Weddings are emotional, high-stress situations for just about everyone. From societal pressure to family drama (not to mention all that money talk), it’s easy to get overwhelmed. And if you have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, are getting stressed or nervous from the pressure, or are worried the whole experience may be a little more than you were expecting, your excitement about getting married may be served with a side of apprehension. The good news is, with some advanced planning and some help from the pros, there are ways to make your wedding day a little more manageable.
Meet Amanda Hudes an event and wedding planner and coach, as well as an author of Amazon’s bestselling book, “Smiling Through the Chaos of Wedding Planning.” Not only is Hudes able to offer guidance and expertise in planning weddings, but she is also able to help them with their mindset and overall wellness.
Amanda has worked with high profile clientele, including professional athletes and writers. With a background in color and design, she creates one-of-a-kind moments for clients, including beach weddings, ballroom extravaganza’s, and intimate backyard affairs.
Amanda’s mission in life is to help women and couples feel empowered, beautiful, and most of all, happy. Besides volunteering her time, for every client booked with Smiling Through Chaos, Amanda uses her passion for giving back to contribute to charities with a focus on creating a future with more to celebrate, including “Futures Without Violence” and the breast cancer foundation, “Evolve Pink,” of which she is on the Board of Advisors.
Amanda Hudes holds a B.S. from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, and wellness certifications that include yoga, reiki, health counseling, behavior change specialist, and sports endurance, spanning over 20 years of experience. She pays attention to what people are saying, through their words and body language, and their silence.
What inspired you to start STC Event & Wedding Planning?
My business is called Smiling Through Chaos event and wedding planning.
I was planning events in the corporate management world, and personal events on the side, when I started to realize that people around me would get super stressed at the THOUGHT of planning events, and I always had a great time planning them! I’ve always been very organized, someone who likes to check tasks off of a To-Do List (an ENFJ in the Myers Briggs test), creative, and self-motivated, so with my husband’s support, I decided to go for it! I come from a family of entrepreneurs, so I’ve always seen that it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to grow a business, and that didn’t scare me, it excited me.
I had actually accidentally started a business years ago while in college, called the A+ Plan, because I had people coming to me requesting customized meal plans for them. I became known for helping women lose weight quickly in a healthy way. I didn’t advertise at all, purely through word of mouth since I had great results with clients. In 2007, I became certified from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and continued to gain additional certifications and expertise in various aspects of Wellness. I incorporated the A+ Plan into Smiling Through Chaos when I created my event planning business almost 5 years ago.
My mission grows stronger each day. I began my business with the desire to help women and couples celebrate life and look and feel their best in the process. For a long time, I have felt that I’m meant to do this in a larger way, and lately, I have been feeling an even stronger pull to reach more and more people, to help people enjoy the big moments, but also the small, everyday joys. Yes, I’m an Event Planner. Yes, I’m a Behavior Change Specialist, Health Counselor, and certified in Reiki, Sports Endurance, Yoga and more. But I am also a human trying to bring as many smiles to people as possible.
What did you want to be when you were younger?
I had a whole list! I wanted to be a Fashion Designer, a Nutritionist, a Lawyer, and a Detective, so I combined my love of all and became an Event Planner and Coach, empowering, guiding, and helping my clients celebrate life.
It’s funny to look back at this because I remember wanting to be each of these and always wondered how one person could have so many different interests, but when you look at all of them in one bucket, you see that there is one common theme, helping people be healthier, happier versions of themselves, protected and able to just celebrate life.
How does one get their mind and body at their best for the big day?
When people think of “health,” they usually think of physical health. But health is so much more; it’s emotional, physical, spiritual, mental, it’s all of them combined and they each affect the others. When you eat healthier foods and exercise, your mood shifts, you become more energetic, toned, and confident, and your sense of being able to control how you feel grows, which is a great thing. “I am the one who determines how I feel” can be so inspiring to yourself and to others, and then guess what happens? Yes, that smile grows bigger! Of course, it isn’t as easy as just saying it; you have to put in the work, grow your knowledge, and really want it, but Smiling Through Chaos can help you, by listening without judgment, empowering you, guiding, and setting you up for success.
