I wanted to start off by letting you know a secret. I did not always want to be an event planner. If I had followed the dreams and goals that my teenaged-self set out for me I would be in a very different place, both career and physically.
At age 16 I decided I would become a Fashion Merchandiser, inspired by MTV’s “The Hills”. I wanted to attend FIDM in NYC and live out the rest of my days in fabric samples, fashion shows, and a posh apartment. I joined my schools Fashion Club, which held annual fashion shows with donated clothing from local shops and we, the students, were the models. I held onto this dream until senior year, where I changed what I wanted my career to be once more. I wanted to be a pre-school teacher. I loved children and loved tutoring as part of my NHS duties. The look that a student would make when they finally understood or got a good grade, made me swell with just about as much joy. Senior year, I became president of fashion club. Here is the important part; the president helped PLAN the entire show with the help of the club moderator of course. They also got to open the show, a little perk I took full advantage of. It was there in my senior year of high school that I got my first taste of event planning, and I loved it.
Fast forward to me going off to college, with a decided major; Early Childhood Education with a focus in English. That’s right, I was going to be an English teacher. I attend a college known for teaching and was going to stick to the plan. There was only a slight problem: I HATED it! I dropped my major in the second semester of freshman year. This made me feel like a failure. How could I have not done what I thought I wanted to do? How could I be in a 4-year school without a major, while all of my roommates (6 of us in total) were all declared? How was I supposed to know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life at age 18?
I began taking my general classes and I scrolled through the lists of majors offered by my college. It was here I found Public Relations and signed up for the introduction course. It was here that I met the professor that changed my life. I know, I know, everyone says this but for me it was true. Her name is Regina Pappalardo. She made the courses so fun and interactive and I wanted to do it, I wanted to be a top executive for a PR firm. She also taught journalism, which it turns out is my second passion and became my minor. I finally started liking school as much as everyone else, I finally felt like I fit in. So I changed my career goals, yet again. I took my classes and I thrived! I mastered my fear of public speaking and became quite good at it. Halfway through this program, they go through the different areas that you can get into with a PR degree: working for firms, becoming a publicist, or event planning. It was then that I began to question where I wanted to go and for the first time didn’t ask myself what I wanted my career to be but what I wanted my life to be. I cultivated a good relationship with my Career Center mentor. This came in handy in deciding what I wanted from life. The PR program requires an internship to be taken in place of a class. I set out for the Career Center and she had the best news, she has stumbled across 2 internships. The first working for Honor Flights and the second as a private event intern at Storm King Art Center. My face lite up and my heart raced at the second option. She agreed, saying that she knew it was perfect for me. So, I began helping host events at the largest outdoor sculpture park in the world. Everything from corporate retreats, photoshoots for fashion magazines, film shoots for Netflix and HBO, to engagements and weddings. It was the weddings that I became entranced by. Large sailcloth tents with poles elaborately wrapped with florals, breathtaking up lighting on art and trees creating whimsy in the night. Bridal parties getting ready in silk robes, groomsmen taking shots, photographers creating the perfect moments for first looks. Long walks down the aisle, ceremonies full of joyful tears, cocktail hours with the most elegant dresses and of course the club like bubble that the tents created for the guests and wedding party. All of these things made me fall in love with weddings. I became obsessed with helping the couple create the perfect event, going beyond my duties of site staff. I also had the opportunity to help start engagements. I would arrange it with the fiancé-to-be and together we would plan every moment. From their arrival to the setup of hearts made of flower pedals, champagne toasts, and of course the big surprise moment. I helped plan countless special moments and it was here that I knew. I finally knew what I wanted my life to be. My purpose is to help create those little moments of joy, those that’s so them moments. I am a wedding planner.
With this realization, I set out to create my own business. I left my job at Storm King and took a leap of faith, into myself and created bonds with clients like I had dreamed of while working as a site person. I could now truly be open to all couples and their needs. I chose when I worked, and when I did not. Who I was my ideal client and who just wasn’t a good fit. Sometimes the best way to help a couple is to simply lead them into the best direction for them even if it is not with me. My goal is to help every couple’s special day go off without a hitch and be their perfect memory. A moment of bliss. I am now the proud owner of a full-service event planning company in the scenic Hudson Valley. I have developed relationships with stunningly picturesque venues, rental companies with items straight out of TV show, and florists who turn ordinary arrangements into stunning works of art. All of these culminating into a wedding unique to each and every couple, a day filled with little that’s so them moments.
So that is my why. The way a person’s eyes light up when they realize they are being proposed to, the way parents tear up watching their children walk down the aisle, the gut-laughter from small flower girls trying to pick up the pedals they just threw, and the glitter in the eyes of newlyweds as they dance for the first time. All of the site visits, rental coordination, dozens of timelines, catching my breath as I send out the wedding party and the pure elated exhaustion at the end of a 15-hour day. Each and every one of your special moments, I get to share in them. I get to see these little moments, they are special moments that add up to memories of a lifetime. I have the privilege to live them with you. My couples, my clients- my friends you are my WHY. And I would not have it any other way.
