Meet Linsey | Co-Owner & Planner

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

Hi Linsey, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
In high school, my twin sister and I were both really good at organizing our friends’ events and realized that our friends never got together unless we planned something. Proms, winter formals, dinners, and limos were all organized by us as well. It just came naturally. Then, the movie The Wedding Planner came out and it clicked that this was something we could potentially be really good at. With every class project we dove deeper into learning about the industry, but still it was a pipe dream to start our own business, and we even went to different colleges to grow individually. It wasn’t until Linsey discovered the Entrepreneurship Center at Cal State Fullerton that our idea seemed plausible. Then, in 2007, The Double Knot was selected to be launched as a class project in the entrepreneurship incubator program and we never turned back. We feel like we were born to do this and now, 17 years later, we are still doing weddings and events and more! We each have a degree in business, but we truly have CSUF Entrepreneurs to thank for helping us get going so quickly!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Our passion comes from the love of helping others. Our skill comes from being twin sisters who are competitive with each other and always trying to think of a way to improve ourselves. We always welcome feedback and always ask for feedback after every event. We are so grateful for our first few years of couples who trusted us before we truly believed in ourselves. Our first events were learning experiences: we worked hard, and we made almost nothing, but those events were instrumental to learning the ropes.

We truly believe that “where there is a will, there is a way” and so there is no problem that cannot be solved. We have event organization down to a science so we can see problems in advance and solve them before they occur. Sometimes these problems get solved without any communication between us because, as twins, we already know what each other is thinking. Some will say it is twin magic, but I think you can do that with anyone who you spend enough time with. We have known each other since we were “womb” mates, so it makes sense that we connect more deeply and intuitively.

Another aspect that keeps us strong is that we have an enormous collection of emergency kit items that include everything from extension cords to medication and will never go to an event without it. With this as our toolbox, our twin magic is accentuated even more with our team on radio communication so we can adjust to changes on the fly, immediately, and from any place in the venue.

Over the years there have been challenges whenever someone is sick, or when we experienced pregnancies (and complications). We learned to let others help us and have trained other aspiring planners in our ways to create even more magic in our coordination. We have families now, and we juggle that during the week, but on wedding days we get to focus solely on our couples, and we feel so lucky to be chosen to help! We absolutely love what we do and can’t imagine doing any other job!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Although we were born in Downey, we grew up in Orange County, so that is where I would take you if you visited! I would show you the sights and shopping in Laguna Beach with lunch at The Cliff, put our toes in the sand, and then go check out an Angels baseball game at the Angel Stadium or a Ducks hockey game at the Honda Center, and if you are into late night, go bar hopping in Downtown Fullerton! Of course, there’s always a good time at Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland too!

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?
Our business was first inspired by The Wedding Planner movie, and then ultimately launched as a result of a college class that incubated entrepreneurial ideas, so we have so many classmates, teachers, professors and mentors to thank for making us feel like we could do it! Without their encouragement and guidance, I don’t think we ever would have had the courage to start our own business. I especially want to thank John Jackson, a mentor and author at the CSUF Center for Entrepreneurship, for always empowering students like me to taking the leap versus settling to follow someone else’s dream. The mentality of the Entrepreneur program was, “everyone will be working for ME someday” and I felt right at home!

Website: https://www.thedoubleknottwins.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thedoubleknot

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedoubleknot

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-double-knot-chino?osq=The%20Double%20Knot

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/thedoubleknot/

Image Credits
David & Tania Photography, Larissa Bahr Photography, Pesiri Photography, Debra Kay Photography