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A Day in the Life of a Social Pantry Wedding Planner

As you can imagine, quite rightly, there is a lot of pressure to making someone’s wedding day perfect which means it can be a job that takes a lot of planning and nerves of steel.

 

In short, there is never a dull moment, and every day is different. From the venue, styling, themes and food, every wedding is a bespoke and personal experience. Your wedding planner quickly becomes your best friend, and we are on the end of a WhatsApp message at at any time of day, or night. As caterers and wedding planners we have the expertise to run the show, make your vision a reality and make it a day to remember.

 

 

This year events have been quite strange. I am now an expert at throwing a wedding for 15 guests, and just between us, it’s harder planning for 15 than for 200. My average day is pretty normal with office-based work, and usually finishes off with an event or tasting. I work most weekends, and my schedule is irregular, but it keeps life interesting. Every week I’ll attend site visits, develop menus and host styling sessions with my clients, plus organise some epic parties. There are quite a few parts of my life as a wedding planner that are highlights, and more interesting to read about than my lovely admin duties and numerous coffee breaks.

 

Styling the table is the most creative part of my job, and as you can imagine takes a long time to perfect. Each couple have their own ideas, often have Pintrest boards, which are usually a fun mash up of personality and colour. My job is to collate all these ideas together and create something completely personal to my client. A wedding I’ll always remember was an intimate autumnal wedding for a young couple who gave me complete creative control. It was a magical day with a ceiling of fairy lights, burnt orange napkins and a seasonal 5 course tasting menu. There was a fire pit for s’mores plus a lot of cheese. Not the largest party I’ve hosted, but still extremely fun to create with stunning results.

 

 

I’ll spend a lot of time with the chef team at Social Pantry designing a bespoke menu for each couple. At a tasting we will often spend a few fun hours deciding on the canapés to enjoy on the day, the wedding reception is my favourite part. When the champagne is flowing, the space looks perfect and the happiest couple in the world have just made their entrance, this is when you know you’ve done everything right. The smiles and the joy are what makes this job so special. One couple had a surprise for everyone which was that they burst into a river dance with their bridesmaids and groomsmen. I have never laughed so hard, nor enjoyed a wedding moment so much.

 

As obvious as this sounds, to make a wedding a success it is all in the planning and all in the detail. I need to be extraordinarily organised, keep to my timings and co-ordinate the teams onsite. We work with experienced suppliers and there is no room for mistakes. Weather is unpredictable, guests develop allergies on the day and all the flowers can arrive late, but we are always reactive to any and all situations. We put in long hours, build great friendships, and come home with very sore feet. Alex told me on my first day to never wear heels to an event, and wiser words have never been spoken. If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a wedding planner, please know you’ll never look like J-Lo in that movie, but it is a pretty rewarding job to have!

 

Kirsten Duffy, Wedding Planner

 

If you want to read about 2020 hottest food trends for weddings, click here!

Weddings in 2020 weren’t as we expected, we’ve got a great post on 2021 wedding themes to get you inspired for this year.

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