Meet Amberly Odom of Wrennwood Design in West Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Amberly Odom.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Creative minds demand open spaces; creativity cannot be held hostage inside a box. I found prominence in the styling and design marketplace early in age. Some were just born to think differently and uniquely. Although very needed, thank goodness we are not all bean counters!

In 2005, my love for creativity was unleashed. Rather than deciding to start my own business, I would say my panache obsession decided it for me. I began working in the event and hospitality industry for the next seven years – in the catering world, full-service floral business, a photography studio, managing a wedding venue and hosting event shows and booths. After graduating with two degrees in Marketing and Business Administration, I accepted a position managing the offices for a Fortune Global 500 company that provided support services in hospitals in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. For a few years, I was seemingly happy with the career choice I made, although I kept trying to find ways to incorporate more creativity. Let’s just say corporate HR doesn’t allow for much creativity. So I moved back to Atlanta and continued a long-term relationship. It was then that Wrennwood Design was launched in 2011 and I haven’t looked back since.

I started producing weddings and eventually added florals into the mix as a way to bring a more cohesive design. As the planner and lead designer behind every single Wrennwood event since 2011, I have ensured each couple we work with is given the time and love they deserve every step along the way. Weddings are most certainly about many details, but they more importantly are also about people and marriages. And we’re in the business of bringing peace of mind and happiness to the people we’re lucky enough to collaborate alongside.

Our team has grown and we now have two additional planners, two floral designers, and multiple support staff. Although we are based in Atlanta, we serve clients throughout the Southeast.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I started off small and each year was amazed at the growth. The company grew so quickly and I was eager to say “yes” to too many opportunities, As my grandmother told me “I was burning my candle at both ends.” I realized that I wasn’t being intentional with allocating my time, and my close relationships suffered the most. So, that was a huge lesson learned. I had to re-evaluate what I wanted and decided to hire on more people to help. With each person we [carefully] added to the team, they brought with them a unique talent, more than the role they were hired to do. That allowed me to reclaim my time and focus more on my growing family. As a wife and mother of three little girls, I have to be cautious not to over-commit myself and be more selective of the weddings we take on.

Wrennwood Design – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our team of planners guides couples from wedding planning to floral design because we believe that elegant beauty revels in the details — and more importantly, that a foundation for your marriage should be simple, stress-free, and life-giving.

So many brides find themselves overwhelmed with trends, magazine clippings for days, and dozens of options: we step in to serve clients to create an elegant wedding full of meaningful details, timeless beauty, and a bit of restrained whimsy along the way (because life’s too short).

We’re not like other wedding planners in that we have an in-house floral design team that has the unlimited capability in serving our luxury clients. 90% of our weddings each year are fully planned and designed. Although, if available, our floral design team does enjoy working with other planners as well in helping bring their client’s vision to life.

Our company has been featured in over 50 print and online publications and Amberly was a published contributor to the book A Practical Wedding Planner: A Step-By-Step Guide to Cutting Through the Crazy and Creating the Wedding You Want by Meg Keene.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
We are proud to have our work published in over 50 online blogs, but it is always a joy to pick up a print magazine and see some of our weddings on the shelf on glossy paper. Our weddings have been printed in Bride’s Magazine, Inside Weddings, The Knot, Modern Luxury Weddings, and Southern Living.

We were also a contributor to a wedding planning book, A Practical Wedding Planner: A Step-By-Step Guide to Cutting Through the Crazy and Creating the Wedding You Want by Meg Keene. After gaining years of experience in the wedding industry, it has been a treat to share that knowledge with other wedding industry professionals as well as brides and grooms throughout the US.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.wrennwooddesign.com
• Phone: 404-981-8135
• Email: info@wrennwooddesign.com
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/wrennwooddesign
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WrennwoodDesign/
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrennwooddesign

Image Credit:
Be Light Photography, Sawyer Baird, Four Corners Photography, Wrennwood Design (we take as many photos of each event setup as possible), BerryTree Photography

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.