Wedding Story Creating Legacies

WWhere did your inspiration come from a such unique and personalized business?

Value of family story: Growing up I learned about our family genealogy without realizing it. My grandmother instilled the importance of family and storytelling in me from a very young age. She always made sure that she and my grandfather would share important stories with all of the grandchildren, and she always had a camera in her hand and albums full of photos.

When I was in my teens I began writing some of their stories down. To this day, I am the official record keeper of my family. I wish I would have recorded them all, but, like many teens and young adults, I didn’t take full advantage of the time we had to ask questions and add to the collection.

Where did the idea or your business come from?

Business idea. The idea came from a perfect mix of events. My love of weddings started when I was three years old and mom pulled out her wedding dress. I asked her to put it on and it sparked my love affair with anything bridal-related. My first wedding was not long after that — I was a flower girl. That Halloween I asked my mom if I could be a bride and she made me my very first bridal gown. I wore it for Halloween and then played dress-up in it until it had holes.

As my passion grew. I began drawing wedding gowns by the time I was in Kindergarten. My mom bought me my first wedding magazine at age 7, and by the time I was 16, I had planned my own dream wedding on paper. In my wedding fantasy, I was getting married in a red dress with a 20-foot train, changing into a white dress for my reception. None of that happened, though.

Once I received my graduate degree (MBA) I wanted to use it to start my own business in the wedding industry. I originally thought about becoming a wedding planner, but the local market was saturated, and I was never one to do what someone else was doing. I combined my love for genealogy and storytelling with my obsession with weddings, which resulted in a real business. By that time, I had already written about five wedding stories that are the focus of my services today. Helping couples capture their love and wedding story brings me immense joy.

WWhat wedding heirlooms are available for your couples?

Heirloom: Wedding Story Writer offers hand-bound books and paper items: wedding storybooks, vow books (Signature Collection or custom), heirloom boxes, custom invitation folios, welcome booklets, hand-drawn crests and florals, guest books, toast booklets, officiant books, reception and bar menus, wax seals, and so much more!

A lot of our work is custom, but we do offer multiple designs in our Signature Collection. I enjoy creating artwork with longevity in mind –something that can be reused throughout a lifetime and enjoyed for many generations. Crests and floral monograms are my favorite items to design. Those designs can be used on any of our products, and more!

SStories: Besides offering heirloom products, our most important service is our wedding stories. We are commissioned to attend weddings (live) and write the story while we are there, recording every single important detail that can’t be captured any other way.

I use all of my senses as I’m at the wedding. I’m usually with the bridal party, while my husband, Erick Luces, covers the groom’s side. We also have Jaqueline Poole as a third writer, and a few other writers available as needed, depending on the size of the wedding.

There are a lot of subtle emotions that I pick up on during my experiences. Voices waver, tears well, there are whisperings, thoughtful looks, laughter…I am grateful to experience it all with my clients. They are focusing on their upcoming vows, while I am focusing on what is really happening – events that they will literally have no memory of once the day is over.

We arrive early in the morning, writing and digitally recording our experience in a small recorder. We are there until the couple’s reception is over, usually leaving right after the couple as they exit their event.

Please share more about the vow books you create.

A unique approach to vows. We make heirloom quality vow books to be held at the altar in place of scraps of paper or mobile phones. We design vow books to have hard-back for longevity. We can make any custom size, and some are made for a couple to share while others come in a set of two: one for each partner. There are ribbons holding vows on either side of the book, making the vows easy to place and remove, but also making the book into an heirloom. I would have loved to hold my grandma’s vow book during my wedding, but alas, she didn’t have one in 1944.

WWhat is the goal behind the idea of creating storybooks?

Memories are fleeting. Everyone has a beautiful love story. I get so excited to hear how my couples met and fell in love, and they are usually so happy to tell the story. I am here to capture it and preserve it. Memories are fleeting and life is short. As humans, we tend to take things for granted. I collect the stories that my clients’ grandchildren will love to hear – it’s all about vivid details that will bring the memory to life for years to come!

No two love stories are the same. We have had stories ranging from 15 pages to 365 pages. I always tell the client, the longer the wedding event, the more story we will have. The more guests I interview, the more content appears. The longer you know one another, the longer the story will be naturally. And it’s beautiful.

WWhat is the process of creating a personal book for each couple?

Fun in the process. Couples are pretty excited when they find me. They are full of love stories and gush about everything they love to do together. The process mostly consists of communicating: me asking the right questions and them answering with delight. These answers sometimes lead me down a different road. I may feel the need to have a talk with the mother of the bride or the grandparents, which adds too much richness to the story. We talk about all sorts of casual things, laugh, and basically get to know one another. This is accomplished online or in person – they can travel to North Carolina or I can travel to them. The process creates a personal connection, no matter what approach the couple chooses.

It’s critical to GET THE STORY …No matter HOW IT’S DONE . No matter how it is WRITTEN . It doesn’t even matter WHO IS DOING it – BUT SOMEONE NEEDS TO DO it before it’s gone.

Michelle McMurray de Luces, Founder & Creative Director of Wedding Story Writer