Listen to the Podcast About Weddings By Bretta
Podcast Summary
In a recent episode of the Eventful Endeavors podcast, Matt Loewenstein had the pleasure of interviewing Bretta Thompson, the person behind ‘Weddings by Bretta’. Bretta shares her unique journey from being a school bus driver to becoming a full-time wedding planner.
Bretta’s love for weddings started during her stint as a limousine driver for a wedding venue. Being in the midst of bridal couples and their families exposed her to the energy and excitement of wedding celebrations. The joy she drew from facilitating couples’ “best day ever” motivated her to step into the world of wedding planning. Today, she has expanded her team to 10 members providing services like wedding coordination, officiating weddings, and even premarital counseling – all under the banner of ‘Weddings By Bretta’.
Given her rich experience managing weddings across Indianapolis, Southern Indiana, and even Kentucky, Bretta’s take on what makes Indiana special for weddings is insightful. She highlights the city’s diversity and the variety of venues, from traditional country barns to upscale affairs, which cater to different tastes and cultures drawing clients from not only Indiana but also neighboring states like Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Although she admits the job can get stressful, the emotion and final fruition of the couples’ dream day keeps her going. Bretta’s story perfectly encapsulates the passion and drive behind the Weddings by Bretta brand, making it the go-to for anyone planning their big day in the Midwest.
Learn more about
Weddings By Bretta
This interview was provided by
Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos
Podcast Transcript
Felix And Fingers (00:24)
What’s going on everybody? This is Matt from Felix and Fingers. Welcome to another episode of the Eventful Endeavors podcast. Today we have Bretta Thompson as our guest from Weddings by Bretta. Bretta, say hello to all the people.
Bretta Thompson (00:42)
Hello everybody, happy Tuesday.
Felix And Fingers (00:44)
Yeah, that’s what’s going on. So, Bretta, why don’t you tell us a little bit about how you got into weddings and sort of what it means to you now, especially in the Indianapolis area.
Bretta Thompson (00:57)
Well, how I got into weddings is actually a little bit of a funny kind of interesting story. Many, many, many years ago, I was a school bus driver and obviously school bus drivers don’t make a great deal of money. So on the weekends, I took a job as a limousine driver for a wedding venue. So I would drive around couples, their families, you know, take people back and forth to hotels and airports and things. And I just fell in love with it. I loved weddings. I loved the vibe. I loved the energy.
I just love seeing an entire day come together and watching a couple just kind of have their best day ever. And that’s really kind of how I got into it. I had a friend ask me to officiate her wedding and I at first was like, why would you want me to do that? And she’s like, well, you’re my friend. You have no problem speaking in front of crowds and I want it to be personal. So I did, I loved it. And I thought, well, maybe this is something I could do, you know, on the side.
never for a single second did I think that it would turn into what it has become today. So I no longer drive a school bus. I haven’t for a very long time. This is my full-time job. I also stepped into wedding planning and coordination. I did that a few times back in 2015 and I really fell in love with that. So I became a certified wedding planner and I’ve added since then 10 team members. So we have 10 people with weddings by bread. I have officiants, I have a minister.
You can actually also provide services for couples like, premarital counseling. I have other planners and coordinators and we service Indianapolis, Southern Indiana. I’ve gone down to Kentucky. We go up as far as a little past Fort Wayne. But for me, this is just something that I’ve been doing almost 14 years now and I cannot imagine doing anything else. It is one of the most fun jobs. Yes, it can be stressful, but it’s just so much fun watching.
everything come together, watching it start from the very beginning, finding their venue and getting your vendors to the day arriving and just being a part of that. mean, there’s nothing like it.
Felix And Fingers (02:58)
What do you think makes Indianapolis or Indiana at large unique in the sense of planning weddings?
