Movers & Shakers
THE WEDDING PLANNER
Photography courtesy of Erin Padgett Events Photography courtesy of Erin Padgett Events
Photography courtesy of Erin Padgett Events
43 LAKE NORMAN CURRENTS
Erin Padgett knows weddings. And the Huntersville resident also knows Lake Norman. Following her instincts, she merged that knowledge into a company — Erin Padgett Events. The Huntersville company focuses on planning events (think corporate soirees, birthday parties and any type of celebration that has to do with nuptials). Padgett founded her business three years after graduating from UNC Charlotte and working for various marketing and printing companies. “I learned a ton about design from working at those places,” explains Padgett, who grew up in nearby Concord. “I worked for another wedding planner for a little over a year and then they went out of business and I decided to start my own business.” With two additional planners and four assistants on her team, Padgett says they do 30 to 40 events a year, with the majority of them being weddings. And while some of her clients get married in Charlotte, many of them tie the knot in the Lake Norman area, and that’s exactly what Padgett promotes. “I’ve been here [the Lake Norman area] 10 years, and I realized that there were so many really awesome opportunities, not only from a venue standpoint and how beautiful some of the properties were, but all the other vendors that work within the wedding industry that were in Lake Norman,” she says. “Unfortunately, there’s a little bit of a thick line between Lake Norman and Charlotte.” Padgett set out to change that by co-founding a networking group with Phaedra Pistone, owner of Classic Bride & Formals in Cornelius, two years ago called Lake Norman Wedding Professionals. “We started it with five of us just sitting around a table kind of chatting and it grew, and now we have 100 people that rotate in and out of our monthly meeting,” explains Padgett. “It’s really cool because it’s a collaboration. There’s no competition. There are other wedding planners in there that I’m friends with. …There’s work for everyone.” Padgett admits that she’s a “spread the love” kind of person and that the networking group has introduced her to Lake Norman wedding venues she didn’t know existed. The more she knows about what the area has to offer, the more she can do to make Lake Norman a wedding destination. “I just thought this was kind of missing,” Padgett says. “Lake Norman didn’t’ really gather together as a team, so I tried to start that team.”
AUGUST 2016
Photography by Love Shutter Photography
Erin Padgett wants you to say “I do” here