Starting a new business is hard. 

Money is tight. Clients are few. There’s no guarantee it will be successful. 

So it’s natural for a brand new business owner to want to keep their costs as low as possible and focus their time on acquiring revenue. 

Yet for Gallatin resident Jennifer Ray, the owner of Effortless Event Planning, donating her time, expertise, and sometimes hard earned dollars has proven to help make her business more successful. 

Event planning was something Jennifer had always been interested in. However, she worked a full time corporate job that provided excellent financial security, and that was hard to let go of. 

“I started Effortless Event planning as a side business. I had been planning weddings and helping my friends with small dinner parties for a long time,” says Jennifer.

After months of thought and prayer, she decided to quit her job to pursue event planning full time. She hasn’t looked back since.

“This was something that I had longed to do, and something that my husband and I —who are active Christians— prayed about for a very long time. Ultimately, I took a huge leap of faith.”

Jennifer’s personal experience influences the way she views her role as an event planner. At the time of her own wedding, Jennifer’s father was terminally ill with Stage 4 heart failure. 

“Every girl dreams of the big wedding, and I had always dreamed of my father walking me down the aisle, but at this point he wasn’t very mobile, so we got married in our small church with just my husband's family, my family, and a couple of our close friends. It was a super quick wedding, and my dad was able to walk me down the aisle.”

Jennifer’s wedding was perfect—for her and her husband— and that is the same experience she is trying to create for all of her couples. Thus her business model was born out of the desire to create a completely customizable, one stop shop for all things event-related. 

“The majority of event planners operate by the book, meaning that what one wedding coordinator or event planner offers the other doesn't, or they do this but they don't do that, so I really wanted to build our business model off of the ability to provide a wide variety of services,” Jennifer explains.

From assisting clients with choosing a venue, hiring a DJ, supplying decorations, designing signage and invitations, Effortless Event Planning does it all, and clients are able to choose from a variety of services tailored to their specific needs.

In addition to creating a streamlined event planning service, Jennifer has made it her mission to foster a spirit of collaboration within the event planning community. In support of this, Jennifer’s blog, Queen of the Aisle, offers tips for new coordinators on a variety of subjects including how to build a photo booth backdrop, what to do if you have a difficult client, how to apply for an EIN, and more. 

“I wanted to create an environment that encourages working together and compatibility as opposed to competition,” she says.

Above all, the foundation of Jennifer’s business is based on a devotion to her clients and their needs. Since launching the business in October 2022, Jennifer has already begun giving back to the community by providing pro bono services for people who may not have the means to put on the kind of event they deserve. 

“Over time, I noticed that people often said no to things that they genuinely wanted to say yes to because they couldn't afford it. That made me want to offer some services: decorations, a cake, a DJ, whatever I could, pro bono. It comes down to the fact that I want each event to be as special as humanly possible, and I feel like finances should not get in the way of that. My giving back to the community is just a reflection of all the things that it has done for me.”

Jennifer has also committed to helping Stay Positive News with a fundraising event later this year where proceeds will be donated back to children and families in need around Christmas time. 

You can follow their business on Facebook, Instagram, or on their website where her blog is linked, here.