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Tag: Day in the life

Hi friends! Can you believe that SWV7 is on her way to newsstands at this very moment!?! To pass the time, I thought I’d give you a little behind-the-scenes peek into my day.  Welcome to the Southern Weddings Blacksburg office – I’m so glad y’all are here!

All photos by the lovely Kristie Lea Photography!

It’s safe to say that my day looks quite a bit different from everyone else’s as I juggle and manage my day at SW with my day at my corporate marketing job, splitting and balancing my time between both. My typical day is never quite typical and always leaves me with a good story to tell KPW over supper!

7:31:  Working from home with a 13-step commute doesn’t stop me from putting on my pearls, a little mascara and occasionally swiping on some lipstick – to do my best, I have to feel my best.

7:32: I told you it’s a short commute! I start my day by turning on both (yes both, I have to keep my work brains separate) of my computers and loading my email and calendars. While everything is firing up, I take a look at my day and my leftover to-do’s, then make an action plan for how I am going to tackle my priority tasks.

9:00: After plowing through my morning email and quick to-do’s, I hop on a conference call and take on the morning’s corporate marketing action items.

9:31: My conference call ends, so I put on some tunes and knock out a few to-dos while eating my breakfast and singing along to the Wicked Soundtrack!

10:28: It’s time for the weekly Southern Weddings conference call. Technology is SUCH a blessing because with the quick click of a button, the rest of the SW ladies pop up on my computer screen. It feels like I am sitting in the office with them even though I am 208 miles away (and 863 miles away from MAK)!

10:53: The SW Team call is short today – we are busy bees preparing for the launch of V7, tackling final Making Things Happen prep, planning our SWV7 Launch Party and upcoming Southern Weddings Shop product launch. So, after a quick round of updates from everyone and getting a few questions answered, we’re all off to continue our days and tackle our action item lists!

10:56:  When the call wraps up, I run downstairs to refill my water cup and give myself a chance to stretch my legs (hint: another way I manage working from home by myself). When I sit back down, I dig into Blue Ribbon Vendor updates. Being able to love on our committed Southern Weddings vendor family is definitely a bright spot in my day.

12:37:  One of the joys of living in a small town is that most days, my darling husband comes home for lunch!  I welcome the chance to tear away from my work to run downstairs and grab a bite to eat with him.

1:02:  After a quick lunch of cauliflower soup and a salad with KPW, I head back upstairs to continue the afternoon. I have some corporate marketing work to finish before my end-of-business deadline.

2:33:  Back to my SW Inbox! I read and respond to a few exciting V7 Launch Party-related emails. Marissa and I exchange a few exclamation point filled (!!!!) notes about an adorable item for our swag bags, and I set up a telephone meeting tomorrow with the Umstead to finalize party details.

3:17:  Like Marissa, most of my day is spent on the business side of Southern Weddings. I take a few minutes to call a client to discuss their questions about the Blue Ribbon Vendor directory.  Getting a chance to speak about the Southern Weddings mission statement in addition to answering BRV-specific questions is always a great way to remind me why I do what I do

3:33: I try to answer a few more emails before switching gears. This time, I am checking with Emily on a few BRV profile edits and with Morgan on a V7 Promotion effort we are working on together.  I might not make it into the office as much as I’d like, but I sure love connecting with the SW gals each and every day!

4:00:  Time to hop back on a corporate conference call.

The Love Never Fails print is available in our Southern Weddings Shop. Gallery wall credit goes to KPW who put it up 2 hours before the photographer arrived!

4:37: I give Marissa a quick call to discuss an exciting sponsorship opportunity and brainstorm through a few fun marketing strategies I had been thinking about for 2015.  Calls with M are never short ;) – we wind up on a tangent dreaming about ways to grow and welcome new advertisers to our Southern Weddings family! As we wrap up, I beg for the chance to say hi to EKK, Marissa’s darling baby girl!

5:05: I jump back into my email for one last chance to make some decisions and clean out my inboxes before the end of the day.  I also use this time to straighten up my desk (which has slowly become a paper-covered mess) and jot down any priority to-dos for tomorrow.

