The Pinterest-Perfect wedding, festival, shower, open house celebration… these are the gatherings everyone wants. There are so many components that go into the planning of these events! There’s the venue, food, music, entertainment, sometimes floral, sometimes dessert, sometimes alcohol, sometimes décor, sometimes rental items. There are the traditional elements of a wedding: the DJ, the wedding cake, the photographer, the videographer, the dinner, the stationery, the diamond rings.
And nowadays there are also so many fun, non-traditional elements to incorporate! This summer we’ve done Kiddie Korners, with balloon twisting and a magician and a white castle bouncy house and a bubble machine and facepainting. We have a caricature artist who sits at coffee shops, sets up a space on the sidewalk during festivals, or entertains guests during cocktail hour at weddings or corporate events. We have food trucks and hot dogs as late-night snacks and ice cream carts to go with carnival themed yard games. The possibilities now really…are…endless!
But what if, even after all the planning and hiring, the event is NOT Pinterest-Perfect? What if, even after all the lists and phone calls, the chicken is dry, or the appetizer is wrong, or the weather blows the tents over?
It happens. All. The time. Anyone who’s been in the hospitality industry for any amount of time has stories to tell; some you would want to hear, and some would just make you more nervous! But here’s the thing. Those stories (and every single event has a story) are the ones that make your event YOURS. No one else has YOURS. The anecdotes and behind-the-scenes snafus are exactly what make this industry fun and each event unique.
One metaphor I always love using involves a diamond. So many weddings start with diamond rings, don’t they? Again, here’s the thing: only fake diamonds are perfect. The flawed ones are real. Real diamonds have been molded by time, heat, and incredible pressure. Which is kind of like life? And it’s definitely like event planning😊
Hire good vendors. Make the lists and attend the meetings. And then sit back and let your event happen! Your celebration, with your goofy family or your last-minute menu or your broken centerpieces or your wrong-colored clothes, will be uniquely YOURS.
The beauty and authenticity are in the flaws.