Guest Blog Post: Kathy Kepler

Two years ago, I discovered my passion for wedding planning when I helped plan my daughter’s wedding. The wedding was magical and everything my daughter dreamed it would be. I loved the planning process so much that I set out to become a wedding planner at the ripe age of 52.

Last year, I submitted an essay about my journey to the “Kick Start Your Life TODAY with Marlo Thomas” series, and not long after, I found myself on the TODAY show set with David and Marlo. Since then, David has been a great mentor to me. One thing he told me that has really stuck with me is that “being a successful wedding planner comes from having a heart and investing yourself emotionally into other people’s weddings, just the way you did for your daughter.”    

Since launching my business (www.weddingsbykathleen.com), I have planned two weddings. The most recent wedding I planned—a beach wedding—was a challenge because Hurricane Sandy brought tropical storm weather conditions. We had to implement plan B at the last minute, and everything turned out beautifully. It was another great learning experience and has helped build my confidence.

I have learned that it may take a while to build up my business, but I feel very lucky to have finally found a passion, even though I am now 54 years old. I’m grateful of David’s encouragement along the way, and I am not going to give up. My goal is to plan three to five weddings a year, and I will put my heart and soul into every wedding that I plan, just as if I was planning a wedding for my own daughter.

Fan Call

I recently received an email from the husband of one of my fans whose wife recently gave birth to their second child. While this is always something to celebrate, a toll had been taken on this mother’s heart as her baby was placed in the neonatal intensive care unit after birth and had yet to breathe on his own. Her husband told me that his wife was a big fan of mine and he thought a phone call from me may be just the thing to brighten her spirits. I was so touched by this man’s love and concern for his wife as well as his story that I did just what he asked me to. I wasn’t sure if his wife would answer an unknown number when I called but was grateful when she did. I introduced myself and told her about her husband’s email; she was shocked, to say the least. I offered her words of encouragement, told her to hang in there and relayed a story about another couple I worked with once on My Fair Wedding whose twins spent the first several months of their lives in the hospital but are healthy as can be today. She told me she got to hold her son for the first time yesterday since his birth but that they could definitely use all the prayers they could get, which is exactly what I will give to her. The phone call only took a few minutes of my time but I’m hoping it was enough to make her smile and lift her up until she gets to bring her baby home.

My Mom

Life provides many things that you are never prepared for. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Right now, for me, I am a very lucky guy because I’ve got the gift of having my mom with me for an unlimited amount of time here in Los Angeles. She and I flew to LA and I treated her like the queen that she is--first class. We got here and we’ve already begun to have a wonderful time filled with relaxation. We went to church, to brunch, saw an amazing movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower and ate popcorn--we had the best time! Now we’re going hiking on Day 2. We’ve got lots of plans-all simple, but all memorable and since she’s got a one way ticket, I don’t know when she’s going back to New York. The best thing is that I get to have one-on-one time with my mom for a long period of time. THAT, is a gift in life.

Photoshoot

So while I have no problem being in front of a video camera,  I’m never comfortable in front of a still camera. That line from Sunset Boulevard, “I’m ready for my close-up” doesn’t work for me. I did a photoshoot in New York last week and we started at 9:00am and ended at 5:00pm, so that’s a lot of close-ups and I wasn’t ready for any of them. BUT, it was a fun day. Jennifer and Charles Maring who are photographers and friends of mine, did an incredible job shooting me with all of my product lines and it was a wonderful day with a lot of hard work from everyone on my team to be able to provide new images for myself for publicity and all of my different product lines for 2013. SO, check out my new do, check out my new clothes and check out my new product lines in the coming months.