Meet Desiree Beimler of Serenity Weddings

Today we’d like to introduce you to Desiree Beimler.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I never know if I found my calling by accident, or by fate. It could be either, or both.

Growing up I used to love all things weddings. “Say Yes to the Dress” marathons were on nearly every weekend, and I remember watching “The Wedding Planner” and thinking that Mary had the coolest job. When I was in college at Cal Poly Pomona, the first part time job I ever looked for was a bridal stylist, but it didn’t pan out.

After college, I went into the auto industry. I grew up with a dad who was a mechanic, so it felt like a natural fit. I took a job in Seattle, started off on my own, and grew within the company. I learned about project timelines, order of operations, and proper communication. More than anything though, I learned how to keep calm under pressure and how to help my clients and staff keep calm while I dived into problem solving mode.

A few years in I happened across a job posting for a part-time stylist at a bridal boutique, and I decided, why not. After all, I needed to make some more female friends. I wasn’t naturally around that many women in my day to day life, so why not pick up a weekend job? I applied, not really thinking I’d get it after my bad luck years back.

Well, I fell in love. With the job that is. It only took a few weeks for me to realize what a perfect fit it was for me. I decided to transfer stores and move back to SoCal to be closer to where the Flagship stores were, and within a few months I got a full time job at a new Flagship in Beverly Hills. It was here that I met a friend who is a florist in the industry. She suggested that I become a wedding coordinator. She even connected me with my first couple and vouched for me just off of believing in me.

And again, I fell in love. It was everything I wanted and more. Finally, I was my own version of Mary Fiore, one that felt right for me. Wedding Coordinating lets me combine all the different skills that I’ve picked up across so many different industries, with my eye for design and attention to detail. I get to help people pull off the wedding of their dreams, and every single one has been so different and unique!

I decided before the end of that first wedding that I would open my own business. Today, I get to do what I love: help couples have beautiful and unique weddings that celebrate their individual love story.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I don’t think it’s possible to have a totally smooth road starting any business, including my own.

I am lucky that my business is service based, so it didn’t take much investment up front to get started in it. I just needed to find the right platform to market myself on and let couples know I was there. That let me book a few weddings, but not enough to grow the business to fully sustain me.

Over the years I’ve tried a number of different techniques to reach more couples. I take classes and workshops to learn as much as possible before embarking on something new, but even then, it doesn’t always work out. Sometimes the smartest move is to pivot and cut your losses, that way you can invest your time and energy into something else. That, in and of itself, can sometimes be the hardest part.

It’s a young business, so I’m still figuring it out, still facing challenges and obstacles on what sometimes feels like a daily basis. But that’s where growth comes from, and with every obstacle overcome the business gets better, and I’m so excited for what we have in store for the coming year!

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
With Serenity Weddings I offer a variety of services to my couples to help them maintain peace and tranquility on their Wedding Day. I specialize in wedding coordinating and bridal styling, but I offer a range of services from wedding design, to rental management to full-service planning or styling.

My couples and the vendors we work with know me to be a planner and coordinator who can balance authoritative decision making with warm empathy and understanding. This lets them know, with confidence, that everything is well taken care of, no matter what happens.

I built my services around things that couples actually need, and what kind of experience they’ll have working with me. My couples are always at the forefront of every decision I make and every service I offer. I want every person I work with to feel seen and respected, understood and prioritized. From start to finish, they know that I am on their side and in their corner. That means cheering them on and advocating for them to do their wedding their way, and having those tough, but honest, conversations when something is skewing too far from the plan, or the budget.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The Wedding Industry feels like it’s continuously shifting, simply due to the fact that people want weddings that don’t feel like they’ve been done a million times before. Trends come and go faster by the day. With your average planning timeline of a year, chances are good that by the time your wedding rolls around that trend that you just saw on Pinterest and felt so fresh and new is going to feel stale and boring.

I think more and more couples are realizing this, and starting to let go of societal wedding expectations and embrace funkier and more unique things. More couples are looking to plan things just based on what makes them happy, and not worry if it’s been done before. They’re choosing out of the box venues that have never hosted weddings before, or transforming their own yard. I’ve had more couples this year get married in National Parks than ever before. Couples are letting go of what society says a wedding “should” be and they’re embracing things that they love and sharing those things with their loved ones.

Traditions are also shifting. Some are just disappearing, like the garter toss (I haven’t worked a wedding with a garter toss in over three years!), and some are changing. I’ve had several couples walk down the aisle together, and I see this as a rising trend since more and more of us live with our partner long term before getting married. The bouquet toss is also transforming, with many couples dedicating the bouquet instead, or tossing something else. I’ve had T-Shirt Canons with specialty shirts, beach balls, and a Labubu toss this year.

My hope is that in 5 or 10 years time I fully stop hearing that couples are doing something because they’re supposed to or someone else wants them to, and that every couple embraces what they want for their day and what experience they want to have to start off their marriage together.

Pricing:

• Day-Of Coordinating starting at $2,000
• Full-Service Planning starting at $5,000
• Custom Packages available
• Personal Bridal Styling starting at $1,500
• Virtual Wedding Design starting at $500

Contact Info:

• Website: https://serenityweddingsla.com
• Instagram: @serenityweddingsla