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It’s time to highlight another member of our Jane Rae team, and this month I got to chat with Becky Sletten, our Floral Design Supervisor. Becky joined our team in 2021, and she’s been revolutionizing our floral department ever since. In a deeply creative industry, Becky is a rare person who effortlessly mixes structure and planning with design. She is behind the scenes ensuring our floral team is set up for success before we ever arrive at an event, and she’s creating stunning floral designs that play front and center roles in our clients’ most important days.

On a perfect spring day in April, we gathered to host our second annual Jane Rae Events and The Bouquet Bar signature event. Sunday Brunch Club is a dream event for us as planners. We get to let loose on our design and the structure of the day.

It’s springtime, which means wedding season 2026 is well on its way. If you are shuffling out your budget to get married later this year, or just starting to look into planning for 2027 and beyond, you are probably discovering one thing: weddings aren’t cheap. Pinterest inspo photos and celebrity weddings splashed online present absolutely gorgeous possibilities, but when you start to look into creating those designs for yourself, the price tags can come with quite the shock. We’re going to take the opportunity to break down some of those costs for you and give some context on why they add up so quickly.

As the weather starts to warm up and the days get lighter, this is the season when I start feeling motivated and social. It’s like coming out of hibernation. One of the first things I always want to do with this burst of energy is to host a dinner party. After the snow and cold, it is always refreshing to gather people together and share a meal.

For this month’s team spotlight, I got to sit down with the one and only Tess Oplinger. Jane Rae first had the privilege of having Tess on our team as an intern five years ago, and she has taken on a whole host of new adventures with us since then. From back-of-house work to rental clients to design, her newest endeavor this year is taking on the role of Lead Planner. Tess is driven and dependable, curious and quick to find solutions. We are so lucky to have her, and I was deeply excited to chat with her and share that chat with all of you.

We may be deep into the cold and dark of winter, but I love this time of year because it is so full of looking forward. If the end of the year is sentimental, the beginning of the year is energizing. As we start to build designs for our 2026 clients and see other designers anticipating their work, we wanted to share a little of what we are looking forward to creating this year in wedding design.

Whew! We made it to the end of 2025! I don’t know about your year, but ours at Jane Rae has been a jam-packed whirlwind from start to finish. (And we wouldn’t have it any other way.) To celebrate all the celebrations we’ve been a part of this year, I wanted to share some of the numbers with you. It’s fun to look at the quantifiable achievements and how they reflect the accomplishments that are more difficult to measure. 

When we introduce ourselves as an event planning company, the first thing to come to mind for most people is the wedding industry. It’s true, we tend to highlight our weddings, but we also get to work with corporate clients on a whole range of unique events. One of those corporate clients is Startup Sioux Falls.

It’s my favorite time of the quarter - another chance to sit down with one of our very talented members of Jane Rae and hear her story. Irany Caro is our floral manager, and she is the genius behind every floral piece we create. She started at Jane Rae in 2020 and has been cultivating our signature style ever since. Irany is witty, artistic, and always up for a challenge. Her determined creativity finds ways to actually create the designs we and our clients dream of.

Brides who are on the fence about booking a designer or DIYing your wedding - this one’s for you! From the outside, the concept of a wedding planner can be a little confusing. Do they make the choices about your wedding, or do you still get to? Why hire someone to plan if you already have your vendors booked and your vision created? That’s what we’re here to talk about. Hopefully, this overview can help you weigh the pros and cons of different options so you can create the wedding you want.

For this month’s staff spotlight, I was so excited to chat with Ashley Anderson. Ashley is an event planner, as well as managing our planner team. She is our vendor liaison, leads our hospitality training, and serves on a gambit of committees and boards around Sioux Falls. Aside from all that, Ashley is one of the best hosts I’ve ever met, she is deeply invested in her family and community, and she is diligent in building a truly beautiful life. I hope you enjoy my conversation with her as much as I did!

Even if you’re not a dessert person (or dessert couple, as it happens), the wedding cake is a staple of most weddings we see at Jane Rae. Some couples have a small cutting cake but serve different desserts for their guests. Other couples leave the cake out of the equation altogether! The cutting cake is the one we’re going to focus on because it is the belle of the sweet treat ball. We’ve got some inspo and practical ideas so you can execute the perfect cake for your big day.

It’s wedding season, woohoo! If you’re anything like me, your fridge feels like it’s plastered in couples’ invitations around this time of year. With those invitations come RSVPs, choosing an outfit, gift shopping, and attending the big day itself. It’s a lot to manage, especially for such an important day in the lives of your loved ones. If you’re questioning the proper way to navigate all the details, don’t panic! We’ve got you covered!

This month, I sat down with another one of our top brass at Jane Rae Events to discuss her journey here and all she does for us: the one and only Rachel Qualm. 

