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Tag: Day in the life

Howdy, friends! About two years ago, we ran a “Day in the Life” series on the blog, and it was quite popular! My, how times can change in a short amount of time – we have three new faces around the office, and lots of different arms of our business that didn’t exist in 2012! We figured it was time for an update, and what better gal to start with than Morgan, our newest addition. We adore her and are all in awe of her skills, as you’ll see below. Please help me give her a warm welcome this morning! — Emily

My role, like most of the SW gals’ roles, is very multi-faceted. I’m officially the Shop Manager for the Lara Casey Shop and the Southern Weddings Shop but I also spend about half of my time as Assistant Art Director/Designer. When people ask what my title is, I usually say Shop Manager and Designer. So, there you go. :)

I love that my role allows me to dabble in many different realms of Southern Weddings because there is always a variety of projects to do! However, this also means I have to be very organized with my time during the day. I try to break my day up into time slots to set little deadlines for myself. My day usually looks something like this:

9:00am My commute to work is about 45 minutes, but I actually love it as a great time to get ready for the day and listen to audiobooks! I’d love to hear y’all’s audiobook recommendations in the comments! When I get to work, I usually hop onto my email and print the packing slips for the orders that came in over night.

9:15am After printing out packing slips, I get to packing orders! My favorite part of this rhythmic but relaxing task is writing notes to go with the magazines. Seeing the stack of orders complete at the end of the day is a nice physical representation of productivity, which makes me feel good!

10:30am I’m usually finished with orders around 10:30, just in time for our staff meeting on Tuesdays. We gather around the desktop computer on my desk and all squeeze in to see Marissa and Kristin via Google Hangout. We each share updates and then talk through some key things we’re working on. Staff meetings are always great motivators, and I’m continually thankful to be a part of such a great team.

11:30am Nicole asked me to make some new sliders for the Southern Weddings Shop homepage. I gather up some gold foil prints and beautiful little props to set up a quick styled shoot. I take the photos downstairs because Lara’s white dining room table makes a perfect backdrop. Gracie is napping so I try to be quiet as I set up my shoot and click away!

Another mini shoot I worked on this week – colorful journals!

12:00pm I upload the photos to my laptop so I can edit them in Photoshop and add graphics in Illustrator. I’ll make a couple of iterations to explore different options, then run the finals by Nicole before uploading them to the Shop.

1:30pm Lunch time! I like to make a big batch of some sort of meat and vegetable variety like grilled pesto chicken with squash and zucchini on Sundays, then divide the meal into containers for the week’s lunches. Today, however, my sweet mom made me the cutest miniature chicken pot pie! What a treat! I eat lunch at my desk while working on some graphics for the blog.

2:00pm The SW ladies and I have an exciting project in the works that I get to watercolor a little something for. I brought my watercolor set to work and spread them out across my desk so I can get started. Painting is one of my favorite things, so of course I love when I’m able to paint at work!

3:00pm I’ve brainstormed a fun idea for a little film like this one that will feature the SW gals and a cute shop product! I begin to story board the video out and email everyone to make sure they set aside about fifteen minutes for filming next week.

4:00pm A few key packaging items are running low, so I make a list of things to restock. I also schedule post office pickups for all of the lovely shop packages! I respond to any emails I haven’t gotten to yet and tidy up my space for the next day. Lastly, I review my list of things to get done and start making a list for tomorrow.

5:00pm It’s time to go! I say good bye to the SW gals and then head downstairs to say bye to Rhiannon and Gracie before hopping into my car, plugging up my audiobook and starting home!

Next up in our series: Kristin!

Written with love by Southern Weddings
11 Comments
  1. avatar Morgan Jones reply

    Love this series and Morgan! She is so very talented and is the sweetest :)

  2. avatar Stephanie Creekmur reply

    I love these posts! It’s so fun to see into other creative’s workdays! :)

  3. avatar Lisa reply

    Yay Morgan!! Love seeing all of the fun stuff on her desk every day, especially on watercolor days!

  4. avatar Liz Kinney reply

    Oh what fun! That sounds like a dream job to me! Keep up the GREAT work SW :)

  5. avatar Kyla Fetzner reply

    I really enjoyed getting to see a day in the life of your job, Morgan! What are some of your favorite watercolor supplies? It is a goal of mine to build that skill over the next few months and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

    • avatar Morgan Moore reply

      Hi Kyla! Thank you! I use Lukas watercolors and basic watercolor paper. You can find both at any craft store. Have fun experimenting with watercolors, I’m excited for you!

    • avatar Kyla Fetzner reply

      Thank you Morgan, I will definitely look into investing in some Lukas watercolors. I’m excited to practice and create some pieces!

  6. avatar Julie reply

    It’s so fun to get a peek into the behind the scenes of SW magazine. I’m always in awe of such creative people!

  7. avatar Kat reply

    Such a fun series!!!

  8. avatar Lauren Taylor reply

    I love this series! Its really fun to get to see what goes on in the making of Southern Weddings.

