Dempsey & Carroll’s Kara Alexander sat down with event planner, Jacin Fitzgerald, to learn about her work, her love for fresh flowers, and her impressive social media presence.
KA: You once said, “I stopped searching the world for my purpose… Realized my true passion lies within the details of life and that I want to help others achieve their dream event.” Where were you when you had this epiphany and what were you doing that helped you come to this realization?
JF: There’s a long and short version to this question but I’ll try to keep it brief…I got my start in weddings just out of college, working for an oceanside venue in Newport, Rhode Island. From there I went on to work for Sailing World magazine, assisting and traveling for their national regatta series across the country, and then went on to move to Australia to work in Sydney as long as my visa would allow. Following Australia I traveled and visits New Zealand and Fiji, then came home and felt like I was starting all over again. I thought in order to be successful I had to work in a corporate job, so I got a job for an agency representing a pharmaceutical company and managed accounts for strategic marketing events across the country. While working here I felt like I still hadn’t met my purpose in life, and though I loved my colleagues and clients in the corporate gig, what I really missed was the creativity that came with weddings, the work I started with from the very beginning. Honestly I think my epiphany came when I suggested to a corporate client that we use blue napkins for their event to bring in their branding colors, and I was pretty much told “no one cares about the napkins, just get the right audience in the seats.” I realized I wanted that creative outlet back and started my company as a “side project” towards the end of 2009, and ended up resigning from my corporate job at the end of 2011. I haven’t looked back since.
KA: The average person might plan one wedding their entire life; at Jacin Fitzgerald Events you plan four per year, plus find the time to travel and co-edit for @travelinsiders! How do you choose which clients to take on? Is it a first come, first serve basis or do you spread them out to one per season?
JF: I don’t choose my clients – we choose each other. My consultation process is very much a two-way interview, we are getting to know each other and see if we might be a fit. I would hate for anyone to ever think I’m “choosing” anyone – once my four weddings are booked, I close up bookings for the year. It’s pretty simple actually.
As for Travel Insiders, I co-edit this project with a friend of mine, Abby Capalbo, and we literally manage this as an outlet to share our love of travel and places we’ve visited, or places we want to visit!
KA: As a planner who services weddings nationwide, what would you say is the biggest difference you see in weddings from each region?
JF: That’s so so hard to answer – I think every region has their differences for sure, but it’s so fun to bring those quintessential qualities to life in the design. New England weddings tend to have more of a nautical, coastal vibe and the season may end sooner than down South where the weather may be more temperate later into the year. California is amazing weather-wise and my East Coast clients getting married out West are always surprised at the lack of rain plans needed (though we obviously always have a plan B in place).
KA: I imagine your office and home are always flooded with the smell of fresh flowers, what are some tips and tricks you can share about floral arrangement and keeping flowers lasting longer?
JF: Best tip for keeping flowers fresh longest is so simple – trim the ends at a diagonal when you bring them home from the store (if they’re flat they may cut off water supply) and continually change out the water, re-trimming ends if needed.
KA: Aside from your website, you have such a huge social media presence! How have you gotten 42 thousand+ Instagram followers, 6300+ Twitter followers and 9700+ Facebook likes?
JF: Honestly I have been on social media since the beginning, and my online growth has been organic. I try really, really hard to be authentic both online and in person – when you meet me you’ll meet the same person you “see” online. That’s really important to me. I keep my personal life and work life very separate, too, and I think that’s key for me to maintain a professional “gallery” to showcase my work, with an occasional photo of our dog, Rhody, thrown in for good measure – he’s the best dog ever but we are a little biased :)
