Southern Weddings

One of the greatest joys of my life is that I get to spend 40 hours a week working with women who are smart, talented, sweet, and hilarious. I think everyone on this team can agree that our personal and professional relationships with each other make up a good portion of the reason why we are able to do our jobs well. This makes us particularly excited to announce that we are hiring!

Photo by Ally and Bobby

Founded in 2007, Lara Casey Media is the parent company of the Cultivate What Matters and Southern Weddings brands. Our collective brands serve an online audience of over one million in over 20 countries. You will be joining the team of a growing business that serves to help women cultivate intentional lives.

We are looking for a seasoned, joyful, and dynamic senior designer to add to our team! For each member on our team, the work we do for these brands comes from a place of personal passion and a love for our readers and customers. We’re thrilled to add another designer to our team who can help us kick up our marketing efforts, new projects, and everyday communication a notch.

We love to see our team members take on flexible job roles that both play up their skill strengths, but also fire them up on a personal level. With that being said, we do anticipate our new designer will work very closely with our Art Director and our Marketing Director to produce products and assets that help us better serve our audience.

Are you interested in working with us? Read on to find more details and qualifications.

Tasks and responsibilities may include:

• Creating graphics for our blogs, shops, social feeds, and video content
• Styling and shooting product imagery
• Editing product photography
• Basic videography
• Digital product design (e-books, opt-ins, and guides)
• Physical product design (namely the Cultivate What Matters PowerSheets and Write the Word journals, and Southern Weddings Magazine and Joyful Wedding Planner)
• Creating internal marketing assets like media kits and one-sheets
• Creating web assets and managing web development projects
• Managing production and import of overseas product
• Ad design and client interfacing
• Editing CSS and HTML for basic webpages and newsletters

The person most fit for this position:

• Is a creative problem-solver, and self-motivated to learn
• Has basic knowledge of HTML, CSS and WordPress
• Is a great communicator, and can tactfully and efficiently express ideas
• Has a love for great branding, and can build out appropriate interpretations of our brand assets for visual diversity and interest
• Has a strong knowledge of our brand and heart for our mission
• Has a joyful spirit and thrives on “situation solving”
• Approaches product creation with user-focused design, keeping in mind marketing tactics and print production techniques
• Has a positive attitude and is a team player
• Is well-spoken and has a great grasp of grammar and punctuation in written communication
• Is energetic and enthusiastic
• Has experience with digital marketing/marketing strategy
• Enjoys goal-setting and encouraging others
• Thrives on relationship building and exceeding expectations with charm

Job Requirements

• Has 3+ years of experience in graphic design, product design, or editorial design
• Fluent in Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop
• Experienced in print production
• Must be able to lift at least 50 pounds
• Must be able to begin working full time by October 1, or earlier
• Must be able to work in our Chapel Hill office
• Must be able to commit to 4-5 interviews (including at least one in-person interview)

To apply, fill out our application, and have these items ready to upload:

• Your PDF resume
• Your portfolio, if it’s not online
• A one-sheet PDF you have designed about yourself. Feel free to include anything you think is relevant, but be sure to include answers to the following questions. Get creative!
  • Your name and any nicknames you have
  • What fires you up?
  • What is your greatest strength?
  • Tell us a fun fact about yourself (or a few!)
  • What are your professional goals?

We’d suggest giving yourself 30-45 minutes to complete the application. Applications will close August 14th. Salary commensurate with experience.

We highly recommend reading Lara’s tips for getting hired!

Apply here.

Written with love by Nicole

Dearest friends,

Four years ago, I got an email from Lara that I read during the closing credits of The Great Gatsby at the movie theater. It contained a job offer, and let’s just say that more than few moviegoers expressed concern over the tears I burst into! I packed up my Honda Accord and moved from Austin, Texas to Chapel Hill, North Carolina a month later.

Since then, I’ve worked on 15 photo shoots, traveled on 14 business trips, covered Bridal Market in NYC twice, attended the Making Things Happen Intensive six times, spoke at the Bliss and Bespoke and Trouvaille workshops, co-wrote the Joyful Wedding Planner, and wrote almost 1000 blog posts and probably close to 100 magazine features. More importantly, I had SO much fun. I believed wholeheartedly in the work I was doing, and the girls I worked with became like family to me.

As many of you know, a lot happened outside of work during these years, too. Dave and I got engaged. He moved to North Carolina. We got married and shared an incredible first year of marriage. We bought a house. And, in September, we became parents to our precious baby boy.

I had originally planned to follow in the footsteps of the many AMAZING, inspiring mamas I work with, but over the last few months, I’ve realized that this is a new season for me in more ways than one. Through many prayers, I made the very personal decision that my time with Southern Weddings had come to an end.

And so, I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you so much for your support over the years. It has been an incredible, humbling, and joyful privilege to celebrate so many of you as you got engaged, said “I do,” shared your beautiful weddings with us, and then stayed in touch as a newlywed. Many of you have become much more than readers to me—you’re precious friends! I will be in the front row of SW’s cheering squad as they move forward with two wonderful new team members I know you’ll love.

Being a part of Southern Weddings is something I will forever look back on with so much gratitude, and I will miss y’all so very much! Please do keep in touch on Instagram.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being the sweetest readers below the Mason-Dixon. It has been an honor to be a small part of your days through Southern Weddings.

All my love,
Lisa

P.S. I couldn’t resist—below, find some of my very favorite photos and memories of the past four years!

My first team photos, for V6–feels like forever ago! (Landon Jacob)

One of my most cherished Southern Weddings/life memories: when Dave proposed at the V6 launch party! (Callie Davis)

Working at and modeling in V7’s A Bushel and a Peck shoot with my then-fiancé–being on a magazine cover is now one of my go-tos for “Two Truths and a Lie” :) (Nancy Ray)

Meeting Carolina Herrera at my first Bridal Market with Emily. We were so starstruck! (Divine Light Photography)

One of my favorite team photo shots ever! (Jodi and Kurt)

Left: In the newly renovated editorial wing with Emily (Robyn Van Dyke); Right: Behind the scenes of my all-time favorite editorial, Texas Sweethearts. (Jen Dillender)

Two weeks before my wedding, the girls threw me a gorgeous surprise bridal shower! (Julia Wade)

An SW family photo at my wedding :) (Just missing Marissa and Brandon!) (Ryan Ray)

Another favorite from Bridal Market, this time with Kristin (Kat Harris)

The V8 launch party, with my mama and sister in attendance–so fun! (Theo Milo)

Silly selfies and one of my very first baby bump photos at the V9 team shoot (Jake + Heather)

And finally, the most recent launch party, which was such a joy to attend in the middle of my maternity leave! (AJ Dunlap)

A note from the rest of us: Needless to say, many tears have been shed over Lisa’s farewell. But mostly, we are so, SO grateful for all that she has given to our company and to y’all over the last four years–and how her love for our mission and our readers will live on in things like the Joyful Wedding Planner! Please join us in sending her love today!

Written with love by Lisa