Today’s guest post is by Taylor Erdie. Taylor is a young, enthusiastic, event planner who never fails to make a bold statement.
Hey event readers/bloggers, it’s been a while since my last post so it feels good to sit down and start writing again. My last showing on this site was a podcast on how to get a good internship, tips and tricks to help you succeed, and find what suites you best and helps you figure out your pathway through this crazy life in the event world! Since then I am pleased to share that I had a wonderful internship experience with Bliss Events located in downtown Toronto, Canada.
I was exposed to so much learning and hands-on experience I know I wouldn’t have learned in a classroom environment. In just four months I was fortunate enough to assist on-site with three weddings; one at the Whistle Bear Golf & Country Club in Cambridge, one at the Four Seasons, and one at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario). In addition to the weddings, I helped Bliss Events owner, Tara O’Grady, with the design concept and setup for a Toronto Maple Leafs wives dinner. I also worked on a corporate function for Spencer Stuart which had such stunning floral arrangements by Bruno Duarte at Fresh Floral Creations. The pictures on this post are from those events.
To sit here and list all of the awesome things I was able to do would just be too long to read. However some of my favourite tasks included; drafting design concepts and dream boards for clients, on-site event executions and inspections, mini field trips to pick up décor pieces, client consultations, vendor meetings, updating timelines and itineraries, overall organization of files and definitely the dinner tasting at Presidential Gourmet with the ladies from Harley Davidson (by the way their food is to die for delicious!).
Not only was I able to assist with so much and meet lots of people in the industry but the ladies that I worked with were absolutely phenomenal! I worked with Lisa Garofalo most of the time and let me just say that she is hands down a dynamite teacher. If you want to know anything about weddings, she was such a delight to work with, extremely professional and definitely has loads of knowledge and experience in the industry, Lisa is the one to learn from.
So to answer the big question: was my internship helpful? ABSOLUTELY! I’ve always thought that internships and cooperative education opportunities are the best ways to learn as a student. It’s a great way to help you figure out if your real life experience is something you want to continue and fulfill! And for me it did just that! So where am I now you might ask?
Well, the crazy Toronto life tuckered me out, so I’m back in my hometown of Chatham, Ontario, Canada, starting a new chapter. I recently just took on the role of Banquet Supervisor at the Retro Suites Hotel; which I definitely encourage the readers to look up this hidden gem, and to definitely stay tuned as this wont’ be the last time you’ll be hearing about this amazing place!
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