Bretta Thompson (03:07)
There is a lot of, there’s a lot of different venues. You’ve got everything from the traditional, you know, country barn weddings to more upscale barn dominions to, we have the rich Charles, I mean, which is on the North side in Carmel. We have such a big, I think, and we also have a lot of diversity here, a lot of diversity. I just think having, being in such a big city, I mean, I know we’re not the biggest city, we’re not Miami, we’re not, you know,
Los Angeles or not New York City, but Indiana kind of is a melting pot and we just we have a lot of a lot of different people, a lot of different cultures, but I love that we just have so many types. There’s venues that you would never think you would see in Indiana who are here, and I just love that there’s so many different options and we’re constantly seeing new great venues open up. There is a lot of planners, coordinators, officiants in this area, but.
I don’t know. just I just think Indiana is it’s Midwest. It’s close to Illinois. It’s close to Kentucky and Tennessee and people will call and ask us to do things there. I think it’s just a great location. It’s a great spot. It’s great city.
Felix And Fingers (04:13)
Cool. I agree. Yeah.
Bretta Thompson (04:15)
And we have the Colts. mean,
people may bash on the Indianapolis Colts, but hey, we’ve won the Super Bowl.
Felix And Fingers (04:23)
Are you from Indianapolis? Okay.
Bretta Thompson (04:25)
I’m from Indiana, so
I born here. I’ve kind of lived all over throughout my life, of the Dentexas in Washington, Colorado, but I’ve been here, I’d say probably 75 % of my life.
Felix And Fingers (04:36)
That’s cool. So how would you say, how important would you say is music at your weddings?
Bretta Thompson (04:46)
very important. It is very important. That’s one of honestly the first things couples kind of say, hey, we need a DJ or we want a live band or we want, you know, people to come in and play a harp or a violin or guitars. People are very serious about their music and they should be. We have couples sometimes who
are little bit more stripped on. This is our do not playlist and we have some that are that we don’t care, play whatever. We have people who want party vibes, but when it comes down to that reception starting that dance floor opening, people are serious about their music and they want someone who can really bring the party. They want someone who was going to make people want to dance, want to have fun. They have a really specific vibe sometimes that they’re really going for. So we’ve kind of seen a shift where people were like, we don’t care. Play whatever to no, no, no, no.
We are looking for this. This is what we want. And they’re very serious about their music.
Felix And Fingers (05:37)
So when couples are coming to you for planning things, generally speaking, do they know what they want for music or are they looking to you for guidance? And if they are, what are your kind of main questions you’ll ask them or kind of how do you navigate that is what I’m kind of trying to ask you.
Bretta Thompson (05:56)
Yes, so if they don’t have any of their vendors, we kind of just go through who have you hired, who have you not. And then when it comes time for the music side of it, many of them are like, no, no, no, no, no. We know what we want. This is what we want. We just don’t know where to find it or we’re unsure. We might want a band. We don’t know if we want a DJ. We don’t know if we just want to have, you know, a trio. We’re not for sure. So I’ll kind of sit, talk to them about it. What’s your style? What music do you like? What do you do? You typically go to live concerts or do you go to smaller
venues or even, you know, the small bars, you might have a new artist come in. So asking them what their music preferences are, we have some people who are very strictly country. We have some people who are rock. We have some people who like all of it. They like everything from Sinatra, you know, to ACDC. They’re just kind of all over the place. But we really kind of sit and say, are you looking more for a live band, live music, or are you looking more towards that, the DJ vibe? Are you wanting something that feels maybe
like you’re kind of at a club in New York or something like that. So we really kind of sit and talk about what they like, what interests you, what most attracts you to the music. then that really kind of helps to navigate them down that path of, yeah, we think this is the way that we want to
Felix And Fingers (07:05)
Anybody ever ask for doing piano?
Bretta Thompson (07:08)
No, and I’m extremely interested in that and I can’t wait until they do because we ought to have that conversation about one of my favorite movies and I was like, I would love to see that.
Felix And Fingers (07:17)
yes I have that written down I haven’t gotten around to watching it the famous brothers right cool so everyone out there who’s listening to this right now make sure you watch the movie fabulous baker brothers Greta gives it the stamp of approval that’s all you need to know
Bretta Thompson (07:22)
fabulous big brothers.
yes, two
thumbs up. Yeah, you cannot pass up Jeff Bridges’ movie. I love him.
