2024 End of Year Recap

 

From interior of spiral to outside (counterclockwise): Historic Wells St. bridge, Fort Wayne; graduation; St. Mary's river finds for an archaeology program for kids in the spring; Prague with my husband in January (mid-way through his deployment); "Hands off Ukraine, Putin" banner in historic center of Prague; Serena settling in; my husband and I's wedding day celebration; and finally, a picture of my husband and I on our wedding day with the Serene Moon logo that I've been obsessed with using for socials :)

2023, wow. To be cheesy - if you told January 2023 me the things that happened this past year, I don't think I'd believe you, and I really think that's true. 

At the beginning of 2023, there were so many things up in the air. I knew I was going to graduate in May 2023, and I knew my husband and I were going to get church married and celebrate with family in October 2023. Literally everything else, from launching Serene Moon in March 2023 (even if I had been thinking about it for a few years), moving from Pennsylvania to Fort Wayne, to starting in a new job as a program coordinator for parks & rec (which was a little out of my comfort zone as I spent the last nine or so years in the museum field..) was NOT a given at the beginning of the year... so needless to say, it's been a crazy busy year! 

I had my first official wedding in June of 2023, and I learned a LOT. There were a few hiccups in the day, from navigating difficult family situations, to wardrobe malfunctions, someone wearing a striped white dress (emphasis on majority white dress), and the literal worst case scenario - the caterer grabbed the wrong food and had to turn around and come back with the correct order!!! The bride I worked with still does NOT know that happened, as I was able to move around some activities and work with the remaining catering staff and parts of the order that was correct to keep guests busy as the wedding party was taking pictures. What I love most about working weddings is that you learn something new with each wedding you work. Just like every couple is unique, their weddings will usually reflect that which I think is so fun to learn and adapt as we go. For the rest of 2023, I didn't work any weddings for Serene Moon, but worked quite a few with park's rentals and kind of automatically fell into wedding coordinator mode if there wasn't one present. 

A (not great quality) phone picture from the rehearsal June 2023 wedding.

I have a few weddings coming up for 2024 and 2025, and I'm so grateful for their patience and feedback as I'm testing out new designs, planning resources, etc. I, personally, am having a lot of fun developing new resources for my couples and learning new skills as I go. I love the collaborative relationship I'm building with all my couples (ifykyk), and I am so thrilled to have their trust and celebrate with them on a day focused on their shared love. 

For 2024, I'm really looking forward to working on my social media presence and building Serene Moon even more! I know my social media presence especially has been lacking- as with anyone, life happens. I'm hoping that with a more steady schedule will come more frequent social media posts, from Instagram to TikTok aesthetic building and tips to longer blog posts like this.

I am genuinely thankful for all the support so far, and am looking forward to see where 2024 takes Serene Moon Planning!