The unexpected childhood activity that predicted my career path

“And a cascade of lace here, here, and here.” I thwacked my pen against the notepad to emphasize each word while my cousin nodded vigorously. At 8 and 10, we carefully reviewed our wedding dress designs as if our big days were just moments away. While our parents prepped dinner, we rehearsed our grand bridal entry in painstaking detail. I’m probably not the only person who had this fantasy when I was little, but what I didn’t realize was just how that role-play would translate into the career that I have right now. It all started with my own elopement in 2021, and the subsequent blow-out bash a year later. My husband and I juggled countless chaotic spreadsheets, email chains, invoices, journals, and Post-its. I felt overwhelmed by the lack of tools to orchestrate this complex logistical feat, and I realized that I could make a living by fixing this chaos. My unconventional career path What I loved about weddings were the systems and the operational aspect. But in addition to planning a