Felix And Fingers (07:42)
Cool, so for this summer, what would you say your most exciting event you got going this summer is that you’re most looking forward to?
Bretta Thompson (07:51)
my goodness. mean, aside from my trip to Vegas in four weeks, for the 19th time, gosh, we’re just at some really great, some of were, we were at some of my most favorite venues. there’s one in Indy, called the conservatory evergreen. It’s just like this huge, ginormous glass greenhouse and it’s just got so much light and there’s so many options.
Felix And Fingers (07:54)
Goodbye.
Bretta Thompson (08:14)
Just a beautiful venue. So I love any time that we are at the conservatory. Same with Bayhorson and Greenwood. We love it. It’s a more upscale modern. It’s not really a barn. The word barn’s in it, but coordinating for me. That’s all that I want to do. I love officiating. I still do it, but I love being a part of it. just love, and I hate to use the word control, but I just kind of love managing and controlling a couple’s day so that they can enjoy it. They can.
Wake up, get pampered, have fun, take silly selfies and drink mimosas and just get married and not worry about anything else.
Felix And Fingers (08:47)
Did you feel like there was a learning curve to get to that place where you feel like you just like give me the ball, let me do it, you go do whatever. I got this for you. Did it take you while to feel like you were at that level?
Bretta Thompson (08:59)
It took me a little bit. mean, anything that you had never done before, and then you start dipping your toes into that water and you start getting a little deeper and a little deeper and a little deeper into it. Yeah, it sure does. I mean, but I am kind of a sponge. I didn’t go into it just haphazardly. I didn’t just go, well, gee, I think I’ll coordinate and plan weddings now. Not how I did it. I said, if I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do this right, because I wanna be able to provide the absolute best service that I can to every person.
Who comes to me? want them to know they can trust me. I want them to know that they’re with someone who is experienced, knows what they’re doing. Who knows those questions to ask? Who knows those red flags? Who can help them move forward and not feel overwhelmed and not feel stressed. I wanted to be able to provide that very comforting place for people who come to me. And so I really just absorbed and I read and I studied and I took those certification courses and classes. I still take them.
I am not a person who says, I’ve been doing this for 14 years. I know everything. No, I don’t. I think that when a person says that, they stop learning and they stop growing because trends change, things change, times change. And I just feel you have to constantly keep learning and educating yourself and keeping up on those things so that you can keep, continue to provide those things to your couples who come to you because we sometimes get asked some crazy things. It’s like, okay, that’s a new one. I thought I’d heard everything, but that’s a new one.
Just kind of staying present and constantly learning and keeping up on things that’s very, very important, no matter what niche that you’re in.
Felix And Fingers (10:27)
So what would you say for you specifically? Because I know there’s a lot of weddings that happen in Indianapolis and Indiana and there’s lots of planners, lots of venues, lots of people involved in that ecosystem. What would you say you specifically as an individual is your thumbprint, your identity, your impact specifically to you that you feel like you’ve made or what you’re bringing to the table?
in this Indianapolis wedding market that only you are doing and are capable of doing.
Bretta Thompson (11:00)
I don’t know that I myself do something that nobody else does because coordinating, planning, officiating, I mean it all, it’s, I don’t know. I don’t know that I specifically do anything. I do feel that my coordination services go a little more in depth and a little bit deeper than a lot of other people who coordinate weddings, who manage the days. I offer services typically that they won’t.
