A Q&A WITH MICHELLE BEBEAU
Michelle was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, but grew up and attended grade school in Central Wisconsin. She recently moved to Nashville in July 2021 and is so excited to be back in Tennessee!
She attended the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point where she earned a degree in arts management. Before joining Infinity Hospitality, she was the Associate Director for a performing arts center that had her wearing many hats! One was managing all donor relations and planning large-scale fundraising galas and receptions. After a few years, she realized how much she enjoyed everything that goes into creating events.
Michelle has always had a passion for planning and believes Nashville is a great place to truly dive into the hospitality industry. And we might be biased, but we can’t disagree!
In her spare time, she enjoys baking, cooking, and finding adventures with her husband and dog. Read more about Michelle and her experience as an event coordinator below!
How long have you been a planner?
I started with Infinity Hospitality in September of 2021 and this is my first step into the hospitality and planning world.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
I like to draw inspiration from places like Pinterest and Instagram. There is so much wedding content out there that it can be overwhelming sometimes. When I am searching for ideas for wedding design boards, I like to not only search for "wedding"specific images, but images of any kind of party or event. Those can showcase other ideas you may not have thought would work!
How do you stay on top of everything? Any organizational tips or tricks?
I like to make to-do lists and find it is a great tool to keep me focused on what I can accomplish that day.
What themes or unique details have been your favorite from one of your events?
I love flowers and any wedding where there are lots of bright, beautiful blooms— just makes me so happy! I love when clients want to incorporate hanging floral or greenery elements into the space.
If you could give one piece of advice to couples planning a wedding what would it be?
My biggest piece of advice is to forget about all the traditions you think you need to have at your wedding. One of my favorite parts of a wedding day is seeing a couple do something non-traditional or out-of-the-box that is uniquely them. At my own wedding, we cut the cake with a sword because "why not?"
What are some of the challenges you face when planning an event and how do you overcome them?
I would say when a lot of different voices get involved in the planning process it can be easy to get off track or away from the original vision of the event we are trying to create. As your planner, we try our best to always focus our meetings and conversations to ultimately bring the vision to life.
What is one of your favorite memories from one of your events?
One of the couples I got to work with originally was planning a very traditional wedding with a ceremony and a sit down dinner. During the planning process they quickly realized they wanted to have a much more casual party with their friends. We worked together with them to switch everything up and fill the room with more lounge seating, a fun DJ and stations of different bite-size foods. They decided not to tell their guests that they were still going to get married, and once everyone arrived they came out and had a surprise ceremony in the middle of the party! It was such a fun day to be a part of and I was so happy we could work together to create the event they truly wanted.
What’s your favorite part about your job?
When it comes to weddings, it is honestly such an honor to be part of one of the biggest days of someone's life. I remember how special my wedding day was and how grateful I was to all the people that were part of that day to help us. To be on the other side of that now is so wonderful!
