her note was so heartfelt. I thought, do we know each other? I looked for her name in my contacts because I thought maybe I missed that because a note felt so warm.

Hmm.

You

And I have ordered things from other people that have never felt like that. And that to me felt like hospitality. It was a handwritten note that made me feel appreciated at that time. Whenever we are on site, we're very mindful of our hand gestures. We're mindful of when people arrive so we can receive them. Every time we touch them, we want to treat them with care and we want them to feel seen and validated.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

And that to me is hospitality. And it's not luxury, not at all. My office is in the front of my home. And one year I'd made a, I noticed that my husband is really big on landscaping and our yard is beautiful. And when the height of the pandemic, I noticed that the ⁓ Amazon drivers would walk right through the middle of the yard. So a path started.

Mm-hmm.

You

And I started paying attention that sometimes FedEx drivers walk through the middle and walk through the side, but UPS drivers always walked up the driveway. And to me, that felt like hospitality. Someone said, because that's what our parents told us, you never walk through someone's yard, right? And that little difference felt like hospitality to me. They were treating them as if we were guests in their home or they were guests in our home. And as opposed to,

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yep.

Mm-hmm.

We got to get this done as quickly as possible. ⁓ Hospitality also is boundaries though. Our clients know when they should hear from us because we've already told them how long it's going to take, ⁓ what our office hours are. So it's a way of ⁓ giving them that care, but within a certain set of boundaries. So we're teaching them how to be good customers, but in the kindest way possible and not in some...

puffy way that makes them feel like we were wagging our fingers at them. When I meet with a couple, and I'm very mindful, I don't usually use words like bride and groom. I want to be as inclusive as I possibly can. So we always use words like couple and whatnot. when I meet with them, if for some reason we don't, they can't, maybe they can't afford our services or it's just not a good fit, we always leave them with a little extra.

You

Also, if it's not one of my planning guidebooks or recommendations of a better fit for them, because I'm a firm believer that even the people that are not our clients should feel a little bit of that care when they've interacted with us. And I'm a big believer that everything starts at the top. So I make sure that my team sees how we treat those.

Hmm.

Mm.

clients or couples that don't fuck us because people mimic people more through actions than words and You you learn that working I worked in the hotel side and a lot of the hotels that really focused on hospitality the staff really got it they breathed it they understood it and and then your clients felt it and and so that is what our hospitality feels like we

Yeah.

and I'll shut up. We follow our, okay. We follow our couples instantly on social media. And the reason I do that is because sometimes people don't always communicate well, but they do do an amazing job of communicating what frustrates them on TikTok and Instagram. And so then if I can see that I can call.

No, you're doing great. You're doing great.

and say, hey, I just happen to be on your Instagram. I see you having trouble with your makeup artist. Let's talk about it. I want to make sure I'm taking care of you, that we're taking care of you or we can help you find what you need. And some of that is meeting people where they are. And ⁓ when time goes on, we also, we use that same social media to check up on them after their wedding. We've been to more than our of grandparents and

now.

parent funerals over the year. You know, because hospitality makes people feel like family. So we get the phone call too. And so we treated exactly how we would treat our own family. We'd show up with a pan of lasagna at their home. even if we don't go to the funeral, we want them to know we care. And some people may say, that's overkill. But.

wow. Yeah.

I share this, it's going to sound crazy, but every time I show up at a funeral or a family home, I book a little business. ⁓ Yeah, because someone's going to ask me, how do you know these people? And then I'll say, I was the wedding planner. And you're like, you know, my such and such. And I'm not doing this to book business. It just happens that way because people see how we cared for them long after their wedding day was over. And I think

Do you really?

Yeah.

If that philosophy goes throughout the entire process, people will still look at you ⁓ as taking care of them long after. On a flip side, if it's not so dark, one of the things that we give our couples just as a part of how we care for them after the wedding is how to host your first Thanksgiving document. Yeah, because I find that it's almost like we're sending them out into the world.

