Waggin’ Weddings launched for pet lovers
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Wedding professionals Emily Gustafson of Farragut, left, with “best friend” Bo, and Erin Albright of West Knoxville, share their love of animals by launching a business, Waggin’ Weddings, that takes care of couples’ pets on their wedding day. - Photos courtesy of Erin Albright and Clint James Photography
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Cooper, a client’s pet - Photos courtesy of Erin Albright and Clint James Photography
Emily Gustafson of Farragut and Erin Albright of West Knoxville partnered up to start a home-based business, Waggin’ Weddings, a week-and-a-half ago as an off-shoot of their existing wedding businesses.
No, the two do not hold pet weddings — they are not pet wedding officiants — but they provide wedding-day pet care to couples in East Tennessee.
“We’re booking now,” Gustafson said. “We’re open for business.
“Being a wedding planner, I meet a lot of couples whose animals are very precious to them, and they want then to be part of their wedding day in some way. But a lot of the time there’s nobody to take care of the animal,” she said. “So, you end up not being able to have the pet as a part of the wedding day or you have to recruit somebody to take care of it, and that can be kind of a hassle.”
Of course, “they’re a dog, they’re unpredictable,” Gustafson said. “You never know what they’re going to do.
“I’ve had clients whose pets were part of the wedding, and they stayed in a space by themselves during the reception and did a bunch of damage,” she added.
“I kept seeing this (pet care) need, over and over, from clients. If people want pets in their weddings, we will transport your pet to your wedding, we’ll take care of them, we’ll help get them down the aisle — if that’s what you want — or if you want them for photos, we’ll take care of that.
Overall, “We’ll make sure that they get attention and time because it’s a very busy day for a lot of people,” she said. “If they want grooming, we’ll make sure that they are groomed and ready to go, and then get them home once the wedding is over. We just take care of your dogs or your (other) pets on your wedding day.”
Originally from Nashville, Gustafson came to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee, met her husband, Tyler Gustafson, and moved around due to his work for a while.
She met Albright through the wedding industry, Gustafson said. “We became friends and started working more together.”
Gustafson and Albright, a calligrapher, hand- letterer and sign-maker, saw the need for a wedding-day pet daycare business.
“We talked it over and thought it might be a good idea to introduce wedding-day pet care,” she said. “We decided to jump in and kind of make a business out of it.”
While there are similar services in other cities, “There’s nothing like it in town at this point,” Gustafson added.
To book appointments, send an e-mail to wagginweddingstn@gmail.com
