Match made in heaven
Louise Moriarty (’09) is the creative director, planner and owner of the wedding design and planning company, Love Letter Weddings, LLC. A self-taught entrepreneur she has enjoyed planning and hosting parties since her childhood. She now offers full service event planning and design which involves various aspects ranging from event design to pairing her clients with the perfect local wedding vendors.
Hands-on experience in the hospitality industry
Moriarty is a native to the Olympic Peninsula of North West Washington, where she spent many years working in fine dining. She continued her involvement in the hospitality industry upon transferring to the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s School of Travel Industry Management. She completed two internships at Café Sistina as a restaurant manager and at Mānoa Valley Inn as a marketing intern. Moriarty enjoyed the relevancy of her coursework, such as learning about aspects of business law and completing a marketing branding project.
After completing her education at the UH Mānoa, her passion for event planning would lead her to take a wedding planning certification course at Kapiʻolani Community College. There she was able to intern with a wedding planning company called “Let’s Do This,” and was able to acquire her first client in 2011 under her own business.
Making every wedding unique
Moriarty attributes her success to her prompt communication and her unique, colorful, garden-style weddings which has led to many destination wedding clients. “I really do try to make every wedding unique,” she said. She enjoys getting to know her clients on a personal level and putting together thoughtful designs and creative ideas that they wouldn’t have thought of themselves. Moriarty jokes that clients need to actually like her personality, as they will be future pen pals for an extensive amount of time. Her love for design and desire to exceed expectations eventually led her to begin providing floral design services which she now offers as an a la carte service.
Moriarty’s seamless coordination plans, attention to detail, and genuine relationship with each couple she has assisted, has allowed her company to create unforgettable, one-of-a-kind weddings for her clients. Her company has received the “Couple’s Choice Award” for 2017 and 2016, from Weddingwire, the largest online marketplace for the wedding industry.
Looking towards the future
In the future, Moriarty sees herself transitioning to working solely as a wedding designer for high end destination weddings and eventually owning a wedding venue of her own. Her philosophy for a successful wedding planning business involves having good business systems, building a strong network, and always having good communication skills.
For students who are interested in event planning, she suggests that there are many routes to getting there, but the most rewarding is starting your own business.
For starters, “Do an internship. You’ll learn so much,” says Moriarty. Individuals should be prepared for a lot of work and limited days off, but with a trade-off of with having the flexibility of running your own schedule and the satisfaction of doing something you love.
For more information on Love Letter Weddings, LLC, click here.