Almost every little girl dreams of their wedding day.  You either put on a wedding using your Barbies as the bride and groom or you marry your best friend, who you argue with on whose going to play the bride next.

All girls eventually grow out of that phase though.  I have yet to learn if it’s because we just grow up or because we know that at age 18 your considered a little desperate when your dressing up in wedding gowns and pretending to walk down the aisle to your price charming who is, in all reality, being played by your dog, Mr. Muffin. 🙂

At age 18, while everyone had summer and college on their minds, I was still trying to figure out what I was going to be doing after high school!  You see, I never had the desire to attend college.  I had just spent 12 long years in school and I can honestly say that the sound of four or more years of it did not excite me!  Keep in mind, that I was raised by a family of entrepreneurs, all who did not finish college!  They made it work so what made people think that I couldn’t?  I was ready to start my work life experience as soon as possible.  I figured I’d be missing out on awesome job opportunities and that if I wanted to go back to school, I could at any time.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying college isn’t necessary, it just wasn’t for me at the time!

On the day of my high school graduation, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to pursue Culinary School.  I wanted to become a Pastry Chef specializing in wedding cakes!  What I failed to mention, was that both entrepreneur parents work in the wedding industry! My parents met in a band that my dad founded over 30 years ago and my dad owns his own entertainment booking agency, but we’ll come back to this 🙂

It turned out that my passion of becoming a Pastry Chef was short lived.  After a few school tours, open houses and a meeting with an adviser, we learned how much Culinary School would be costing for one semester…after seeing that number I realized I wasn’t to into becoming a Pastry Chef after all 🙂

As I was driving home, it really started to sink in that I didn’t have a game plan and it was starting to stress me out!  Now, remember my cool wedding industry parents?  Let me introduce you to my mom and dad, Jo Hyman, amazing artist by day, rock star diva by night. Floyd Hyman, one of the coolest, most laid back and humble guitar player’s I know.  On the drive back home from the culinary school open house, my Mom mentioned a wedding planning friend of her’s that teaches courses to young women like me on how to become a certified wedding planner!  The more I thought about this option, the more I liked it!  By the end of the week I was 100% on board and had registered for my two day course at the end of the month!

The course was held at an upscale venue overlooking Lake Travis in Austin, TX from 8:00 am- 8:00 pm.  We received a huge three ring binder that I now refer to as my wedding bible.  It consisted of 27 chapters and 27 chapter test that we would be taking online scoring an 80% or higher on each test.  The final project was a called the Essential Wedding Project.  The final project requires you to do all the work and preparation that one would do to plan a wedding for a client.  I will tell you right now,  Nuptial Essential Curriculum and Instruction was one of the best and most beneficial course I have ever taken.  I felt inspired, motivated and excited to kick start my career in the wedding industry!

Amy Mader, the President of Platinum Weddings and Events, Nuptial Essential Curriculum and Instruction and Nuptial Essentials Association of Wedding Professionals was my instructor for the NECI course.  By the grace of god, Amy took me on as her intern after I finished my course.  I was being thrown into the mix of everything and receiving hands on experience with real brides and grooms.  After 8 months, I was brought on as an Assistant and from there became a Lead Planner and am now the Vice President of Platinum Weddings and Events.  I also just expanded Platinum and opened up our first branch in Denver, Colorado!  If someone were to tell me at 18 that I’d be the Vice President of a top Wedding and Event Planning company and that I’d be living in Denver managing my own branch at age 22, I would have laughed in their face!

I would not be where I am today with out the support and love from my parents and would definitely not be here without Amy Mader.  She took a chance on me and took me under her wing.  I knew nothing about planning a wedding, I didn’t realize how much went into the background of the planning process.  Amy spent time and money training me to be a top dog!  Her course, NECI was one of the best things that has ever happened to me!  That was the kind of schooling that I needed and that I looked forward to!  That was the kind of schooling that motivated and inspired me to be the best that I could be. I got into this industry because of my parents.  Whenever they didn’t have a babysitter, they were carting us off to weddings and we were sitting backstage with the rest of the band.

I have been surrounded by weddings my whole life and I’m so blessed that I discovered my passion at such a young age!   I’ve been working towards this dream for the past four years and I can happily say that every little mistake I made along the way, has led me to where I am today.

For more information on the NECI course taught by Amy Mader, please follow the link below!

http://www.nuptialessentials.com/

xoxo Haley