I Quit My Government Engineering Job to Start a Custom Wedding Business From Home

Key Takeaways

• Overcame teenage homelessness to earn three degrees and intern at NASA — then walked away from a stable government career

• Turned a creative hobby with a laser cutter into a full-time custom wedding decor business run entirely from home

• Made back her equipment investment in just two months and now makes sales every single day

When people ask me for wedding business ideas, I always say the same thing: start with something you can produce entirely on your own, from your own home. That's exactly what I did — and it changed everything.

My name is Michelle Arguedas. I'm 35, I live in New Jersey, and I run Vera Noire, a custom wedding and event decor business. I design and produce everything — welcome signs, seating charts, table numbers, personalized guest favors — right from my living room, using my xTool P2S laser cutter.

Not long ago, I was a mechanical engineer working for the U.S. government. Today, I make sales every single day and have complete control over my time, my income, and my future.

But my story doesn't start there. It starts somewhere much harder.

People With My Background Don't Usually Make It This Far

To be honest, it's not common for someone like me to have made it this far. My parents divorced when I was young, and by the time I was 15, I was on my own — one of four siblings, all of us scattered. I worked at a car wash for cash. My first "real" job was at Dunkin' Donuts when I was 16. I waited tables at Applebee's. There were times when I had nowhere to sleep — I'd crash on friends' couches, or sleep on an air mattress in the basement of a burned-down house with no electricity.

But through all of that, I never stopped going to school. I told myself one thing: I will never be homeless again.

It took me years to finish my first degree because I couldn't go full-time — I was working multiple jobs just to survive. But I kept going. I earned two associate's degrees, then started engineering school when I was 28. I eventually enrolled at NJIT, one of the top engineering schools in New Jersey, and graduated with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering. Everything by myself. No safety net.

Along the way, I also taught myself two other languages — some Hebrew and Russian — just because I wanted to challenge myself. I've always been someone who has to keep learning, keep pushing forward.

Three Degrees, Two NASA Internships, and a Government Career

In 2023, I landed something I never thought was possible: an internship at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. I drove there alone — 14 hours with my dog in the car. For my first internship, I packed up everything and made the cross-country drive by myself. I ended up completing two separate internships at NASA.

For a kid who once had nowhere to sleep, standing inside a NASA facility was surreal. You would think that would be the dream for any engineering student coming right out of college.

After my internships, I got a full-time position with the U.S. government, working on Navy-related engineering projects. It was the kind of stable, respected career that most people spend their whole lives chasing. Great benefits. Meaningful work. The kind of job your family brags about.

But here's what nobody tells you about that kind of security.

The Dream Job That Was Draining Me

Working for the government was incredibly demanding. I woke up at 5 AM every day. The drive to the base was an hour each way. By the time I got home, it was 6 PM — 13 hours consumed, every single day.

The environment was extremely enclosed. I couldn't share information about my work. I didn't interact with many people. I barely saw sunlight because of the nature of what I was doing. It was draining me physically and mentally.

I had also just gotten married, and my husband and I were starting to plan for a family. The math was simple: if we both worked traditional jobs, who would be home for our kids?

On top of everything, changes were happening inside the government that I couldn't control. I could see instability coming. I was still relatively new — some colleagues had been there for a decade. So I decided I didn't want to wait around for things to get worse.

I resigned last September.

It was terrifying. But as someone who's already survived homelessness, I knew one thing about myself: I don't have the option to fail.

A Laser Cutter Changed Everything

Here's the part of my story that surprises people the most.

I actually bought my first xTool machine — the M1, a compact tabletop laser — while I was still interning at NASA in Alabama. I loaded it into my car and drove it 14 hours back to New Jersey. At that point, it was purely a side hustle. I made small items — engraved wooden coasters, keychains, nameplates, cutting boards — and sold them on my Etsy shop, which I'd already had for over six years.

The M1 got my business going. But it was the xTool P2S that changed the trajectory entirely.

The P2S could do things the M1 couldn't — cut acrylic with precision, handle large-format projects, and work with a much wider range of materials. I realized I could move beyond small items into something with far more creative and business potential. And when I added the conveyor system a few months later, my signage projects could go up to 10 feet long.

What started as a hobby quickly became a full-time business. I made back my entire investment in the P2S within the first two months — I started producing immediately, and the holiday season gave me that initial momentum with a flood of orders for gifts and custom products.

How I Built a Wedding Business From My Living Room

If you're looking for wedding business ideas that you can actually start from home with strong profit margins, let me tell you what mine looks like in practice.

My husband is a photographer. We converted our entire living room into a shared workspace — I have my P2S, my materials, and my workbench on one side, and he has his editing station on the other. We work side by side every day. When we eventually move to a house, it'll go in the garage — but right now, the living room works just fine.

My sweet spot is custom wedding collections. For a single wedding, I create a complete, cohesive set of items: a welcome sign, a seating chart, table numbers, centerpiece accents, and personalized favors for every guest. Everything is handmade from acrylic, wood, or cork, depending on the couple's vision.

One of my recent wedding projects featured clear acrylic pieces with rose gold accents against a sage green and blush pink palette — elegant, cohesive, and completely custom. For guest favors, I designed a mix of cork coasters with unique patterns and acrylic pieces that can also function as magnets, giving them a life beyond the wedding day. Every detail is designed to tie the entire aesthetic together.

A lot of planning goes into every project. I talk to my clients, understand their theme and colors, design everything from scratch, and then produce every single piece in-house on my P2S. Because I make everything myself, my profit margins stay strong. The more customized something is, the more fun I get to have — and the more value I can deliver.