⁓ that's cute.

to be good big adults now. And I think that first time hosting can be a big thing. It's not recipes. It's things like if you're inviting 10 people, what size turkey do you order? How long does it take to defrost it? ⁓ It's almost like all the things your auntie would have taught you. So we're providing it in one little document. And that's just a part of the hospitality that I would get from my own family that we're extending it to our wedding family.

I love it.

You

Yeah.

in the same way.

Yeah, but you're making them feel seen and I think that's a big part of it. And you said something earlier too that really stuck with me is that I think where most wedding professionals forget is when we go into these venues, hotels, whatever, golf courses, wineries, whatever you're going to for these events is that we're a guest at this, name it, hotel or whatever. And when we start demanding and start

Mm-hmm.

I need this and I need a cart and I need this. You're not prepared to do your job. And those venues, I think, take a really good look at you. that's a surefire way not to get added to a list or not to get asked back and all kinds of stuff.

It's interesting

that you say that because a big part of my belief of democratizing luxury is that your client isn't always the person that paid you. It's also the people who are partnering with you. And I want to make, and I say to my team all the time, the photographer is our client too. The videographer is our client too. Not just because they refer business to us, but they're also helping us to provide our service and we need them. And

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And when your vendor partners feel that same experience that you shared with your couple, or they ⁓ feel that warmth, because it is a long day. And I'm not just talking about making sure they get fed. That's my job. going to make, I'm talking about making sure that they have what they need to do their job well. And that to me is a part of extending hospitality too.

Yeah, but.

Well, yeah, and it makes for such a long day when you're working with a team of people that one of them is a bad apple. You you got all these great oranges and then this one bad apple, and it just makes for such a long, long day because you're constantly having to, you know, redirect or, you know, work with this person or, you know, you're trying to do something and that person's just MIA can't be found or, you know.

And then my favorite is you get a lot of information. I feel like when you're sitting around the dinner table with all the vendors and you'll hear the good and the bad about what everyone how everyone feels about every venue. But it's just like I finally one day this one photographer was just ripping this venue apart. Very popular venue in my area. And finally, I looked at her and I was like, why do you work here then if you don't like, know, like she goes, well, there's a lot of places, you know, there's a lot of weddings here. And I was like, well, then.

Okay.

I go, maybe you should go with the attitude of finding the good instead of focusing on the And I just, don't know why it wasn't my place, but it just, felt compelled at that moment to say, cause it's a venue that I work at all the time and I love and they're great people, but she was just ripping them apart. And it was just, it brought a negativity to the day that we didn't need to have. So yeah. Yeah.

Right, absolutely. You

know, one of the things in unreasonable hospitality is Will Gidera talks about how the person who confirms a dinner reservation is also going to be the person who's the hostess that night. So when the guests, dinner guests come in, he'll say, Hi there, Kevin, I just I'm the person you spoke to on the phone when I

Mm-hmm.

And that little extra touch makes people feel like family. And I just happened to be at a menu tasting recently at the Conrad in DC where the venue coordinator said, the person who was serving us, he will be there on your wedding night. I thought, see how that, and the couple said, ⁓ great. And there was that sense of, there's gonna be one person, one person there that I know was gonna be taking care of us that night.

Mm-hmm.

And it makes them

feel special.

Yeah. And so it was a way of turning something very small into something very big. So I sit here and I think of your colleague who was going on and on. The biggest thing is turning around and saying, OK, what can I do to make this better? And I have found that a nice phone call like, you know, the last couple of to the venue person, the salesperson, last couple of times I've worked there.

Yeah.

if they haven't worked out quite how I want them to, can we talk? Because I love your venue. I want to make this better for all of us. Then now all of a they're like, I love that person. And let's talk.

Yeah.

Well, and that's where I think a lot of wedding pros mess up too, is because they don't ask for feedback from everyone you work with. And that's because it's great to get feedback from our clients. But also, I love to get feedback from the planner. I love to get feedback from all the other wedding pros I'm working with because that only, you know, whether it's good or constructive, you just have to and that's how you learn and grow. And that's how you become a better wedding pro. You know, because a lot of the venues I've worked at

Mm-hmm.

