Ashley was interviewed by Greenwich Tent Co.

Greenwich Tent Co. interviewed Ashley recently. Catch it live on their blog HERE or read it below!

It’s an honor to be trusted planning an event that client’s imbue with so much passion and importance. Weddings have only the extent of meaning that the client’s give them and a client that hires an event planner such as ourselves, has high expectations. We love a creative project and a good challenge. Also, there is a lot we take for granted, skills that come easy to us that are intimating or foreign to a client. Details that we discern that clients would not have. Details that alter the planning experience or guest experience or both, that may or may not be visual. There is so much that does not meet the eye because the planning just works out in the end, seamlessly. Lastly, we also know our involvement helps alleviate conflict both between family members and couples. That alone makes our roles rewarding and valuable. Gratitude. 

Their interview:

Event Planners, or as I like to call them the fairy Godmothers of all things wedding and special events related, are really the glue to every single aspect of your wedding day/event. They help piece together your dream vision while giving you ideas and feedback through each decision from the catering, floral designs and guest experience! 

Ashley Douglass Events is the total package with the motto of "seamless planning for luxury events". We have worked with her and her team for the past few years and the work that they have done is stunning and we though you should see it for yourself!! 

Her experience in this industry:

Her previous history is in the professional theatre both in NYC and regionally. She grew up in a professional theatre family and was a serious ballet student all throughout childhood so “production time” was just part of her life. While still in the theater as she got older she worked as a staff trainer for a larger NYC restaurant group. For her it was ideal because when she needed a job, be it for a month or four, she always had a restaurant to be placed into and sometimes was helping to open a new restaurant too. She moved to LA in her late 20s and did the same work on the side and eventually her name started circulated as a subcontracted wedding or event coordinator. That was when she first got the wedding bug. Ashley shadowed some designers as well, laying the groundwork for a future job all the while still performing. She then went back to school to become a therapist and in tandem started to book her own weddings. Without planning it a new career emerged and picked up speed prior to completing her training hours as a therapist so she went for it. That was about 9 years ago.

How she got started and what made her choose this career:

Ashley always wanted to work for herself. That was a must. She says she is for sure right brained but also love detail and a hard challenge. The harder the job the better she will do. With weddings and events, you see the final outcome which is the ideal reward. Ashley also has a few other business ideas up her sleeve but we will get back to her on that!

What geographic areas she services:

She works in NYC, Hamptons, Hudson Valley to the Berkshires, Vermont and Fairfield County CT. She also work where ever her clients take her. They have also planned in CA, CO, FL, TX and Mexico.

For 2020 + 2021 we are also planning for the Caribbean and Madrid is pending. Catch us on Instagram soon. 

Her favorite part about being an event planner:

Happy clients make a happy planner. Ashley feels good to be in a job that you are good at, as silly as that may sound. She is good with people I believe, detail and design.

What Ashley likes about working with a tent for a wedding reception versus an indoor space:

She finds that its important to have a tented event even if you are in a location that does not get much rain, having a main structure calls for guests to focus and you are able to do what you want aesthetically. You can be outside in the woods and have a formal event. She loves lighting and a barren tent gives you options! 

How she discovered Greenwich Tent and why she enjoys working with us:

She began working with us back when we were first only Sperry Tents Greenwich. You're a growing company that still feels and operates like a small family company. Clients value that! 

Some of her favorite events she has done with us!

A New Canaan wedding the night after the Supreme Court ruled same sex marriage as legal. Click Here to see the full story!

A wedding at Glenmere Mansion where the bride actually let her mother do a majority of the planning since she was busy with her career and wanted her mom to have some fun with it! 

And a wedding at The Country Club of Fairfield where her parents got married sixty two years before. Click Here to see the full story!

If you are equally as happy seeing their gorgeous events then pop over to their Instagram!

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Thanks so much to our friends at Greenwich Tent for interviewing us especially during a busy time, Fall!

Ashley D. and team

MEGAN + TIM | Montauk Lake Club | Montauk, New York

Megan and Tim came to us pretty far in advance. In fact, they were the first to book for 2017 about 23.5 months out from their date and wisely so because they wanted to get married in Montauk. When they first booked they didn’t have a venue which is perhaps the hardest choice you will make. They are as familiar with the area as we are so in that regard making this choice wasn’t hard but pulling the trigger (or price tag) was. The variance of price amongst some venues out East is great. Learning where your priorities lay can take some time or change once you really delve into planning. In the end they chose the Montauk Lake Club because it was quiet, private, available over more preferred dates, and one of the more favorable options financially. It’s also a tented site so you can certainly do whatever you want inside the tent! The staff is very nice as well. ;-)

Megan and Tim both work a ton. I know everyone can say that these days but let me explain…..Ashley would have calls with Megan while she was in the middle of overnights. In other words, a night where she would sleep on her desk, in her office, at the law firm. YUP! Tim simultaneously worked full time while earning his MBA at Columbia University. Got enough on your plate? To add to the pot, the summer before their own wedding and the summer of their wedding, they attended more weddings than ADE planned. Now think about that…Working all the time and between the 18 or so weeks from Memorial Day to just past Labor Day, they attended more weddings than there are almost weekends. On top are the engagement parties for the year after, bachelor and bachlorette parties, not to mention their own parties! They are one of our couples that we refer to as ‘professional wedding attendees’!

Laid back and fun was most important for this weekend. Nothing stuffy, nothing formal and nothing that is truly not needed. Invites that made them excited, linens that popped with indigo, with lots of greenery and a great band! They booked their band just a week out from booking us! As I always do, I talked about music when I first met them. Very fast I knew they’d love this band and low and behold they were the same band a friend of theirs used that they loved and had forgotten the name of. Good thing we moved fast because often enough the Marcus Reid Band books upwards of two years out or more. They were a wild crowd that danced more than most, ties on heads, people on friends shoulders, you get the picture! This wedding was one of the most fun - hands down!

Photography below by Craig Warga Weddings 

Planning + Design | Ashley Douglass Events

Florals + Design | Blade NYC

Photography | Craig Warga Weddings

Venue | Montauk Lake Club

Gown | Vera Wang

Band | Marcus Reid Band from Hank Lane

Cinematographer | Orange Films

Hair & Make up | Blushington

Tent | Sperry Tents Hamptons

Invitations | Katie Fischer Design

Cake | Momofuku Milk Bar

Rentals | La Tavola Linen

Rentals | Party Rental LTD

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