  9. avatar Wendy Moore reply

    I’m so glad I got to see what your day is like at SW!

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My job title at Southern Weddings is Creative Director, which basically means I do a lot of… creative things. And I write a lot of emails. Come see what a typical day in my life is like!

9:12am I arrive at the Southern Weddings office. I am reliably 5-15 minutes late to work, but I almost always stay 15-30 minutes past closing time, so I figure it evens out in the end :)

9:15am Laptop is on, and SW email, SW blog, and Twitter tabs are open. I always check the blog first thing to make sure our first post went out on time, to approve and respond to any comments as necessary, and to double check the second post. Since, as a rule, I don’t check work email after work, I generally have between 20-30 emails in my inbox each morning, but I don’t mind!

9:20am I always start the morning by cruising through my inbox and tackling the easy ones first – forwarding real wedding interviews that came in to Nicole, downloading new real wedding images from photographers, etc. Then I go through emails from other SW ladies. Lastly, I’ll look at and respond to anything that seems urgent. Submissions, less urgent emails, and more complicated emails I usually leave until later in the day.

My pomegranate tote bag has been used almost every day since I bought it my junior year of college. Five years later, it’s still going strong! Also, I prefer to work barefoot, since I’m usually sitting in the pretzel position at my desk. On the right you can see my favorite notepad, which I keep next to my laptop to write notes throughout the day!

10:30am Staff meeting time! Lara, Nicole, and Alexia (our fall intern) gather around my desk, since I’m holding the speaker phone with Marissa and Kristin. As usual, we go around the circle with updates, cheering on M & K’s ad progress and swooning over any new editorial or graphic elements N & I are working on. Today we also started planning out some V5 launch items, such as our blog countdown posts, postcard send-outs, and — wait for it — launch party! (WHOO!)

11:05am My Mom texts me in the middle of the staff meeting to say my wedding gown has arrived in Connecticut! There is much excitement from the SW gals.

11:15am We say goodbye to Marissa and Kristin and I hop back on email. A very exciting message from Brooke at Curious & Co came in with drafts of our newest print illustrated feature, so Lara and I spend some time discussing possible edits, and then I draft a long email back. While most emails are fired off pretty quickly, a detailed email like that can take up to twenty minutes to craft! I also review and respond to submissions (I try to send a quick note to everyone), file away SBOM applications, answer submission questions, correspond with photographers sending in high-res images for print, and send lots of messages back and forth with the SW gals.

On the right, the beautiful bulletin board above my desk! Look closely, and you can even see a few sneak peeks from two of our SWV5 editorials!!

12:35pm Lunch time! I am notoriously bad about eating a late lunch (3:30, anyone?), so today is a good day! I usually check my personal email or pin things while I eat :)

1:00pm I construct most of our Blue Ribbon Vendor galleries, which is kind of tedious but I actually really love doing it. I know this sounds ridiculously cheesy, but I really do get excited about the quality of our vendors, and searching their portfolios to find the ten images that will really make them sing! Today I’m working on getting Odalys Mendez’s portfolio put together (she’s a new addition from Georgia) and making some refreshes to Haley Sheffield’s listing. (BRV members can swap out their images every six months.) Both look so beautiful!

2:00pm Time to work on a real wedding post! I’m responsible for placing the images and adding tags (to help with search engine results). I also usually get to choose the post titles :)

On the left, my narrowed down selects from one print real wedding, and on the right, the view to the right of my desk! I like to keep the three most recent issues handy for reference, and of course, my etiquette book has pride of place.

2:45pm Post is in and I move downstairs to the “Big Mac” (as we like to call it) to do some selects on our print real weddings. Nicole and Lara, who handle most of the layout, have delegated this task to me because I am ruthless, which is entirely necessary when narrowing down 600+ images to about 30 for a print feature.

4:00pm Lara wants a fresh eye on some V5 layout puzzles that are proving to be challenging, so we scroll through the InDesign doc and talk through different options. We discuss, once again, how awesomely overwhelming it would be to see all of these features for the first time at once, in print!

4:35pm Back up to my desk to close out emails for the day.

5:12pm Done and done! I’m definitely tempted to stay longer and work on some more V5 text since I didn’t get to it earlier in the day, but a few last DIY wedding projects are calling my name :)

Curious about the days of other SW ladies? Check out Marissa and Nicole’s previous posts!

emily Written with love by Emily
8 Comments
  1. avatar Madi Reid reply

    You are awesome, Emily! So much excitement for V5 and the work y’all do! Can’t wait to see all your launch items over these next few months! Keep up the great work ladies! :)

  2. avatar Lisa reply

    I love reading these “Day in the Life” posts! Good thing all that e-mailing is balanced by oh so much prettiness :) I can’t wait to see what y’all have been working on in V5!

  3. avatar Jenny // The Bride’s Tree reply

    Alison & Brent’s Texas wedding is a definite fave! Seriously stunning everything, but that dress is PERFECTION.

  4. avatar ame reply

    I LOVE these posts!!! I would love to see more images of your offices and things too!

