The bride walks into the showroom. She fingers the table linens and inspects
the silver punch bowls. "Oh look, they have rose centerpieces like we saw
in that book," she says to her mom. "Maybe we should have navy blue place
cards instead of purple?" As the bride and her mom walk through the display,
Mary Love bustles over and greets them warmly.
"Ready for the consultation?" she asks. They sit down together and hash
out the basic details of the wedding. Love specializes in decorating; other
event planners at the store will take care of the rest of the wedding: from
the limousine to the church to the candy giveaways at the end of the evening.
Love asks when the wedding will take place and where the reception is to
be held. "Do you want a formal, traditional look or more of a garden feel
to the affair?" she asks.
Once these basic questions are answered, Love moves on to details. "We
talk about the floor plan, pick out the linens and think about what areas
of the room need to be draped off and how we'll do it."
Most brides have picked out their color scheme, but don't consider
many other details of the evening. "Most times they don't think about
what lighting is in the room and how it will have to be adjusted," says Love.
"Often rooms are too large or have ugly walls. We can't have that."
Love suggests draping that would suit the room and create a more intimate
feel. "We go over everything and figure out if they want the room to look
like a ballroom or if they need to rent a tent."
Even though Love has lots of experience planning events, she still finds
it stressful. She hopes that every party will come together and become the
perfect evening.
"The most annoying aspect of this job is that things are constantly changing,"
Love says. "This is extremely detailed work and you have to worry about everything."
If a bride calls up two days before the wedding and decides she doesn't
like the table cards, then the event planner has to scramble to change them.
"You already have a calligrapher who has done them and you have to call back."
Once the preparations are complete, the event planner then hopes that other
people will follow through with the plans she has set out. "It can mean worrying
about everything, even things like, 'Is the hot air balloon going to
arrive on time or not?'"
Problems don't usually arise with events that are planned as much
as two years in advance. But not everyone gives so much warning. "We get called
to do a lot of last-minute events," says Love. "A company may call up on Monday
and say they want a casino party organized and ready for that Friday!"
Although stressful at times, the job always requires creativity. "Clients
are individuals and want different things," says event planner Yamina Kahn.
"We put our head together with a client and listen to their ideas."
Together they try to come up with a new and creative solution. "Nothing
is engraved in stone," says Kahn. "We've come up with new ideas for clients,
like our theme nights or our puppet theater. It all depends on what they want."
Over the course of planning an event, the contract is discussed and ideas
are tossed back and forth. "You're always talking about something abstract,"
says Love. Then the day finally arrives.
Love goes with the team to the reception site. The bride's mom is
up early, checking with the caterers to make sure everything is going as planned.
Love helps arrange the centerpieces.
The decorators are also hard at work. "We put up decorations for all types
of occasions," says Mac Rando, an event planner and decorator in New Jersey.
The tables, chairs and streamers go up easily. Other things are more difficult.
"We make balloon arches, balloon sculptures, columns and markers," says
Rando. "Believe it or not, that can be the most difficult part of the job."
No matter how difficult to arrange, the decorated room is always breathtaking.
"After all the planning, walking into a room and getting to see what you created
is wonderful," says Love.
One of Kahn's favorite projects was called Children's Christmas
Screen Magic. "We literally turned the room into a movie theater," she says.
They decorated in a movie theme and had a large 20 by 20-foot screen for the
Christmas films. "Picture kids coming up to the door, getting
popcorn and a loot bag and then finding a seat," she says. "It was a very
intimate setting."
Of course there was much more to the evening than movies -- clowns visited
and kids munched on mounds of food. "And best of all, at the end Santa appeared
and the Grinch appeared," says Kahn. "Seeing an event like this from start
to finish is great. Especially to see the children's faces!"