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.

Ryan's Birthday

This past weekend I celebrated my partner Ryan’s birthday and wanted to do something that was tailored specifically for him, so we went up to Santa Barbara and did a cooking class all day. We started at the fisherman’s market, then went to the farmer’s market, then the cheese shop and it was SO enjoyable. We had a great chef leading the class, Chef Laurence. You never know what you sign up for but we ended up having an AMAZING time cooking and enjoying ourselves. I gutted and beheaded a fish (incredibly gross) which resulted in me not even eating it after it was cooked, but everything else was great--the risotto, crab legs, sides, pear tart--all things that Ryan wanted to learn to make. The trip to Santa Barbara was amazing. The following day we went to Disneyland and got a chance to do all of the things Ryan enjoys doing there-saw the private Walt Disney suite, went on all the rides, but most importantly, had a fun four days, which is what birthdays should be. They shouldn’t be one day but should rather be a series of days that you celebrate and so I detached from work and had a really great time with Ryan and a really great four days off. Beautiful weather with the person that you love on their birthday is the best way to celebrate.

New Season! My Fair Wedding: Unveiled

September 8th at 9:00pm ET/8:00pm CT...Saturday night...I hope you’re ready for My Fair Wedding: Unveiled because it’s going to be a crazy, insane journey to get my brides from the moment I meet them to down the aisle. The thing about this season which I really, really love is that you’re seeing the unveiled side of me, the unveiled side of the process, the madness behind the magic which literally is my every day life. Things don’t go perfectly when planning a wedding. It’s true, the first five seasons of My Fair Wedding were a lot of magic, fairy dust and dreams coming true; while the dreams are still coming true this season, there are a lot of bumpy parts of the road that we’ve got to get through to get to the other GREAT side. You’re going to see brides that don’t agree with me, brides and grooms that don’t agree with one another, momzillas that really are challenging to deal with, sisters that are really not supportive to the bride, family members that really are just disgruntled, even groomsmen who want to do things they just shouldn’t do. And when I say shouldn’t do, I mean really shouldn’t do. The reality is I’m having a BLAST doing this season and loving every minute of it because it’s REAL. I’m loving every moment of it because I’m still delivering the incredible over-the-top weddings and getting a chance to know the brides and grooms in a completely different light. So I suggest that you get ready, pop your popcorn, sit down, turn on the TV and watch My Fair Wedding: Unveiled on Saturday, September 8th at 9pm ET/8pm CT on Wetv because it’s going to be a wild ride!

What should I do next?

I always listen to my fans because they support and guide me so I have a question for them...what should I do next? Should I have a different line of products, write a new book, do a new TV show? I’m curious and want to hear from you what a great direction would be for me to go in towards something that would benefit you and that you could use from my brand? I’ve been focusing on weddings and I’d love to know if you think I should focus on celebrations? Such as moving into social occasions for fashion, products for celebrations that you could use when putting together an event/party that is not a wedding or wedding related. But I want to know; tell me what you’re looking for, tell me what you need and what you want me to do. Comment below as I’d love to get some direction because I’m ready for my next project :)