Meet Samantha Seccuro and Kelsey Patterson of Perfectly Pinned Up in Buckhead

Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Seccuro and Kelsey Patterson.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Samantha and Kelsey. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We started off meeting in cosmetology school at the Aveda Institute of Atlanta…well it was more like Samantha saw Kelsey walking through the door on the first day and decided they were going to be best friends. We are both the same age, have many common interests, and grew up in completely different parts of Georgia. Kelsey being from Hiawassee is a really cool part to our story because what are the chances of someone moving on their own to Atlanta to attend a year-long program at only 18 years old?

Fast forward to two years of us being friends and both working in salons as hairdressers; Samantha asked Kelsey to do hair and makeup with her for a large wedding party. Once we did the first wedding, it just seemed like the perfect opportunity for us to work together. It gave us more time to spend together as friends and we were both so passionate about creating romantic styles for weddings and special events.

Now we are four years into our business and we can both honestly say we still LOVE it! We have made so many great connections, worked weddings for longtime family friends, and we get to do it together which has made our bond as friends even stronger. In 2018 we made our goal of booking 30 weddings in a year and we could not be more proud of ourselves. This is something we hope to continue doing for many years to come!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
For the most part, our business has been a smooth road and we believe it’s because we grew so close in cosmetology school. That year of our lives was the hardest we both had been pushed mentally and physically. Once you go through that experience with a person, you create a bond that is hard to break. Sure, we have our disagreements owning a business and being best friends, but as long as you both have the same long term goal, then you will be successful. There are things that we want to do to take our business even further but there is an order to doing things that we have agreed on. We constantly check in with each other and have a strong ‘honesty policy’. If there’s something that doesn’t feel right, we always discuss it. With owning a small business, you have to be willing to offer your services for free, go to social events to meet other people in your industry, pay for advertising, and always be making new connections. Staying relevant in the wedding industry can be the hardest struggle, but the more you say ‘yes’ to opportunities, the more success you will have! We have met some of the best professionals in the Atlanta wedding industry and that in itself is a huge blessing to our business.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Perfectly Pinned Up – what should we know?
Perfectly Pinned Up has a reputation of making brides and their bridal parties look their absolute best. We are a two person team, specializing in on-location hair and airbrush makeup. We have mostly been described as having a soft, airy, and romantic feel to our looks we create. We always say we want to make you look like your most gorgeous self, but the point is for you to still look like yourself! We do this by enhancing your natural features such as making your skin flawless, enhancing your eyes with false lashes, or making your lips pop with a lipstick. What people love the most about us is that we work quickly without ever making anyone feel rushed. One of the most unique things about us working together is that you cannot tell who did which girls in the bridal party. Our hair and makeup styles are so cohesive, all of our girls can expect to look equally as beautiful. Taking pride in our work and asking each girl to be honest with us about what their expectations are is something we strongly value. To be four years into our business and to have done over 100 weddings, we always wonder if it will ever really feel like a job for us. It doesn’t seem possible to enjoy a job as much as we do!

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Our business would be nothing without the people who support us. We have friends, family members, clients, and even people we have only met once, continuously passing out our business cards. The wedding industry in Atlanta is full of fabulous venue owners, photographers, florists, bridal boutiques…we could go on and on. Every marketing experience we have been a part of has led us to at least one wedding professional that in return, led us to a new bride. Samantha’s mom, Kim, is a catering coordinator so we would say she is our biggest cheerleader. She always goes above and beyond to share our information with the people she meets.

Our parents have plaid a huge role in shaping us as hard-working individuals. Both of our dad’s have been doing physical labor for years, and they both have given us business advice that we apply to the way we run our business.

Contact Info:

• Website: perfectlypinnedup.net
• Phone: 678-787-6490
• Email: perfectlypinnedupdo@gmail.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/perfectlypinnedup_
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/Perfectlypinnedupdo/

Image Credit:
Twinkling Eye Photography, Verola Studio, Mandee Mathews, Alexia Nicole Photography

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