HUE By Sarah Davidson

Madison, Milwaukee Wedding Planner

branding

Welcome to a New Era: Introducing Our New Website

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Friends, welcome to HUE by Sarah Davidson.

Yesterday I shared the story of our decision to launch our new brand, and the love and thought that went into it. Today, I want to tell you all about this new, beautiful website you currently have found yourself on.

Five years ago when HUE started, I asked a friend and co-worker to design my logo, and brother-in-law to build my website. I am eternally grateful for what they did to launch our presence into the world and these elements have gotten us quite far. Thank you Amy and Erik!

When the time came however for a refreshed look, I was excited to lean on some colleagues I met within the industry a few years back, with tried and true success in marketing and design within our world. This was important to me because let’s face it.. weddings can be just a BIT over the top 🙂

Photo: xo azuree

Enter Chad and Jodi Everts, the dream team behind Everts Marketing. Jodi and I had sat on the Board of Directors together for our local chapter of NACE where we built a friendship, and I continued to follow their work from there. I couldn’t be happier hiring these two to build my new “storefront” and first impression of our new venture to the rest of the world.

As I mentioned in the story of our new brand, two adjectives I’ve always liked are “bold” and “edgy”. I know that they might not be the first two that come to mind when you think of weddings, but that fact in itself got me excited. Throughout this process I continually leaned on asking myself “How can I look as different as possible?”. While it’s nerve wracking to share the final product, I’m ecstatic with how it turned out.

The other main thing I knew I wanted was lots of engaging, and specifically video heavy, content. As I said before, we can be a bit over the top in the wedding industry, and I feel the best representation of how we as planners can really have an effect on things is through seeing final results. And while photography is important, video just takes things to a whole new level. It conveys event mood and vibe to the watcher, along other experiential details such as voices and body language. 

I met Paul Gero about a year ago, also through NACE, and we got along great right away. While he has quite an impressive resume as a photographer, he’s more recently been building his reputation as a videographer as well, and one who’s skills I wanted to take advantage of. I’ll never be able to thank him enough for following me around for 10+ hours at Joe and Steph’s wedding or working together on a marathon interview session. You can see for yourself the results sprinkled throughout this site, and I hope you’re just as happy as I am.

Aside from the overall aesthetic and design, the other major change with our new website is the addition of this very blog, and FINALLY combining it as a part of our all encompassing outward presence, and not something out separate in the infinite digital world. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years but just needed the time.

There are many practical business and SEO related reasons to have everything in one spot, but for me, it’s all about the ease of use for everyone coming to visit us here. To be able to offer our clients and potential clients a vast library of knowledge right at their fingertips for free is a service that we’re proud to provide. It also allows us a platform to share accomplishments and celebrations, as well as the beautiful work we’re honored to be a part of. We could go on and on 🙂

While you’re here, don’t forget to check out our updated “Meet Us” and “Weddings” pages to learn more on what we’re all about, as well as the newly minted “Business Coaching & Consulting”, a fresh service I’m excited to delve more into in the coming days. Big things happening all around!

So thank you once again for being here and entering into this new era with us. It’s going to be a good one.

Sincerely,

Featured Image: xo azuree

Welcome to a New Era: Introducing HUE by Sarah Davidson

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It’s here, it’s happening! Welcome to a new era, introducing: 

Five years ago, in February of 2015, I started Harmonious Union Events not having any idea where it was going to take me. I had been working in the wedding industry for a few years as a venue manager and knew I wanted to do something for myself (pretty much because I wanted the ability to take vacations whenever I would like). After speaking to some other planners and industry friends, it seemed like it was an opportune time to jump in the market so I chose to seize it and setup the LLC. Simple as that.

For the first two years, I still didn’t really know what I wanted to get out of this. I certainly worked with some great clients and built strong experience, but was never really sure if it was always going to be a side gig or if I wanted to turn this into the real deal. Then I attended Camp Wed and everything changed. For other small-business entrepreneurs, I cannot stress enough how important I believe it is to invest in yourself and attend summits and retreats such as this. Spending a few days surrounded by inspiring creatives in a remote location can really give you an opportunity to think. 

Once I made the decision that this was for real, every business decision made was with that mindset, including this one, to refresh the HUE brand to something I believe is the truest reflection of our values, image, and services. 

Two adjectives I had in mind when determining where we were headed next are bold and edgy. They are words that I frequently keep in mind when designing with clients, as we work together to develop what pieces can fall in place to make their event stand out against the rest. It doesn’t have to just mean a dark palette and far out concept, but can also encapsulate a fresh take on an old idea, a wow moment, or an everyday after thought turned into something grand. 

About 18 months ago, I shared this vision (along with my adult-lifelong personal and professional color mantra) with the incredibly talented Angela Mundloch at Saffron Avenue who was able to turn it into reality. Here is the brand inspiration we came up with.

There aren’t many things in the world that I can look at and say with definity, “yes, this is me” but this board is one of them.

The next step was to develop the new logo, which included the updating of our brand/company name. Many of you have known us as Harmonious Union Events, which will always be our origin and have a place in my heart. However there are a few main reasons why I felt it was time to move on:

  1. I loved the acronym of HUE from the start and we use it quite frequently. It didn’t seem like it would be a difficult transition for an industry that somewhat knows us by this name already. Also, the dictionary definition of HUE is: “Overall character or appearance to the mind”, which plays directly into all the different services we offer and clients we serve.
  2. As the owner, I want all clients to understand that I still have my hands on everything even if I may not be at your event. We are a small and powerful team, and each client is provided with the same high end treatment no matter who you may be working with.

Working with the points above, as well as our brand inspiration, HUE was reborn.

And finally, because she’s a world class designer, the flourishing touch that Angela created for us was a few patterns that speak greatly to our services and style, gorgeous weddings executed through meticulous planning. I’d say that looks something like this, wouldn’t you?

There is so much more about this process that I intend to dive into as well with you, including our new website and updated services, but for today this is where I will leave things.

I also will leave you with one other special piece of information. As of January 1 and officially with this re-brand launch, this business is the real deal. I have left my “safe” day job to jump completely into HUE full-time, and couldn’t be more terrified OR excited by it. I can’t speak enough to how supportive everyone has been – family, friends, clients, and the industry. Thank you as we grow into this new era!!