Emily Jean Events
Wedding Planner
It’s 9:45 am. I got up at 7am this morning and somehow I’m still running behind to get to a 10am interview. Mindless scrolling through social media will do that to you, I guess. I am now literally running up the escalators, backpack bumping vigorously against my back with the rise and fall of every step I take up the steps.
Stop.
I need the toilet. I forgot to go to the toilet before I left the house. Ahhhh, crap.
Feeling the sweat drip down my forehead and feeling the eyes of every passer by stopping to look at my situation as I have now abruptly stopped in the middle of the walk way, fingers fumbling all over my phone while I try to use Google Maps to guide me to the nearest toilet and to turn Siri off from yelling at me. Oh yeah, I’m at a shopping centre by the way. No one uses Google Maps to find toilets at a shopping cen- I digress.
I finally walked off the elevator onto the first floor of a spacious office building in Rouse Hill. As I walked in, I noticed how quiet it was in there. I looked around and a girl was sitting at a computer about ten metres in front of me. No one else was in the office space.
‘Are you Emily?’
‘Are you Caitlin?’
‘Yes.’
‘Yes too.’
That was my first interaction with the Emily from Emily Jean Events.
She suggested that we go downstairs to find a café to chat away at and as I had just ran from one side of the shopping centre to the other, all I could do was nod my head in agreement. We sat down after purchasing our drinks and dove straight into questions.
First impressions: Emily knows her stuff. She talked about how she and everyone around her had always known that this career was what she was made for. She painted a very clear picture of the type of jobs she had done in the past and how none of them had any impact on her enough to catapult her into doing anything but wedding planning.
As she spoke, I noticed she had a confidence in her voice. It was like you knew that when she spoke, she was the one in charge. Excellent qualities to have as a leader and a Wedding Planner and that’s essentially what she does. Lead.
She told me stories of how she realised that this is where she wanted to be in her career as an entrepreneur and she told those stories with so much passion.
This isn’t just a job to her. It’s a life she has created for herself. It was beautiful to watch and slowly start to understand what she lives and breathes for and it was this. The thrill of planning a day so special to someone in their life. To collaborate with a couple that envisions such a day. She brings their vision to life.
To meet her was a privilege.
A woman who knows what she wants and how to get it done.
The Interview
Can you start off by sharing how you got into this industry?
‘So, I had always been the planner out of my family and friend group. I’m originally from the country town. A small country town. Where I’m from, there was no such thing as a Wedding Planner. The only time I came across the term “Wedding Planner” while growing up was probably when JLO (Jennifer Lopez) did that movie, The Wedding Planner. So I never actually thought that was something I could do. I had only heard of it in movies.
I spoke to a careers advisor once and we realised that all my strengths were in event management. This made sense because I was always the one to plan birthdays and events in my group. I thought I’d go study Event Management. Once I completed my studies at 22, I always knew I wanted to have my own business one day. I decided to move to Melbourne then to study Business Management, specialising in Event Management. One of my assignments was to pitch your business to an investor and I decided I was going to take this task by the balls and create a business and that’s when I created Emily Jean Events. This was when I realised that more specifically, weddings have my heart. I absolutely love working with couples that I work with. I love the connection I build with my clients.’
What unique elements do you bring to the table that set you apart from other wedding planners?
‘My experience, definitely. I started at the very bottom. I worked in the hospitality industry. I worked my way up to working in Function Wait Staff. I then moved up to Function Supervisor. From there, I moved to Event Coordinator then eventually Event Manager. I was deflated once I realised that Event Manager did not mean coordinating and planning the event or wedding. I just did my job which I realised wasn’t as hands-on as I realised, I’d really like to be. So yeah, my experience definitely sets me apart. I’m not a bride-turned wedding planner. I’m quite attentive to detail. I believe my personality is quite approachable. I feel like couples feel comfortable with me. I’m also very honest with my couples.’
What’s the most memorable or unusual request you’ve had as a planner?
‘Oh my god, okay. This is so funny. I remember when one of my brides requested this, my reaction on my face was like, “What the f***???” laughs
The most out-there request I received from one of my brides was to have an acrobat hanging from the ceiling pouring champagne down to guests.
We ended up not doing it because of the amount of rigging we’d have to bring into the venue and we realised it wasn’t going to work. We ended up having a very down-to-earth alternative which was having a champagne tower. Which was just as nice because we had a sabrage sword which we got to use. That was fun.’
What is your favourite wedding trend?
‘I guess my favourite trend would be the whole minimalistic trend. I feel like couples feel like they need to go all out there for their wedding to stand out and that’s really not the case. You can have a really nice, simple, minimalistic wedding and it can look and feel just as good.’
Can you give me an overview of your process of working from the first interview to the day of the wedding?
‘So if they choose my full planning package, the first meeting we would have, we would go through absolutely everything and this meeting can go for a while as there is so much to talk about. Prior to this meeting, they do get a couple of forms to fill out. Obviously, the first one is the budget form as that is extremely important. The next one is a design form which gives me an idea of their vision for their day.What people forget is I don’t know these people, at all. So, some of the questions on the form might sound a bit weird like,
Where do you shop at? or What’s your favourite restaurant?
It’s just used for me to get to know them because to form that connection and create such a day, I need to know them reasonably well. These questions are an important part of the process as it reflects the type of people they are to me and that determines my whole tailored approach.
I essentially have 5 phases.
The first phase is the planning phase. We figure out what’s most important. Get the most important vendors to them locked in.
The second phase is the design phase. This is where we look at the aesthetics of the day and we start to finalise the styling concepts.
The third phase is the coordination phase. This is the month before the wedding where we finalise everything. The timeline and smaller details are finalised.
The fourth phase is Bump-In and Wedding Day Management. It’s also organising the little things that no couple wants to be in charge of doing before their wedding day.
The fifth phase is Bump-Out and Post-Wedding Management. Making sure the wedding is cleared in accordance with the venue’s directions. That sort of thing.’
When it comes to brides who are quite stressed about what to do at their wedding, what is your advice for them?
‘My advice to couples would be to stick to the areas of the wedding that are so important to you and your partner. Forget about the trends. Oh my gosh. My biggest piece of advice would be to stop watching TikTok videos. There are so many videos on TikTok of advice from past brides or other things and I just shake my head and say, “Why?”
A lot of the time, it’s really bad advice.
When you’re planning a wedding, I guess you can get so wrapped up in what everyone else is doing for their wedding that you start to lose track of what’s special to you. Your own thing. I think every vendor would agree with that as well. Just focus on what’s most important to you and your partner.’
Photos by Studio1000 Photography.
You can contact Emily via