Meet Natalie Page – Certified Wedding Planner
I am a Brookings native, graduated from South Dakota State University (SDSU) with my bachelor’s degree in hospitality management. I love to learn, so my goal throughout college was to gain as much knowledge and experiences as I could through various jobs in the industry. Prior to joining the wonderful team with Hitch Studio, I worked at event venues; planning events, managing staff, setting rooms, and working closely with catering. I’ve learned from many wonderful mentors, developed a strong work ethic, and know that having a passion for what you do is essential!
Event planning involves long hours, dedication, passion, details, high energy, and I love it all! Being in the events industry since 2015, I’ve had the opportunity to work with numerous people and experience different types of events from banquets, corporate meetings, weddings, recreational sports, and concerts. Through my experiences, I realized that weddings are my passion because each one is unique and personal! I love getting to know our couples, their parents, friends, and family. My favorite part of planning is the process along the way. Of course, I love seeing everything come to life, but I love the journey; the dreams that are shared, ideas that are generated, obstacles that are overcame and the friendships formed along the way!
My role at Hitch Studio is Certified Wedding Planner & Wedding Venue Professional. I work with couples on wedding planning and decorating; throughout the week I’m in the office, meeting with couples and most weekends, I am working weddings. Something that I really love about my role is that I get to work with our couples from the beginning planning stages, through to the end of their wedding day! I love being present through the entire day from watching hair and make-up get started to decorating, helping with photos, checking in with the vendors and seeing everyone celebrate throughout the night. I love that I can take care of the big and small details, without the couple or family having to think about these specifics. I want the night to flow seamlessly for everyone! I know a wedding day can fly by and my hope for couples is that they can truly feel present and embrace the day with those they love most. Besides meeting with brides, I oversee all our decor inventory, (which our brides have access to our full decor collection FREE!). You can also find me at Schade Vineyard & Winery, giving tours of the outdoor, tent venue and working with couples as Venue Manager on occasion. I love the variety that my job entails, but more than anything, I love the people I work with!
Meet Natalie Page – Wife & Mom
I loved planning my own wedding in 2016! We had a year-long, long-distance engagement, which was not ideal but did allow me to have lots of planning time, since we didn’t see each other often. Our wedding colors were shades of blue with accents of gray and black. My bridesmaids chose their own cocktail length black dresses, and the groomsmen wore gray suits with black ties. I had 6 of my nieces as flower girls who wore hand-made tutu’s. My wedding gown was designed and hand-sewn by my brother! I didn’t see the final design until the day before my wedding, when he arrived in town with it. Our outdoor ceremony was on South Dakota State University Campus at Coolidge Sylvan Theatre. Our Reception was at Dacotah Bank Center, (Formerly Swiftel Center). We had appetizer buffets for dinner, (who doesn’t love chips and dip, fruit, chicken-skewers, bacon-wrapped peppers, and meatballs all night long?!). We had cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory set at the head table, and a variety of cheesecake bites for guests as dessert.
My favorite moment on our wedding day was our first dance as husband and wife! There are many moments that I loved, but I still remember everyone surrounding us around the dance floor, but no one else stood out to me more than the man in my arms.
Our home is filled with two busy toddlers – Thora & Declan, three years apart (to the day!). They are the best of friends, (most of the time!), and keep us on our toes for sure. We try and keep up with our out-going, story-story telling, up-for-for-anything daughter who loves everything to do with dressing up and going to the next activity (she would choose the rainbow sparkly dress for every occasion if we let her)! Declan keeps us busy with anything he does. Literally. Climbs on, jumps off, crawls under, attempts anything and is always running anywhere he goes! He always wants Thora by his side and loves to give hugs and kisses. They add enormous amounts of the laughter (and laundry!) to our home, and we are so thankful!
In my free time (haha!), I am tackling all the things around the house and making memories with my family. I am thankful for my loving husband Justin, and his “go-with-the-flow” attitude because I am often rearranging, reorganizing, and finding new DIY home projects to do. In the midst of our crazy schedules, we love to make time for quick getaways with each other or a date night in town! I enjoy a morning cup of hot coffee, yoga, home projects, reading (or listening) to books and doing anything outdoors.
Read about our Hitch Team here and get to know more about Lyric, reading her blog here.
I would love to meet you and have the honor of planning your wedding!