What is a skill you think all women should learn and why?
When women can stand up for themselves, they can do anything. When you are confident in who you are and your value, you are much more likely to say “yes” to what matters and what makes sense for you and “no” to ideas and actions that you don’t feel comfortable with. Think about all of the areas in your life that this affects! From negotiations to body image to creating friendships that make you feel great, standing up for yourself, even internally, is definitely a skill I think all women should learn in order to create the lives we all deserve, happy lives.
What are some hurdles an aspiring business owner might not be aware of?
There’s a ton of back-office work, so either plan out several hours a week for yourself to work on that, or hire an Office Manager from the start who will create newsletters, social media posts, do the daily bookkeeping, create and send contracts, listen to and view the latest information via webinars and articles, work on new business development, which includes researching and maintaining databases of new contacts to work with, advertising and marketing efforts, media pitches, emailing and talking to potential clients, I can go on and on. Working with clients is a piece of the amount of work you’ll do each day. As an entrepreneur, you’ll also be “on” all of the time. I have business hours, but I put so much time and effort into working with my clients, developing new offerings, and growing my business, that even during hours when I’m not officially working, my mind is always creating. Nothing comes overnight, but if you put in the effort and the time, meet great contacts, are enjoyable to work with, produce quality work, and are constantly creating, you are bound to be rewarded.
Share two pieces of advice for female entrepreneurs.
1) Know your worth and truly value yourself. In event planning, and other industries as well, it’s not always easy for people to understand the number of hours and how much effort goes into creating a one of a kind experience, so they want you to offer your work at a lower price. Remember this, if people could have everything for free, they would! But you are special, and you do not need to reduce your value because someone else doesn’t see it, personally or professionally.
2) Don’t try to be like everyone else. If I picked 10 event planners out of a hat and looked at their social media, at least half will have the same aesthetic, without any differentiation of what makes each unique and special. A few years ago I was told by a few people that I had to choose one; I couldn’t be an Event Planner and a Wellness Coach because it’s too confusing for people, or that I needed to make them two separate businesses. I separated them on social media for a couple of years and recently brought them back together. Why? Because I AM both, and offering the ability to help my clients look and feel their best for their big day is a unique offering that makes Smiling Through Chaos so different. I also post inspirational photos that make you smile, not just photos from events, because again, that’s what makes Smiling Through Chaos so different. Be YOU and be proud.
How do you start your creative process?
Coming from the world of fashion, and as a graduate of The Fashion Institute of Technology, I am ALL about the color story. But it takes time to get there. My work begins with the client consultation so I can get to know you so well that when I ask you about vendors or what you think about ideas I know your answers before you even give them to me. When I feel like I know the clients well enough during our consultation, I begin creating color palette options to choose from. Once that has been decided, I start pulling photos and colors together to create a “story.” I provide a few story options to the client, and we make modifications from there.
How do you stay inspired to come up with new, exciting ideas for events and weddings?
When I say everything inspires me, I mean everything. From people’s personalities to the colors of a bird’s feather, from fashion to a gorgeous sunset, everything around me creates a feeling, and that feeling allows me to come up with ideas. I also love to paint, draw, dance, and be silly with my kids, so expressing myself through movement and laughter creates new energy, which then becomes a story in itself.
I hear my clients, I learn their style, and I create from there. It has to make sense for the client and be amazing TO THEM, that’s the real goal.
You wrote a book ‘’Smiling Through the Chaos of Wedding Planning’’ can you share what we can find in this book?
I wrote, “Smiling Through The Chaos of Wedding Planning, Your Guide to Planning the Perfect Day” because the Wedding Planning books out there seemed to either have only checklists or were so thick I couldn’t imagine being a bride and reading it while handling work and the rest of my life. I wanted to bring some personality and life to the experience! I wanted to give brides and couples a quick read that would answer their questions without requiring them to read for hours on end. The end result is a quick read that will make you smile, answer your questions, and get you excited!
Tell us how can one keep the romance alive and stay excited to get married?
