Grit City Weddings & Events
Portfolio > Grit City Weddings & Events
"McKensey actively manages three brands for me - all in and around the wedding and hospitality space. She has refined two brands and created one brand from scratch.
McKensey is smart. I love how her brain works - she is constantly learning the nuances of my businesses and wants to fully understand how she can make a direct impact on our success. She sees details and actually cares about how those details need to be taken care of.
McKensey is creative. I'm fully aware it's in her business name - but we all know we can call ourselves whatever we want! She is actually creative! She is an artist - like an actual artist - and applies that skill to her work in marketing. I love how she interprets my brands and I feel like I can fully trust her with my businesses.
Thank you, McKensey, for all your hard work! And I'm looking forward to all our future projects large and small."
Ashley Griffith
Grit City Weddings + Events is a Tacoma-based wedding planning and design company serving couples throughout the Pacific Northwest.
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With a distinct brand personality, an established reputation, and more than 300 weddings planned, GCW needed marketing that could keep pace with their growing business while allowing their team to focus on what they do best: planning exceptional celebrations.
The Opportunity
As Grit City Weddings continued to grow, so did the demands of maintaining a consistent, strategic marketing presence. The opportunity was to:
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Strengthen brand visibility and recognition in a competitive wedding market
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Maintain a consistent presence across social media and digital platforms
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Turn the team's expertise and portfolio into valuable, engaging content
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Build relationships with prospective clients and wedding industry partners
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Reduce the time spent managing marketing internally
The Approach
What began as website and design support quickly evolved into an ongoing partnership, with MK Creative serving as an extension of the GCW team.
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Today, MK Creative oversees social media, blog content, email marketing, and collaborative campaigns, bringing strategy and execution together to support long-term brand growth and drive business goals.
Marketing Campaign – Awards Nomination
We partnered with the Grit City Weddings & Events team to help Ashley achieve her goal of becoming a top nominee for the Washington Wedding Day Best of 2025 awards.
To rally votes, we created a targeted campaign that included segmented email outreach to past clients, fellow vendors, and supporters—sparking engagement and encouraging direct responses. We amplified the effort with social media posts and a website blurb, making it easy for the community to cast their votes.
The result? A successful top 5 nomination in 2 categories and the excitement of seeing supporters actively engage.
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Wedding pros from across the state gathered to celebrate excellence in the industry at the Silver Cloud Hotel Tacoma at Point Ruston Waterfront for the Best of 2025 celebration.
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Branded Merch
For Grit City Weddings & Events, every detail matters—so their branded pieces needed to stand out just as much as the unforgettable events they create.
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To bring Ashley's vision of the Most Important Bag to life, we created a custom-designed tote that’s both functional and iconic. With a bold exterior, interior pocket, and secure zipper, it’s the perfect keepsake for couples to safely store all their meaningful wedding-day essentials—making it as practical as it is memorable.
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We designed square business cards with a raised embossed finish, giving Ashley a tactile, memorable way to share her business in addition to postcard-sized collateral for use at event expos.
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Social Media Management
Ashley faced the common challenge of social media overwhelm—so many possibilities that posting consistently felt impossible.
What began as social media strategy and team training has grown into full-service social media management.
Today, MK Creative oversees Grit City Weddings' ongoing Instagram and Google Business Profile presence, from content strategy and copywriting to scheduling, campaign development and performance review.
We’ve also developed and managed a few social media ads to support key business goals along the way.
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Email Marketing
We set up Grit City Weddings & Events with a fully customizable email marketing platform that integrates seamlessly with their website, making it easy to attract new subscribers and stay connected with fellow vendors and prospects.
Automated workflows now deliver strategic messages that introduce subscribers to GCW’s services and expertise, while branded templates allow Ashley and her team to efficiently share updates, promote upcoming events and wedding shows, and highlight blog content and wedding tips.
The platform gives them a streamlined, professional way to engage their audience and showcase their unique brand.
Content Marketing & Blog Strategy
MK Creative develops and manages The Gritty Details, GCW's wedding planning blog, transforming the team's expertise, real wedding experiences, and industry relationships into engaging, SEO-conscious content.
From editorial strategy and topic development to interviews, writing, and publishing, each article is designed to provide genuine value to engaged couples while strengthening GCW's credibility and organic search visibility. Content is also repurposed across social media and email marketing, extending its reach and creating opportunities for collaboration with fellow wedding professionals.
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Marketing Campaign & Expo
To set Ashley up for success at the Seattle Wedding Show Expo, we developed a targeted marketing campaign to promote her booth and her creative “Ask a Planner” appointments, where attendees could get 15 minutes of expert wedding guidance.
We encouraged advance bookings by offering a free party rentals consultation with a fellow vendor—strengthening vendor partnerships while boosting interest in Ashley’s booth.
We also collaborated with the Expo hosts on a paid social media post to reach beyond her existing audience.
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MK Creative designed all booth signage, print collateral, and 'Ask a Planner' buttons with a QR code that the team wore to encourage and schedule on-the-spot appointment bookings.
The results speak for themselves: Ashley describes it as her most successful and lucrative show yet, demonstrating both high-quality leads and the power of strategic pre-event marketing.
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Portfolio > Grit City Weddings & Events