We include services typically that they will add, consider an add-on. I try to make ours very inclusive. I try to say, listen, you’re going to get your decor set up. We’re not going to charge you extra for that. I’m going to do your hotel room blocks. I’m not going to charge you extra for that. I’m going to help you find vendors. I’m not going to charge you extra for that. I want them to feel that they’re getting as much support as they can. I know that weddings are very expensive. I’ve seen invoices. I see bills all the time. And I don’t want to be
known as that person who says, we can do that, but that’s extra. we can do that, but that’s extra. No, that’s an add on that’s extra. So I really try to make our packages as inclusive and give them as much as I possibly can and not constantly go, that’s extra. That’s extra. That’s extra. We try to go above and beyond. We want to provide them with as much as so they, don’t want them to feel any more stressed or overwhelmed that they already are. They’re already walking into this with all of these questions and
What do we do and where do we go and when should we do this and how do we do this? And I don’t want them to continue to feel that with us. I just want to kind of guide them and lead them down that path. And so I try to make that as easy as I can from the very beginning. For instance, coordination. Most coordinators will say, we’ll touch base with you anywhere from two to four months out from your wedding. I don’t do that. I don’t care if your wedding is in 18 months. I’m gonna start building your timeline now and I’m gonna start talking with you about things.
If you need to start dumping on that vendor, interviewing a vendor and start getting on that path, I’m going to start sending you those amazing vendors that we know that we love, that we trust, that we work with. I’m not going to wait and push things off and make you feel even more stressed. So I think that does set me aside a lot because a lot of other coordinators won’t do that. They’re like, nope, we’ll contact you when the time comes up. And I just don’t do that.
Felix And Fingers (13:09)
Interesting. So if you had a quick bit of advice to give to yourself when you were leaving the limousine driving for weddings, starting to dip your toes in the water of all this, what would you tell yourself now?
Bretta Thompson (13:24)
at least do some consulting sessions with an actual small business consulting firm who can guide me on exactly what steps I need to take to build my business and also immediately hire someone who knows what they’re doing as far as building a website, maintaining that SEO and that marketing side of things. I did that for years on my own. It was the most stressful first four to five years of my life. I had no experience in a website, in SEO, in…
advertising social media. I hate social media. I’m not gonna lie. If I didn’t own a business, I would not have social media. It is the bane of my existence. I have so much other things going on and I know to stay relevant, you need to be on social media all the time. So I think I would have at least done some consulting with someone who can help you start your small business. This is how we’re gonna get your LLC. We’re gonna start this. And also contracts. I had very basic.
Horrible. I look back and I’m just like, my god, I can’t believe I that was my contract in in 2013 It was embarrassing but I learned you everyone does but I would say if you can if you had the ability Get with somebody who can kind of guide you to make it so that you know that you’re doing things, right? You know, you’re doing doing things the legal way because it was it was a lot I wasted so much time just trying to figure it out on my own and
I had no guidance at all. I wish I would have gotten some
Felix And Fingers (14:53)
Cool. Well, anything you’d like to share with our listeners or anything like that?
Bretta Thompson (15:01)
For couples out there, if you are just in the you know, beginning stages of, we just got engaged, now what? I cannot stress enough. If you can’t afford a full-fledged wedding planner, at least consider what we call, what people call, wedding coordination, day of management. At least consider that, because that’s really going to provide a lot of guidance, a lot of help. It’s going to take so much stress.
off of your plate and a good, a good coordinator, a good wedding day manager. I can’t stress that enough. I have seen brides come in just absolutely almost ready to have nerves breakdown and then they hire us and within a week she’s like, I feel so much better. I actually slept all night because I know I have someone who’s going to help me. So don’t try to do it yourself. You don’t have to really, you know, vet those people, look at who they are, how long they’ve been in business, vet any of your vendors.
vet them and never ever ever never hire anybody who does not have a contract in place, a solid contract and never just pass over money to somebody without a contract. We see this so often. Their pricing seems like it’s amazing. my God, it’s great. And sometimes if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.
Felix And Fingers (16:11)
There you have it folks, live from Bretta. Thanks for joining us today, Bretta. This was really fun and insightful and hopefully we could be working together soon, some dueling pianos at some of your weddings. Thanks for taking the time to join us on the podcast. Have a great day and we’ll talk soon, Bretta.
Bretta Thompson (16:29)
Thank you. Have a great day. Bye.
Felix And Fingers (16:31)
Alright, later.
