I was extremely anxious going into my first internship 700 miles away from home. This would not only be my first internship, but also my first time living out of state. Going into it, I expected sitting in on wedding consultations, working long hours, making new friends, learning about florals, and learning all about the wedding and event planning industry. With that being said, I also had some concerns at the back of my mind. It is well known that wedding planning is not the highest paying industry out there, even though event planners are the first ones to arrive at the office and the last ones to leave. I knew to work in this industry, I had to really love it and be passionate about it. My worst fear coming into this internship was that I would work a wedding and think to myself, “this is not what I want to do with my life”, or simply that I was not good enough or had what it took to be an event planner. Long story short, all of my concerns, suspicions, and excitement was transformed over my nine weeks in Albuquerque, NM to realizing event planning is what I love and want to do for the rest of my life. But, I am getting ahead of myself.
Rewinding back to October 2017 when I started looking for summer internships, the pressure was on as I knew that potential employers like to see the position of “intern” on resumes. I was in the alumni network mentoring program at Southwestern and was given one mentor a month that matched with my interest of event planning and entrepreneurship to talk with and learn from their experience. Although the main objective of the phone call was not to try and get an internship, it was always a possibility. My October mentor was Mrs. Emily Calhoun, founder and CEO of Floriography Flowers, a premier florist for weddings and galas. I was very skeptical because at the time I had my mind set for a corporate event planning position that had more of a steady paycheck and had dropped my dream of planning weddings. The phone call started with static and bad connection as Emily told me she was driving to a wedding and was passing through mountains. Our phone call went on and on as Emily and I could not stop talking and discussing everything she had done to get to where she is now. Towards the end of the phone call, Emily had mentioned that they have an internship program located in Albuquerque, NM and would love for me to apply. I thanked her but thought in my head there is no way I am going to New Mexico, and we ended the call. At the same time, I had been applying to corporate event planning positions within the finance industry as that is what my dad works in. January rolled around, and I had been denied every corporate position I applied to. Defeated and hurt, I thought I would have to work at Smoothie King again or as a waitress that summer when I remembered my conversation with Emily. I emailed Emily to ask if the position was still available, and she responded that she had been waiting for me to email her, I received the position, and the rest is history.
The internship met my expectations, but in a very different way. There was a lot less event planning than I thought, but I was exposed to it the entire time. I ended up being glad I worked with a florist because as an event planner, it is important to understand and appreciate other vendors in the industry. Emily said weddings go more smoothly when a planner is respectful and understanding of other vendors. I learned so much more about flowers than I expected. I was afraid to attempt to make any floral arrangements as I did not want to cost Emily money if I messed it up, and I was nervous to mess up in general. Emily was very open to showing and explaining to me how flowers work. Although I am not able to make florals for other people, I learned the basics of what it takes to create arrangements and have a much better understanding. As far as my concern for loving the industry, I anxiously waited for weekends every week as working the actual weddings were my favorite part. I worked one weekend with a wedding planner whom Floriography shared the space of the warehouse with. It was a fifteen-hour work day, but I found myself not wanting to leave when it was over. I loved every moment and pulled customer service skills I had learned from Smoothie King the entire evening.
My academic work influenced everything I did as far as what questions to ask Mrs. Emily at work when we talked about business. We spent many mornings and dinners talking about my future goals as an entrepreneur and I found myself being familiar with many of the business terms she was using such as sole proprietorship and loans. Although I did not directly do event planning with Emily, she connected me with multiple event planners in the area and we also went to a speed dating session with different vendors in the industry. During this internship I saw my largest connections from my economics and foundations of business courses. In the industry of event planning, clients are willing and eager to pay for convenience. There is large cost and benefit analysis consideration when budgeting one’s wedding prioritizing what is most important. I learned that before starting your own business as an event planner, it is important to get your name out there and make connections within the community. I left feeling more confident about what to do post-graduation such as working with other event planners first and then possibly starting my own business.
After this internship, I am reassured in my decision to major in business as there are no event planning courses; however, an event planner gets all education from internships and experiences. With this in mind, I am already searching for my next internship as it is so important for me to make the most connections and have the most experiences as possible. After talking with the wedding planner, I also want to try and work as a waitress or bartender before I graduate. The likelihood of getting a job increases if I have that kind of customer service and server experience as I have more skills under my belt, and again, I will have more empathy for other vendors. Overall, I think I was meant to do this internship and have learned more than I could have ever hoped. I will always be thankful to Floriography for taking a chance on me and I hope I can do that for future people who dream of being event planners.