We’ve worked in a variety of roles in the industry, providing us with a unique understanding of how to effortlessly piece together every part of your day, allowing you to rest assured knowing that your event execution will be seamless and each aspect of your design will be stunning.
Our event backgrounds bring forward a combination of logistics-forward thinking paired with a decade of hospitality experience. This means that not only will your wedding day design “wow” your friends and family, but also that we’ll always have an expertly thought out Plan B ready to go if needed.
It means that your catering and beverages will be curated specifically for you and that the drinks will be flowing and the service will be incredible, that your ceremony music will transition seamlessly and your dance floor will be packed all night. It means that we are more than equipped to handle all of the behind the scenes elements so that you can have the day you dreamed of - because we genuinely care about making sure your wedding is a success and have the skills to pull it off.
And most importantly, we put together a dream team of creative, quick-thinking young professionals who have combined our planning and design expertise to craft one-of-a-kind weddings for couples looking to celebrate their love surrounded by the beauty of Northern Michigan. Oh, and we have a lot of fun along the way – promise.
Meaghan’s love affair with Northern Michigan began when her parents purchased a cottage on Green Lake in Interlochen when she turned seven and became a “summer kid.” After spending every summer up north, she knew that she was a Michigan girl at heart and relocated to Traverse City after college, where she has continued to direct weddings and social events. Though she’s still not a fan of snow in April (the worst), Meaghan still cannot get enough of Northern Michigan and loves working with couples to plan their weddings in a place that holds so much meaning to her.
FAST FACTS:
Fave Food: Potatoes (all forms)
Wardrobe Must-have: Jean jacket & cute earrings
Dancing To: The Beatles with a side of T Swift
On Wedding Day: Keeping your timeline right on track
On Her Day Off: Boat days with the fam
Kelsey joined fox & fern events after mastering her organizational, multi-tasking & event-coordinating skills for over a decade in hospitality management & award-winning fine-dining. A native of Chicago, Kelsey has a degree in business management from Northwestern Michigan College and has lived in Traverse City for the better part of TWO decades.
She has an incredible eye for design and knows exactly the questions to ask to create a gorgeous and uniquely personal wedding design plan for her couples.
FAST FACTS:
Fave Food: Jumbo pretzels with cheese dip
Wardrobe Must-Have: High-waisted jeans and a flat brimmed hat
Dancing to: Beyonce... duh
On Wedding Day: Nitpicking tabletop setups (or sneaky dancing)
On Her Day Off: Coffee, brunch, netflix, takeout, wine, bed by nine!
Meaghan kicks off her professional event planning career working for an Event Planning firm and planning weddings, corporate and non-profit events with a focus on logistics-first planning and guest experience - something she still prioritizes when planning weddings today.
Fox & Fern is born after Meaghan realizes that she loves her side hustle more than her current job. She tours a lot of venues, re-ignites a lot of former relationships, and gets to work, booking 17 weddings for the 2017 season.
Sidestep into the world of Marketing and Sales, where Meaghan’s previous firm has stopped offering wedding planning and starts sending referrals her way, where wedding planning becomes her official “side hustle”
We double our weddings for 2018 and send 36 amazing couples down the aisle.
The year we fully understood the level of service we provided and the amount of emotional investment we put into every single wedding day. A lot of postponements, a lot of pivoting, a lot of beautiful intimate celebrations.
Knowing we need to increase our full time staff to maintain the level of service we want to provide, Kelsey joins our crew as a lead planner in January 2019.
A year in, Fox & Fern hires it’s first part-time employee and outgrows Meaghan’s home office, finding a new homebase in a beautiful loft space in Downtown Traverse City, where we’re still located today!