Personal events is a large sector in the event planning industry.
Chanmaces are, that you’ll have to experiment with a lot of subtypes of personal events before you specialize.
But, in order to do that, you’ll need to learn more about it.
There are many types of personal events and all of them require a different subset of skills.
But, one thing that ties all personal events together is their significance to the clients.
Personal events are always to celebrate significant occurrences in your client’s life.
A. Types of personal events
Now, let’s learn some of the common types of personal events. You’ll find yourself organizing many of these before you pick your area of expertise.
1. Milestones and transitions
These personal events celebrate the major changes in one’s life. More often than not, these are positive changes. An example can be that of retirement parties or anniversary parties.
2. Achievement events
These personal events follow a successful event in one’s life. For example, Tarla won an award for the Best Event Planner of 2023. Organizing an event for her would fall under this category. Some other examples can be parties for promotions and graduation ceremonies.
3. Mourning events
Not all personal events are happy affairs. In fact, some can be all about crying out loud. Regardless, they require the maximum amount of personal touch due to their nature.
As an event planner, you’ll be dealing with your clients in their most vulnerable state. You’ll have to go above and beyond to create an event for mourning the dead.
This is a field you will have a lot to learn in. This event will be different for every religion, culture, and faith. And on top of this, you’ll have to accommodate the last wishes of the demised.
4. Celebrations for health and well-being
People often expect celebrations following good news related to one’s health. For example, John defeats cancer like the brave man he is. He would now want to celebrate with his friends and family who supported him.
These events can be for overcoming any illness, mental or physical. It can also be for achieving fitness goals.
5. New beginnings
Everyone loves to celebrate new beginnings. Lisa bought a new house. Amar got a new pet. Lisa and Aman moved in together. These are all examples of personal events in this sub-category.
It could also be about moving to a new city to pursue a degree or getting a new job. All of these call for parties with their loved ones.
6. Personal events out of kindness
Throwing a fundraiser or charity event for personal reasons also makes it to the list. For example, Amar lost his uncle to an autoimmune disease. He now wants to organize an event to gather donations for further research about this disease.
These events are for a greater cause but are driven by strong personal reasons. As an event planner, it is your duty to add that personal touch to such events. Only then, will the objectives of charity and fundraiser events will be met.
7. Birthday events
This industry is booming for children and adults alike. For children, you might want to look at these birthday party venues if you’re in Delhi-NCR.
8. Weddings
The Indian wedding industry is worth 3.78 lakh crore. You can build an entire event planning career in this sub-type of personal events.
For our foreign audience reading this, this Western wedding planning guide might help more.
B. How do plan a personal event?
From what we have discussed so far, you now know different personal events can be. They can vary further based on people’s values, backgrounds, and circumstances.
But, a seasoned event planner will know the key steps to organizing personal events. Here, we’ve highlighted those steps for you.
By combining this with a good analysis of your client’s situation and needs, you can master planning personal events.
Here are the steps to planning a personal event:
1. What are event goals?
You need to define your objectives for the event. For example, at a birthday event, your event goals could be a certain financial milestone. In addition to that, you could also aspire to cater to a certain number of people. Another example of an event goal in this case could be adapting to a certain event technology.
However, these are just your personal goals. You will also need to collaborate with the client to know their idea behind the event. Learn every requirement and expectation that they may have.
In this step, try to ask as many questions as possible. Do your due diligence by researching and asking around. This will help you to know what expectations you can and can’t fulfill.
2. How do you create a budget?
Once your event goals are clear, you will have to create a budget. This is the backbone of your event.
No matter where your calculation and estimation skills lie, there are lots of ways to draft an event budget.
We have prepared the perfect guide for event budgeting. You must go through it as we have jotted industry secrets in it that nobody talks about.
3. Consult your client
The budget is not just for your eyes. It’s now time to get the green signal from your clients.
Outline what you’ll be delivering, a cost estimate, and a tentative timeline for the event planning process.
Ideally, you should go prepared with a proposal with different alternatives. Give your client options to choose from so that you don’t leave much room for bargaining.
Then, when everything is agreed upon, it’s time to seal the deal. Your event contract should have all the details—responsibilities to terms of payment.
Explain the contract well verbally as well. Then, both parties can sign. From here, the real groundwork of event planning begins.
4. How to put together an event planning team?
Building an event planning team gets easier when you have a budget in place. Why is that?
With your budget, you’ll know where you have to put your money and time. From there, you can roughly divide the budget items into the following categories:
- Food and catering
- Logistics
- Furniture
- Lights and decor
- Design and marketing
- Vendor management
And delegate the budget items to different team members. Note that you can have more categories as well based on your event.
