Event Planner Spotlight – Golborne Events

How did Golborne events begin?

The name Golborne is inspired by my family home Golborne Manor. I grew up in a small hotel learning about the importance of hospitality from a very young age. Serving guests breakfast and making beds up before school was the norm. I founded the company in 2012, the year of the Olympics, with a desire to deliver high end, luxury events with a personal service in iconic London venues. The buzz in London around the time of the Olympics was amazing and inspired me to go solo and leave my role as a corporate Events Manager. With an agency background I always treated the employer I used to work for as a client and felt that if I could deliver a calendar of successful and memorable events for my old firm, there was no reason why I couldnt work for myself and deliver this same service to other companies. My old employer kept me on as a consultant and although my initial client list was heavily corporate, through word of mouth we have expanded into private and weddings.

What are your five top tips for planning a London wedding?

Visit The Wedding Gallery – the world’s first luxury wedding destination for retail and inspiration which is launching in London at One Marylebone in October 2017. Golborne are one of the founding partners for the concept which provides brides and grooms an end to end planning experience, guiding them through the wedding planning process and providing exclusive access to the collections of up to 200 brands.

Book your venue well in advance – London provides incredible venue options for weddings to include galleries, museums, historic royal palaces, luxury hotels and quirky blank canvas spaces. However with London being a popular destination for weddings popular dates can get booked up well in advance so consider booking early if you can or be flexible and consider dates off season.

Photographer – with many talented photographers being based in London you will have plenty to choose from. However popular photographers get booked up very early in London, so book well in advance. Memories are for life and I do recommend investing in a good photographer. Remember that they will be capturing your most personal moments, therefore when you are considering them ask yourself do you feel comfortable and relaxed in their company.

Travel – often the last thing clients think about. London is a big city, therefore ensure you consider the travel logistics and how this may impact the timings for your big day. Do you need to provide transport between the ceremony and reception venue, have you left enough time to travel from A to B, have you planned for potential London traffic – prepare for every eventuality.

On the day – this applies to all weddings in all locations! Ask yourself the question who is going to run your wedding on the day for you and oversee all the suppliers. Do the venue provide a coordinator/event manager or do you have a friend/family member/s you can lean on? I would advise all brides to ensure they have someone that they can ‘brain dump’ on and hand over all their timings and supplier arrangements to. The day and evening goes so quickly and you will have important friends and family to celebrate with, the last thing you should be doing is worrying about matters such as whether the band have arrived and if they have received their hot meal before performing.

What has been your favourite event to plan?

There are so many! However one of my favourite events has to be planning a surprise 50th Birthday party in Earth Halls at the Natural History Museum. Our client, the husband, who was planning the party as a surprise for his wife was absolutely lovely to work for. He really appreciated and trusted our expertise and creative ideas. I love working in unique London venues, it is such a privilege to work in venues like the Natural History Museum and partner with such talented suppliers. I also feel very lucky to help create lasting memories for our clients and have the chance to be involved in planning such special occasions in people’s lives. We are currently planning a Harry Potter inspired wedding at the Natural History Museum for later this year which is very exciting.

What is your advice to those wanting to get into the events industry?

Be determined and prepared to work HARD with unsociable hours. It is a very rewarding job and if you are passionate about client service and delivering events you will absolutely love your work. However it doesn’t suit everyone and you have to be prepared to put the long hours in and sacrifice catching up with friends, particular in the early years, to be given the opportunities to work on projects. Offer to volunteer, take on unpaid work experience and internships. Start building your portfolio and contacts from day one, this is much easier these days with social media, I remember I used to carry around a huge hard copy file to all my interviews with magazine clippings, flyers and printed photos of the events I had worked on. Relationships are also absolutely key to progressing within the industry.

How do you combine motherhood with running a successful business?

To be honest I am still learning how to, my little boy is just about to turn one. My husband is incredibly supportive and enthusiastic about my work, he runs his own company so understands how all consuming it can be and this really helps. It is a fast learning curve and a huge juggling act at times. Ensuring you have the right childcare arrangements in place that work for you as a family is very important, it is such a personal decision. Accept help and lean on your family and friends for support. Ensure you have a great team around you in the work place who understand your priorities and support you.