Welcome to the first feature for our “Day in the Life” series!  We will be featuring wedding and event planners from across the country with many different levels of experience.  If you would like to featured, just download our questionnaire here and email your responses and photo to info@plannerslounge.com.

Name: Debbie Orwat

Business Name & Location: Owner of Save the Date Events, StudioWed Denver, and Founder of Planner’s Lounge. All are based in Denver, Colorado.

Number of Years Working in the Event Industry (as of 2011):  7

Number of Years Owning Your Event Planning Business (as of 2011):  7

Twitter: @plannerslounge & @debbieorwat

What is your typical day like?

My day usually starts around 6:30am with my 3.5 year old daughter waking us up.  I spend the first few hours of my day with her. We eat breakfast and watch the Today show together. She goes to preschool/daycare by 9am then I start my work day in my home office. Email is definitely the biggest part of my day. I follow up with emails and phone calls from my planning clients first then respond to any new leads. I always log a little time on social media and check my traffic stats for the Planner’s Lounge in the morning. If I have meetings, I head to StudioWed for those. I also check in with my studio manager and tend to any tasks that need to be done for the studio including planning upcoming events and following up with our vendors.

In the afternoons, I do more work for my planning clients, create proposals for prospective clients, update our blogs, work on wedding day timelines, and take time to write articles for this website. My day usually ends around 5:30pm unless I have a networking event or evening meeting.  I love to spend the evening with my husband and daughter or catching up with friends. I try not to work in the evening unless necessary.

How did you get started in the industry?

I worked as a tech/business consultant for a number of years but also had the opportunity to plan corporate events for one of the companies I worked for. This gave me great experience in event planning plus a lot of real world work experience. In 2004, I left my full-time corporate job and took a part-time freelance consulting job so I would have more time to start my own business. I took online wedding planner certification classes from Penn Foster, read a ridiculous number of business books, joined a local wedding networking group, assisted other event planners that I met from the networking group, then started my own event planning business in 2005.

Where do you find design inspiration?

I find inspiration everywhere – shopping, restaurants, magazines and online.  I don’t read many wedding blogs but I love Hostess with the Mostess for entertaining and party design ideas.

What are your favorite online resources for your business?

www.thebusinessofbeingcreative.com
www.sageweddingpros.com
www.daniellelaporte.com

Would you like to be featured? download our questionnaire today and email it to us along with a photo.