Southern Weddings

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!

Written with love by Marissa