Shoestring Weddings: AKA Where It All Began

Growing up, my dad branched out from his day job and spent years building his own business. There were times we hardly saw him, but he was always there for our school and sports events. It was a tradeoff that made me really interested in starting my own business. Believe it or not, Markie Jones Photography was NOT my first business, but the second one I’d started. I first owned Shoestring Weddings in 2007, when I completed my certification in Bridal Consulting.

Shoestring Weddings was born out of a need for lower cost weddings. I was engaged in 2007 and every bridal show I attended seemed to have crazily priced vendors. I still remember the one who looked at my mom and I, then stated “Oh honey, You can’t afford me. I don’t leave my house for less than $10,000.” To this day I have no idea what her name was, but I still remember her face and tone of voice. It was both heartbreaking and fueled my drive to create the new “budget” wedding; beautiful while still being able to pay cash.

Moving: Shoestring Weddings Roadblocks

Shortly after getting married (in a wedding where we totally blew the budget), my ex and I moved states. This made it nearly impossible to run my own business or get anything going for Shoestring Weddings. The whole thing fell by the wayside as we tried to simply survive financially in a new state. (Read about my broke alfredo story here). It was hard and required serious job searching.

This was also before Facebook was a big thing, and MySpace was the main social media. Yes, I’m that old. Social networking wasn’t as easy as it is now. The only real way to network was through the internet, but even then, I wasn’t sure how to go about it. So I let the whole thing go and figured I’d never really see Shoestring Weddings take off.

A Second Chance: Micro Wedding + Elopement Planning

After more than ten years of not even thinking about Shoestring Weddings, it popped up in my mind. Mostly I’d shoo the thought away. There was no way I could run a second business while raising kids and a household. Never mind that I still worked full time, or needed to keep up a relationship with Jake (my second husband if you’ve just joined us). My plate was only so big and there just wasn’t extra room on it.

Then COVID hit and we were shut down. I couldn’t photograph people outside my household for a couple of months. I needed something to do. So I started day dreaming and Shoestring Weddings popped back up with a new vision for the future. You see, I may not have been able to photograph a wedding, but I sure could sit and make plans for one or a dozen.

I quickly set to work with creating some different plans. I searched for local venues and off the beaten path areas that might not be at the forefront of the wedding industry. I started dreaming of non-conventional ways to create memories that don’t cost a fortune. With all of that, Shoestring Weddings began to take new life.

Re-Opening Day: January 2022

I’m excited to show you everything I’m planning, but we’ll have to wait a bit. Taking on a second business is a whole lot of work! I don’t want to rush this and half-ass creating these plans, so taking my time before relaunching Shoestring Weddings. Keep your eyes peeled though, because I’ll be making some subtle changes around here and then re-launching in January 2022.