What Happens In Vegas... Comes Home With Us

How the SB Team is Bringing National-Level Wedding Expertise to Owensboro

Written by Summer Aldridge

Last month, our team traveled to Las Vegas for the MBA Wedding Conference. It was a full week of learning from national educators, exploring new products and industry tools, and deepening our understanding of the trends shaping wedding planning and design in 2026.

We were grateful to share this experience with our friend and local industry partner, Kenzie from The White Chateau. Collaboration matters to us, and investing in education alongside fellow vendors strengthens our entire local wedding community.

Taking a full team to a national conference is a major investment for a small business. It required planning, resources, and time away from our work here at home. But we believe Owensboro couples deserve top tier wedding services without having to leave their own community. We are here to stay, and we take the responsibility of growing in our industry seriously. Continued education helps us serve more efficiently, more creatively, and with even greater confidence.

After attending the conference, all of our planners began earning our Wedding MBA Professional Certification! We want our clients and vendor partners to experience the same level of professionalism and planning support they would expect in larger markets, right here in western Kentucky.

Wedding Trends We're Bringing Back

The biggest takeaways from this year’s conference were rooted in experience. Couples today want a wedding that feels true to their story, thoughtfully planned, and beautifully detailed. Trends we loved most include:

• Transformative drapery installations that elevate any venue

• Textured linens, especially velvet and layered fabrics

• Candle focused tablescapes as a contemporary alternative to large floral arrangements

• All shades of orange!

• A continued rise of intimate weddings, including cozy courthouse celebrations with intentional personal details

• The growing importance of storytelling and raw video moments, reflecting how couples want memories captured, not scripted

• The anticipation of LOTS of new trends once Taylor & Travis tie the knot (duh)

Added Value For SB Clients

Education only matters if it improves the client experience. This trip led to two major benefits that will be included for all couples (and nonprofit or corporate partners) who use SB for coordinating, planning, or full service decorating.

1. Minted Certified Planner Stationery Discounts

We are now certified planners with Minted, which means SB clients receive:

• 35% off save the dates

• 25% off invitations and stationery

• Free custom wedding website URLs (think summerandkirk.com and NOT theknot.summerandkirk.com)

  
  

Couples simply work with Jaimie, our graphic designer, to create and complete their order. We will even carry paper samples so clients can experience the designs in person without needing to shop online blindly. This helps make high quality stationery more affordable and more personalized for local couples.

2. NEW Software for Planning Clients

Gone are the days of a Google Doc for SB couples. Our clients now receive a professional tool that streamlines communication between couples, vendors, and the SB team. This software:

• Builds detailed, customized event timelines

• Stores documents, floor plans, contacts, and logistics in one place

• Allows us to assign tasks to vendors and clients and communicate about them in a streamlined way

• Sends optional text reminders to the wedding party and vendors

• Was created by a Kentuckian!

  
  

Our goal is not only to design beautiful weddings, but to bring calm, clarity, and organization to the entire planning process.

Outside the Conference

Even though education was our priority, a few memories deserve their own spotlight. Our team works hard year round. We see each other all the time, but this trip was a reminder that we STILL need to make time to just hang out. We laughed, we ate too much, and, for 72 straight hours, we just lived in the moment together.

1. Visiting The Sphere by driving on the F1 track We were required to take the F1 route to get there which made the experience even more memorable.

2. Summer returning home with a little more hair A halo extension was purchased, and we are choosing to categorize this as a business expense in team morale until our accountant tells us otherwise.

3. Allyson perfecting pain posing and her obsession with the monorail Photography education turned into knee and neck modeling, and the monorail became her favorite mode of transportation. Kenzie even treated it like a core workout.

4. Dinner at Barry’s Downtown Prime Outstanding service, a shared meal, and a bathroom that was begging for a photoshoot - all thanks to Sydney's restaurant research. Sure, we all wore tennis shoes (we only took CARRY ONs after all), but it was so much fun to feel fancy for a couple of hours.

5. Coffee at Mothership Kae found it, we all fell in love with it, and it has officially been declared our future Vegas tradition.

A special thank you to the Marriott Residence Inn at the Las Vegas Convention Center. They welcomed us the moment we walked in, and by the time we were checking out, we were acting like old friends. 10/10 recommend!

Why It Matters

We choose to keep growing because Owensboro deserves industry trained professionals, thoughtful design options, and a planning team who believes weddings should feel personal instead of stressful. Investing in education means investing in the couples who trust us with one of the most meaningful days of their lives.

We’ll leave a few Vegas stories where they belong, but the expertise, the trends, and the planning tools? Those are all coming home to Owensboro.

About the Author

Summer has been planning events since she could talk. From her sister’s Spongebob-themed birthday at age 7 to Hopkins County’s first (and only) “End of Middle School Blowout” (every ticket came with a free hot dog, and yes, the DJ brought a fog machine), she’s always had a knack for bringing people together and making it memorable.

In college, she hosted everything from sorority formals to nonprofit fundraisers, and today her experience spans hundreds of nonprofit and corporate events, concerts, festivals, and more weddings, birthdays, reunions and showers than she can count.

If you're looking for an event planner with an eye for detail, a heart for people, and just the right amount of bossiness to keep things running like clockwork, Summer’s your girl.