Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Hunt.
Hi Jordan, can you introduce yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
When I was in college, I began dating my now husband, Zach Hunt. We dated for 4 years before getting married in 2014. On our special day, we used the wedding hashtag “#thehuntisover” as a play on words for my new last name and our journey to find one another and sealed it by choosing each other for a lifetime. Our hunt was over!
Being a hands-on bride, I took joy in participating in our wedding event’s planning aspects. I enjoyed planning my wedding so much that over the years, more and more friends and acquaintances began asking me for help with their wedding days. I was in a different career (veterinary medicine) and trying to be present and active in my family and personal life. My work-life balance while being a full-time registered veterinary technician was unequal, and I was missing important parts of my family’s lives.
When I was 34 weeks pregnant with our 2nd baby (March 2020) and still working in the veterinary world, I decided to step out on a leap of faith and seize the opportunity to put myself out there by launching my own business. My educational background was a bachelor’s degree in marine biology and an associate degree in veterinary medical technology. Who knew all those years later that I would instead pursue a career in event planning? I learned from college that if I ever owned my own business, I would name it The Hunt is Over (THIO). Our logo would be a pineapple as that was not only a personal symbol to my husband and me of our long-time love/collection of pineapples during our relationship but also a sign of international welcome and hospitality. With no more than a few weddings under my belt and a huge driving ambition to follow a dream, believe that I could, and act on that belief, I ventured into the unknown world of self-employment and entrepreneurship. Little did I know that that courageous step would grant me freedom in many ways that have positively impacted my husband, kiddos, those around me, and most importantly, my health and well-being.
Shortly after, our son arrived in May 2020. I was blessed enough to say that our business had taken off in our local wedding community, and the number of events booked with us was plentiful enough to go into wedding planning/coordination full-time.
In my first year, I prayed for 4 wedding events to book with THIO, and God blessed us with 18 events by the end of 2020. The following year we completed an additional 35 events in 2021. And after restructuring my packages to take less of the smaller packages and choosing more partial and full planning clients, we will complete 21 events this year while remaining at the same end-of-year profits. I quickly learned about quality over quantity and am grateful for the life and business experiences that have THIO in a good position to serve our clients at the highest level we can offer while also protecting the preciousness of family time and a work-life balance.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
We (my husband and I) have been so grateful to have had a pretty smooth business adventure thus far. We came into small business ownership at the start of COVID while all my friends and fellow vendors were undergoing an insane amount of pressure, stress, and uncertainty. We were fortunate not to have to reschedule, rewrite contracts, or refund deposits, while all those around us were going through so much. We were thankful to have had the opportunity to learn from our fellow vendors in town as they were gracious enough to share with us what they were experiencing and edits. They had made to their contracts, venues, travel, and finances to survive and thrive the best they could during such hardships that the COVID pandemic presented to everyone. Since launching The Hunt is Over, my husband Zach has begun offering his services to the business through officiation and videography. We both do our best to treat our clients, vendors, venue, and guests at the event with respect, attentiveness, and positivity. We strive for excellence and to serve our clients by helping make their day everything they dreamed of. Good communication and a positive can-do attitude can take people so far in life.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Hunt is Over?
The Hunt is Over (aka THIO) is a small business run by an enthusiastic wife-husband, Zach and Jordan Hunt. At THIO, we offer wedding coordination/planning, videography, and officiation services to our clients. We are located in Asheville, NC, and mainly serve WNC; we are willing to travel and explore the world with our clients should they elect us to be on their team.
When it comes to planning/coordination, we offer the following:
30-day wedding coordination: an opportunity for the DIY-style brides that are type A and willing to plan their wedding event but need help pulling off their excellent plan on their wedding day. This package is set apart from some other coordinators as we also meet with our clients for check-ins at 6 months and 90 days to ensure they are on the right track and that their major questions are answered/they are confident about where they are in the planning process. We do not offer “day of” coordination as we believe it is important to get to know the couple well and walk alongside them before their wedding event to ensure a smoother and low-stress outcome.
Partial and complete planning options also exist: these packages are more hands-on, allowing the client to utilize the planner’s expertise to help them with their budget, vendor selections, tastings, rental orders, website, RSVPs/invitations, and so forth. An open line of communication between the client and planner allows the client to reach out with any questions they may have at any time throughout their planning process.
Officiation: We offer officiation as a resource to those who need someone to lead/orchestrate their ceremony and have everyone feeling comfortable and smiling while doing it. This is a 2-hour package on the wedding day and includes a pre-wedding day meeting to go over a personalized questionnaire and timeline.
Videography: Zach (videographer) has a background in communication studies and worked for the news as a field reporter and cameraman for many years. He has a journalistic and real approach to his film that incorporates some candid moments and natural audio making his films a little different from other local videographers. He has channeled that talent and fun energy into videography and now offers that as a way to document our couples’ special days.
Being a husband-wife duo working from home makes our business personable and approachable. We find that couples feel comfortable and can relate with us better as we do not have a stuffy or corporate feel. The product (ourselves) we are selling is not masked by the potential of being assigned to another employee, as we are THIOs only employees. That gives our couples peace of mind to know who they are working with upfront and that they won’t be passed off to anyone else. We are also known to have our cats, dog, or tiny humans appear in occasional video chats making our family business seem more endearing and personalized.
We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking.
The first and foremost risk I took was launching my business and taking a risk to put myself out there by starting my business. In doing so, I placed myself in a position to receive possible criticism or rejection from others. This was the greatest risk and reward I could have asked for thus far, just having the courage to get started.
In addition, anytime you begin hiring people, your brand and reputation are represented and carried out by these individuals on your behalf. It takes a lot of trust and a thorough process of finding the exact people you work well with who are like-minded, loyal, accountable, and hard-working. We have attempted to expand our business by hiring on additional staff in the past, but found out quickly how that can backfire if those indivudals happen to turn out unreliable or have different work ethics. This has made us slow to want to expand, but not completely closed off to the idea if the right person were to come along.
When it comes to taking a risk on yourself, whether investing in a product that will help your business run more smoothly or investing in self-care by scheduling time off, buying a new outfit, finding a mentor in your industry to share ideas with that you trust, or even taking care of your body by working out/your mind through counseling/ or spirit by attending a church. Make sure to care for yourself! As they say, you can only help others after ensuring you are in an excellent position to help.
General Pricing:
- 30 to 60 day coordination packages: typically range from around $1,200-2500 when looking for a professional planner/coordinator to for your event. If you find a price point for less than that chances are they are either just starting off/gaining experience or their package may not include as much as you hoped it would.
- Partial planning: $2,000-4,000 is what I have seen in our area for planners offering something in between coordination and full planning
- Full planning: $4,000 and up (average $5-8k) , but can be up to 10% of your overall wedding budget. These are the planners taking care of all the things: budget, vendor contracts, floor plans, rental orders, website, invitations/rsvps, tastings and more.
- Officiation: average between $300-600, but have have seen some packages that include pre-marital counseling that may go up to $900-$1000
- Videography: average range $2500-7,000 depending on # of hours, travel, and # of shooters.
Contact Info:
- Website: thioweddingevents.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thioweddingevents/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehuntisover
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEvkrh2jIQkosJQNMih-p_Q
- Other: https://goo.gl/maps/mHYLvXq1ft8bahMp9
Image Credits
Corey Johnson Studios Nick Levine Photography Heidi Bee Photography Sheila Nolt Photography Ashley Ricci Photography Amelia Fletcher Photography
