Planner Feature: Enraptured Events

May 10

We meet with Atlanta based Lissahn DeVance of Enraptured Events share her roles and experiences in the wedding planning industry, focusing on how they support grooms. Lissahn shares her journey into wedding planning, which began with a passion for romance novels and evolved over 20 years of creating personalized weddings. She provides insight on her approach to involve both partners in the planning process, ensuring that the groom’s story and preferences are also represented.

Throughout the interview, she dives deeper into the various ways Enraptured events engages grooms in the planning process, from capturing their love stories to incorporating their interests into the wedding details. Lissahn strives to elevate the groom’s experience, ensuring that their contributions are recognized and that the wedding reflects both partners’ stories and personalities.

Cameron Fontaine (CF): Lissahn. Alright Lissahn. Well first of all I want to say thank you for hopping into the Grooms Den with us today. I appreciate your consideration and sharing your story about how you became about in the wedding planning industry and joining it and how your servicing the groom. So why don’t you just start by telling us a little bit about you and how you ended up as a wedding professional?

Lissahn DeVance (LD): Well thank you for having me. So I honestly started out in the industry as a teen, tween, I was always reading romance novels. So I could easily visualize a story that was unfolding and being told on the pages. So when a friend of mine in church asked me to help her plan her wedding, my first question was “what does it look like?” And I just visualize the image that she was describing and then I just planned from there. So I need this to create this picture and the rest as they say is history. So I've been planning weddings ever since [then and it’s been] 20 years now. I am a lover of love and I've always said that planning a wedding is the most romantic party you'll ever throw. So being one that likes to have a party and one that loves love combining those two was just, I guess the icing on the cake for me.

CF: Tell us a little bit about your Niche and how you are curating an experience that’s elevated for the guys.

Atlanta

LD: I cater to the guys first and foremost by one, a lot of times people say it's the bride's day. I always plan and design for both members of the couple. When I was talking about reading romance novels, if you read anything on my website or social media, I tell stories through the details. So I get the love stories from both members, you know, the bride and groom or both grooms. So I make sure that I'm getting both sides and then I plan the details accordingly. So that's how I start first and foremost. So whether or not the guy wants to participate in the planning, the designing, I'm making sure that details tell his side of the love story. So when you walk into the ceremony or the reception, you'll at least know that some part of it was about his love story. So that's how I cater to the guys.

CF: So when you're having that conversation, how do you get past the “whatever she wants, that's what I want” response?

LD: I send them a questionnaire and I sent it separately. And I tell them that I'm getting your side of the love story, separately. So I don't send it to one person and I don't send it for one person to fill out. So I collect the email addresses separately and I send it to each individual. And I love reading the answers. So I've heard all kinds of things on how they met, how they were proposed to, their favorite thing to do separately, individually, all kinds of things. Because the questionnaire is, from what I've been told, is 38 questions long so it is pretty in-depth and sometimes the answers are pretty long also. What's your favorite poem or favorite song lyrics, so it's pretty detailed.

CF: Can you share some of your favorite responses that you've received from the groom?

LD: One of the questions I asked is, “what was the most significant thing about your love story?” and this groom wrote, “We are best friends. To me that means everything. I don't want to live a day of my life without her. I love my grandma, but she gives her a run for her money when it comes being my heart. So they're 50/50…” So I was just like oh wow. And so most of the times, I should say a lot of the times you can tell that the answers are pretty, they're much shorter than what a bride might write because women we just use more words. But his answers were very well thought out and were equally as long as hers. So I was like, wow, so he really put some thought into his responses.

CF: Yes, as a grandma's boy myself, I can say that message resonates; that means something. So as a romantic novel lover and a writer yourself, how are you kind of incorporating that [because] I know that shows up in your work. So how are you incorporating that in your overall arching theme on the macro side?

LD: Well first I read through the questionnaire to pull out the details that I want to tell the story. For example, the two things that struck me the most were one of the questions [being] do you have a favorite flower and she wrote that she wanted his birth flower and white rose because it signify young love. And then she wanted the carnation because it was his birth flower. So those are the dominant flowers in the planning of the wedding or I should say in the design of the wedding. So I usually go through and pull out all the details that I've gathered from the questionnaire and then I incorporate that into the design and then from there I build the floor plan and then from there I build that vendor team that's gonna help execute that overall vision. Whether it's the floral designer or the stationer who's going to create that monogram, the invitations etc. Because once I create the design and the mood board that they sign off on now, I am enlisting all those subcontractors to help execute that vision.

CF: And how involved do you find your grooms are in these details and making those suggestions? And wanting to be a part of that?

LD: Most are not. But I would say 10 to 15% are very involved and I actually love it because it's not the norm. So when they are involved, I enjoy it because I like getting their input. And I have one groom that is more involved than the bride right now.

CF: I’ve had some groomzillas. But it helps them kind of pull out the detail that matters to them. So how are you encouraging them?

LD: To that point I do reach out because I have from the questionnaire the email address, the phone number, and I do ask for their opinion on things that might interest them such as the signature cocktail or if they might have an opinion on something in terms of a particular detail or something that I've gotten from the questionnaire if they may not have an overall opinion on the design maybe a particular detail of the design, you know. So I try to get their opinion but if they say, “it’s up to her, it’s up to her, it’s up to her” then, you know, it’s like pulling teeth. But more often than not they’re concerned about the cost, and what the food taste like and when is the [food] tasting. And when they get to taste the cocktails and stuff like that.

CF: Outside of tastings and the cost of things, what are some of the other interests that you do find your grooms are having a particular interest in of the ones that are more engaged?

LD: The experiences such as cigar bars. Things that their guests get to experience that we can also customize or brand. Because I like to brand every part of the experience so I can put their monogram on the cigar wrapper. So if we have a cigar roller at the wedding, then we can also put your logo that we put on the invitation, that’s also on the dance floor, that’s also on the menu, so we can put that on the cigar once it’s rolled. So they get a kick out of having you know, all their groomsmen and their other friends or fraternity brothers or what have you partake in a cigar bar and taking that group shot at the reception. Or sometimes even a pre-ceremony shot. So those are some of the things that they enjoy, [such as[ an experience that they get to have with their fellow guys.

CF: So that’s cool. Aside from that one, do you have any special or funny moments or memorable moments with your groom that you would like to share or something that tickled you? Maybe an anecdotal lesson?

LD: One of, I guess a funny moment, was with this actual same groom, he and the bride, they always spoke in unison; almost like they were twins a lot of the time. And I even posted this on my Instagram because I like to do a private reveal with my couples so that, after all the months of planning, they get to experience the reception just like the guest(s) do. So they walk in, [and look around at everything], not knowing where to look first. So I walked them in, eyes closed hand and hand and counted down, “one, two, three, welcome to your reception” and they were like “oh shoot”, you know. And I told the videographer that I want that clip right there because they were just so excited. But the fact that they did it in unison, you know, like they were twins, like they were doing during the entire planning process was hilarious. And you just see me cracking up, you know, on film and on camera laughing at them because it was totally unexpected that they said that in unison because they were floored by the design. So I just thought that was hilarious.

CF: So is there anything else that you want to share with planning grooms?

LD: The only thing I was going to add is to be present. My advice to the groom is to be present. If you don’t want to be part of the planning process itself then be present. can't control people or the weather. So the planning process can be stressful in the fact that you have to see all of your guests at this table or that table and that part can be stressful. So rub some feet, run some bath water, go on a date, take away some stress another kind of way. Just be present for the bride or for the other person.