5:37: Time to shut down my computer and throw on my workout clothes.  I tossed dinner in the crockpot during lunch (I love my crockpot – especially during the fall and winter) so I check on it as I head out the door to the gym.  It smells great, and I can’t wait to dig into the Santa Fe Chicken when I get home! I cook most nights of the week, so if y’all are ever in town, come on by for supper!

PS:  Catch up with the rest of the gals and get a glimpse at how they spend their days: Emily, Nicole, Lisa, Marissa and Morgan!

kristin Written with love by Kristin
8 Comments
  1. avatar Holly Cromer reply

    So cool! I had no idea Souther Weddings had a Blacksburg office :)

  2. avatar Sharon @ Red Poppy | Pink Peony reply

    Your offices all look so fabulous and it seems like you have such a great time!

  3. avatar Maureen R. Goldman (@SheisMoments) reply

    I love hearing about your day! Especially since you work from home and manage multiple job duties.

    I also work in marketing and it’s amazing how rewarding it is to be involved in the business of it all but then still get on a creative tangent with a colleague.

  4. avatar Kirsti reply

    Some of my favorite things to see are the “Day in the Life…” it makes me want to fulfill me dream of working for Southern Weddings one day!

  5. avatar Mary reply

    I love your calendar/planner with the horizontal multi-colored stripes! I’ve been seeing it on blogs a lot recently but can’t trace back to any posts that say where it’s from. Can you tell me where you found it?

    • avatar Kristin reply

      Mary!! Yes ma’am. My planner is from sweet Emily Ley – you can snag one a http://www.emilyley.com! The 2015 calendars are running out – so don’t delay!!

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You’ve gotten a peek at the days of Morgan, Emily, Nicole, and Marissa, and now it’s my turn! Since our V7 shoot season is complete, Emily and I have switched gears from shoot planning to lots of writing and proofreading. It’s tremendously rewarding to find the perfect words to bring our shoots and real weddings to life, or tweaking things I’ve already written to make them sing. I’m getting so anxious to see how everything comes together in the pages of our new issue!

9:00: I arrive at the office, put my lunch in the fridge next to a batch of vegetables from Gracie’s garden, head upstairs to the office, and say hi to Nicole (who is always here first—I don’t know how she does it!).

9:05: I open my email and the blog to make sure the morning’s post went up and everything looks the way it’s supposed to. I love the gorgeous fall wedding we’re sharing today!

9:15: Not many people know this, but I manage the Southern Weddings Instagram account. I pick a photo from today’s real wedding (so hard to choose!) and post it. I also check to see if anyone has tagged us so that I can leave them some SW love!

9:19: I update my to-do list with things I didn’t finish yesterday. I keep my list pretty long and number things in the order I need to accomplish them. Anything that doesn’t get done rolls over to the next day. I always have two notepads on my desk—one for my to-do list, and one for blog real wedding interviews that have come in and need edits.

My gold foil notepads are the “Make It Happen” and “Oh Happy Day” notepads from the Lara Casey Shop!

9:30: We send a LOT of emails around here! Today, my inbox is full of last-minute V7 contributions, Bridal Market invitations (eek!), and a few quick notes from Emily and Nicole.

10:04: One of the gems in my inbox is a guest article we’re including in V7, and it is sweet as can be! I download it and start text edits.

10:26: Our weekly team meeting is starting in a few minutes, so I jot down my updates and anything I want to run by everyone. Before scooting my monogrammed chair over to Lara’s desk where we gather on Google Hangout with Marissa and Kristin, I check the blog to make sure our second post of the day is ready to go.

10:30: Team meeting time! I always look forward to this time when we all get to share our updates and celebrate our successes.

11:02: I take a picture for Instagram of some clutches that Lucy Jane Totes sent us. They’re so darling!

11:10: I show Emily our tentative Bridal Market schedule—there are so many shows we want to see, and so little time! We also plan to chat briefly later this week about our outfits. We show up to work unintentionally matching so often, we want to make sure that doesn’t happen at Market! With our schedule in place, I start sending our RSVPs to shows. I am counting down the days till we get to see all of the gorgeous gowns in person!

