Owner/CEO's Name & Business's Name
Stephanie Allen / Heirloom Hourglass, LLC
Year Established
2007
Why is your business unique and what's your pitch?
We invented the Heirloom Hourglass Wedding Unity Sand Ceremony, creating a a unique wedding ceremony for couples all over the world, and taking the common sand ceremony to the next level. The patent pending Heirloom Hourglass design allows the user to open and close their hourglass from either side, so they can fill it with colored sand or real beach sand from any location in the world. Heirloom Hourglasses are handcrafted by the artists to order, and are used in weddings all over the globe.
What led you to start the business?
I was on vacation in the Bahamas with my husband, and I brought some sand home with me to remember the natural beauty of this place by. Sand from places where special memories were made is so elemental and symbolic - it is almost like you have a little piece of the place at home with you. I thought that if I felt this way about it, surely others may as well. I knew that the perfect way to display my sands would be to create an hourglass that I could fill. As the ultimate symbol of the passage of time, the hourglass would be an appropriate vessel for me to safely store and display my beach sands within. After a great deal of work, I created several prototypes, and then set out to offer Heirloom Hourglasses for use in wedding unity sand ceremonies. Today, over 90% of our hourglasses are purchased specifically for use in weddings.
Lessons Learned
- The most important lesson I have learned is to always approach every wedding I am creating an Heirloom Hourglass for as if it is my own. This is the fundamental approach that has helped me have success. I have been very fortunate and blessed to be able to be a small part of so many people's weddings. To think something I make is appreciated enough to be used in a wedding really blows me away, and it is so satisfying to me. Every time the day to day stress of operating a business gets to me a little, I realize how wonderful it is to be a part of one of the most important days of two peoples' lives.