Event Planning Tips, Student Ambassador, Your Event Career

The Event Planner Job Description: Knowing Your Themes

Part of the event planner job description is knowing how to work with different kinds of event themes. Today, QC Event School Student Ambassador and owner of Willow North Events, Nicole Thielmann, is here to discuss this. Plus, she’ll reveal 3 critical event themes you NEED to know! 

Event Themes 101

An event theme is the idea behind the entire event. It involves the overall tone, structure, and goals of the function. A good theme delivers the objectives of an event in a spirited way and ensures that participants assemble around a common idea. A client may want their event to have a theme in order to unify their objectives and create a memorable event for their guests.

Your Event Planner Job Description: Understanding Event Themes

As an event planner, it’s important to ask the right questions to your clients during the initial consultation. This will help you to properly understand what type of theme they want for their celebration. Some questions you might ask include (but as not limited to):

• How would you like your guests to feel when they arrive at your event?
• What words best describe the way you envision your event? I.e. Whimsical? Romantic? Retro? Moody?

Even though your client might not have a specific theme in mind, if you ask the right questions, you can work together to determine a theme for their event.

Highlighting Event Themes

The theme of an event can be highlighted in many different ways. For example, if you’re planning a boho chic event, you may decide to go with a more neutral color scheme. You could accent the event with some vintage rugs, peacock chairs (or rattan furniture), and macramé event decor. You might also decide to add some pampas grass and other neutral florals into the design. Food, music, and lighting can also be used to highlight event themes. All of these things combined will create a beautiful, cohesive theme for your client’s special day!

Your Event Planner Job Description: 3 Event Themes You NEED to Know About

In this section, I want to talk about 3 event themes that I’ve seen multiple times in events (such as weddings) that are really popular and fun.

1 – Bohemian

Last year, the boho chic theme really started to gain popularity! This theme has a soft and romantic feel. It’s earthy; inspired by nature and the outdoors. Boho chic brings in different hippie and bohemian elements, thus making you feel as if you’ve been transported to a different generation. You’ll often find the color scheme to be mainly neutrals with pops of greenery, terracotta, and soft pinks. In terms of event decor, you’ll often find oriental rugs, peacock chairs, macramé backdrops, and lots of greenery. Lace is also a very popular choice in fabric when you are planning a bohemian-themed event.

In my opinion, the boho chic look is stunning. It’s meant to be more unconventional. Therefore, you do not need to follow specific guidelines when creating a boho event theme. With boho, you do not need everything to match or be in unison. In fact, breaking these rules and creating more of a mismatched look tends to enhance the theme and make it even more beautiful!

2 – Rustic

Rustic themes have been very popular over the last few years. For weddings, many couples are choosing to ditch the big event hall and go with a more intimate, cozy setting for their big day instead. A rustic theme is very much rooted in a sophisticated blend of country, vintage, and ethereal elements.

Barns, wood decor, hay bales, antiques, country flowers, grasses, and foliage make up some of the beautiful elements of a rustic event. A rustic color theme will often be neutrals with rich, earthy tones such as greens, browns, and grays. Tablescapes will often be adorned with greenery and with farm-to-table features. Often times, rustic events will be held outdoors on farms or ranches, or in barns. These settings enhance the country, outdoor feel of the event.

I absolutely LOVE planning rustic events! It has been a popular theme for a while now, due to it’s more laid-back nature. You don’t need to fuss over buying a ton of event decor for a rustic event. Not to mention, this is the perfect event theme to master your DIY projects.

Rustic events also tend to be slightly less expensive for your client. This is because they draw on more natural elements to bring beauty to the event. You can enhance this theme with proper lighting (think string lights and lanterns) and music to create a perfect, rustic event.

3 – Tropical

These days, it seems like thoughts of nice, tropical vacations are a distant dream. (Thanks, COVID.) But that doesn’t mean we can’t find safe ways around these social distancing limitations and travel restrictions! For instance, if we can’t have events at the beach, why not bring the beach to your next event?

When done right, a tropical-themed event can make you feel like you’ve been transported to your favorite Caribbean island – even if you’re in the middle of winter in Alaska! Tropical themes are inspired by natural beauty, with organic colors and textures. Tropical-style furnishings and event decor include bright colors, tropical plants, shells, fish, sand, and anything else that inspires a casual, laid-back atmosphere with a resort-style feel.

There are endless ideas that come to mind when thinking about how to incorporate a tropical theme into an event. However, it’s important to be careful, too. You’ll need to understand your client’s expectations before bringing in a ton of Hawaiian leis or lawn flamingos. If you’re planning a tropical event for a child’s birthday party, it will likely look very different than a tropical-themed wedding.

It can be easy to go overboard with decor ideas, which can quickly make an event look tacky. Try to envision the big picture and how the client wants guests to feel at their event. Subtle tropical touches are sometimes more than enough to bring the theme to life, while still keeping it classy.

Your Event Planner Job Description: The Importance of Knowing Your Themes

Part of the event planner job description is knowing how to successfully work with different event themes. Without proper planning, it’s easy to blow an event budget on unnecessary decor, choose the wrong venue for your client’s desired theme, or not achieve the desired mood of the event. Having a proper knowledge of working with themes can strengthen one’s skill-set, lead to more clients, and better your career as an event planner.

Mastering Event Themes with QC Event School

QC Event School’s online certification training will prepare aspiring and experienced planners alike to work with a variety of different event themes. In my experience, QC not only taught me about different event themes – they also taught me how to properly plan their execution.

From picking venues and hiring vendors, to working within a budget, QC Event School taught me about the big picture of event planning. It’s easy to think of a theme for an event. However, without proper planning, things can get messy and unravel really fast. Through my QC training, I’ve learned that a little goes a long way with event themes! Sometimes, less is best in order to achieve the desired theme.

I also discovered that event themes can completely transform the overall mood of the event. So, it is important to ask your client tons of questions when determining their event theme. Find out how they want their event to be remembered. This will all help you to put together the celebration of their dreams!

Thanks so much for reading along! If you’re interested in learning more about event themes and event planning, I highly recommend enrolling in QC Event School’s online certification courses. This school will prepare you for any situation you may be in and make you feel 100x more confident as an event planner.

If you should have any questions about my personal experience with QC Event School, I encourage you to connect with me in the Virtual Classroom on Facebook and leave a comment below!

Enroll with QC Event School today and graduate in as little as 3-6 months!

Next Article