5. Venues matter a lot in personal events
We’ve already discussed how emotionally charged personal events are. So, you really can’t afford to have a disappointing venue for event.
You need to find a venue that satisfies your budget and the client’s dreams. For a budget, you can’t just be looking at the best wedding venues. But, you also have to look at the most affordable wedding venues. Find a sweet spot between the two.
In personal events, there’s no one-size-fits-all. Everyone has different preferences. For example, a couple seeking an intimate wedding will have completely different requirements. In another case, a futuristic couple might even seek a Metaverse wedding.
Between all these strategic choices, you’ll also have to arrange site visits with your client. Only then can you finalize the venue.
Here are few of our suggestions for personal event venues in Delhi-NCR.
6. Finalize the event theme and design
Chances are, if the client is reaching out to a professional event planner like you, they need something out of the box.
You need to go above and beyond to deliver an event that is the answer to all of their hopes and prayers.
You’ll have to sit down with mood boards and lots of samples to finalize every event detail.
For starters, you could check out some trending wedding themes here. And here’s a secret, those themes apply to more than just weddings!
7. Vendor management
You’re an event planner, not a miracle worker. You’ll need professionals in small departments like decor, lighting, and food. You’ll have to have lots of vendors on board.
When we say a lot, we mean it! Look at how long with wedding vendor checklist is for starters.
Not only will you constantly be in touch with all the vendors, but also track their progress. Maintain an Excel sheet for this.
The more organized you are at this step, the less stressed you’ll be at the day of the event.
8. What to do on the day of the event?
In the days leading up to the event, you will have something to do every day. But, you’ll be surprised to see how many people are clueless about what to do on the actual day of the event.
Don’t be one of those people.
A week prior to the event, you need to create a detailed event schedule. You’ll have to start with setup, calling different vendors, and handling guests.
Everything must have timestamps next to it so that you can be organized on the day of the event. Don’t get us wrong, you’ll still be running around a lot. But, with this method, you’ll know where you’ll be running to.
And lastly, don’t forget to have a plan B for any issues that may arise during the event.
As you become a professional in the field, you’ll also learn to anticipate future issues. It could be an angry guest or unfavorable weather. But, then you’ll be better prepared to handle it when you see it coming.
9. What to do after an event?
After the cleanup, you’ll need to sit down with the client once again. No matter how much you dislike them, you’ll have to deal with the difficult client.
This step is crucial not only to clear out all the payments but also to maintain goodwill. You will have to smooth over all the misunderstandings you may have had during the process.
Do ensure that you take detailed feedback on your services. If you have the opportunity, you can also record their testimonials.
Don’t skip this step as it’ll help you build a brand name in the market. Referrals are very powerful in this industry.
C. How can I become a better event planner?
When you organize events that are so personal to people, know that you’re playing a huge role in their lives.
Your work must justify the role that you’ve been given. It’s not the same as organizing corporate events or seminars. You’re working with emotions here.
In such an emotional setup, your event success will be largely determined by how well you understand your client.
When talking to them, your empathy should take the front seat. We’re not asking you to drain your bank to fulfill all your client’s wishes. But, you need to find a middle ground with your clients.
If they can’t afford something in their event, let’s say, an aerial entry. Then, don’t be quick to crush their dreams. Provide a reasonable solution within their budget, for example, a chariot entry.
Listen to their ideas closely. The secret to successful personal events is—CUSTOMISATION. You have to be strategic and creative at the same time. Profit and creativity must flow together.
Your venue, decor, and event elements don’t just need to be beautiful. They also need to have a personal touch. Every element of your event must evoke an emotion. For example, the carpet could be reminiscent of a significant member of the family. The songs played too, should be emotionally tied with the clients.
D. Why should you organize personal events?
You’ll see the biggest smiles when you’re done organizing personal events. Your event will be the reason for lasting joys and memories for your client.
If that isn’t satisfying enough, such events also give you a great opportunity. An opportunity to channel your creativity that is well appreciated and acknowledged.
We admit this sounds very preachy so far. There’s also another big reason why you should be looking forward to personal events.
Such events allow you to form the deepest client connections. You get to foster a sense of loyalty and trust that most other events don’t allow for.
So, word gets far and fast in this sector of event planning. You can rely on this social circle to get you a lot of projects in the future.
If you do your job well with personal events, you’re very likely to be booked all the time.
And business aside, your clients will also become lifelong friends if all goes well.
But remember, the opposite is also very true. You really can’t afford big mishaps in personal events.
However, that’s exactly what EventTube is here for. You can always rely on us to improve your event planning skills through our content.
Here are few more examples of private events you could be organizing in your initial career.
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