If you are thinking of having some unique décor for your wedding, then you need to meet Jason with Bear Lane Creations located in Meadville, PA.
Learn more about what they offer with our latest Meet The Pros interview.
Bear Lane Creations
1. When did you start your business?
Our business opened in 2018 as a home décor only. In 2021, a customer was getting married and asked if we could make all of her decorations. Well we did and boom!…. Bear Lane Weddings was born (our subdivision of Bear Lane Creations).
2. Tell us a little bit about your business and how you got your start?
Our main company, Bear Lane Creations has four subdivisions: home décor, apparel, crafting classes/parties, and wedding décor and rentals. We started as a small craft show company and over the past few years the company has grown in ways we never expected! We master one thing and then someone asks us “Hey can you do this?” and each time that has happened we ended up with a new product line.
3. Describe your service/product you provide and how are you different from other wedding décor and rentals?
We provide all things weddings. From the signs at your wedding to favors for your guests to displays for cakes and cupcakes to massive wedding walls. We even have unique products like our Guest Book wall sign where the wedding guests sign a custom made piece that has the bride and grooms name and wedding date on it and we seal it after the wedding and the bride and groom have a piece they can hang on their wall rather than a book in a box!
We make custom pieces that they can purchase to keep and also offer rental pieces that make weddings much less expensive for the bride and groom.
4. What was your first memory involving working with wedding decor and rentals?
Our first wedding we did was for a friend and that day turned into a brutally hot day with no ac and a late photographer. We stayed to help the bridal party decorate and make things easier for the bride. It is where we debuted the Guest book wall sign which was a massive hit and ended up getting us many more weddings booked just from that one!
5. What words best describe you and your company?
We are flexible and here to make the bride and grooms vision come true so definitely accommodating.
6. How did you get into wedding décor and rentals?
We decided to offer rentals to as a way to help brides and grooms save money on their weddings. Weddings can get overwhelming and expensive when trying to plan so we try to take some of the work out of it for our couples to be!
7. What is your favorite part of providing wedding décor and rentals?
My favorite part is being able to customize a wedding to fit the style of the bridal party and make their vision come true. We do everything from rustic, boho chic. to ultra modern with clean lines! I love how creative we get to be!
8. Any great stories from working with a client?
I just had a bride who is getting married later this year come to sign her contract and confirm her pieces and she said “I don’t know if you know how much this means to me:. You took a big load and stress off of my shoulders and now I feel like I can relax some. You have made everything so easy and even thought of things I would have forgotten”. It is great to know that we are helping in that way and that their wedding day can be less stressful for them!
9. What is your favorite part of your job?
Creating! I get paid to make things all day long!!!!
10. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned, and would pass along to other new wedding décor and rentals just getting started?
Best advice I can give is develop a list of questions for your bride and groom going into the meeting. You literally need to think of everything. And you may have to work your items in with other companies’ items which is ok with us so you need to be flexible. Always get a very clear contract in place and a portion of the fee upfront. We also charge a deposit which is refunded if the rental décor is returned in good shape.
11. What are your favorite trends when it comes to wedding decor and rentals?
Some of the trends we are seeing right now are simple, ultra modern weddings which I think are gorgeous! Lots of acrylic signs and clean lines.
12. What tips or advice can you give couples who are ordering their wedding décor and rentals?
Make sure you have good communication with the company designing your pieces. We are literally talking to our brides weekly and sending photos of their signs and centerpieces to make sure they like them or if something needs tweak. Also expect the unexpected. We have had brides contact us the day before a wedding asking for a last minute piece!
13. What inspires your designs?
Love….all things love! You can get ideas from magazines the couples bring, Pinterest, the internet etc. I start with their color palette and work from their. We also have a binder with photos from previous weddings we’ve done so they can see the pieces in a wedding setting which has helped immensely.
14. If you could provide wedding décor and rentals for any celebrity wedding (past, present or future), who would be the lucky couple?
Taylor Swift’s future wedding would be amazing! She is from a town by us and I love her energy! She would be a fun bride to work with!
15. What’s the most unusual request you’ve had?
We had a bridesmaid group who decided to start their bridal shower off with doing one of our crafting classes! We made them all bridal shirts and it was a great day of bonding for all of the women in the bridal party!
16. What’s the most memorable event/product/service (doesn’t have to be a wedding) you’ve done?
We do a ton of fundraising for local charities and we did a 100 person crafting class for charity the day before Pennsylvania got shut down for covid. We were so nervous because we had 100 signs cut and prepped and all the supplies purchased and we weren’t sure if everyone would still attend or if Pennsylvania would shut us down prior to the event. We were only missing a couple of people that day and were so relieved for us and the organization we were doing it for!
17. When you are not working on a wedding, what do you like to do for fun?
We are very outdoorsy so if we aren’t working on a wedding or having a crafting class or attending a big craft festival like Applefest, you will find us riding side by sides with our friends out in the woods or down in West Virginia. We love to play in the mud!!!
18. Do you have any final advice for brides and grooms?
This is supposed to be one of the best days of your life so relax. Find the people and companies out there that can help make that possible. Not everything will go perfectly, they never do and that’s ok because those stories sometimes ending being some of the best memories.
19. Anything else you want to share with us?
We do ship nationwide so have a wedding but think you’re too far away? No we can ship to you. And we do deliver some as well in the tri-state area (Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York). And we can always use zoom or facetime to meet “in person”.
Also, watch our page because later this year you will see our etsy store pop up and a new web page which is in development currently.
20. How should couples interested in wedding decor and rentals get in touch with you?
We can be reached multiple ways…
First our email is [email protected]
You can find us on Facebook and Instagram
Or you can always call us at 814-720-3437
Hearts, Joy, Love!
Jean
Looking for fun ideas, or need help with your wedding plans? Contact me today at [email protected] or by phone or text at 937-581-3647!
