Q+A: PASSIONATE WEDDING PLANNER | EVENT ZEN SYDNEY NSW

TO THE AISLE AUSTRALIA | EVENT ZEN SYDNEY

From the very beginning, Natalie's career has always been in hospitality, administration and corporate events. After leaving a big corporate event role to travel the world for 6 months, Natalie returned to Sydney and knew she wanted to do her own thing. "While planning Weddings had crossed my mind, I never really entertained the idea until I organised my own Wedding in 2012. I loved every moment of it and quickly realised that it would be so wonderful to help other people create their perfect day. Not long after my Wedding, I fell pregnant and had my daughter Lily and my son Ollie came along not long after. During this period of learning to become a Mum, I also learned how to start and run a Wedding and events business. I consider myself to be a calm and happy person and I wanted the process of planning to be calm, happy and joyous for my clients and thus EventZen was born." Natalie shares more about her services and offers expert advice to our Nearly Weds.

"I consider myself to be a calm and happy person and I wanted the process of planning to be calm, happy and joyous for my clients and thus EventZen was born." Natalie - Event Zen Sydney

WOODLANDS CREATIVE

EVENT ZEN

What can EVENT ZEN offer a couple for their Wedding day? I like my clients to think of EventZen as a personal assistant in the lead up to and for their big day. We offer different packages and can come in at any stage of the planning; at the very beginning, half way through or right at the end to manage and coordinate the day. We immerse ourselves in the clients' vision and help bring it to life by offering advice, checklists and styling and creating and managing a budget suitable to the couple. We are there for support, research and will act as a one stop shop implementing all suppliers and vendors on the clients behalf, all they have to do is make the decisions. I believe the process should be fun, enjoyable and as stress free as possible, we want our clients to feel confident, calm and excited about their big day.

Did you always know that you wanted to be a Wedding and event designer? Not really, it all came about quite organically. I started my career in hospitality, managing bars and restaurants and then, by chance got an opportunity to interview for an EA role with Westpac. From there my career progressed within the company and worked with the Events team 4 years and knew I'd found my passion. After leaving Westpac to travel, I knew I wanted to be my own boss, so thoughts of start my own company started to take shape.

WOODLANDS CREATIVE

What keeps you inspired along the way? Other amazing, talented entrepreneurs, small businesses, start ups and some pretty incredible women in business networking groups such as The Real Entrepreneur Mums, Lady Start Ups and Business Chicks! I am a huge believer in supporting local and small businesses, working together and lifting each other up. Instagram and social media is also a great tool for inspiration.

Do you have any stories that you would like to share from your experiences? I've been so fortunate to have some incredible clients and to meet wonderful people within the wedding industry. Every event is different with each wedding being unique to the couple. I am always so excited to hear their visions for their big day and help them bring it to life! From a rustic boho style Wedding, to a cirque du soleil themed wedding and doing my first same sex Wedding, I love them all equally!

COLE BENNETTS

Advice: Be authentic to yourselves as a couple. Don't just do something because it's on trend or is deemed cool by others, have an idea of where you'd like the venue to be, what sort of style you want and like, something that represents you both as individuals and as a couple. Your wedding is about you and no one else, you will be the ones looking back on your big day years later and you want to look back with fondness and joy!

If you don't know what you want, we will have a brainstorming session with you and really create something wonderful and true to you both!

Do you have a personal favourite style of Wedding? Not really, I love the diversity of all the different styles and themes. It's such a joyous occasion and I am just so happy and grateful to help people create their dream day.

CORVID PHOTOGRAPHY

Are there any recurring challenges you notice through your travels? The biggest challenges I have noticed with a lot of weddings, are things that are out of my control like budget and family issues! I always say, I can take the stress away from every aspect of planning a wedding, except family politics.

Budget wise, it's true that weddings are expensive and sadly there are some businesses that put a huge mark up on services and products once they hear the word wedding. I will always adhere to the clients budget and work to get the costs down. Being in the industry I work closely with some amazing suppliers and can get some great savings for my clients.

As a planner offering a service, sometimes it's hard for potential clients to see my value as they haven't been married before (usually) and don't understand the work that goes in. That's a challenge for my business and I find a lot of my clients contact me half way through to help out and take some of the stress away! I wrote a blog about it!

- https://www.eventzen.com.au/single-post/2017/04/13/Hiring-a-Wedding-Planner---Are-they-really-worth-it

Please tell us about the best part about what you do: I do it for the love - all aspects of it! To be around people in love is so wonderful and there is nothing more fulfilling than seeing my clients have the best day of their lives and knowing that I had a hand it making that happen for them!