Meg Roberts is the owner of Love Untamed Collective. She specializes in elopement, wedding and event planning. Meg first fell in love with the wedding industry back when she was a stylist. During that time, Meg planned events at home, putting together parties for herself and friends. Her husband then encouraged her to get into the wedding planning business for herself. Meg said, “I did. I started by marketing myself as a bridesmaid for hire.”
As her experience grew and creative ideas came to mind, Meg wanted to figure out how to make a name for herself and launch her business. A friend told her about a unique wedding expo she recently attended. The description gave Meg the inspiration she was looking for. Meg envisioned an event that had mock wedding ceremonies and industry professionals (such as photographers, caterers, florists and stylists) could showcase their talents. Meg had the big picture but didn’t know how to bring it all together.
Meg once read an article in the Durango Herald that featured Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Deputy Director Mary Shepherd. “I remembered the article stating that SBDC helps people build their business and they make things happen.” Meg made an appointment with Mary to discuss her wedding bazaar idea. Meg recalled, “Mary helped brainstorm my first steps and has knowledge on a lot of things. We tossed around ideas. She gave me advice on who to get in my corner and how to move forward. I did exactly what she recommended.”
Meg reached out to people who told her how an event like hers would be ran. They shared with her the specifics about what needed to happen behind the scenes, how venders should be marketed differently to get them to participate, and how to utilize a non-profit if she wanted to serve alcohol. The Southwest Wedding Bizarre took place April 27th at the River Bend Ranch. It was a huge success! There were three mock weddings. “We had forty-five local vendors in the wedding industry and sold one hundred three tickets. There were between one hundred fifty to two hundred people in all,” Meg said.
Recently, Meg followed up with Mary and SBDC office manager Hannah Birdsong to learn how to carry the momentum from the bazaar and channel it into her business. She also attended the SBDC sponsored Start Your Own Business Workshop. Meg’s takeaway from the workshop was learning how to create a roadmap to get customers and how to get her business going. “There were so many resources there. Lots of people are rooting for us entrepreneurs.”
Meg is very grateful to Mary and Hannah. “There were so many great ideas that came out of brainstorming with Mary. And Hannah, let me tell you, she has so much intel on marketing yourself on the web and with Google. I spent three hours in her office. I came out of there needing a nap I had so much information.”
