Get to Know Your Coordinator: An Interview with the Owner

In between a day of working for the National Guard and being a busy mom on summer break duty, Carmen’s Weddings owner, namesake, and lead planner Carmen Fleischmann sat down to answer some questions about the business, the wedding industry, and what makes Carmen’s Weddings unique. 

Q.) What inspired you to start Carmen’s Weddings Consulting? 

A.) It’s two-fold — my position at the Florida National Guard as a visual information manager taught me how to coordinate all the audio equipment and protocol for events. Events ranged from 500 people in attendance with officials speaking to small Change of Command ceremonies and everything in between. I assisted with more than 200 of these events, and I really enjoyed the planning aspect of it. Additionally, I’ve always been interested in weddings. I watched "Four Weddings" and "Say Yes to the Dress" even after I was already married. I just love seeing how all the elements in a wedding come together. As a bride, you only see that everything is as you planned, but behind the scenes, it can be super chaotic — I thrive in that environment. As far as starting the company, my sister’s friend was getting married and she wanted someone to handle the details on the day of the event. My sister said, “I know you know how to do all of this stuff; could you step in and coordinate this for them?” I knew how to do events, I just didn’t know if it would organically work, and it REALLY did. I don't say that to praise myself — it just felt like it was meant to be. I was hesitant to work with other, more established vendors, but they gave us amazing feedback. The DJ even told me it was the first wedding he'd worked that actually started exactly on time, and it really gave me the confidence to do this. 

Q.) You’re also a First Sergeant, a mother of three, and have a full-time job in the military. What’s it like balancing all of that?

A.) A mentor once told me that you can’t give 100% in every facet of your life, but you can give 100% incrementally. When I’m serving in my First Sergeant capacity with my drilling unit in Pensacola, I am there 100%. I allocate my time: at 5 ’o’clock, I’m going to respond to a bride, at 6 I’m going to check in with my kids, both at 100% incrementally. I think my key to success is that in everything I do, I am fortunate enough to have roles that I really thrive on and enjoy. However, I can’t stress this enough, and I say this to all moms, brides, and women out there: self care is so important! If I need to take a break, I take a break, turn my phone off, read my book and just decompress for a moment during the times when something isn’t on fire and I have time to recharge. Then, I can come back and continue to give 100%.

Q.) What is your approach to Carmen’s Weddings?

A.) I love that I’m able to take my time, develop my customer base, really fine tune my craft, and make my company what I want it to be without feeling pressured to charge enough to pay my mortgage. I like that I can provide our brides with an affordable service that is going to meet all of their expectations.

Q.) What are some of the challenges you've faced turning your love for weddings and events into your own business?

A.) The biggest challenge has been stepping out of my comfort zone, not in terms of managing people but getting a handle on the financial responsibilities of running a business. The way I’m overcoming it is to break things down. Take it one step at a time, focus on each bride, focus on each event, and everything else will work itself out. That’s the only way I’ve been able to do it successfully. I’m not thinking about things like my ten-year plan and my pitch to sell the company. My goal for the first year was to stay afloat, get our name out there, and provide 5-star service, which we accomplished and have experienced steady growth in the amount of bookings we’re getting. 

Q.) What have been your favorite parts of running the business so far and working as a wedding coordinator and lead planner?

A.) Going to weddings! I was deployed a lot when I was younger and my friends were getting married. Working as a coordinator, not only do I get to go, but I am also there to help make the couple’s day that special. It’s amazing!

Q.) Outside of Carmen’s Weddings and your professional life, who are you?

A.) I live for true crime podcasts. I’m a huge bookworm; I recently joined a book club and have gotten really into murder mysteries. I love to travel, try new things, and I love to bake!

Q.) How have your life experiences shaped your approach to running Carmen’s Weddings?

A.) I know it isn’t life or death. The biggest pressure I’ve ever had was a massive event where the governor was speaking, a senator was speaking, and multiple generals were also in attendance. It was on a huge parade field, in the middle of July in Florida, so it was extremely hot out, and I had to run all of the audio. We were at Camp Blanding and were getting a lot of humming from the speakers. 10 minutes before the event started, I decided to change the plan and switch from wired microphones to wireless. Normally, the government doesn’t like to use wireless because it’s not as easy to control. I took charge and made the point that it would sound better, so I ran all around the parade field — by the way, I was seven months pregnant at the time — and switched from wired to wireless. Right before the fist speaker came on, the humming stopped as he got up to the podium, and it was MAGICAL. Obviously, no one was going to die, but that is the most stress I’ve felt. However, I was able to go forward and take action. Hurricanes I’ve done, where I'm going into impacted areas and sharing their stories, are events with many more eyes on it. So, if I can deal with those levels of stress, I’m not going to get shaken by, “Oh, the caterer is 10 minutes late! What do we do?” I’m very easily able to pivot and come up with a new plan. 

