Events By Elena is a full service wedding and event planning company based in Toronto. We plan and create chic and stylish weddings and events for clients looking for a unique and unforgettable event experience.
We listen to your vision and get to know you so we can meticulously plan every event detail from concept design to venue selection to day of event production and coordination.
​With over 10 years of experience in hospitality and events, we deliver first-class service and round the clock availability to all our clients. We are passionate about creating ‘WOW’ events for all our clients and want your planning experience to be fun, exciting and stress free. We will work tirelessly to create a beautiful and thoughtful experience that you and your guests will talk about for years to come.
What are 2 trends in the event planning industry that you’re excited about?
We will be seeing many intimate weddings this year once again but I absolutely love these types of weddings as couples have the opportunity to choose a more unique, unconventional venue space with the focus on the guest experience and the table setting. I have really enjoyed thinking of creative ways to make that table setting eye catching and appealing to the guests with personalized favors and other meaningful elements.
Speaking about guests; unique live entertainment is definitely a trend when it comes to these smaller type weddings. There are so many options to fill in some space during the wedding reception and provide guests with something different such as a dance performance, comedian performance or even a tea tasting experience that can happen table side.
What are some tips for creating an elegant and memorable event on a tight budget?
Being on a tight budget does not mean the couple cannot have a beautiful and impactful design aesthetic. It is all about looking at the space you’re working with and being strategic about where you place certain centerpieces and having a mix of high and low florals. It is important to create a focal point in the room that will wow the guests. The tables lining the dance floor will be a focal point with intentionally placed larger statement centerpieces on those tables and having low more inexpensive centerpieces on the rest of the tables. In this scenario the budget is used wisely with a mix of centerpieces.
One more really important element when on a budget is lighting. Lots of candle light is not costly but there is something wonderful about walking into a semi dim lit reception space with lots of candle light that is not only gorgeous to look at but an inviting feeling when your guests walk inside.
How important are your relationships with vendors and what are some ways that you successfully cultivate and ensure good rapport?
Vendor relationships are very important. Getting to know vendors and their quality of work ethic is crucial as on the day of a client’s wedding it is very important to have a strong vendor team in place as if one thing goes wrong on the wedding day it is a domino effect and it can affect other areas of the wedding as well. Having a team of vendors you can trust when something like that happens is of great benefit as a lot of the times we wear different hats on the wedding day and we will definitely step in if another vendor needs help and I’ve found the same for other vendors who have helped us in the past.
These relationships with vendors have been cultivated by producing editorial style shoots, networking events and working with them on client events. We build great rapport with vendors as we always ensure that we think about them before an event takes place and discuss with them if we allocated enough time for them on the day of their wedding to get their responsibilities done and also how we can help them to ensure their service to the couple is a success.
At the end of the day we all have a collective goal of producing a successful wedding and having a happy couple as a result and we do not shy away from going above and beyond to help out the vendors in any way they need on location.
What inspired you to launch your own company in the event industry? How long did it take from initially having the idea to setting up and starting to attract a client base?
Being in the Tourism Hospitality program I had an elective course I chose and that was event planning. It was in that course I got a taste of the event planning industry and fell in love and that changed the course of the type of career I wanted to pursue. I graduated and worked for a luxury wedding decor company and for other event planners for a couple years before I got the courage to create a business for myself that I love and am passionate about.
My happiest moments are being able to deliver memorable experiences with a sense of sophistication and elegance to my clients and after seeing the event come to fruition after a year and a half of hard work and planning is a very rewarding feeling.
