Have you ever wanted to see behind the scenes, to know what it's really like to be an event planner in a creative event management company? One of the most often questions we get asked is about what our event jobs are really like and so we thoughts we'd share a day in the life of each of our team starting with our MD Sarah. The Edit, was started in 2016 following a desire to focus on truly creative events, account management and logistically complex events. Sarah previously ran the team at MASK and grew this from 4 to 10 people in 2 years before leaving to start Story Events which grew to 23 people in just three years. 5.45AM: AN EARLY BIRD I'm an early riser as even though I hate getting up early, I find I am so much more productive at this time of day than any other. I tend to get ready and work until around 10am when I then make the 25 minute walk to The Edit HQ. During this time I drink at least two cups of coffee (the true fuel of the events industry!) 10.30AM: TEAM CATCH UP At The Edit we work flexible hours so everyone arrives between 8-10am and works their hours accordingly. We start each week with a team meeting and most days when I arrive into the office I'll have a catch up with one of the team. Today I am sitting down with Natascha who heads up our event operations to run through the upcoming events. We like to run through the guest journey as it allows us to ensure we haven't missed anything. With events there are so many moving parts and with all live events, there's room for error. That can be hard to keep on top of them all so we have great processes in place to ensure we are paying attention to every last detail. 12NOON: TIME FOR EVENT MEETINGS I head off to a meeting with one of the clients that I consult for. We are having a catch up to look at the team structure following their recent growth. I have been consulting since I started The Edit. I have had experience of restructuring a company, starting a business and growing it quickly and then starting out 100% on my own. I'm also very much obsessed with the industry and feel that events is in my blood. I guess that's what has lead to being invited to consult but I have always found it very flattering. It's really interesting to look at other peoples businesses. As I'm much more removed it can help to be able to advise on where to make changes in order to grow or achieve their business goals. 2.30PM: LUNCH Time for a quick lunch stop - usually lunch is grabbed on the go. However as events can be so unhealthy, I tend to try and pack my lunch so I can get a vitamin boost and not stray too far from the healthy diet. Not very glam at all but I tend to have a Tupperware with me at all times! The truth is I'm very sensible with food and genuinely love healthy food. That means I can indulge in all the canapés and champagne when it's on offer!
3PM: EVENT PLANNING
I have a meeting in town with Cessa, who works in our sales team, about an exciting upcoming project. We're meeting with the client and our partner on this project to discuss some of the logistics. This is going to be a huge project for us but is very much under wraps for now, so more on that later.
4.30PM: EVENT TASTING TIME
Off to an afternoon tasting with clients. Tastings are definitely a perk of being an event planner and it's so nice to spend time with clients tasting all the food and drinks for their events. This tasting is with one of our favourite caterers Moving Venue. We work with them a lot and know the food will always be amazing. We're lucky to get to work with so many top caterers in London but we definitely have our favourites. Read more about what an event tasting is really like HERE.
7PM: FINDING A NEW VENUE It's off to a new venue opening. One of my favourite parts of the job is getting to see the amazing events spaces in London. So many people would never know all the amazing venues out there and so I constantly pinch myself about how lucky I am to explore them. Tonight we are at Somerset House tasting food from the brilliant Payne & Gunter. Somerset House is such an iconic event space and I can't believe I'm here to drink champagne (for free!). It's great to see the Payne & Gunter team again as we used them on a fairytale wedding last year and love Bethan and her team. We attempt an interesting team pose to try and win the Instagram competition (come to think of it still waiting to hear back about that...) and drink probably one too many glasses of champagne before heading home around 9.30am.
10.30PM: OFF TO BED Home and off to bed as tomorrow is another busy day. Being an event planner is definitely a non-stop job but I love it. You have to be obsessed with it to do the hours but I totally am. It's an industry of amazing people, heaps of creativity and inspiring events. We're lucky to have great clients and I have a dream team so all in all, the perfect job. Goodnight!