Spoken Bride Vendors | Spotlight, Vol. 8
/We are proud to serve you through the Spoken Bride Vendor Guide, the first online resource for distinctively Catholic wedding vendors: hand-selected professionals from around the U.S. with not only an abundance of talent, but a reverence and passion for the sacrament of marriage that brings a uniquely personal, prayerful dimension to their client experiences.
With a range of stories, hobbies, and devotions, it’s our privilege to share who our vendors are and connect them with their ideal clients--you, faithful Catholic couples who are energized by working with like-minded, prayerful individuals. Each month, we’ll be introducing, or re-introducing, you to members of Spoken Bride’s vendor community, and we encourage you to learn more through their full vendor listings.
Our Vendors for This Month (click to jump):
Photography: Kenny Nakai Photography
Gathered Together Events
Wedding Coordination; serving Michigan and available for travel.
Allison Krcatovich--one of our brides!--grew up watching the film Father of the Bride and dreamed of “being the female version of [the wedding-planner character],” she says. In 2018, after the birth of her son and over six years in the hotel event-planning industry, Allison quit her hotel job and founded Gathered Together Events, her own coordination company.
Though Gathered Together Events serves a range of couples, Allison has a particular love--and brings particular expertise--to Catholic brides and grooms. She cherishes the opportunity to act as a resource and support for couples whose top priority is bringing their faith to the center of their celebration. Allison describes her services--including consultations, day-of coordination, full wedding coordination, and custom packages--as “service-oriented, joy-filled, and intentional.”
Favorite saint: Teresa of Calcutta. Her care for others encourages me in my work. My business logo is blue as a subtle nod to her and to our Mother Mary.
The best place I’ve traveled: Dubrovnik, Croatia on my honeymoon.
I’m inspired by: My family. I want to support my family with a job I am truly passionate about because I know it will make me a better wife, mother, daughter, friend. Seeing each of my couples so incredibly joyful on their wedding day inspires me in my own personal family life.
Ashley Eileen Floral Design
Floral Design; serving the Denver area.
As her family mourned the loss of her grandfather, Ashley Krupp realized for the first time “ how florists walk with people for very important moments in life, and how flowers really do impact those occasions.” In those moments, she felt certain the Lord was calling her to use flowers as a gift and service to others.
Ashley soon took floral design classes, worked in several floral shops, and was eventually promoted to lead floral designer. In 2018 she used her earnings from the lead designer position to educate herself in business and design and launched Ashley Eileen Floral Design.
Ashley loves the creative pursuit of transforming her clients’ ideas into reality in the design process, as well as the sheer beauty of wedding florals: “Part of the reason I love doing flowers, she says, “is because they are beautiful and reflect the transcendental kind of beauty. I feel called to work with flowers as my ‘small v’ vocation and to affirm the good, true and beautiful in marriages that reflect God’s plan.
“I like to say flowers aren’t really necessary for someone to get married--at the end of the day, she’ll be married to her husband and that is beautiful. However, flowers reflect the gratuitous kind of beauty or love that God lavishes on us; the kind of beauty that stirs the heart and draws the couple and their guests more deeply into the sacrament. I think the beauty of a wedding done well (aesthetically and theologically) help to evangelize by stirring people’s hearts.”
On my bucket list: To help with the flowers at the Kentucky Derby and Rose parade, to own property with acreage, and to visit Havana, Cuba.
Favorite books: Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, Heidi, Introduction to the Devout Life, Forming Intentional Disciples, and the Harry Potter series.
How my faith informs my business: Everything I do comes back to God, what He’s blessed me with and my desire to share Him with others. I think beauty is a gift that allows us to know him on a deeper level, because it cuts straight to our hearts. I think a lot of millennials have a keen awareness and appreciation of beauty, and I see this as a subtle starting point to also share God’s goodness and truth with others who might not know him otherwise. I’ve designed my business model to be relationship-based; it's important for me to get to know my couples so I can walk and pray for them in a real way.
Johnna Wilford, Women’s Wellness Coach
NFP Instruction; serving Lexington, Kentucky in person and nationwide through online education.
