T&K Event Planners & Decorators

Photos: Art Sidner

New Ulm: T&K Event Planners & Decorators

Tammy Buegler’s father was a 3M engineer and her mother a director of nursing for Union Hospital and later, New Ulm Medical Center. “I learned hard work from them,” said 44-year-old Buegler in a telephone interview. “As for me, I’ve always held two jobs.”

After graduating from New Ulm High in 1985 and learning accounting at South Central College, she joined Carlson Craft. She loved helping clients over the telephone. After her first child was born in 1988, she and her husband moved back to New Ulm. In 2000, she finished a Minnesota State teaching degree and taught special education until a cutback in 2008—all while working as a part-time Holiday Inn waitress.

“Then one day in 2010, I was enjoying putting together the weddings and decorations at the Holiday Inn, had two friends who were getting married, and thought I would decorate their weddings for free as a gift,” she said. That free gift would snowball into Buegler and daughter Kelli decorating and helping plan over 30 weddings last summer. So far in 2011, the mother-daughter tandem has booked 40 weddings.

Besides decorating, she said, “We can help with arranging for a cake baker, caterers, a photographer, floral arranging, a DJ, a glass etcher (for personalized champagne glasses, for instance), a custom jewelry maker, and even horse-and-buggy rides.” Rates run from $500 (including decorations) to $3,000.

She said, “Many girls from early on in life think about their wedding and what they want it to look like. We try to give that to them for as little cost as possible.” Mother and daughter also have a retail location that includes a consignment shop.

T&K Event Planners & Decorators
Telephone: 217-9993.
Facebook: T&K Event Planners & Decorators
Location: 20 N. Minnesota.