One of the first things a couple decides when designing their wedding is the color palette. From there, they can choose decor, flowers, bridesmaid dresses, and groomsmen’s suits. The colors make the event look consistent from invitations to menus to thank you cards. For something so important, it’s understandable to want to play it safe. White and green is a stunning, classic color scheme. It is bridal, timeless, and clean. But it’s not the only option out there. If you want to dive into color but aren’t sure where to start, let’s break out a color wheel and dig in.

Wedding season is only a few months away, which means it’s time for bridal showers. There are so many events associated with weddings, and showers can be a huge part of that celebration or simply the icing on the cake. As with any other celebration, the key is in the name - it’s meant to lift up the guest of honor and have a good time. If you’re struggling with how to throw a shower, or overwhelmed by your options, here are a few tips to keep the party planning fun!

One of the best things about being part of a small business is the relationships we get to form with our team. I count myself so lucky to work beside the women at Jane Rae, and I want to take some time this year to help you all get to know them as well. It felt only right to start by introducing you to our CEO and founder, Katie Murphy. I sat down with Katie and asked her all about her design journey, her life outside of Jane Rae Events, and what she sees in the company’s future.

A fresh year is usually a good time to look around and take stock of our world, and how we want to make it better. One issue I’m looking into this year is how we can create beautiful, trend-forward weddings in a more sustainable way. Trends can move lightning quick, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t worth engaging in. At JRE, we love playing with new styles and finding ways to explore and experience trends in the industry. So, as much as it may sound like an oxymoron, there are so many creative (and easy!) ways to design an event that belongs in 2025 and that you can feel good about for years to come.

We’re drawing to the close of 2024, so we wanted to take a moment and savor the joys and accomplishments of this year before jumping in to the next. It has been a massive year here at JRE, but instead of just looking at numbers, I asked our team what moments they are most proud of. Each member of our team reflected on one of their accomplishments this year, and I could not be more proud to share them with you.

We’re wrapping up our 2024 wedding season at Jane Rae, which means we’re looking forward to holiday celebrations of all sorts. As wonderful as it is to gather with friends and family, the thought of hosting and attending holiday parties can get overwhelming. I chatted with our resident expert on hospitality, Ashley Anderson, to get a few tips for elegant, stress-free celebrations.

It’s October, so in the spirit of Halloween, let’s take a little time to talk about superstition. Weddings bring out all kinds of nerves, hopes, and predictions for the future. It’s only natural that they have a long history of superstition attached to them. A wedding is the start of a couple’s lives together. You invest a whole lot of time, money, and care into that day and the life you plan to build beyond it. It makes perfect sense to look for signs of prosperity or participate in traditions that are supposed to create good luck, whether they change anything or not.

When it comes to wedding flowers, is it better to use silk or fresh? There’s not one right answer to that question. For most of our couples at Jane Rae, the best answer is a mix of both. The trick is to find a balance that highlights your day to your taste. As one of our floral designers, I’d love to fill you in on a few pros and cons to help you weigh that balance.

When planning your wedding, you may get lost in what seems to be hundreds of decisions. These decisions can range from minute details all the way to what dress you will wear on the best day of your life! When finally finding the perfect dress, what will you choose for your beautiful bridesmaids to be wearing by your side? These are some of our favorite bridesmaid looks that may help you make that decision!

As a wedding planner, every event is a canvas where dreams and creativity merge to craft unforgettable moments. Styled shoots, in particular, offer a unique opportunity to push boundaries, experiment with new trends, and showcase our design in a creative way with a great team of other vendors.

Last month, May 2024, I had the privilege of working with some incredible clients on their romantic garden themed wedding. It was such an amazing planning process and the wedding day was an absolute blast. When thinking about what part of their day I wanted to share about I realized that all of the details of the day would not have even been possible without all of the incredible vendors. I think it can be easy to look at a photo from a wedding and think wow that's really pretty, and it is, but it’s more than that. It takes so many people to make those pretty things happen. So this is a huge thank you to all of the wonderful vendors that made Shelby and Keegen’s wedding celebration possible.

The idea of birth flowers dates back to ancient Rome, around the same time birthdays began being celebrated. Alongside Zodiac signs and birthstones, birth flowers are a way to celebrate specific characteristics about each and every one of us! Some months have multiple birth flowers associated with them due to cultural differences and what is available in certain regions.

When planning a wedding, there seem to be an innumerable amount of decisions that have to be made. Some big, some small. Some exciting, some dull. It can all be overwhelming. One of these decisions is choosing the color palette. Making this choice affects not only the decor and attire, but also the photographer, desserts, and overall guest experience. Talk about daunting. My goal is to give some tips and inspiration to make the experience of choosing your color palette more enjoyable.