I know I mention this every now and then, but I get emails every week from girls saying “weddings are my paaaaaassion! can I have a job?“. And I have a scripted response for them and an annoying application process for them to deal with. And then they work 10 weddings for me before I consider them an assistant. To date, I have had one intern complete 10 weddings with me: Sacha.
Sacha, in the middle in this photo, is holding a soda bottle and a fork. Not because she’s eating and drinking as we’re taking a moment to watch Nicole & Rocco get married, but because she found them on the grass and she picked them up. Because she’s awesome like that. Hardworking, intelligent, alert, fast, and fabulous. She’s pretty much the president of every events club at Cal State Poly in Pomona, and when she graduates next year, I have not doubt that she’ll be highly successful in life. She has that drive and determination and the work ethic to get it. She truly understands that you have to pay your dues to get trained in a particular field.
At the end of every wedding, I ask my interns what they’ve learned that day or what surprised them. I love hearing their answers. I asked Sacha to write something for my blog talking about what she’s learned over the past year. Thank you, Sacha, for all of your hardwork!
From Amber’s bio on her website: “Amber Gustafson is in love with texture, things that sparkle, vintage clothes, cheap beer, and expensive wine.” She had me at sparkle. I have been Amber’s intern for 10 weddings now and have learned so much. She was my first contact into the wedding industry and I am glad she was. She took me under her wing and taught me everything that I needed to know from the importance of padding the timeline to always having Hollywood fashion tape on hand.
What did I do as an intern? Well, what didn’t I do? Having worked in the service industry before, I knew that I had to expect to do anything and everything to create the wedding magic. I have done everything thing from being the bridal attendant to driving back to the groom’s house an hour before the start time to get his pants. Through all of my work with Amber I have grown so much. I have started to be more assertive and realized that wedding planning is a lot more than organization and design. Watching Amber on the day of is exciting to me, one of her best qualities is her ability to ease family situations and make everyone feel comfortable and happy on the most stressful day of a bride and groom’s life.
I can appreciate that Amber has the largest emergency kit I have ever seen in my life and that I have used almost all of it. I see that she is truly passionate about her work and it shows in every single wedding. We have bonded over our love for Anthropologie and have noticed that most of her brides have bonded over this fact as well, but also as a mentor/boss I respect her. She is very concerned with what I have learned with my time with her, wants me to grow as a person, and is open to sharing all her trade secrets. Amber truly cares about the people she works with. That is why I am fortunate enough to have been her intern for 10 weddings and now officially an assistant.
