Meet Jennifer of Rustic Events; a San Diego based rental company

Today, I'd like to introduce you to the wonderful Jennifer from Rustic Events. If you're looking for beautiful wood tables and benches for your wedding day, Jennifer and her husband are your people to go to! Now let's get to know them a little bit...

Photography: Rachael Marie Photography

WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED AND WHAT AREAS DO YOU SERVE? We're located in Temecula and San Diego. Service all of So Cal.

Photography: Mel & Tim Photography

HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AND HOW DID YOU GET TO WHERE YOU ARE TODAY? During the planning process of our own wedding, my husband literally came home from his corporate job one day and told me he quit! He had had enough. I was in a panic! Totally forgot about planning a wedding. The vendor we had wanted to reserve tables with, emailed about the same time stating they could not secure our quote with them. They were a young couple and had just found out they were pregnant and needed to move. They had JUST started the business. Literally, they had about 15 tables and a flat trailer and a free platform website. They had been in the biz for 6 mos. They said they were selling the tables. We scratched our heads and decided to meet up with them to see about doing this as a hobby biz to keep my husband out of corporate culture for a year or so before we could send him back into the workforce. Basically, just enough to keep mac n cheese on the table so my Hubbs could take a breath of fresh air! Anyhow, we met with them and fell in love with them AND the tables! They taught my husband how to build, patted us on the butt and off we went. We thought it would be a hobby. But, it just picked up more and more steam. At the end of the first year, we knew we had something amazing. More than that, we realized WE make GREAT business partners! We love working together. So we went all in, sacrificed all we have. Blood, sweat, and tears have literally gone into Rustic Events. We have seen our little biz grow leaps and bounds in the last 4 years, more than we could ever imagine!

WHAT DO YOU FEEL SETS YOU APART FROM OTHER PROFESSIONALS IN THE INDUSTRY? I honestly try not to focus on this as a business. Sounds weird, I know. But to me, if I do that then it just really starts to feel like work to me. I try to do the right things for the right reasons for our clients, and I feel the rest will follow. If you chase money, you may get it. But, that's all you get. I can go get a 9-5 job and get money, and work a whole lot less!! I am here for a purpose and a reason. I am here to make a difference. The clients fulfill me, as much as we serve them. We want to be the vendor that we would like to work with. In both good times and bad. Sometimes things don't go as planned, we try to work through this and treat the client as we would like to be treated. Planning can be stressful, we get that. We are here to help ease the stress, and have a little fun along the way!

WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? When you own a biz you wear ALL hats. The owner, manager, janitor, accounting, grunt, marketing guru etc! lol, So often times you will find me on deliveries and pickups. Well, it was after midnight one evening and there we were tired and it was way past bedtime. We pulled up to break down tables after a wedding. I was tired before we even started, in my grubby clothes ready to do grunt work. As I walked up to the door of the venue, the bride was just whisking out of the venue to run off with her new husband, like Cinderella at the stroke of midnight. She stopped me in my tracks. She was gorgeous, stunning, fairytale-like. I felt like a little girl watching a Disney Princess. She was in such a hurry and running out. We briefly locked eyes for a half second and there she went. When it registered to her it was me, she yelled, "STOP!!!" She turned around and ran back to me and gave me a HUGE hug and said her night was so magical because of US. We helped give her the wedding of her dreams. I really felt like a little girl awestruck by the princess at that moment. It was then that I realized that we are more than grunt helpers, we are making little girls' wedding dreams come true. I wasn't JUST delivering tables, I was making a difference. It warmed my heart SO much that she realized and felt an impact from our product AND us. Made me feel like we are on the right path. Made me happy to know that sticking to our core values and being kind with a quality product was standing out to our clients. She didn't have to run back to the grunt help and say thank you, but she did. I will never forget how she made ME feel that night.

ANY ADVICE FOR NEWLY ENGAGED COUPLES? Do things YOUR way. This is YOUR special day. There really is no right or wrong! Everyone will have advice from family, friends, vendors etc. Everyone is coming from a good place, but it really is about the two of you. Stick to your core values and execute on the things that really matter most to you both. Learn to compromise on items that are less important to you as a couple. And, at the end of the day, never, ever, ever forget why you are doing this. Love. It's all in the name of love. The rest is minor in the big scheme of things.

SO WHAT'S NEXT? ANY BIG PLANS FOR YOUR BUSINESS? We are still fairly new, this will be our 5th year in business. So we are still working 'behind the curtain' to fine-tune our products for our clients and fine tune the experience for them. We do have a few new products that we will be showcasing this year, but you will have to wait to see them... it wouldn't be a surprise if I told ya about 'em now... :)

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