There was one venue I worked with a long time and I joked because their general manager I called it going into the principal's office But you know something one of my staff did something or you know But I told her I said you tell us once and we will never do it again You know, like we'll learn from that and we'll never do it again But that's you're you're you're not perfect every time you you know, we want to be perfect But you're just you know little things or or you may some venue may have a rule That's not a rule that everybody else's you know spot and then

You just got to learn and go. I think there's a lot that goes into that. That's good advice.

Yeah, and the

growth is huge. So you walk away like, okay, so some of it was me, but they receive it and say, we didn't realize we were coming off like that. But you'll never know unless you say something.

Yeah.

Yeah, I love it. All right, well, we're going to turn a little bit here. So how can like wedding pros start shifting their mindset to better validate their clients and elevate like every touch point?

So the one, number one is think about how can I empower my client? And I think we all think I have to do this for them. have to do this. Sometimes it's, I'm going to take care of this for you. Let me tell you what you should look for while I'm working. So if I take a couple on a, to a menu tasting, even though I'm leading their menu tasting for them, I'm giving them a checklist of things they should be looking for themselves because I want them to feel educated in this decision also. So come up with ways.

Mm.

to empower clients, and I always use examples such as ⁓ Apple, where you can go in there before they open for classes, Home Depot does it. People buy from you, but teach them how to buy from you, or how to really make best of those services. That's number one. Two, you cannot take yourself so serious. have ⁓ to, one of my mantras in our office is when a client calls us and we're like,

Mm-hmm.

It's five o'clock. I'm so sorry. one of my clients, I forgot about my computer. One of our clients, ⁓ every now and then we get a client and we're like, here we go. My mantra is would you do it for Beyonce? And, and, and my, it's not, it has nothing to do with money. It doesn't have anything to, it's would you do that for Beyonce? And they'll say, okay, yes, I would then do it for our client.

don't worry.

Hmm.

because it's about treating them like VIPs. You don't like VIPs, can say tail swift, it doesn't matter, but just a matter of thinking of your clients like the VIPs that they should be. And so, and that also helps remove some of the taking it so serious, because I want you to think, I'm above doing this. that's one, the next take. And then the third one, one of my biggest beliefs is every time you touch a client, should

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

feel luxurious or a little bit extra. And my biggest story is when my son was little, he left his phone at Disney World. He was so worried, I'm going to get in so much trouble. And we called and they found it and they shifted to him. But when it came, it came with a teddy bear with instructions and it said, the teddy bear told him how well they took care of the phone while they had it. That little

Hmm.

geez.

my God.

One, it took away the, ⁓ see your phone? You know, you didn't, you know, it was okay. But he felt like the teddy bear took care of the phone and he didn't, it didn't, it took away some stress out of it. And I think if we think like, how can we add a little magic the way Disney always adds a little magic to everything we do, it's a handwritten note. Or, you know, it's crazy. There's a photographer here.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And when she writes notes to our clients, there's always gifts or chips. don't remember how you pronounce it, but there's always little confetti or something. Not all my clients would be into it, but I know which ones I can recommend based on that little bit of joy that she injects. And that to me is a little bit of magic every night because every now and then some clients need that joy. Things get crazy or it's really, ⁓ a crazy time for them. So how can you add luxury or a little magic?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

really does just in the tiniest of things, answering the phone, sending an email, ⁓ even an invoice. How can I make this invoice a little bit more fun? ⁓ Those are the things that really do change. And then the last one is remembering that what we do is about hospitality and not customer service. Yeah.

Yeah.

I love it.

I don't know if you've heard of the Disney Institute, but you might be into it because they go out and they teach you how to do the Disney way. it's really, I've seen a couple of their speakers come to some of our industry events and it just, just blows your mind. The type of training that they do with their staff and it's all the really beautiful touch points that they, know, and again, it's that magic that they create and yeah, and no one does it like them. They really don't. So.

I took management classes at Disney Institute in 2010 when I first started managing a department. And some of the best lessons I ever learned in team management, yes.