Q.) What is something that you want potential clients and collaborators to know about you?

A.) I’m the heavy guns. One of the things that I keep running into is when you’re booking with Carmen’s Weddings, you're not just booking me. And I don’t think that everyone wants only me, either. My girls are a diverse, eclectic, unique group of individuals, and they all bring something unique to the table. Ideally, you want to find someone that matches. I’m really good with Type-A brides, large guest lists, a lot of unknown variables, and someone that doesn’t have a great idea of their sequence of events, but they know that they want it really strict and structured. There are some laid back brides that I might be too intense for. Everyone is held to the same standard that I need, but they’re going to approach it a little differently, allowing you to always receive the same quality of service. 

Q.) What are some of your favorite wedding trends or exciting details you’ve been seeing?

A.) I really like that some couples are diverting from the secluded cocktail hour where the bride and groom are off on their own the entire time and actually enjoying that part with their guests. I remember at my wedding — I had a really small wedding — it was hard to get around to everybody, and that’s a really good time to do that. I also just love that couples are finding creative ways to bring their personalities into the wedding. I know this isn’t a style trend, but it’s deviating from traditional color palettes, bringing in multiple colors and various themes, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Dracula, all that stuff! I love that it’s more about them and less about what society expects from a wedding.

Q.) What would be your dream event to bring to life?

A.) A Bridgerton wedding! A full weekend-long celebration all with the pastel Victorian-era themed details and elements. Complete with croquet and mimosas. 

Q.) What are three things that you find overrated at weddings?

A.) The garter toss, the bouquet toss... there’s too much tossing of everything. The last thing is planning extravagant bachelorette trips and expecting everyone to be able to pay tons of money to go. Use your bachelorette weekend to spend time with your girls, have fun, but be mindful of what your friends can afford. Focus on the experience and having a good time, rather than what it looks like on social media. Plan the trip together, see what everyone is open to doing, get an idea of everyone’s budget and just have a great time!

Q.) What was the best part of your own wedding day?

The Fleischmanns getting married at Saint Francis Barracks in St. Augustine, FL

A.) Honestly, just seeing his face when I walked down the aisle. That’s why I’m not a big fan of the first look photos because the first look when you’re walking down the aisle is just priceless. Nothing else that day mattered because of that moment. I feel like as a planner, that’s the time I step away, go check on the reception site because we rehearsed, everyone has walked down, the bride is there and it’s golden. In that moment, it’s just about them.

Q.) What advice do you have for future brides?

A.) Start saving now! I actually have an account for my six year old where $50 comes out of every paycheck. I don’t even miss it, and I want to have at least $30,000 for her when she gets married. That’s my kind of incentive to curb her dating, like, wait until you’re 24 and then you’ll have more money! It’s your day. Even if your parents are paying, you can go a little over the top if you have your own budget to contribute. I hate when I talk to brides and they’re going to have to take something away because of the cost. Save up, and you can always use it later. If you decide one day you don’t want to get married, buy a house. Buy a new car — it’s your money! Also, do research and build your own vision. I talk to brides that don’t really know a lot about weddings so they have no idea what they want. Watch "Four Weddings"; it gives you a really good, general idea of things that typically happen, and then you build your own from there, adjust it, incorporate yourself and incorporate your partner. It's not just your day; it's their day too, and you should both be represented. 

Q.) What are couples getting when they work with Carmen’s Weddings?

A.) You’re getting integrity, hard work, and thoroughness. There might be some planners out there that charge a lot more. You might think that they’re the best of the best, but they might just have a team that all do this full-time. It’s not to say that we aren’t committed; like I said, this is all about balance. What I tell all the brides when we talk to them is that they’re always talking to a real person. We don’t have anything automated, and we’re always available. Even for day-of coordination, for instance, if you have a vendor drop out and you need a recommendation, we can do that for you. We’re very committed to our customers and making their day special. We have a very proven track record of being thorough and having fully on-time events. Everybody’s happy, nobody’s stressed out, and we're going to continue to do that.

I’m a worker bee; I have been since I was born. I truly love this job. But one of the things that sets Carmen’s Weddings apart is that it’s a veteran-owned small business, and it’s a family. (Literally — everybody that works for me, I'm related to!)

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