12:50: My stomach is growling, so I head downstairs for lunch. I usually bring dinner leftovers or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but today, I’m having Trader Joe’s macaroni and cheese—yum! If the weather is nice, I try to take a break from my computer screen by eating outside on the porch.

1:05: Back at my desk, I continue tweaking our Bridal Market schedule and coordinating our plans via email.

1:58: With most of our plans set, I switch gears to do a final edit of a few V7 text pieces and then send them to Nicole. We are SO close to being done!!

2:05: I post our afternoon blog post on Instagram, and then head into the blog to edit the interview for tomorrow’s real wedding. Marissa is writing the introduction for this one (and I think she’ll love it!), so after I finish my edits, I shoot her an email to let her know it’s ready.

2:35: Back to my inbox!

3:23: Our October newsletter is going out tomorrow, so I write a draft and email it to Emily for feedback. As you may be able to tell, we rarely work on projects individually and are constantly collaborating based on our strengths. After Emily signs off on the text, I send an edited version to Nicole and Morgan to lay out.

4:40: Marissa is done with tomorrow’s real wedding post, so I give it one last read through. It looks amazing!

4:56: I post the last Instagram for the day—I always try to get the last post of the day up before 5 P.M. so that none of our followers feel the need to check in at the end of the day. Evenings are for family time :)

5:00: I head back into my inbox to clear out as much as I can—we have so many balls in the air with our V7 text features, and addressing my emails as quickly as possible helps me stay on track. I write thank you emails to people who have sent me their quotes and ideas, organize them in a Google Doc, and make edits so that they’re ready to pop into the V7 layout.

5:47: With my inbox close to empty, I pack up my laptop, turn off the SW iPhone we use for Instagram, and head on home to meet up with Dave and make dinner—our current favorite meal is Pinch of Yum’s lemon chicken and asparagus!

lisa Written with love by Lisa
4 Comments
  1. avatar Southern Weddings Weekly Round-Up – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] her marriage advice in Sweet Tea Sunday. I gave y’all a peek into at a day in my life as an SW editor. We shared more of what we love about the South in Life and Love. Help my fiancé and I choose his […]

  2. avatar A Day in the Life of the Southern Weddings' Marketing Director – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] Catch up with the rest of the gals and get a glimpse at how they spend their days: Emily, Nicole, Lisa, Marissa and […]

  3. avatar Victoria Conn reply

    Hi there!
    I stumbled across this fabulous and beautiful website and wanted to inquire about any potential career opportunities. I’m a wedding-obsessed northerner with a degree in Broadcasting/Journalism ready to relocate down South. I’d greatly appreciate a response back!

    Best,
    Victoria Conn

    • avatar Lisa reply

      Hi Victoria! We are not currently hiring, but you can find information about future opportunities here: https://southernweddings.com /working-southern-weddings/ :)

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

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You’ve seen what’s it’s like to be the Southern Weddings’ Art Director, Shop Manager, and our Creative Director! But, I can tell you that my day in the life looks quite a bit different – literally and figuratively! As y’all may know, I work remote most of the time as my husband’s career takes our little family all over the place (mostly Texas this year)! Sit a spell with me as I walk you through a typical day for Southern Weddings’ Ad Director.

Jodi Miller Photography

5:23am: With the addition of our sweet girl this January, my mornings always start quite a bit earlier than I hope, but 3am snuggles are worth tired eyes!

8:45am: On most mornings, I’m up, mascara on, and donning a Walk in Love tee + yoga pant combo (yeah, I’m that mama, what of it?!) This quote from Paulo Coelho keeps me going on rough days: “No matter how you feel today, get up, dress up, and show up.”

9:00am: I open my email client, and since we’re just days away from closing advertising for our next gorgeous issue, I’m in print crunch mode! My inbox is exploding with media negations, gorgeous print ads for our darling sponsors, and text features that I need to finish up.

10:00am: Since my job as Advertising Director encompasses all our revenue streams for print, online and Blue Ribbon Vendors, I spend a good amount of time with my head in Excel documents! Before our meetings, I prep our spreadsheets to report all the numbers, and progress to the team.