Yeah.

It's yeah, and so yeah, and they do them and I would like to do one one of these days because it really teaches you stuff that I think it makes you think differently and I think in our industry would go a long way especially with the hot on the hospitality level. All right, so like talking about technology, what kind of you know, what does that play in the luxury level experience to all the couples regardless of their budget, you know?

⁓ yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes.

Well, you know, we're big on it and we find ways to use it, but we're also very ⁓ one, we tell our couples, let's talk about how we're going to use technology so we can be consistent with it so that later on, as we get closer, we're not losing things. ⁓ like I said, we definitely use social media. We use project management softwares here. ⁓

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

to help our couples, we also ⁓ try to create little portals for them so that they have everything they need ⁓ with our technology. If we can see the timing of when ⁓ they send us emails, ⁓ we are very mindful in our team meetings and we'll talk about that and we'll find ways to use technology such as something as simple as a Starbucks card.

Hmm.

Hmm.

ordering something is we'll say, hey, we noticed that you were up working late on your wedding at three in the morning sending us messages. Here's a little Starbucks card to get you through the day. find on a wedding day, we use Instacart and DoorDash like no one's business because that helps us provide that last minute concierge style care because, you know, Uncle John forgot his shoestrings and they don't match.

and the other shoestrings in our emergency kit, then we can ⁓ get them from DoorDash within 25 minutes or somebody left, they can't find their medication. So we have found that a lot of those services that were once now, I think they're just part of our everyday life, but were considered disruptors, we're finding ways to provide those day of services ⁓ more and more. ⁓

Yeah.

Yeah.

one of the biggest things that we're big on is risk management and crisis management. And so we ⁓ make sure that not only are we collecting clients information in advance, but that every vendor talking about working with partnering with your vendor partners has it. they have like a ⁓ photographer goes off and takes photos with our couple the day of or an engagement.

they know exactly everything they need to know about them just in case something goes wrong. And that's part of collecting this information that we keep via our CRMs. ⁓ CRMs to me are huge and people are like, we'll say, ⁓ I can't afford one more piece of technology. Well, back in the day, we used to keep these things called tickler files where you just have to file on people. And that's where I mentioned earlier with the post-it note, whatever we need to keep our information current.

Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

so that we can best take care of our couple, we use all of those different types of technology. ⁓

Yeah, and

I think wedding pros forget that technology, whether you pay for it or it's free, even when you pay for it, it saves you time. Time is money. So if it can save you time and it's going to make your workday a whole lot easier, then it's actually worth the little bit of small cost that goes with it. Because most of these technologies are not astronomical. They're reasonable, unless you're getting a big, big one. you mentioned, so you have portals for your clients. Do you do that through Basecamp?

Mm.

We do. And the beauty of that portal in Basecamp is that's where we keep. We can integrate Pinterest into it. So now we have a place for our inspiration board. We can integrate our Zoom. So they never have to go looking for the Zoom ⁓ address to hop on a Zoom with us. The connection's already in their Basecamp. Their Google Drive folders are already

Okay.

Hmm.

integrated in Basecamp, their budgets integrated. So they open that up and everything they need for planning their wedding is integrated into Basecamp. And that makes it easier for them. Yeah. Yeah.

I love it.

Yeah, so.

All right, so many wedding pros are worried about adding like luxury touches may increase costs. So how can we balance an elevated service without overspending, I guess?

Right. Well, the thing is, as I said before, thinking about how you touch them. So luxury is not, does not have to be tied to money. And it's, people, get so caught up on, well, these are our luxury clients. That's those, no, those are your clients who are paying, who are spending at a certain level. They're considered luxury clients, but that's not part of your luxury service. Your luxury service.

is you first need to shift that mindset and think, how can I provide a luxury care to this client? And it doesn't always, it's looking at every single step, ⁓ that everyday touch. There's that story about ⁓ Chewy. I don't have a dog, but I love this story that when somebody's dog passes away, that

Hmm.

⁓ yes.

