“Traveling is how we stay inspired. It’s how we keep our creative energies flowing. Experiencing life fully is our ultimate goal. Every day. Fully present. Fully alive. We want that same energy and excitement to resonate in every detail of the ART and magic created for our clients and couples.“
JOSIAH AND JUSTIN · founders of samkoma
under the northern lights in Iceland
MEET THE SAMKOMA FAMILY
SAMKOMA means “come together” in Icelandic. Each member of our team below, has played an intricate part in the SAMKOMA story. Thank you to all of these beautiful energies - because of you, our dream of building an international creativity concierge became a reality.
Josiah AND JUSTIN
We are Josiah Carr and Justin McGregor - two guys in love, and the founders of SAMKOMA.
SAMKOMA is the product of our combined creative energies, our mutual passion for travel, and the human experience.
While we are often bouncing from one place to the next, we spend as much time as we can near the ocean in beautiful North Carolina.
Thank you for stopping by to learn more about us, we would love to learn more about you.
Justin Mcgregor // published photographer and artist
Justin found his passion for photography at a very young age. Over the years, Justin has had the opportunity to travel the world - capturing some of nature’s most beautiful landscapes. Justin is an intuitive creative and works with clients around the world to offer branding, artist photoshoots, and product shoots. He leans into his instincts and the result is beautiful, candid, real and emotional imagery. Justin offers wedding photography for a limited number of clients each year and his work has been published in BRIDES and People Magazine. In addition to photography, his attention-to-detail and creative input are vital assets in the success of SAMKOMA weddings and events.
Josiah Carr // Event Designer and CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Josiah launched his event planning company, Ninth & Everett, in winter of 2016 in Nashville, Tennessee. Since then, he has had the honor of working with clients and couples around the globe. As the company grew and began solely focusing on destination and international events, Josiah merged creative energies with Justin and launched SAMKOMA. An extensive background in event design, an adaptive personality, and a calm demeanor, are all elements that Josiah brings to the table. He gives 110% to his clients and couples and provides full service event planning and event design services. Josiah and Justin work alongside each other to curate each detail for events and projects that SAMKOMA takes on.
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Mariann Cameron
LEAD EVENT PLANNER
Mariann is a Lead Event Planner with SAMKOMA and offers Full Service Planning and Event Design services for couples around the world.
Marianna oversees SAMKOMA MONTANA and is based there full time. With a decade of experience planning and designing beautiful weddings, you can rest assured that your wedding dreams will be fully brought to life. Her knowledge and experience will ensure that your expectations are exceeded time and time again.
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Brandy Dyer
LOGISTICS & VENDOR COORDINATION
Brandy is the logistics and vendor coordinator for SAMKOMA projects both domestically, and internationally.
Brandy assists SAMKOMA with various projects year round and she has been SAMKOMA’s right hand and better half since day one. We owe much of our success to Brandy as she energetically invests in SAMKOMA daily. Brandy is the owner of Beyond Details Catering and is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Alison Smith
LOGISTICS & ON-SITE SUPPORT
Even before Alison was a part of the SAMKOMA family, she played an active roll in ensuring that all of our projects ran smoothly.
After several years in the event rental industry, Alison decided to pursue a career in opening her own cake company, Cakes + Co. Alison’s work has been featured in People Magazine amongst other publications.
Alison runs logistics and on-site support for Nashville based SAMKOMA projects when she isn’t designing cakes.
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Kaila Loftus
FILMMAKER AND CREATIVE
Kaila is based in Denver, Colorado. We connected with Kaila and her husband Jay when we launched our first event company nearly a decade ago.
Kaila runs KLassey Productions an award winning filmmaking company and is always on the brink of launching a new creative endeavor.
She works closely with the SAMKOMA team for all of our Colorado projects and has always played a key role in encouraging our creative flows.
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Emily Katherine
STYLIST, JEWELRY DESIGNER, ARTIST
Emily has been a part of the SAMKOMA vision since the very beginning.
Emily offers styling services for our clients and couples, she adorns our brides with jewelry from her handmade collection, Dreambox Jewelry and she provides artistic and creative insight into many SAMKOMA projects.
Emily’s work has been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings amongst other publications.
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Ges Lorraine
ARTIST, WRITER, ACTIVIST
Ges was there the first time the words “I want to be an event planner one day” were spoken. And since then, she has supported every move that the SAMKOMA team has made.
Ges is an artist and writer and is always helping our team grow and evolve.
When Ges isn’t saving lives and changing the world, she is working behind the scenes for us, and with us - making magic.