Johnna first heard of NFP as she converted to the Catholic faith during her marriage preparation--in fact, she says, “I actually think NFP is one of the things that helped me decide to become Catholic! NFP is so empowering, and such a great tool for communication with a partner, so I quickly became very passionate about it.” A serious runner and women’s health advocate who already owned a fitness business, Johnna became certified in NFP instruction and made it an additional pillar of her business.
A recent bride herself, Johnna has a unique, particular passion for viewing women’s health holistically, teaching clients about the relationships between hormonal and reproductive health and physical fitness. She loves walking with her clients as they consider their fertility, fitness and wellness before marriage--”not,” she says, “simply in a ‘fitting into the wedding dress’ way. Women’s Wellness offers in-person and online coaching in fitness, fertility awareness, and reproductive health.
I root for...the Alabama Crimson Tide. Roll Tide! It's sort of hard not to be a fan when you went to college there!
Ministries I’m involved in: I am a member of a local social justice ministry that works to improve policies in the city. This year we are working on improving the drug problem in town, working to improve education, and decreasing gun violence in the city. I am also an NFP teacher for the Marriage and Family Office in my diocese.
Favorite Saints: My patron saint is Joan of Arc, not only because of the name similarity, but because I have a passion for fighting for what I believe in! I also love Mama Mary and try to pray the rosary every day.
Something Blue, LLC
Wedding Coordination, serving the dioceses of Indianapolis, Lafayette (Indiana), Evansville, and Fort Wayne-South Bend; available for limited travel in neighboring states.
While sitting at the same reception table at a wedding, friends Joy Foster and Mary Dorhauer discovered they shared a common dream: establishing an event planning and coordination business. As they talked, they wrote down a vision for a Catholic wedding planning business on the spot, hoping to create a service that would “help couples plan a most reverent and beautiful liturgy, along with a really great party; witness the beauty of our Faith and the beauty of the Catholic view on marriage to their Catholic and non-Catholic guests; and be a joyful ministry to brides and engaged couples, so that they and their families could be fully present and enjoy their wedding day, instead of worrying about whether things were getting done or not.”
Joy and Mary’s dreams took root in 2018, when Something Blue, LLC was founded. Along with general inspiration and reception planning, Something Blue specializes in helping Catholic couples plan their nuptial liturgies and personally supports them through the gift of prayer: “Our love of the liturgy and the beauty of marriage inspires us to share that love with couples and their families,” Joy and Mary say. “We customize a novena for each couple and begin it so Day 9 is prayed the morning of the wedding. We offer copies of the novena to the parents of the bride and groom, along with the wedding party, church hostess & clergy, and any vendors that we know are Catholic, should they wish to join their prayers with ours for the couple. We see Something Blue as a ministry, in addition to a business.”
The best part of working on weddings: The joy! It’s a chance to share in a little slice of someone else’s happiness. Being able to watch the bittersweet moments as fathers tearfully embrace their daughters one last time [during the procession]. Smiling at the triumphant grins on the faces of grooms as the newly minted Mr. and Mrs. exit the church for the first time. Witnessing families come together to celebrate a fresh branch of their family tree. Most of all, the moment during a Nuptial Mass when the priest elevates the Holy Eucharist, with the eyes of the bride and groom upon him, the Body of Christ. It gives us goosebumps every time!
Favorite wedding-day memory: (Mary): On our first date, my husband and I went to Mass and then covered the car of a mutual friend in Post-It notes. It was revenge for a joke she played trying to set the two of us up. I guess she got the last word though, since we got married and now have two children!
When planning our wedding, I told our priest I wanted to go straight from the church after the recessional to the Adoration chapel, spending our first minutes as a married couple in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Our priest insisted we walk from the church to our car and drive down the chapel. We went back and forth on this, with me getting more and more frustrated, until I grudgingly gave in. When we emerged from the church, there was our car, covered in brightly colored post it notes spelling out I Do!
We take our coffee: (Joy): black. (Mary): I wish I could say I take it black like a hardcore adult, but the truth is, I need sugar and cream and lots of it.