Meet Jessica Mitschele | Owner & Principle Planner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Mitschele and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor behind the success of our business is our willingness to go above and beyond to make our clients wedding day feel magical. It’s in the little details and within every interaction that we try to bring positivity, excitement, and romance. We feel that because all of the payments, budgeting, scheduling etc. can be stressful, we want to make all of the other aspects of their process fun, memorable and something they look forward to. Being happy, kind, and genuinely excited for them to get married has set us apart from others. We are truly there for them and put ourselves and systems second. If we need to adjust anything to make sure they are feeling catered to, cared for, heard, and stress-free, we will do it. They hired us to design and plan their day, and we feel that by creating this world of excitement and romance throughout the wedding planning process, it brings them even more joy and appreciation to get married!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I think the one thing that sets us apart from other planning companies (other than the obvious for everyone- personalities, designs, systems, etc.) is our willingness to go above and beyond. We’re not shy to jump in and do what needs to get done to make sure something is perfect or is executed correctly. Our couples have a vision of their day and we have an expectation of all vendors involved to make that vision come to life, and come to life flawlessly. So if we see something is about to derail that vision, then we’re jumping in and making it perfect. We make sure not only our couple and their guests are having a fun easy day, but that the vendors are doing the same. We take care of our vendor team and make sure they are able to give 100%, and if they need help in any way, we will help. We’ve been security, rental movers, a/v setup crew, florists, cake decorators, you name it we’ve done it! We love our job as wedding planner and designer, but are willing to do what it takes for our couples to have a flawless & epic wedding day.

I think one thing we’re most proud of is our rapid growth. We have been officially wedding planning for 5 years, and after year 2 in business we rebranded ourselves and tapped into the luxury market. We are one of the very few percentage based planning companies in the valley who not only plan & design local weddings, but destination weddings throughout the US and even go International. We’ve focused on crafting our business to attract our ideal clients, and now we’re actually booking our ideal clients. It’s an amazing feeling.

No, the journey wasn’t easy, but it also wasn’t hard. It was just work. A lot of head down, focus, late night, sacrifice pay & time, work. Basically you grind until you get to a place where you can relax a bit, and then slowly push and release the grind pedal (so to speak) as needed to get to where you want to be. Some days the work load is overwhelming and other days we coast and enjoy, but we set up our business that way specifically so we’d have a work-life balance while we grind to the top.

What we’d tell the world about our brand is that it’s fun! Wedding planning is supposed to be enjoyable, memorable, and exciting. So we’re here to make sure you’re having the best time of your lives while you’re engaged to be married.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It depends on what time of year they are visiting! Our favorite time is Fall so let’s say they are visiting in October. We’d definitely do some outdoor activities while it’s amazing weather during the day, like paddle boarding at Tempe Town Lake, or hiking Camelback Mountain. Then at night when it’s more chilly we’d do a wine night at one of our houses with a fire-pit and some good conversations. If we wanted to go out for wine night be love going to Postino, Sorso Wine Room, or Lustre Bar. Then we’d have to treat ourselves to a Spa day at one of the resorts- Sanctuary Camelback Mountain or the Omni Montelucia. We’re honestly not super social butterflies to be out and about town, but depending on the vibe of the group/day we can pool party it up, or keep it chill and do game night at home. The best thing about AZ is that majority of the year you have great weather that you can really do anything!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people & resources but we credit our beginning to the Bridechilla wedding planning podcast! We listened to her for about a year just to get an idea of all of the problems, struggles, and stressors that brides were having, as well as the solutions to solve those problems. Aleisha, the founder and host of the podcast, gave incredible advice to brides and really got us into the mindset of thinking like a wedding planner. We had an idea of what a wedding planner did, but after listening to all of the brides call in with questions and concerns, we really understood what our mission was- to provide these couples with a stress-free, memorable, perfect wedding day. No matter how big or how little the problem was, they needed someone to guide them and advise them on what to do, how to handle things, what to choose, and educate them. We loved that! So we set out to be the all-in-one resource for our couples, by becoming knowledge in all aspects of each wedding related event (engagement, wedding planning, the wedding day, bridal showers, etc.). So we give a lot of credit to the Bridechilla podcast because she taught us how to switch our mindset to be problem solvers, not just designers and event staff.

Website: www.moderngraceevents.com

Instagram: @moderngraceevents

Facebook: @moderngraceevents

Other: Pinterest- @moderngraceevents

Image Credits
Ashley Rae Photography, Mary Claire Photography, and Saje Photography