Heaven Rogers with Espior Luxury Picnics & Events

Below is the transcribed "All Things Carlton Landing" podcast interview with Heather Rogers of Espior Luxury Picnics & Events. Our podcast can be found on Spotify, Apple, and Google.

Amanda

: Today, you’ll meet Heaven Rogers with Espior Luxury Picnic and Events. You'll hear how this unique idea came to be, the occasions perfect for luxury picnics, how she handles inclement weather, how she expands the setup to host a large group, and what vendors she recommends that adds to the beauty of the luxury picnic setup.

Amanda

: Today we have Heaven Rogers with us. She is the brilliant mind behind Espior Luxury Picnic and Events. She is in the Eufaula area. I stumbled upon her Instagram account and was so excited about the services she offers in that area in general. But specifically, I'm thinking about Carlton Landing and how amazing of a need that that fills for guests that are visiting. So, Heaven, tell us a little bit briefly about what services you offer.

Heaven

: So, Espior events is a luxury picnic and events company. We do luxury picnics for every occasion as far as romantic or all the way to larger events for companies. Our main popular area is couples and families.

Amanda

: Okay. I am so excited. When I saw it, I was really excited & couldn't talk to you fast enough because it's just so unique. I love business and marketing and unique ideas and filling really special niche needs. And I just love the one that you've come up with. I've never seen anyone else do it. And as I mentioned, it's perfect for guests at Carlton Landing. Tell me what inspired this idea and how it came to be.

Heaven

: Well, thank you. Thank you so much. So originally it was Southern picnic Co. It was me and my friend. We just had little babies and we were thinking of ways that we can help do things out of the house with our little ones. And this just fit perfectly into our schedules and what our lives looked like at the time. We grew to be pretty large. This was about a year ago. We were pretty substantial. And then she went to school and then I continued with Espior events. And it has just been so much fun. It's been a blast ever since I started it. So Espior, the meaning of Espior is inspire and hope. Espior comes from espoa, which is French for hope. And Espior sounds exactly like inspire. So it's just a mashup of the two to provide hope and experience and that inspiration I bring to the table.

Amanda

: I love it. I love it. And you are truly gifted in setting up a beautiful table. I thought, man, I think I want to surprise Adam with it just to see the beauty of it. I could totally see this being special. It's great, as you mentioned, for husbands or boyfriends wanting to surprise their lady with a romantic gesture, but also family celebrating something special, like their parents, to celebrate a really special anniversary. You mentioned you do larger groups. So far, who have you had use your services the most?

Heaven

: So far it's more couples for anniversaries and special occasions and special dates for them. I've had couples where the husband has just gotten back from deployment and the wife wanted something special for him. We would set up this beautiful picnic and as soon as she picks them up from the airport, they go to the picnic on the lookout. And it has been so fantastic. There are so many stories behind every couple that just makes it worthwhile. And then, like you said, larger events, more bridal showers, wedding showers, and Mother's Day kind of events. But the people who mainly use the service are couples who want to have that time alone in a special location that's just set up for them.

Amanda

: Yes. And the Eufaula area is just beautiful. I love that you're offering this- there’s so much beauty in the set up AND beauty in the surroundings. It sparks so much joy and hope. So how does it work with the larger groups? Do you supply tables and chairs? How does that all work?

Heaven

: So with luxury picnics, it's a table and then you have these big pillows to sit on and a big rug. For larger groups, I expand the placement with more tables and more large, larger pillows and the, of course, luxury food setup with the plate and the centerpieces. It's just like you're taking a ballroom experience and putting it outside on a picnic table. I would expand that down with multiple tables depending on how large your group is. And can serve up to 21.

Amanda

: I love it. That's so unique, so much more fun than chairs.

Heaven

: Yes. It's a lot more fun and it makes it more relaxed, you know, a more relaxed environment to just sit on a pillow on a rug and talk with somebody over a table that's all decorated luxuriously.

