Travel Advisor Success Story: Shonte Tepper Alce, Just Book It Travel Destination Weddings

Success Stories focus on veteran travel advisors and how they achieved success. Here’s a looks at Shonte Tepper Alce, a destination wedding guru at Just Book It Travel Destination Weddings.

How did you get your start as a travel advisor?

I got my start as a travel advisor when a former corporate coworker reached out to me. She knew I traveled often and suggested I join her agency. She painted a picture of all the benefits, and I decided to take the plunge.

Shortly after, another coworker approached me to plan his daughter’s destination wedding in Cancun. I was both excited and nervous, but I took on the challenge and dove right in. That experience opened the door to more opportunities, and I quickly realized I had a passion for planning destination weddings.

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of planning hundreds of destination weddings, and I’ve built a deep knowledge of the industry. It’s been an incredible journey from that first wedding to where I am now, and I love helping couples create unforgettable experiences.

How did you build your business over the years?

I’m deeply passionate about my business – it’s something I live and breathe every day. My team and I are constantly thinking of ways to improve our services and make each wedding even better than the last. We take something special from every wedding, applying fresh ideas and energy to continuously refine our approach. Our goal is always to be more efficient and provide a truly exceptional experience for every couple we work with.

Interestingly, the majority of our business comes from word-of-mouth referrals from past couples and their families. Despite not having a large social media following (we barely have 700 followers on Instagram), we’ve built a reputation based on trust, personalized service and the incredible memories we help create.

What characteristics make you a successful advisor?

I believe my success stems from my unwavering commitment to enhancing every aspect of the destination wedding experience. While my primary role as a travel advisor focuses on planning travel and logistics, I go beyond just that. I actively involve myself in other areas of wedding planning – whether it’s helping with website creation, designing invitations, managing guest lists, offering budgeting tips or providing wedding planning advice. My approach is to be as available and as supportive as possible, guiding clients through every step of the wedding planning process.

What have been your greatest challenges?

One of my greatest challenges has been learning how to duplicate myself. When I first started my agency 12 years ago, I was a ‘one-woman show,’ handling everything on my own. Five years ago, I made the leap and left my career as a CPA to focus solely on growing the business and planning destination weddings. As we grew, the biggest hurdle was transitioning from working solo to building a strong, cohesive team.

Today, we’re a team of six. Our main goal is to provide a consistent, exceptional experience for all of our wedding couples, and we’ve worked hard to leverage the unique strengths of each team member to do so. It’s been a journey of learning how to delegate, trust my team, and ensure that we all work in harmony to provide the best service possible. We call ourselves ‘The Dream Team.’

I am truly fortunate that I get to work with the most amazing group of individuals who are just as passionate about planning weddings as I am. My greatest challenge has turned into my greatest blessing!

Navigating COVID was another significant challenge. I had quit my job on February 17, 2020, and by the end of March, the world had shut down. There were moments when I was tempted to humble myself, call my old boss and admit that I’d made a terrible mistake. Instead, I chose to dedicate myself to building every aspect of my business.

I focused on creating an incredible website, filled with valuable resources for future couples, and preparing for a future much bigger than what I had imagined. When my husband, Eddy, suggested I return to work, I asked him to give me just one year to make things happen. By September of 2020, I had hired my first employee.

Looking back, it seems almost surreal, especially considering how long COVID lingered and how many established travel agencies were struggling. Yet, somehow, my business not only survived but grew during this period.

My husband made the bold decision to quit his job on April 15, 2023, and join me as my business partner. In just a few months, we will be celebrating two years of him working alongside me and our incredible team, helping to shape the future of our business!

What have your greatest accomplishments been?

One of our greatest accomplishments has been being invited to recognition and top performer awards events, alongside the very agencies we looked up to as mentors. For years, we admired those agencies and aspired to be where they were. Now, to have them reach out to us for advice and guidance is truly a humbling experience. It’s an incredible feeling to call them not just mentors, but peers.

Another significant accomplishment has been becoming a mom while navigating the world of entrepreneurship. There’s not enough said about the unique challenges women face when running their own businesses – no maternity leave, paid time off, sick leave, insurance benefits or 401k.

I have two beautiful baby boys (2.5 years and 8 months old), and balancing the demands of motherhood with the responsibilities of being a business owner has been one of the toughest, yet most rewarding challenges I’ve faced. Finding a sustainable balance will be my focus for 2025. I am deeply grateful that my children already have more stamps in their passports than I did in the first 25 years of my life. 

What tips can you provide advisors new to the industry?

My biggest tip for new advisors is to find a niche and focus on becoming an expert in it. The travel industry is vast, and you can’t possibly master every type of trip. By narrowing your focus, you can develop specialized skills and offer tailored solutions that solve the unique challenges within that niche.

We chose destination weddings, and over time, we’ve honed our expertise in that area. While we occasionally receive requests for other types of travel, like a Greece trip or a ski vacation, we’ve learned to refer those clients to other trusted agents who specialize in those areas. I could plan those trips, but it would take away from the streamlined processes and expertise we’ve built for destination weddings.

Becoming really good at one thing can help you build a reputation and a business that thrives. Our business name, Just Book It Travel Destination Weddings, reflects the unique niche we specialize in and the work we are passionate about.

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