Dawn Clark and Mary Coombs
A Garden Party
Dawn Clark is the oldest Colson sister and follows all the oldest kid stereotypes, showing off her work ethic and leadership skills like no one else. Showing up at A Garden Party as the HBIC, she makes it happen in the retail store, designing for weddings, organizing on site events and writing contracts for A Milkhouse Party. Clients love her for the attention to detail and the efficient communication pinging from her inbox all day long. Always ready to check something off her list, she is manned with a clipboard and a smile. Dawn also brings her family along for the fun sometimes, her daughters work in the store and her husband custom fabricates props for our many events. When she isn't at work, thinking about work or talking about work, she can be found snuggling with her 2 dogs or cat sipping some coffee or a high noon. Her hidden talents include planning epic last minute road trips and locating tasty restaurants along the way.
Mary Coombs is the youngest Colson sister and is the yin to Dawn's yang. Known for her creative vision, Mary is the dreamer of the team and the "more is more" gal. There are never enough flowers to satisfy her hunger, so she grows her own at the 3 acre property next to the barns of A Garden Party. Self proclaimed "Queen of Projects", she is always looking to improve experiences for clients and bring their 80 year old farm and barn back to life. Living on the farm with her husband and 3 kids, Mary spends her non-work hours watching her sons fish and doing art projects with her daughter. She loves to camp and be outside with her loved ones, living that Garden Party mantra.
Both sisters are Chapel Designers and Slow Flower Members, holding degrees from SUNY Cobleskill (Dawn Hort Class of 02) and Penn State (Mary Hort Class of 06)
Show Notes
A Milkhouse Party
Look for ways to diversify your income. Besides weddings, Dawn and Mary, started with a small venue, did landscaping, Christmas decor, even container gardens for clients.
When making major purchases, they practice save before you jump. This helps them from not over extending themselves. You might find this to also motivate you to find additional income streams to reach your goals.
If you think you might want to start a venue of some kind, check with local government to see what rules and laws might apply to your area.
Mary and Dawn created an open design space in their shop so customers that walk in can see their design team in action and can see the creative process.
They included perennials and flowering shrubs in the gardens on their properties to provide them with year round season blooms to include with their designs.
Be sure to assign a cost value to the products that you forage and cut from your garden to account for the labor and time invested in those plants.
It’s important to spend time with co-workers and invest back into them to help build community within the work environment and company.
