Happy Friday friends! I want to introduce you to Jessica from AVIVA STRINGS, a company that provides elegant live strings for weddings and events. I met Jessica through our local Scranton chapter of Rising Tide Society & I’m always blown away by her passion & everything she does for her clients!
Tell us about what you do!
I do EVERYTHING! But seriously – like so many small business owners, it is a one woman show! You are the owner, operator, administrative assistant, business manager, personnel manager, etc. I am the point person from the first ‘hello’ from a potential client all the way through to the follow up post-wedding (or event)! I spend lots of my time getting to know our clients, discussing their vision for their wedding ‘soundtrack’ and thinking about what we need to do to make that vision come to life! I also spend lots of time putting together amazing ensembles for each event we have scheduled. We frequently are performing for 3-5 weddings simultaneously on any given weekend. This means we could have anywhere from 6 to 20 musicians performing at the same time, and so I coordinate all of the logistics from scheduling musicians to making sure they have their music for the event!
What is your favorite part of your job?
I love love love getting to know each person and hearing about the piece of music they have been dreaming of walking down the aisle to or dancing to or just hearing during cocktail hour! The answers I get from each person are so different. Some clients choose music based on family tradition, some want to hear the song that was playing on their first date, and others just love the ‘wedding scene’ from their favorite movie and want to re-create that! The sweetest, bestest part of all is this: even if two couples pick the same piece of music for their wedding, because we perform everything live and in the moment, there will never ever be two performances that are exactly the same! We love being part of that super personal experience.
Do you have any wedding planning advice?
Ha – I have so much wedding planning advice! 😛 I know this is getting into the following question, but book your vendors early! If you want your wedding dream team to be available for your date, start booking NOW. And if you are feeling overwhelmed or disorganized (or even if you’re not), I highly recommend enlisting the help of a fabulous and skilled wedding planner to help you stay organized and on track with all that goes into planning and executing a really beautiful wedding. Oh – and most importantly, wedding planning can truly be all-consuming. So don’t forget to schedule regular wedding-planning-free dates/quality time at home/long walks/meals, etc. with your significant other in the months and weeks leading up to your big day!
When should brides be booking your services?
Early early early! I mentioned it in the question above, but the earlier you book with us, the better! The average booking timeline for our clients is anywhere from 8-18 months ahead of their event date and we are currently booking well into 2018.
Tell us about you: what do you do when you’re not working?
I LOVE to travel! I definitely have always had (and will forever have) serious wanderlust. My husband is from Korea, so we spend a lot of time in Asia. I try to make it to as many different parts of the world as possible every year. Last year we spent time in Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Mexico, and Canada. We got 2017 started with Austria, the Czech Republic, and sunny Florida. And I’m headed to Korea and Indonesia in April. At the risk of sounding totally cliche, our world is so small, people! Get out there and see it!
Where can we find you online?
Yay! Here are all of our virtual locations!
AVIVA Strings
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