DIY, Event Planning Tips, Wedding Planning Tips
Graduate Feature: Jess Adlington
Name: Jess Adlington
Location: Emu Plains, Sydney, Australia
Program: Event & Wedding Planning
When Jess Adlington decided to plan her own wedding, she set out to create something unique and truly memorable. Well, she definitely succeeded at that! Her DIY wedding set off quite a stir, even getting her featured on i-do.com!
After the wedding, Jess decided to make a career out of event and wedding planning. She found QC, and has since graduated from the Event and Wedding Planning program. With her newly acquired business acumen and industry expertise, along with the passion she exhibited in planning her own nuptials, we expect to see great things of Jess in the near future!
We caught up with Jess to find out just how she pulled off such a beautiful and fun event on her own!
Your wedding was just beautiful! Have you always wanted to plan your own wedding? What made you decide to go down that path?
Thank you. I wanted to plan something that everyone would remember. I decided to do it myself because I made the decorations to give it my own personal touch. Planning my own wedding was something I wanted to do. I love themed events. Our housewarming was dress-up (heroes and villains) and our engagement party was dress-up as well. I’m currently planning my 30th and throwing an 80’s themed party. So planning a theme wedding was the way to go for us.
The Mad Hatter theme is absolutely brilliant! How did you come up with that? Did you have any difficulties when it came to executing on the theme?
I went looking on the net trying to find something different and fun. I found Alice in Wonderland and decided on The Mad Hatter (to be different). I found a lot of ideas on the internet and started buying one of each of the decorations. I would pull them apart when they arrived to see how they were made and would make them myself. I had no difficulties finding or coming up with ideas for it.
What did you enjoy the most about planning the wedding?
The most enjoyable part was seeing everything come together. It’s one thing to put it together in your head but when it starts to come together towards the end it makes all the stressful days worth it.
What was the most stressful part of planning this wedding? If you had to do it again, would you change anything?
Table plan and place cards, I can’t say how many times this was changed. I just wanted to scream. Each table had their own place cards, so when we moved people around at the last minute I had to re-print them to make sure they had the correct character on them for the tables.
The wedding invitations would also be in this group as well. The invitations had seven parts to be cut out for each invitation, plus everyone got a map to find the place. Everything was hand cut and put together.
I would still do it all over again because the end result was worth it.
Your wedding got quite a bit of attention! How did you manage to get featured on i-do.com and other high-prestige sites?
I was very lucky. I have a friend who works for the people who run the site. They wanted to do something on themed weddings and my friend mentioned mine. I was so excited because I spent 16 months putting it together, and for it to be featured on Australia’s leading wedding site I felt so privileged and grateful this has happened to me.
What would you tell future brides who are thinking of planning their own nuptials?
If you can dream it, plan it. Have the wedding you want, not the wedding others want you to have. Remember, you’re paying for it and they will be your memories to look back on. I wouldn’t change a thing about my wedding because I know everyone had a great time and still talk about it.
