Who knew that something so wonderful could come out of a school project?! Let’s Tie The Knot is a specialty gift shop that offers a wide variety of personalized goods, and it has been one heck of a journey for owners Jenny and Charles. They’re always dreaming, taking risks and striving for more, and that kind of passion is truly inspiring. It was such a pleasure working with Jenny and Charles at The Big Fake Wedding LA and The Big Fake Wedding San Diego, and we’re honored to feature their business on our blog today!
“Jenny and Charles, the couple behind Let’s Tie The Knot, are super sweet, trendy, and adorable. They made an impression right away at our vendor Cocktail Hour, then absolutely killed it at the event with their beautiful products.”
The Big Fake Wedding San Diego Team
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Tell us a little bit about the story of Let’s Tie The Knot.
Let’s Tie The Knot is specialty gift shop that offers a wide variety of personalized goods by sand blast engraving and laser cutting. We combine state-of-the-art equipment, creativity and years of experience to provide buyers with quality products that commemorate those special moments. Owners Jenny & Charles are soon to be married (Sept 2015) on the lovely island of Maui, HI!
How it all started… In 2005, Charles took ownership of a small family business selling premium, specialty gift items – met Jenny in 2010, saw the opportunity to combine our forces and instantly become a driven duo of talents. We started Let’s Tie The Knot in-store as an extension of our specialty gift store in 2005 – offering customers the option to add an extra special touch to their gifts with personalization by custom engraving. We had always thought it would be so great to offer our products and services online for people all over the world to find and shop via the Internet.
In 2012, while Jenny was in school completing her Bachelor’s degree – one of the assignments for a Marketing class was to help a local small business improve their marketing practices. Without any hesitation, she chose her own business to be the focus of this project. With two classmates, we came up with an idea to list our products and engraving service online. The goal was to bring exposure to the store by creating an online presence. With a little research, we came across a marketplace called Etsy! Knowing very little about the site at the time, we decided to give it a try. Came up with a name, listed few of our best selling products, started social media accounts for the new online shop and waited for our first sale.
From the beginning of our engraving journey, one constant is our passion. We have seen such growth from this little shop that came to light thanks to a school project! Our passion is what keeps us going and growing. From doing all the work ourselves, we now have five employees and a product line of nearly 400 pieces plus an expansion into a new product line!
Who or what inspires you?
The saying, “It’s all about the details” pretty much sums it up! Something so beautiful and genuinely serene about those little details that we absolutely love, adore and can’t get enough of – those are the pieces we love to create! We are constantly being inspired everyday from so many different outlets. We are dreamers and do-ers; always striving to achieve (more) and better! Whether it be: friends, family, vendors, entrepreneurs like us or something as simple as flipping through a magazine – we are constantly making mental notes about what we like, who we aspire to be like, asking “how can we do that?!” and what we want to do next. The drive and motivation is never ending!
Describe a highlight or pivotal moment in your career.
The day we decided to move our engraving studio into its own “home” apart from our store was a scary, chaotic, yet unforgettable moment. At this time, we decided to make Let’s Tie The Knot its own business. We didn’t really know if it was the right move or if we could survive managing two separate businesses. Being in our new space now for a little over a year, I’d say it was the best decision we’ve made thus far! Seeing our growth is true motivation for us to keep on working at it. We are firm believers in setting and achieving goals, so with each milestone we accomplish, we will think up a new and better one! This is just the beginning!
What is the best part of your job?
We take such pride in the products we produce and every detail of each order is so important to us. Just knowing that with every item we create and ship out will make someone’s special event/occasion that much better is what makes our craft completely worth it! With a specialty in wedding related items, our items are usually special keepsakes for the couple or person to enjoy even after the event is over. Everyday we are more and more grateful for this amazing opportunity we have in front of us. To be able to call this “work” is truly a dream!
What is your favorite part of The Big Fake Wedding experience?
With two Big Fake Weddings under our belt now, we have to say that vendor collaboration was the BEST and most rewarding part! Seeing how so many different talents can come together to create a cohesive and brilliant event is pretty much magic! We met a lot of great vendors, many in which we consider friends now. The collaborations continue to grow and we know that we have people that we can reach out to or recommend!
Photo Credits:
Jenna Bechtholt Photography | Jessica Elaine Photography | Loud Love Photography | Let’s Frolic Together | Personal
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More from Let’s Tie The Knot:
Website | Facebook | Instagram