Chewy that they let Chewy know they don't charge them for the last order that probably came out, but they send them some flowers to let them know they're sorry for their loss. Well, that should be a part of your budget. That's already a part of your budget that we have a flower budget. But if let's just say, hey, I, can't afford flowers. A greeting card is just fine. Somebody just wants to know you care. They lost somebody they love. They just want to know that you appreciated.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

their service while they could provide it to you. And it's the same as a wedding. So if I use, for example, a wedding photographer, my first thought of part of what I consider to be luxury is empowering that client. And I always think of what makes couples nervous. The first thing that makes them nervous with photography is for an engagement shoot is what to wear. So I think every photographer should have something created.

They create it one time, they use it over and over again, but that walks a couple through selecting their attire. So many TikToks out there now on how to pose. And I think, you know, even just look at, here are some posing ideas. I'm going to help you with posing on the day of, but is it anything in here that, that looks comfortable to you, that feels right to you, but walk empowering that couple through that process makes them feel.

Mmm.

Yeah.

less, it helps remove some of those inhibitions. And so now they feel like, okay, I feel good about where I'm, about this process. The other thing is we tend to say, well, where do you want to do this? how about, you know, you guys, you love movies. How about we go to the local theater and it should be that we have taken the time to really get to know them, to provide these services. And that, I just mentioned photographer, but you could do that.

for just about any area of our industry if we look at this as hospitality and take the time to pay attention to who they are.

Everything, yeah.

Yeah.

You know, we, like I said, when I ⁓ send notes to our clients, every now and then we just send a note if I'm like mailing them something like swatches or whatever. There's always something extra that's going to go in that envelope. And it might be, hey, ⁓ an affirmation. It may be something as ⁓ a packet of tea. I thought you might like this. Whatever it is, I just want to make them feel a little extra special.

Mm-hmm.

People look for that and it makes them feel cared for. And it goes back to that little magic that Disney shows us how to bring to the table. Yeah, it is. And empowering your staff to provide that magic is key. It can't just be from the top. When your staff feels like they can provide a little of extra magic,

Yeah, a lot of power, a lot of power in that magic. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

your clients are feeling it from all angles. if you're a photographer on a day of, and you're wonderful and your second shooter is cranky, then that's messing with that brand that you've created so beautifully. The second shooter should feel the need to provide that magic just as much as you do.

Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. All right, as we're wrapping up here, what are like a practical first step that a wedding pro can take to start elevating our service and taking us to that next level? What do you think?

Mm-hmm.

go through each step that they already have in place, how they provide service to their couples. So if you are a florist and you meet with a couple for a consultation and the next thing you're going to do is send a proposal, look at how you send that proposal and what can I do to elevate that experience? ⁓ When I write it, is it all about me or is it about the couple? I think

Okay.

Hmm.

Some of that is that shifting that brain where it's not, I'm great, I'm talented, I'm creative. I was featured here to, I see that you love lilies and this is how we think we can incorporate lilies into your wedding. I see that you love this and this is what we want to do so you feel like this wedding represented the flowers that grew in your grandmother's garden. It should be more client-focused and less us-focused.

If you look at each step you do and say, can I be more client focused in this step? You're already changing that luxury. I mean, that experience from good customer service to a luxury experience for them.

I love it. That's a great, great advice. All right. So as we're wrapping up, Kawhi, how do we get in contact with you?

That's it.

Sure. So, well, Howerton Wooten events, I am on the web, ⁓ most definitely, and on social media will always be at Howerton Wooten. My educational business is at The Enlightened Creative, and that's the same for the web also.

All perfect. We will have all her links and everything in our show notes in the email that goes out to everyone. And we'll make sure that everyone can get in contact with you. I can't thank you enough. There's so many ideas that I got out of our little 40-minute talk here that I'm ready. You energized me to get going with my staff. So an empowering. I love that, empowering them themselves. So all right.

Fantastic. Thank you.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Well, I appreciate you being here today, Kawania, and thank you so much. We'll see you next time on another episode of Mind Your Wedding Business.

Thank you for your time and allowing me. I'm honored.

Perfect, thank you.