I’ve been known to actually suggest couples take a break from planning at certain points when I feel like it’s getting a bit stressful. Planning a wedding together, as a couple, can be challenging because each one of you has your own thoughts and ideas of what you’d like. Having a great Planner is so helpful because he or she can suggest ideas and options that allow you to meet in the middle without one of you having to be “right” or “get your way.”
Continue to go on dates, have “no planning date nights,” where you just enjoy each other. When you’re planning a wedding and both working, the only time you see each other becomes your time to discuss the wedding, but you don’t want to get married and then realize that you haven’t spoken about anything but the wedding for the past year and don’t know what to say to each other anymore! Make an effort to be romantic, to set candles on the table and cook a nice meal for your love, to write a sweet note. It’s the little things that mean so much.
![From Music to Perfume: How did your background as a music teacher influence your transition into perfumery, and how do you incorporate your musical sensibilities into creating fragrances? I’ve always thought in terms of metaphors, and music has many that can be related to perfumery! Beyond just thinking in terms of top, middle and base notes [soprano/alto/tenor in choir], I approach each fragrant idea as a composition. When documenting my ideas, song structures often come to mind. As the scent brief is visited, I meditate on what the fragrance should convey - do I want to create an accord or a “chord” of fragrance note combinations? Do I want an a capella soloist (a particular ingredient to stand out more than others?) Many of my thoughts regarding song composition transfers to my scent formulation process, with me treating each note as an intentional soliloquy at some point.
Brand Origin: What inspired you to start Pink MahogHany in 2005, and how has your vision for the brand evolved since its inception?
An avid lover of all things pleasantly scented (with slight modesty), looking back in retrospect, it’s no huge surprise that I’ve created an indie perfume house with just an idea to provide unique options for those who may be sensitive to unnecessary pungency. Initially, I just wanted to evaluate various blends to note their aroma profiles when “played” together…it wasn’t until I had friends and family asking if I knew of brands that catered to those who may be on the more olfactory sensitive side, that I really began to take my research more seriously. In the almost 20 years that Pink MahogHany has been in existence, our micro visions for the brand have evolved to larger territory. Where Pink MahogHany used to only be a personal brand, we are now also a bespoke formulation service provider to other indie brands seeking unique fragrance offerings for their products. These products range from (but are not limited to) perfumes, candles, body butters and lip balms. Ingredient Transparency: You emphasize transparency and the use of desirable ingredients in your products. How do you select your ingredients, and what challenges have you faced in maintaining this standard?
Being an indie brand often comes with a set of assumptions and misconceptions - one of them being more negative than positive as it relates to ingredients used. There is a lot of “fluff” in the industry with labeling falsification. Because fragrance formulas are a trade secret, not every molecular breakdown of a material has to be noted on the ingredient label (it would be incredibly long), but we at Pink MahogHany™️ adhere strongly to the IFRA [International Fragrance Regulatory Association] regulations that state for common and potential allergens to be listed on our ingredient label. We’ve taken this a step further to also include these ingredients listed on our website to promote further transparency, all while protecting our intellectual property. Unfortunately, we’ve had companies to unethically sell lesser expensive “dupes” of our artisan perfumes, so as a way to create a better authenticity stamp, we make it our duty to be honest about our claims. If our perfume says “Rose Bulgaria”, it is in fact just that and not a component of rose being passed off as the source material. Collaborations and Custom Scents: Can you share more about your work with private label clients? What excites you most about creating custom scent solutions for other indie brands? I could easily sum this up in one word and say “Funding.” True, there is money out there, but I’m always thinking outside the box. Having a program that has an “Each One Fund One” mentality doesn’t exist (that I’ve been made aware of). Bootstrapping can be quite the challenge, even when you’ve reached the 6-figure mark annually. Competition to be seen and set apart is extremely high, so having quality packaging and branding is a must. There are lots of factors to consider, though when desiring to make upgrades. If there were a unique, tier-geared funding operation available, it would help perfume brands offset packaging and bulk material costs in the beginning stages.
