Connecting you to the people who will help you start your village.
Become Wedding Planning Superstars!
Carrie Nichols Photography
Carrie Nichols Photography
The One Community was born after two people who operated in both the wedding and marketing industries found each other online. No, it’s not an online dating story. Monica and Mike are happily married (both married in 2004). But a beautiful partnership was created which turned out to be one of those things that was just “meant to be.”
Ryan & Monica
Monica McLeod Sawyer, along with (mostly) silent partner and husband Ryan Sawyer, own McLeod Creative, a graphic design and communications firm. Monica and her team at McLeod Creative developed The One Bride Guide magazine magazine in 2008 to serve the local brides of Corpus Christi, Texas and surrounding areas. After 10 successful years, The One easily maintains the title of largest and most creative wedding resource for the South Texas Coast. Monica and her team realized a better system needed to be established in the online world to match what they were doing in print to help connect local brides to the wedding suppliers. Monica had started using the system ClickFunnels to help boost online activity, but needed an expert to help.
Mike & Monique
Meanwhile, in a very different climate up in Ottawa, Canada, Mike Caldwell was running his very successful Marketing Medic business as an online marketing and Clickfunnels expert. He was also racking up a ton of wedding experience having built his own wedding venue, The Ark, on his remote 160 acre off-grid property which he operates with wife, Monique. In February of 2017, Monica Sawyer found Mike Caldwell online and asked him to help figure out Clickfunnels with her. Immediately, the two realized their skills were well matched to accomplish way more than online marketing campaigns. With a decade of wedding experience on Monica’s side from The One Bride Guide magazine and Mike’s expertise with both navigating the online world as well as understanding what brides and wedding vendors need, the two decided to launch a virtual, personal wedding planner that would be a major upgrade from any system available in the US today. The One Community was launched in record time with the help of programming experts, Magneto IT Solutions, who have been fantastic to work with.
The One Community Partners, Mike & Monica
What makes The One Community different are the many ways we nurture connections, from helping brides engage with suppliers to getting live, personal advice from our weekly chats with our own real wedding planner. We are also nurturing a community. Brides will find valuable connections through our regional Facebook buy/sell/trade groups where they can also get the scoop on what’s happening locally. VP Wedding Planner has all the tools, tips and tricks you need to feel supported in your journey and to save money planning the wedding of your dreams. We are growing every day to make the system better and better just for you. With a Planner in your pocket, your wedding is a piece of cake!
Monica McLeod Sawyer is a graduate of the University of Florida and a student of the Royal College of Art in London. Monica’s career took off in Atlanta, Georgia working for Fitzgerald + Co. Advertising as lead designer with clients such as Coca-Cola, The Atlanta Braves Baseball, The Atlanta Hawks Basketball, The Island of Aruba, John Deere and more. She got tired of the big city and spent some time working for the Discovery Channel in Patagonia, Argentia for the Eco Challenge Race. Monica then moved to Boulder, CO to continue her career, working with IBM and other tech firms. There she met husband, Ryan Sawyer and started McLeod Creative. In 2002 she relocated the business to Corpus Christi to be with Ryan. Through McLeod Creative, Monica started The One Bride Guide magazine magazine in 2008, now a sister company to The One Community. Monica also serves the community by founding the non-profit, CC PATCH, dedicated to restoring the 1929 historic Ritz Theatre downtown. Her most important role, however, is mom to beautiful daughters, Stella and Vivian.
In addition to having a Masters degree in Management, Mike Caldwell worked as a firefighter/paramedic for 12 years. In 2001, Mike was serving as the Paramedic Supervisor for the Ottawa Air Ambulance Helicopter Service in Canada and while setting up a rappel, Mike fell 35’ off a cliff, breaking his arm, leg and back. With what he calls some “down time,” Mike went on to sell his home and cottage and purchase a 6,000 square foot abandoned sawmill, turning his back on the Emergency Medical Services to become a full-time entrepreneur. Over the next couple of years Mike renovated the sawmill to become not only a home for he and his wife Monique, but also a “rustic chic” wedding venue known as “The Ark.” For more than a decade now Mike has been hosting weddings, where he has been known to serve as the officiant, DJ, bartender, server and “bonfire master” while at the same time honing his online marketing skills. Working as the “Marketing Medic,” Mike has become somewhat of a digital marketing guru, using his skills to not only build his own businesses but the businesses of students and clients. Creating The One Community has given Mike the opportunity to combine his knowledge of the wedding industry with his empathy-based marketing expertise.