Amanda

: Yes. I love that. I know there are cultures around the world or even in the Bible, it talks about how the disciples reclined around the table with Jesus. It just has such a relaxing kind of feel to it. I'm sure it really creates a different vibe, I guess you might say, at the meal time.

Heaven

: Yes! And that's the environment that I'm trying to incorporate- the togetherness and family where it's not so uptight. It is more relaxed in the outdoors.

Amanda

: I love that. I love that. So tell me about the food. I noticed that you provide the set up and the food is provided separately. How do your clients typically handle that? Do you provide recommendations for great vendors that offer a picnic genre kind of meal? Or have you ever considered branching out to providing the food for them also?

Heaven

: I have multiple options. So the first one is you can bring your own food to your table. The second one is you can call and order anywhere around where your picnic table is set up and I will just pick it up on the way. And then you'll have it at your tablet, like DoorDash. Only luxury picnic DoorDash. I can have it pre-ordered through, like, a charcuterie company and then have that brought to your table as well so you don't have to deal with any of that aspect. It can all be handled for you.

Amanda

: That’s awesome. So you provide a few vendors that you think works well with the set up and then you actually set all the food out. That’s so convenient.

Heaven

: Yes. I like Mama Tigs’s charcuterie with meats, cheese, crackers, fruit & veggies as well as Tulip and Table. They're fantastic. They have the most gorgeous looking food and it's so delicious. Those are just a couple of the vendors that I recommend for a client.

Amanda

: I love that they're both super local. That's very close, of course, for you to not have to drive too far to get the food. Okay, so I'm sure as soon as we say goodbye, I'm going to think of so many other questions that I wish I would have thought to ask you. I'm sure you get a lot of the same questions over and over, though. So what are some of the questions you get asked a lot that you'd like to share with us? The

Heaven

: Yes, so one of those questions would be, “what about inclement weather? What if it's raining? Or what if the weather is not ideal?” And to that I would say that I have additional time slot options. If there is something that interrupts your picnic that we just cannot control like that, then I give you the ability to plan further ahead and then you would just go on a day that is absolutely perfect. Now I am looking at getting a bubble tent, which I don't know if you've seen those online or not, they are awesome. It's like an Igloo. All sides are clear. And you just set it up over the picnic so it can be sprinkling or even like light raining, or it could be slightly chilly or slightly warm. I'm going to have that set up over your picnic with air conditioners on the inside whenever it gets to be a little bit too muggy and warm outside. So I'll be able to expand those times where you don't have to have your picnic move whenever there's inclement weather.

Amanda

: That’s very convenient & so cool, especially for our Carlton Landing guests who are only in town for a few days. What about what parts of the area do you serve? How far out?

Heaven

: Yes, so I serve all around the Lake Eufaula area and Checotah. But my special locations, what I call them, they're on Lake Onapa and Eufaula Lake. That's within the local areas because I like to support local businesses and bringing those businesses to the table like Mama Tigs and the cafe downtown, Tulip & Table. It makes it a lot easier when I’m close to them.

Amanda

: Yes, absolutely. I cannot wait to try this out for ourselves. Maybe during our Bookcations coming up in April! So if our listeners wanted to work with you, what is the best way to reach out to you? Is it text, phone, email, social media? What's the best, easiest way to get a hold of you?

Heaven

: So the easiest way to get a hold of me would be sending me a text. My number is 918-490-2374. You can call me as well or you can find Espior Events on Facebook or on Instagram. Facebook is just Espior Events. My logo is a green leaf with a white background. It says Espior events in green. Same thing for Instagram, only @Espior.Events. My website is https://espiorevents.godaddysites.com/.

Amanda

: Perfect. Thank you for sharing & making it easy for guests to reach out to you. Thank you so much, Heaven, for taking time out of your day to share about your business. Cannot wait for our guests to look into what you offer.

Heaven

: Wonderful. I'm excited to be able to work with all these new couples and families to create those special moments for them.