Industry Challenges: What are some of the biggest challenges you've faced as an independent fragrance house, and how have you overcome them to grow your brand? As the brand continues on the path of organic growth, I would like to expand our reach into schools, offering perfumery as an arts elective for middle and high school. I’d love to partner with botanists, farmers and horticulturists directly to grow and source raw materials for the students to work with in the creation of tinctures. My passion is getting back to nature as best as possible, as nature was my first “scent experience” as a child. We would also love to witness our fragrance creations being used to scent model homes, our focus diffuser blends being used in automobile dealerships as well as partner with Air Bnb and boutique hotels that specialize in highlighting minority, indie brands. Personal Journey: How has your personal experience, particularly as a divorced mother and someone who has experienced the loss of a child, shaped your approach to life and your work in perfumery?
Because I homeschool my twin sons, we are together a lot more than most, so one thing we all do is have moments of sharing where a neutral “floor” is laid to converse about anything. Though they are quite communicative by nature, I realize that sometimes I can be in work mode so much that it spills over into what should be our quality time. My sons see the authentic me and learn how to communicate through seeing authenticity. I’ve learned not to feel as if I have to be the epitome of perfection but allow them to see my imperfections vulnerably but with discernment. Having had two traumatic experiences pretty close together has taught me how to truly slow down and enjoy the simplicities of life - igniting a spiritual aspect that I’ve always carried but never fully explored…until Kenji’s sudden passing (2018.) Grief has a way of catapulting us into a quest for more meaningfulness in both life and business. After Kenji’s passing and my processing through the initial stages of grief, I was able to incorporate our spiritual bond into Pink MahogHany by way of essential oil diffuser blends for both focus and sleep and most recently aromatic perfume elixirs. It’s been quite the process channeling the void of his physical presence, but I also have peace knowing he can be honored in a great way through scent. I noticed once I began to be more open and receptive to spiritual signs, synchs and “winks”, more ideas began to flow. It’s been this way since his transition. Emotional Expression: Fragrance is often tied to memories and emotions. How does your personal life influence the fragrances you create, and do you have a particular scent that holds special meaning to you? My creative process is much more alchemic now, and I include Kenji by talking out loud to him, believe it or not. I’m a firm believer that when our loved ones transition from the physical plane, they are still present - just in another form. I choose to keep his memory alive by not pretending he never existed (even if for a brief period of time). I am working (slowly) on a book and accompanying fragrance, but I know it will require me to revisit some memories I’m not quite ready for, so until then, his big brothers will launch their debut fragrance, The Peaceful Tiger (they chose the name.) I’ve learned that even in what we consider “small things”, our transitioned loved ones want to be recognized and acknowledged. When the twins and I designed their fragrance label (with a designer out of the country that didn’t know anything about me personally), we had issues with the graphic - so much so that the designer asked if they could rework the design. When they sent the proof for approval, the Tiger was not only younger but sleeping, with an uncanny, angelic resemblance to baby Kenji! Becoming more aware and being more sensitive to my intention for launching a fragrance has definitely made room for more divine situations like these to occur. Healing Through Scent: In what ways has creating fragrances been a form of healing or expression for you, especially after the loss of your son, Kenji Mwamba? I know my sons may not necessarily want to be perfumers, but they definitely have an entrepreneurial heart. My desire is that whatever they decide to pursue (acting, script-writing, music or architecture), they know that anything is possible with the right amount of determination, grit, belief and immersion. One reason I chose to homeschool is so they could enjoy learning without restraint and have ample time to devote to their own separate passions and it still be fun. They know Pink MahogHany is theirs if they want it (many, many years from now - lol), and we are already discussing business structures for whatever they choose their role to be once I retire. Work-Life Balance: How do you find balance between your professional responsibilities and personal well-being, and what self-care practices do you prioritize? I’m not just a perfumer; I’m also a consumer, and self-care is huge for me. I often take salt baths to reset my energy and clear my mind after being around large groups of people or free a long day. I’m a habitual perfume sampler, and I have so many to choose from to wear as my “nightcap.” Even if just for 10-15 minutes, I cherish each moment I’m able to have some “me-time.” When time and co-parenting schedules permit, I’m definitely on a flight somewhere to indulge in some delicious food and mouth-watering mocktails!](https://www.womenontopp.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG_3812-1200x720.jpeg)
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