10:20am: Since Kristin and I both work remotely, we hop on Google Hangout a few minutes to prep for our portion of our weekly team meeting. Since we’re virtual BFF’s, I always tend to compliment KNW’s hair – that girl can rock a set of hot rollers!

10:30am: Our editorial meetings have been compressed a tad bit for the past few weeks since we’re all busy bees preparing for V7, so we chat about important updates, tie up any loose ends, and give out golden eggs to encourage and show appreciation for each other. What’s a golden egg, you ask? Yeah, that’s the Southern Weddings version of a gold star!

11:21am: After our meeting, Emily, Kristin, and I stay on the hangout to brainstorm a BIG exciting project we are working on and how we can best serve our sweet sponsors.

11:50am: Back to email – Nicole and Morgan are designing a bunch of gorgeous print ads for our print clients, and I’m always happy to weigh in with my layman’s eye! More like, I tell them which options I think are prettiest :) Then we send the options along to our clients for their approval. Y’all, you’re going to swoon over these pages, I can guarantee!

Jodi Miller Photography

12:45pm: While this is my busiest time of the year, I try my best to stop for a quick lunch break and a few baby kisses with EK. She’s growing so fast, and today she learned to wave “bye bye!” It’s adorable, I can’t lie!

1:00pm: I have a call with an advertising agency regarding a client who will be joining us in V7 as well as on the blog. We are working on negotiating rates, chatting about our beautiful content and sharing our heart for marriage. With my corporate background, negotiations and numbers are my strength, but marriage and what matters most is my heart! Needless to say, when I can share our mission with a potential client it brightens my day.

1:41pm: While most of my day is spent on the business side of Southern Weddings, I LOVE writing real wedding intros! Lisa and I share the majority of this responsibility and we also share a love for gushing over the sweet quotes from darling grooms and wiping tears over heirlooms passed down through generations.

2:10pm: Speaking of Lisa, together we jump on a conference call with a brand new client to discuss details of a super secret collaboration that will have Miss Lisa in NYC this week! Hint: she gets to have her and makeup done, and there is a set!

3:00pm: Back to email – Kristin has welcomed five new Blue Ribbon Vendors, and I need to get them all set up! I use our electronic invoicing and contracting system and send them welcome notes along with all the needed paperwork to be able to share these talented folks with y’all!

3:40pm: Excel, Google Docs, and Illustrator time! Since we’re nearing the door closing on this issue, I’m working hard to ensure that all our documents are in order. I quality control all the spreadsheets we use to make sure our clients have submitted artwork or we are working together on creative and check off each step in the process.

4:30pm: Nicole is designing a collective ad that will be showcasing some gorgeous venues, so I give our sponsors each a ring to make sure they all approve of the design. I collect the feedback and Nicole and I connect on a call to walk through the edits.

5:00pm: Traditionally, I’d be closing down around now, but in print crunch time, I’m not done yet! Kristin and I jump on the phone again to chat through our projects for the next couple days and discuss pending accounts and client needs. And, let me mention that typically Kristin and I must send over 25 texts to each other a day! Mostly emojis – we have that kind of relationship.

5:27pm: Back to email – yep, as you can see I spend a lot of time in email! Things go fast this time of year, and it’s so much fun to work with our sponsors who truly want to love and serve our brides.

5:50pm: BDK and EK have snuck into my office from EK’s play room and the combo of their baby blues makes it impossible for me to answer any more emails at all. I sign off, and spend the evening playing blocks with EK, or reading Peekaboo Sophie!

marissa Written with love by Marissa
3 Comments
  1. avatar Lindy reply

    As a mom, I’m always curious about how other working moms make it work. Who takes care of your sweet girl while you work? Or do you work and take care of her simultaneously? Love that your job is flexible enough so that your family can travel together… what a blessing!

  2. avatar A Day in the Life of Southern Weddings' Editor – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] gotten a peek at the days of Morgan, Emily, Nicole, and Marissa, and now it’s my turn! Since our V7 shoot season is complete, Emily and I have switched gears […]

  3. avatar A Day in the Life of the Southern Weddings' Marketing Director – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] Like Marissa, most of my day is spent on the business side of Southern Weddings. I take a few minutes to call a […]

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

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