  5. avatar Kerigan reply

    My publisher referred this post to me and although it’s old it made me very excited! I’m an …aspiring Creative Director (intern right now) for Lavalier Bridal Magazine! Thank you for the insight!

  6. avatar Alexandra reply

    Super late to commenting, but I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to hear about someone who turns off work at the end of the day!

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A few weeks ago y’all learned what it’s like to be the Southern Weddings’ Art Director, but I can tell you that life in the Southern Weddings office is a bit different for me than my sweet counterparts. Namely, because I’m not usually in the Southern Weddings office. Sit a spell with me as I walk you through a typical day for Southern Weddings’ Ad Director!

To set the scene, let’s take a look at my workspace:

This is what my “desk” looks like most mornings: clean, organized and ready for the day. However, I should add that my desk changes based on where I am in the USA – sometimes it’s a coffee table, sometimes it’s a kitchen table, and sometimes it’s a picnic table.

And this is what my “desk” looks like by the end of the day. A complete hot mess! Nicole and I share of a love of Post-it notes, but as you can see, mine sometimes get out of control!

3:15am Yes, you read that right! As many of you know, my husband plays minor league baseball, which sometimes means getting up at an absurd hour of the night to “wake up” and pick him up at the field after a long road trip and bus ride back from who-knows-where!

8:50 I try to only drink water, but after a crazy early wakeup call, a little Monster Rehab is much needed! At least I’m keeping it Southern – a Rehab is like an Arnold Palmer with way too much energy! Yes, I actually have to step through a whole boatload of baseballs in my daily routine – they’re seriously everywhere!

9:00 I sit down at my nice and clean desk and prepare for the day. I keep everything organized with my Emily Ley notepads. This one is my favorite – it helps me break down my giant list into more manageable steps.

9:10 I open my email client, and it’s flooded with gorgeous gowns, sparkly baubles and sweet notes from our advertisers. I love days like this!

10:30 Since I work remotely most of the time, I Skype into our team meetings. Let’s just say the background of my “office” always entertains my fellow SW ladies. From random baseball players trying to chat, to my bedroom wall (yes, there’s a monogram there!), to a bloody Nolan Ryan photo (yikes!), the options are always entertaining!

Can you see me in the background? :)

11:30 After gushing over the gorgeous gown options we have for our cover shoot, and narrowing down the perfect bling to accompany said gown, we break from our meeting. I organize my crazy gobbledygook meeting notes into a more legible list, and get started working on V5 prep. Currently, I’m tracking down the perfect cover shoot gown — and requesting diamond rings. FUN!

1:00 I pause for a quick lunch, usually Chipotle or an omelet. After, I head out to drop BDK off at the ballpark for his day to start.

1:30 Back to work. Today I’m working on a proposal for some really awesome new advertisers. I love creating custom campaigns to help our clients grow their businesses and connect with our sweet brides.

3:00 I prepare to write a Real Wedding intro by swooning over the stunning details, then sniffling over the sweet proposal story, then deciding where to start. I’m pretty sure Emily assigns me the prettiest ones! By the way, on a typical day, I’ve already exchanged 15-30 emails with Emily at this point.

4:00 Back to emails to finish up the day. I’m very type A, so leaving a full inbox is not an option for me! BUT, I do love when my inbox is full of newly engaged readers – I get way too excited for them!

5:00 I start wrapping up my day, making sure I let Emily know text for my posts are ready for edit. I email Nicole some lovely V5 ads for editorial review, and I Hey Tell gown options with Lara (one of my favorite things to do ever!).

5:45 I close down my computer and start getting ready to head to a baseball game. Outfit selection is very important and completely based on what will make me the least sweaty in this Southern summer heat and humidity.

I am so thankful that everyday is different and exciting – and I love working with such amazing ladies! From image sizing help, to graphic creation and email editing, Emily, Nicole, Kristin (who you’ll meet soon!), and Lara help me be able to do my best everyday.

Want more behind the scenes? Check out our “In the Office” posts here.

marissa Written with love by Marissa
4 Comments
  1. avatar Lisa reply

    Marissa, your job sounds like so much fun! I love reading these “behind the scenes” looks and seeing all the joy that goes into my favorite magazine! The fact that y’all love your work so much shows constantly :)

    • avatar Marissa reply

      Thanks for your sweet words, Lisa! I really do love the magazine, and we’re so luck to be able to have such great readers like you! xx

  2. avatar Cathleya reply

    These are always my favorite types of posts! Love hearing about your day, M! Isn’t it amazing that when we went off to college, we never realized all the kinds of cool jobs that were out there and that we could be doing? I always thought I’d just work in HR. I have no idea why. Your day sounds so great (and much more organized than mine!)…fun to see a fellow work-from-home’er’s day! xx

  3. avatar Marissa reply

    Thanks for the sweet comment, C! Let’s just say this is a “typical” day! Some are not nearly as organized, and some are all around wild!! CANNOT wait to see you in, NYC! xx

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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