But weddings are just one arm of what I do. I also create custom pieces for small businesses: QR code signs, branded mirrors for makeup artists, lash technicians, and nail techs, and large closing gifts for real estate agents. If it can be laser cut or engraved, I can make it.

We actually run three businesses that all feed each other: Vera Noire for custom handmade products, a proposal planning company my husband and I launched together, and his photography business, which handles all our marketing content. The proposal clients often come back later for engagement parties, weddings, birthdays, even Sweet 16 celebrations. It's a self-sustaining ecosystem where each business feeds the next.

The Engineer Who Creates

Here's what I think makes my approach different from most people exploring wedding business ideas.

I'm a mechanical engineer. I have a background in modeling software like SolidWorks and Creo. I understand structural design, precision tolerances, and systematic problem-solving. The xTool Studio software feels natural to me — I can design complex pieces and troubleshoot any issue that comes up without getting stuck.

But I'm also deeply creative. What the P2S gives me is the perfect intersection of both worlds. I get to feed my need to create beautiful, handmade things and apply the engineering mindset that I spent years developing. That's incredibly fulfilling.

Right now, I'm working toward something that I think will set my business apart even further: incorporating mechanical elements into my wedding and event pieces. Imagine a centerpiece with a built-in working clock mechanism. Or a welcome sign with moving decorative components. Or a backdrop with kinetic elements. That's where my engineering background and my creative instincts will truly come together.

With the P2S, the possibilities genuinely feel limitless. Every day, I'm learning something new that my machine can do — and that translates directly into new product ideas and new revenue streams.

Freedom on My Own Terms

People sometimes ask me if I miss my government job. There are aspects I miss — the work itself was meaningful, and that is what I went to school for.

But the freedom I have now is worth everything.

I still wake up early every day — that's just my work ethic. But I get to take my time walking my dogs, have my morning coffee, and then look at what projects and orders I have for the day. My husband and I take breaks whenever we want — we'll go out, run errands, or just take a walk. If we need a vacation, we just go. I don't need to ask anyone's permission to take a day off. I just do it.

Compared to the 13-hour days I was putting in for the government, this feels like an entirely different life.

I spend about 20 to 30 hours a week across all three businesses, but a lot of that is by choice — I'm constantly researching new techniques, making samples, and figuring out what else I can create. The actual production time is surprisingly efficient. I can make a complete sign in under an hour. So the hours I "work" don't feel like work in the traditional sense. I'm doing what I love.

My husband and I want kids soon. The fact that I can work from home, set my own schedule, and still grow my income — that's why I made the leap. I wanted to be present for my future family without giving up my ambitions. Now I can have both.

What I'd Tell Anyone Starting a Wedding Business From Home

If you're considering starting your own wedding business, here's what I want you to know.

1. You don't need a specialized background.
I'm a mechanical engineer, but I didn't need that knowledge to learn how to use my machine. The xTool P2S is incredibly intuitive. I purposely film videos of myself assembling the machine, setting up the riser and the base, because I want people to see that I'm just a regular woman doing this in my living room. The technology is user-friendly enough that anyone can pick it up and start creating.

2. Start small, then scale.
I went from keychains and coasters to cutting boards and nameplates to signage and full custom wedding collections. Each step taught me something new about what was possible, what my customers wanted, and what I was capable of producing. You don't need to launch with a full product line. Start with what you can make today, and let your skills and your catalog grow together.

3. Lean on the community.
When I was learning, I found answers on Reddit, in Facebook groups dedicated to specific machines, and through the atomm community. There are people out there making incredible things with the same tools, and they're generous with their knowledge. That support network made all the difference, especially in the early days.

4. Document everything.
My husband's photography skills are a huge advantage, but even if you're shooting on your phone, film your process. Show people how you make things. When I started posting behind-the-scenes videos, people reached out wanting custom orders. My social media became my biggest lead generator — and eventually, I want to build out my own website to capture all that traffic directly.

5. Just start.
I came from nothing. I fought for every degree, every opportunity, every dollar I've ever earned. And I'm telling you: with just one machine, this is a real, full-time business opportunity. From weddings to birthdays to holidays to corporate events, there is no limit to the areas you can serve. If I can do it, you absolutely can too.

The Real Reward

My business has been growing exponentially, and I have a backlog of orders I haven't even started yet. Family members have seen my videos and want their own machines — my sister in Texas is planning to get one so she can create all the decor for her daughter's Sweet 16.

But the real reward isn't the growth numbers.

It's when I go to pack up a wedding collection to ship it, or when I deliver pieces in person and see the look on my client's face. A bride and groom who were shocked by how beautiful their welcome sign turned out. A client who messages me to say I brought their vision to life. Every five-star review, every "thank you" message, every client who comes back for their next event — those moments remind me why I took the leap.

To make someone's vision come to life, knowing that something I made with my own hands was part of a day they'll remember forever — that's really fulfilling for me. Those are the moments that matter more than any paycheck.

So compared to working a traditional job, what does this feel like?

It feels like freedom.

Through all of it — the homelessness, the years of working multiple jobs, the degrees I powered through on my own — somehow, there was always a door opening for me. And walking through the door to entrepreneurship has been the best decision I've ever made.

Michelle Arguedas is the founder of Vera Noire (instagram.com/veranoire), a custom wedding and event decor business based in New Jersey. She creates all of her products using the xTool P2S laser cutter from her home studio.