Meet Trailblazer Lilian Hsyu

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lilian Hsyu.

Lilian, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I didn’t start off with an intention to become a wedding + event planner – I didn’t watch J.Lo in The Wedding Planner and fall in love with the profession or anything like that. I graduated from UCLA with a degree in Sociology, and for a little while, I thought that I was going to continue my education + career in Education.

I happened upon the events industry and profession when my sister-in-law was planning her own wedding back in 2011. She and her fiance were then medical students, far too up to their ears in student loans to afford a wedding planner and far too busy working on their rotations all throughout the country to dedicate time to planning their wedding. I happened to be in between jobs, and she asked if I could help her do some of the legwork if she sent me some venues that she had researched online. I visited venues and interviewed caterers on their behalf, and ultimately coordinated their wedding day as well. It was crazy hectic – they had a Chinese tea ceremony in the San Gabriel Valley starting at 8 AM, so hair and the makeup call time was 4 AM. After the tea ceremony, we drove down to Long Beach to set up for their ceremony at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden (all outdoors, and it was raining!!), and after that, we rushed back to San Gabriel for their dinner reception at a Chinese restaurant. On top of all that, the bride had four outfit changes. It all worked out great, and everyone had a great time! But it was NUTS. I would do so many things differently knowing what I do now. I am glad, however, that I had the experience since it sparked my curiosity in the wedding + event planning profession.

I started coordinating weddings for friends and friends of friends as a hobby after that, and I also received my certificate in event planning at CSUDH. After two years, I had built a solid foundation and clientele base, and I took the leap of faith and quit my full-time job. Five years and over 100 events later, here we are!

We are now a team of three core members and a few assistant coordinators that help us on event days. My lead coordinators and I are all moms to young children, and we love the flexibility our work schedules allow us to juggle mom life and having a meaningful career. We believe in putting in quality work and building quality relationships with our clients and vendors; ultimately this allows us to produce quality events that are fun, beautiful, and 100% unique to our couples’ personalities.

Has it been a smooth road?
I’ve been reading through a lot of motivational quotes lately because things get challenging sometimes – a lot of the time in fact, and it’s OK! This one is simple, but nails it – “Great things take time. Don’t give up.”

Growing up, I was taught to work hard, get a college degree from a prestigious university, and find a safe, secure 9-5 job at a company with good benefits and good pay. I did it all, but I also didn’t keep to it for very long. I gave up that hard-earned safety and security to dedicate myself to something that was maybe going to fail and maybe going to succeed. Breaking into an industry that’s already so saturated, building and marketing my own brand, gaining enough business to keep afloat, building a client base, ensuring consistent quality in client experiences as we grow, finding the right people to grow the team… the list of obstacles and challenges goes on and is ever-evolving.

I am lucky to have the moral support of my spouse, who reminds me of all the progress I’ve made when the going gets tough and helps me stay the course and work toward my goals.

I think it’s important to realize that it’s not going to be easy to build something of your own (and oftentimes from almost nothing), to be ready to face challenges along the way and to be willing to put in more effort, energy, and work than ever before. It’s equally important to believe in yourself and to surround yourself with people who believe in you. The journey is as important as the final destination – for me, I haven’t reached it yet, but it sure has been an adventure so far!

We’d love to hear more about Just Merried Events.
We are a female-powered event + wedding planning team that offers clients a bespoke event planning experience.

Our goal is to help our clients produce a celebration that is unique to their personalities while minimizing the stress and work for them – we want them to enjoy the planning journey and have a blast at their own party. We don’t believe in cookie cutter events or formulaic approaches – even if we’re planning/coordinating events at the same venue 2 weekends in a row, they will be completely different and each will fully represent the hosts/couple.

If our foodie couple wants dirty dogs for late night snacks at their wedding, we’ll make it happen. If our musician couple wants to put on a surprise performance for their guests, we’ll make it happen. If our animal-loving couple wants to integrate their dogs into the wedding, we’ll make it happen. If our wanderlusting couple wants to bring their guests from all over the world to the beautiful Amalfi Coast for a destination wedding, we’ll make it happen. Even if a procrastinating couple wants to plan a wedding in two weeks, we’ll make it happen. We are proud of our ability to take on unique challenges and requests to help clients put their signature touch on their event, and we will make sure it all culminates in an enjoyable, unforgettable experience for everyone.

So much of the media coverage is focused on the challenges facing women today, but what about the opportunities? Do you feel there are any opportunities that women are particularly well positioned for?
Women can do ANYTHING! We need to teach this to our children so that they grow up emboldened and empowered to take on anything AND to help provide each other with the opportunities to do so.  Personally, I’d like to see more women in politics because I think we need more advocates for women’s rights and interests.  I’d like to see the first female president of the United States in my lifetime, and I’d like my kid to grow up seeing a strong female leader of our nation.

I find that when women support other women, we are able to do so much more and do so much better. I love the sense of community I’ve found in the events industry. And, I love that there is a community of women who have succeeded as mothers AND entrepreneurs.  We are so accustomed to the idea women making sacrifices in their career when they become a mother; we certainly had to get creative, but I am so happy and proud to be part of a group of women who have found balance and success as bosses and mamas.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.justmerriedevents.com
• Phone: 6266588383
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justmerriedevents/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justmerriedevents/
• Other: https://www.yelp.com/biz/just-merried-events-san-gabriel

Image Credit:
Jen Jar Photography, Alexandria Monette

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