5 Wedding Pros Under 10K Followers

The wedding industry has become something bigger than itself over the past few years. It’s changed from valuing the art of each vendor to putting more value into how many followers someone has or what lists a vendor might be on. Which, if you’re in the industry, you know that this means that the same handful of vendors are being featured over and over again.

The Arists Anthology wants to change that. Every month I will be putting together a list of ten vendors under 10K followers (this month was less, I know) across platforms. This will include any genre of vendor as long as the quality and expertise are there. There are so many truly wonderful people in this industry and it’s time that they stop being overlooked just because of their follower count.

We’ll also be giving the vendors listed in this feature a free year of a vendor listing on our platform. Marketing is hard. Putting your name out there is hard. We want to make it easier for everyone to get the recognition. This industry is big enough for everyone, and it’s time that there’s a publication that shows that.

If you’re interested in being on our October 10 under 10K list please email us directly at: [email protected]

1. Heather Royal – Dress Designer

Follower Count: 640 | Website | Instagram

My custom work began after college, equipped with a fashion design degree, minors in fine art and art history and years working both as a seamstress and consultant in bridal salons. It supplemented a career that began on the corporate side of a luxury house, moved to production and tailoring under another designer, and led to heading all creative and manufacturing for a limited-production wholesale line before I made the move to focus fully on bespoke projects. Trained in couture, I specialize in bridal and millinery with most of the material in my collection and bespoke work coming from designer end cuts and repurposed or up-cycled family heirlooms, wasting little and create minimal environmental impact. My brand seems to attract a like-minded clientele; my brides often are creatives themselves with a specific vision in mind and we work together from my intimate studio to bring the look to life.

2. Jen Ganson – A Fresh Event

Follower Count: 4,739 | Website | Instagram

Jen Ganson is an event producer, creative director, and storyteller with more than 14 years of experience creating thoughtful, high-touch experiences around the world. As the founder of A Fresh Event, she produces social celebrations, destination events, and brand experiences for clients who care just as much about how an event feels as how it looks.

Of course, the design matters. But Jen’s real work is creating the feeling in the room. She thinks about how people are welcomed, how the event flows, what makes guests feel comfortable and connected, and how every detail works together to create an experience that feels personal and completely true to the people at the center of it.

Known for pairing a strong creative point of view with sharp logistics and genuine hospitality, Jen brings big ideas to life in a way that feels intentional, seamless, and never overproduced. Her work is rooted in connection, curiosity, and the belief that the best events are the ones people can feel long after they are over. Beyond events, Jen brings that same perspective to travel planning, consulting, speaking, and storytelling.

Photos by Brandi Potter and Kristin Sweeting, provided by Jen Ganson

3. Deb Petrielli – HMUA

Follower Count: 2,951 | Website | Instagram

Chicago-based bridal hairstylist and makeup artist with 15 years of experience creating elevated, polished beauty looks for weddings, private clients, and productions. Serving Chicago and destinations, with a focus on modern, effortless beauty that feels like an elevated version of you.

4. Karrah Kobus – Photography

Follower Count: 6,275 | Website | Instagram

When I was 20 years old, I accidentally & fully fell in love with photography. A soul shaking, thirst quenching, logic defying kinda love. You know. I spent all of my days barefoot in the woods, floating in the water, camera around my neck. Within months I dropped out of college (where I was studying anthropology) & quit my job (as a certified party pro at party city), because I knew with no doubt that this… photography, was where I could find the art of life.

If there’s one thing about me – it’s that I’m an all-in kinda girl.

I’ve often been called a “magician,” and while I understand the sentiment I’ve truthfully never identified with that word. Everything I photograph, was always in front of us. I’m more like a kid, who’s on a forever carousel ride… with a bow tied to her high pony and a rainbow painted cheek, running dizzy back in line… meticulously searching the fairgrounds for someone who wants to ride again.

There’s something inherently nostalgic about photography – that brings me back to being that girl in line at the carousel. I still remember what it was like to be 5 years old, bangs freshly cut by the kitchen scissors, and to hear my papa calling me over for one of his enchanting stories. He’d tap his knee, a sure invitation to hop on up, and don’t forget the glistening eyes. It all makes so much sense, now. When I put together a print box or an album for my clients, I want it to feel like being called up onto papa’s knee for the story of a lifetime. He still has those glistening eyes. I never want to forget them.

Like the color of my hair, who exactly I am right now is a thing of transience – so, I’ll only attempt to explain my core. And really that’s why my camera found me. I wanna feel purpose. I wanna make something out of who we are, right now, together. Radical presence while our paths intersect. And ya know what? If we do that… we’ve surely done something transcendental.

5. Sarah Deshields – Enowen Photography

Follower Count: 2,751 | Website | Instagram

I’m a Scottish lass who moved countries for love, and am always looking for the lyrical and the sacred in the ordinary rhythms of our lives. With a degree in Communication Arts, a certification in Spiritual Direction, a Masters in Counseling & Expressive Arts Therapy, and my camera always by my side, my philosophy of ‘following the breadcrumbs’ in life has led me to where I am now as an artist focusing on fine art portrait and wedding photography here in Boone, North Carolina.

I’m drawn to authentic artistic exploration of the threshold moments of our lives – birth, aging, pregnancy, weddings, death, grief, joy – every time we move into a new moment, we are stepping across a threshold of enormous creative expansion. When I tend to these moments through the art of photography, I participate in the sacred nature of this life, and it’s my greatest honor to bear witness to you in whatever threshold you’re moving through.