Gretchen Culver is the creative mind behind Minneapolis’ go-to design and planning firm, Rocket Science Events, but her business prowess doesn’t stop there. In 2020, she opened the doors to Minne Weddings, a brand that provides stylish and affordable micro-weddings, as a way to meet her clients’ evolving demands for small-but-significant celebrations. Her knack for identifying client pain points and solving problems has propelled Minne Weddings to the top of her market.

Throughout her career, Culver’s community helped to lift her up for success and, with gratitude for the support, she remains committed to serving those around her. With almost two decades in the industry, Culver has learned countless lessons as an event entrepreneur and is dedicated to sharing those insights with event pros that are still early in their journey. Her affinity for empowering female entrepreneurs led her to launch Culver Creative, where she provides coaching and consulting services for creative professionals. She also serves as a Sage Coach for Be Sage Consulting, with a special focus on small weddings as a sustainable revenue stream.

Named one of the “30 Under 40 to Watch” by Special Events, one of The BizBash 500 “Most Influential Event Pros” and recognized as a top planner by BRIDES and Martha Stewart Weddings, Culver’s award-winning work has been featured in magazines, online, and on television. She is an active thought leader in the wedding and events industry, contributing to major publications regularly and speaking at top-tier conferences such as Engage! Summits, Be Sage Conference, and The Special Event. She has also co-founded the Small Wedding Society and remains an active member of her local ILEA chapter.

Culver will be sharing her wedding planning secrets during Catersource + The Special Event, being held May 2-5 at the Anaheim Convention Center. 

Clean Slate: Reinventing Yourself to Keep Up with the Ever-Evolving Wedding Industry

Wednesday, May 4 at 1:00 p.m.

Presented by Bron Hansboro  (Founder and Owner , The Flower Guy Bron); Gretchen Culver  (Founder and Owner, Rocket Science Events); Renee Sabo  (Founder and Owner, Urban Soiree); Margaux Fraise  (Founder and Owner , Harmony Creative Studio) Dana Kadwell (Co-Founder, Hustle + Gather)

Creative entrepreneurs are idea generators and, for many, there's always another act up their sleeve. The innovative nature of wedding professionals is what keeps the industry fresh and interesting — but putting new ideas into action can feel like a lot of weight to carry on top of an existing workload. Tune in as top wedding pros discuss their own experiences with career pivots and business redirections, sharing valuable insights about finding inspiration, balancing multiple brands, marketing a new business line, and making more money in the new wedding industry landscape.

Small Weddings; Big Business (CS)

Tuesday, May 3 at 4:00 p.m.

Small weddings have always been on the outskirts of the industry scene, but it has become a business that continues to grow exponentially to serve the market's evolving needs. In this session, Gretchen will speak to the monumental shifts experienced in weddings in the last year, and how small-scale celebrations will carve out a space to become a mainstay in the events industry. Sharing her own successful foray into small weddings, Gretchen will shed light on how this trend can become a highly profitable revenue stream for industry professionals of all specialties.

California here we come!