We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Waara and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, how do you think about risk?
The story of my life and career has been entirely by “risk taking” in terms of verbiage. In lieu of this interview, I would like to reiterate it as walking by faith. Growing up I had many admirations of what I could become but never knew what I wanted to be. There was loads of pressure for me to go into a field where I could get a job quickly and start living a very domestic lifestyle. When I went to college, I did a degree field I was entirely uninterested in. I hated the course work, hated the tuition and really hated having to work three jobs to pay for the degree. There were many tears in the five and a half years it took for me to finish my Bachelor’s Degree of Finance. It wasn’t until I graduated that my life and career started to pave a path. Shortly after graduating I got engaged and started my career doing corporate events. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to work with some major Fortune 500 companies in planning national sales meetings, televised events with Hallmark and Animal Planet, planning a concert at Disney Springs and traveling to many places such as Hawaii. It gave me so many wonderful opportunities. However, I was missing the small events of what was important to me, my family. After almost two years of corporate I knew I needed to find a career that was going to fulfill a home and work life. I left my corporate job without having another job lined up for me. To be honest it was completely stressful and I felt like I was starting to run out of options. There was many tears until finally I dropped to my knees and prayed. My prayer was, “I am done! I have tried it my way and it doesn’t seem to work. Please tell me what I should do. Please guide me in the path you want me to Lord.” In just moments, God gave me the answer of doing events. It wasn’t easy there was this unknown path of me going back to events and end up failing miserably. I was having to conquer my fear of being vulnerable as I was having to pitch sales to strangers in hopes of working their event. I then had to go to events by myself representing a small business that started from my home. Originally I thought I was going to be doing small private parties of birthdays and showers. Then more and more opportunities came for me to pursue wedding planning. By planning weddings it has allowed for me to experience the happiest of times for many couples. I have created so many fulfilling relationships with clients and vendors that have been a constant support system for One Fat Dove. It has given me a purpose to experience many couples’ stories as they continue a new chapter in life of happily ever after. As my work life was progressing, my home life seemed to come to a crashing halt. After trying to conceive a child for over a year, my husband and I had news we were unable to have children. We worked so hard in our work lives so we could continue a path of parenthood. Doctors told us in vitro fertilization better known as IVF would be our only blue print to expanding our family. We were actively getting ready to start treatments as we lined our schedules to not interfere with events and confirmed on our finances. For what we thought was our plan somehow didn’t seem to be in line with what God had planned. There were many signs as we ran into barriers trying to pursue IVF. It was then we decided to stop and take time to work on our marriage. We needed to grieve and figure out what was going to be best for our home. By taking some time we realized God’s barriers were signs to turn to his word. With his word we were lead to take a new path and journey to adoption. We started the adoption process in October of 2019 and were blessed with our son July of 2020, exactly nine months. My story of risk taking has been a contributing factor of what I count as my accomplishments. I have learned to become a strong, independent business woman as I continue pursuing my passions in celebrating new chapters in life. It has given me hard lessons on being selfless and understanding. It has allowed to build my relationships with God as I continue a guided path to walk in faith. It has encouraged me to be a better wife, better mother and a better business owner.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
One Fat Dove is an event planning company seeking to be intrinsic to all social gatherings. We range in events from weddings, showers, birthday parties and holiday gatherings. As OFD grows, we are very proud to be servicing clients and witnessing moments that will be cherished as the happiest of times. We build trust by learning our client’s personality traits and this shows in the details illustrated at each event.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
For someone that plans and runs events I am a very chill kind of gal. The best long weekends include drinks, dinner, sports and pool days. Some of my favorite dinner spots are Sixty Vines, Whiskey Cake and Uncle Julios. I love to go to North Park Mall, Highland Park Village and Greenville Avenue. Can’t go wrong with going to some Mavericks basketball games to cheer on Doncic and Porzingis!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Nothing I have would be without my support system. First, thank you to God for continuing to show me what life has to offer. Thank you for creating a path with your light and helping me continue my story. To my sweet husband Shawn, thank you for supporting me through this journey. Thank you for listening to my endless rants of self-doubt and giving me honest feedback. To my mother Heather, thank you for being my best friend and my business confidant. Through my entire life, you showed me joy can come from the smallest of things. To my father Stormy, thank you for teaching me the value of hard work. Thank you for showing me the importance of setting goals in every aspect of my life. To my siblings, thank you for being there for wine-o nights and to be there in the times when life was so dark. My grandparents Gene and Gaynell Pendley, thank you for your self-expression in showing me how to be creative. To my muse, my great-grandmother Katie Mae, even though you are gone you are so dear to my heart. Thank you for showing me how to live my life through my faith and by grace. My professional support is just as important. Thank you to my amazing vendors The Springs Venues, Hannah Way Photography, Kalyn Shae Photography, Creatve Wedding Films, Bright Eyed Blooms, Be Entertained Events, 5 Star Rentals, Simply Sarah Jane, One Love Texas, Ruthi Hutson Cakes and many more. Thank you for your amazing collaborations to creating the most memorable events. Thank you to my clientele for allowing me to pursue my passions of creating happily ever afters!

Website: https://onefatdove.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onefatdove/
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-waara-24106618a/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onefatdove
Other: The Knot: https://www.theknot.com/marketplace/one-fat-dove-forney-tx-2023086 WeddingWire: https://www.weddingwire.com/biz/one-fat-dove-forney/79db0f7ba247c56d.html

Image Credits
Christy Archibald Photography Kelly Costello Photography Hannah Way Photography Hiram Trillo Photography

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