Welcome to our “Day in the Life” series! We feature wedding and event planners from around the world with many different levels of experience. If you would like to be featured, download our questionnaire here and email your responses and photo to info@plannerslounge.com. We are excited to feature Florida wedding planner Jessica Talbot today!

Name: Jessica Talbot

Business Name & Location: Z Event Company | New Orleans, LA and South Florida

Years Working in the Event Industry: 3

Website: www.zeventco.com

Business Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/ZEventCompany

Instagram: zeventcompany

What is your typical day like?

I start my day in bed, checking emails and familiarizing myself with any new occurrences that might have happened over night. In this industry, it isn’t out of the ordinary to hear from clients at odd hours, and I like to be ready to go full speed when I get to our office in the morning. I am lucky to be able to work from the comforts of Susan’s home, the owner of Z Event Company. She has a cat named Gracie, who is our office “mascot”, and needs lots of attention so working from her home is perfect for us! There is no typical day at Z Event Company, every day is different, which keeps it fun and fresh.

How did you get started in the industry?

Believe it or not, I was studying to be a speech therapist in college, but when I graduated I realized that I was destined for something else. I met Susan through a tennis friend and started working part time doing admin work here and there. Susan started getting busier and busier, which led to her asking me to assist with a wedding in Palm Beach, Florida. I said “of course!”, instantly fell in love, and was hooked.

From then on, business kept growing and the Z Event Company name was being talked about around town. Needless to say, I was asked to join the team full time, and here I am!

Where do you find design inspiration?

This is a hard question to answer because I find inspiration everywhere I go and in just about everything I do. I recently took a scuba diving trip to Turks and Caicos and came back with loads of ideas, specifically floral inspiration. I even had a dream while I was there about a “tropical” wedding we produced with all of the beautiful and vibrant flowers that I saw around the island. That’s the ever-working mind of a wedding and event planner for you! Being surrounded by all of the exciting colors and tropical flowers got my wheels turning and the ideas just kept coming to me. Other than my natural surroundings, one of my favorite places to find inspiration is on Pinterest. There are so many cool and innovative ideas and it only takes one good idea to spark my next GREAT idea!

Other than my natural surroundings, one of my favorite places to find inspiration is on Pinterest. There are so many cool and innovative ideas and it only takes one good idea to spark my next GREAT idea!

What are your favorite online resources for your business?

My absolute favorite online resource is Hootsuite! It is THE BEST tool out there for managing multiple social media accounts. We all know how hard it is keeping up with 4+ accounts, so this was a huge time saver for me! Being able to schedule my social media posts for future dates is a great feature.

Another online resource that I cannot do without is Canva, a free online graphic design software program. Canva is great for so many different things. I’ve created invitations, posters for events, social media posts, and even advertisements for magazines. It is user-friendly, very easy to navigate and has lots of tutorials to walk you through the website.

Jessica, thank you so much for taking the time to share your story and a day in your life. If you are an event planner and would like to be featured, download our questionnaire today and email it to us along with a photo. If you aren’t sure about being featured, take a few minutes to read how it can help your business.