With my Cityline segment airing this week, I reflected on the experience and wanted to share some candid thoughts.
Photography: Mango Studios
TV is not easy.
You prep for countless hours to ensure vendors are secure and everything is ordered.
It is almost always a last minute thing.
You obsess about what to wear and buy a new outfit to look fresh.
You come the day before to set it all up, after having made multiple trips around town to pick up the favours you have asked of everyone to make it happen.
You repeat your talking points over and over again until it is memorized, only to forget half of it on air.
You can’t sleep because you are full of adrenaline and excitement.
You get up at an ungodly hour to have makeup and hair done (no, I didn’t wake up like that!).
Lights, camera, action.
In no more than 5 minutes, the glitz and glam is over. There’s no time to even soak it all in.
Before you have time to take your heels off and pat yourself on the back, you are tearing down your hard work because the production team needs to prep for the next segment.
Everyone sees the glam that is “being on television” (and sure, it’s fun for the moments you are there!), but they don’t see the 20+ hours that went into making those 5 minutes a success.
TV is not easy.
Heck, the same can be said of being a wedding planner.
If you’re are just thinking about being a wedding or event planner, know that success does not come without a lot of hard work.
Yahoo Finance calls being an event planner the 6th most stressful job of 2017. It’s apparently up there in the top 10, beating out being a police officer, firefighter and military personnel (not sure who made these stats, but I’m sure there is some truth to it).
Being a planner is not all about playing with flowers, attending parties and taking glamour shots.
It is damn hard work to please clients, juggle a multitude of projects at once and take the blame when something goes wrong (and something will always go wrong).
A planner’s instagram account won’t show the countless hours spent on administrative work, project management and marketing. Because, let’s face it, those aren’t glamorous to post about.
It is so easy to be sucked into the world of weddings thinking all you will do is attend parties and play with pretty things.
The reality is that you will be onsite at weddings for 5% of your year. The rest of the 95% is prep, planning and everything not-glamorous.
Photos from beautiful, luxury weddings are a result of many years of experience, great photography, clients with good taste and budgets, and after months of waiting for photo production after the wedding is over. It is earned, and not a given.
TV is not easy. Wedding planning is not easy.
I do love what I do, don’t get me wrong. But do not be fooled into thinking it is easy work.
It is damn hard work. Nothing more, nothing less.
Psst, since you are here, check out my 5 minutes of glitz and glam from Cityline 😉
