{Photo of the Met Gala from Vogue}
I'm always so excited when we take on a new client. Meeting them for the first time, hearing all about their plans, pouring through ideas and inspiration. Hearing them breathe a literal sigh of relief after handing over the organization, the tracking of details, the coordination of all of the vendors, permits and timing so they can enjoy the fun parts like cocktail and food tastings. It's been a pleasure all these years to be a part of our client's successes and to see what a difference we make in planning a wedding or designing a fundraising event.
This year I had a chance to experience it from the other side and I'm so happy to let a professional take the reigns! I hired a college consultant for my high school senior to help us through the process. I'm obviously organized, love a spreadsheet as much as any planner and am at my happiest when checking off my to do boxes but the idea of sifting through some 5,300 colleges and universities in the middle of a busy event season started to seem like not so much fun. During our initial conversation she shed more light on college admissions in five minutes than I could have sussed out in probably two months of constant research on my own.
A few reasons why consultants are the best:
1. Expertise - a consultant has a specialized skill set and the experience of years of projects like yours under their belt to give guidance every step of the way.
2. Support - in addition to organization and design skills one of the biggest things our social clients appreciate is having a support structure in place when planning such an important event in their lives. Having a friend, confidant, tie-breaker, sounding board, and general back-up is just as valuable.
3. Time Saver - a consultant can accomplish in a very short time what may take others hours or days to finish. Delegating some of all project aspects to a consultant saves you time to focus on other work and life responsibilities.
4. Problem Solvers - we've kind of seen it all, if we haven't we're accustomed to thinking on our feet and quickly. There hasn't been a problem yet that we haven't found a solution to.
5. Fresh Set of Eyes - someone looking in from the outside can often see what others have missed or look at processes in an organization from another perspective.
