Today we’d like to introduce you to Elle Dane.
Hi Elle, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Simply put, Belle Leroux Studio is a love story that was 22 years in the making. I am 35 years old and I met my husband, Christian, in early 2001 when we were only 13 and 14. We attended the same middle school on an army post in Maryland, as both our dads were active duty in the military at the time. What started off as a crush soon blossomed into first love. A year later, his family received orders to relocate to Georgia. Although it broke our young hearts, we promised to stay in touch. Not too long after Christian and his family moved away, my dad received orders for us to relocate too. I remember thinking that it wouldn’t be too bad as long as we stayed somewhere on the East Coast. We would find a way to visit one another. Unfortunately for us, my family moved to Anchorage, Alaska.
Against all odds, Christian and I stayed together for the majority of our high school years. He became my high school and my college sweetheart. This didn’t come without the typical challenges you would expect from adolescent romance and especially one that was long distance over the course of years. We attended college together for two years in Americus, Georgia until Christian graduated in 2009. I stayed for one more semester as life began to take us in different directions. We parted ways in December of that year.
In January 2010, I embarked on a new adventure. My dad retired from the military and my family settled down in Denver, CO. Since I still had credits to complete for my undergraduate degree, I applied and was accepted into the University of Colorado. Christian and I tried to keep in touch at first, but it seems life had work to do on us both.
I wouldn’t reconnect with my husband for another nine years. Although our love story had ended for some time, I spent my twenties rising, falling, learning and ultimately growing into myself. I experienced love and heartbreak with others in this chapter of my life. However, the love that would conquer all was that of self. I traveled internationally, began learning a new language, and jumped with both feet into the corporate world. A year before Christian’s world would collide with mine once more, I vowed that I would earn my way to going remote for my job (before it became a thing). I would pick a handful of fun and new cities to explore and eventually end up living somewhere in Costa Rica or Europe.
In February 2019, I received a last-minute request from my job to attend a conference in Atlanta that was to take place in two weeks. The first person I thought about was Christian. I also thought about his parents, especially his mother as she has always been like a second mom to me. My trip to Atlanta for that conference was life-changing. We were both single and re-ignited a friendship full of history and mutual respect for one another. However, this time it was inevitably different…we were grown up. At the time, I still had my heart set on seeing more of the world and had plans to move to Austin with my Dog, Harper, in early 2020.
Over the next year and a half, Christian and I stayed in touch. We made multiple trips to see one another between Texas and Georgia and I grew close to my beautiful bonus daughter, Riley. In June 2020, we made the decision to become a blended family. Belle Leroux means “Beautiful red-head” in French. Riley was a strawberry blonde when we met and she is the inspiration for the name. My husband and I married in December 2021. Although I have yet to become a biological mom, I discovered the love of being a parent. Our girl is fierce but kind. She is friendly and inviting towards other kids. She is confident, creative, a problem-solver and so stylish. She IS Belle Leroux.
Alright, 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 am of the mindset that we can have it all, but it took time for me to learn that I can’t do it all. At the time I launched Belle Leroux, I was working a full-time corporate job, I was a new bonus mama, wife, and my husband and I began infertility treatment due to my PCOS diagnosis, which is a lifelong metabolic disorder that can wreak havoc on a woman’s body due to a hormone imbalance. As many families know, this can be an incredibly emotional time for women and couples. Through it all…every high and low, I have decided to make my faith and gratitude the theme of my life. I welcome the experience and therefore the lessons so that I can move forward and help others along the way. We are blessed beyond belief to be able to move onto in vitro fertilization (IVF), which my husband and I will be starting this month. Belle Leroux has expanded and I can proudly say that we have a team of lead and assistant coordinators who can help me continue building my vision and supporting our amazing clients while we get through this exciting time.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Belle Leroux Studio?
Although I expanded into wedding planning and coordination over the last two years, I have multiple years of experience consulting, planning, and coordinating events on the corporate side. Through owning Belle Leroux, I have learned my love for all aspects of hospitality and the creative business world. What couples don’t get to see behind the scenes on the day of their wedding is the way their venue and vendor team comes together to carefully and thoughtfully curate their vision in order to bring it to life. This has inspired me to build a multi-faceted business where I can merge my passion for planning, organizing, learning, and creating with my love for people. I feel honored when my team and I get to take part in such a special and memorable time with our clients and their loved ones. Eventually, I would like to consider Belle Leroux as my launchpad for new ventures in commercial real estate, rental property, and maybe even food and beverage. I would love to serve customers in an intimate bistro that serves coffee/tea, wine, charcuterie boards, and French pastries.
Belle Leroux specializes in full-service, partial, and wedding management/coordination. In addition, we also have a wedding planning vault full of digital planning products and offer hourly consultation sessions. Although our heart and values will remain the same, we will be transitioning our brand into a more upscale boutique firm that serves the southeast and hopefully a broader scale in the near future. My favorite wedding styles to design range from timeless classic, romantic, and fairytale to industrial and boho chic.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Just like fashion, wedding trends, styles, and statistics will fluctuate over time. For example, elopements and micro weddings has become a popular (and for a period of time, necessary) trend since 2020.
For me, being a business owner means serving our clientele with integrity and to the best of our ability. We also have to be of the mindset that there is a natural ebb and flow to life, which will come with the territory no matter what industry we are in.
Through it all, what I know for sure is that love is here to stay and I look forward to celebrating our couple’s stories for many years to come!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.belleleroux.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/belleleroux_studio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BelleLerouxStudio
Image Credits
Jypsy Photography, A & E Videography + Photography, Nicole Sandercock Photography, Amelie Ferdais Photo, Zach Veatch Studios
