8 Questions with Christine Viola
01-06-12 Interviews
Who: Christine Viola
Craft: Event Planner/Designer
Lives: NYC
Where to Find Her: exquisiteaffairsproductions.com
Why We Think She’s Cool: Because she knows exactly what to do if your dress catches on fire!
Interview by: José
Christine Viola is one of our personal favorites at The Foundry. She brings an energy and passion that’s unique to her own style, and all the events that her and her amazing team have produced at The Foundry has been nothing short of amazing. Not to mention, she was extremely supportive and helpful with helping me organize my first D.O.C. (Day-of Coordinator) gig at The Foundry back in August. She’s honest, brilliant, knows her craft, and we love her for it!
Foundry: So I guess the first obvious question would be, "How did you become an event planner/designer?"
Christine Viola: It's all a blur, really...there may have been alcohol involved. But in all seriousness, it all started right around the time I was planning my own wedding in 2005/2006. I was climbing the corporate ladder in finance and really loved my 9-5 but constantly craved more. I wanted the freedom and reward that all business owners desire and have; I wanted to make my own hours; I wanted to pick and choose my clients; and most importantly, I wanted to complete a job with the sense that I'd just changed something or someone in this world we live in.
On the recommendation of a few friends who said, "You're always planning everything for us. Why not event planning?," I toyed with the idea for many months (while planning my own wedding), since it meant that I would have to say farewell to almost ten years of building my resume up in the world of finance. After my wedding in April 2006, a friend of mine, Sylvia, asked me to coordinate her wedding. Since I didn't have that much experience beyond my own wedding, I researched everything and anything wedding related. Sylvia's wedding came and went without any hitches, and I enjoyed every single minute of planning it. I loved negotiating with vendors, setting up timelines, confirming where everyone should be and and when, and then seeing it all come together flawlessly. Sylvia's wedding led to three other friends' weddings that year, and EAP was born.
I started the business officially in June 2006, and by December I had already booked 12 events for the 2007 season. Those weddings grew to double within the year, and that meant adding staff. In came Tara and Laurie, and without them (also fellow 2006 brides) EAP would not be the success that it is today.
C: EAP Inc. offers Wedding Planning, Day of Coordination, and a variety of creative services including custom designed invitations and stationery. Imagine being able to just wake up to the wedding of your dreams and not worry about the ins and outs of what makes your wedding so beautiful. Our staff is dedicated to making your wedding day all yours and not about those stressful details that we will handle with the utmost care and devotion.
What EAP really strives for is to become a necessity rather than a luxury to brides. There's always been an aura around wedding planners, and that you had to have a hefty budget to afford one. Well, we want EAP to be as important to a bride as having a photographer to document her day. We want to keep our rates as affordable and competitive as possible, so that whatever the budget, a bride can come to us saying, "I have to have you" rather than "I wish I could afford to have you."
F: You have a lot of kick-ass packages. What's your most popular?
C: We offer four levels of service: Full & Partial Planning, Day of Coordination and Decor. While we certainly book our fair share of each one, our most popular has to be our Day of Coordination, Something Blue package. It includes just about everything a bride needs leading up to and on the day of the wedding. It's also the package that's included in both our full and partial planning packages because it ties the day together perfectly.
F: What's the craziest request you've gotten?
C: To plan a New Year's Eve wedding in Times Square with an anticipated guestlist of 450 people (98% from outside of USA). I declined.
F: You're known for your honesty. Can you tell me a time when you've had to steer a bride straight?
C: Honesty is the best policy! I'm hired to help clients plan the wedding of their dreams, and that includes the good/bad/ugly and everything else that comes with it. I've never had to steer a bride straight per se, but if there's something that I just don't think will work (logistically, creatively, etc.), I will be honest and say the reasons why I don't think it'll work. It's all about compromising and coming to a decision together that's going to work best for the overall event.
An example of this was when a bride really, really wanted to use alternating tablecloth colors. I felt it didn't look as mature and refined as it could, and explained to her why. The compromise was that we agreed on one color for the tablecloths, but brought in the other color she wanted through the chair cushions and napkins. The bride and I were both really happy with the overall look in the end, and that's what matters. She even thanked me after the wedding for steering her in the right direction.
C: With my hubby...or sometimes with Tara if Tara and I are working together that evening. We don't discuss how the wedding went until the following day, enjoy a glass of wine, and my phone/email gets turned off! It's leaving work at work and not bringing home the events of the day with you.
F: I love me some Tara by the way. I’m gonna have to grab a glass of wine with her soon. K, let me try to throw you off. Pretend I was a bride on the day of..."Christine, my dress just caught on fire in the dressing room after I foolishly lit up a cigarette in the bride's room! The wedding is in three hours!! What do I do?
C: You know better than to mention wedding and fire with me, right (referencing my December 17 wedding at NYAC, where there actually WAS A FIRE)????
To answer your question...I'd get you out of that dress, hand you a glass of champagne, and immediately leave the room to see what I could salvage of the dress (because we all know I don't carry around a perfectly fitted dress in my emergency kit). If I were able to salvage some of the dress, albeit a shorter one, or less fluffy, then we would work it! If it were completely destroyed, I would call up my friends at a local salon and see what I could get within two hours..and hopefully it would work out.
I'm nervous even answering this question right now...just watch that happen! Oh, and that "guest" that lit up the cigarette - well, let's just say they're in a cab on their way far, far away from the wedding.
F: K, last question. What's your favorite part on the day of the wedding? (Pre-wedding, ceremony, reception, etc.)
C: That single minute that the bride has all by herself right before she walks down the aisle. Even if the couple has already had a "reveal" for pictures prior to the ceremony, that moment is really something special. I usually encourage that time (right before the ceremony) for the bride to be alone and give her that minute to collect her thoughts, anticipate what's about to happen, and sometimes take a quick glance at herself and take it all in. Emotions are always running at high-speed at that point, from nervousness to excitement to pure joy. To be there and watch someone go through it as I did years ago...well, it's just my absolute favorite part of the wedding day.
F: BONUS QUESTION: What do you hope for in the new year? Did you make any sort of New Year's resolution?
C: What I'm striving for in 2012 is to just continue what we have been doing, but better! Continue the one on one relations we have with clients and vendors. To continue learning more, educating ourselves to what's bigger and better out there and most importantly, to rock out amazing weddings!
Check out one of Christine’s Portfolio! Stay tuned for more down the road...