Fiona in Sheffield Asks: What Has Been The Worst Event You’ve Ever Managed?

Fiona in Sheffield: “Dear Delilah,  I’ve always wanted to be an event planner and I love reading your blog.  I was wondering what was the worst thing that’s ever happened during one of your events and how did you handle it?”

Thank you for your email, Fiona. Being an event planner is one of the most rewarding and unpredictable jobs one could ever have. You never know what’s going to happen during any given event, so it’s best to always be prepared for the unthinkable–one time, a gentleman passed-on during an event I put on. At no fault of mine, I hasten to add!

He and his wife were in attendance, both of them in their late 80s.  All was going well until she motioned for me to come over, and softly and calmly whispered in my ear “I think me husband’s dead”. You can imagine what a downer that put on the evening.

As horrible as that was, though, it wasn’t the worst thing to have happened at one of my events. So, with that, let me explain the worst event I’ve ever been involved with, one that was actually a, pardon the expression, s**tstorm.

I was Director of Events and Chief Hospitality Co-ordinator for Hotel Astrid-London.  The staff of the hotel are incredible, the guests are top notch and the space is breathtaking. I was working for a client who held their wedding reception in the grand ballroom.  The couple were lovely and were keen to have an open bar.  We’d been working together for almost a year. However, six months prior, my assistant had quit so I’d been forced to bring in an intern. Her references were stellar, but I was soon to find out that her work ethic was… questionable.

The week before the event everything was great and seemed to be in order.  The first sign of an issue was when the bride’s mum came to the office and immediately began what can only be described as a tirade, which I assume was exacerbated by the huge amount of alcohol she had consumed.  She wanted to change everything that her daughter, the bride, and I had agreed upon. I contacted the bride and everything we had decided upon was still fine with her, so our plans went unchanged, much to her mother’s very vocal annoyance.

The day of the event everything seemed incredibly together. The decorations were gorgeous.  The food BEAUTIFUL! The lighting was perfect and my staff all prepared and professional. The bride’s mum had been asked not to attend, a very brave–and necessary–move on the bride’s part, I must say.

The event was to last for four hours. Ten minutes in, and all Hell started to break loose: one of the bridesmaids slipped on her own spilled drink and cut her head open. A trip to the hospital for her, and I hoped our troubles were over.

Dinner service continued without issue, thanks to the gods. During the dessert course, however, the bride’s mum showed up, furiously pounded several drinks, and began to yell at the groom’s mum.  She was shortly escorted off premises.

Unfortunately, this was only a rehearsal for what would happen next.

The bride’s brother and the groom’s sister were caught doing unmentionable things near a rather harassed looking DJ who seemed incredibly deep in thought about how to get bum cheek impressions off of his clear perspex booth.

Next, the bride’s uncle began shouting at one of my staff. When one of the groom’s mates decided to intervene a fight began. This lit a match to already leaking gas and what erupted was  an orgy of violence: several groups began beating on each other, pulling out hair and skull bashing with the hundred pound bottles of champagne. One woman even–possibly Sia, thus providing the inspiration for her hit song–swung down from a chandelier and pile drove one of my poor cater waiters. It was reminiscent of a battle scene from a fantasy movie and I expected a fire breathing dragon to descend upon the scene at any moment.

The next thing I knew my newly-hired intern, who unbeknownst to me had been indulging in the open bar, got on the stage and started yelling in an authoritative manner. At that moment, the bride’s mum launched across the stage to rugby tackle said intern. Her authority quickly disappeared as she began flailing her arms over the mum’s face, looking like a severely pissed off flounder.

Many of our staff were harmed in the battle and the vast majority of attendees were taken to hospital. Thanks to a riot-gear clad contingent of London’s finest, the scene was eventually brought under control but the resulting damage meant that the Grand Ballroom had to be closed for two weeks for cleaning and reconstruction. My intern was treated for minor scrapes and bruises. She was sacked shortly after, though for another, unrelated incident best left for another time–needless to say though, the drinking on the job had hardly given a good impression.

To say the least, it was a learning experience. But, lesson learned: we always meet the family before an event now, and I have 999 programmed for a 1 button call, and I have a taser gun and pepper spray on me at all times in case any of my staff are in harms way.

I hope that this was illuminating, Fiona, and do stay tuned as next week I will have a post on how to avoid situations like this from unfolding–because prevention is always better than cure.

Please let us know if you have any questions that you’d like answered at:

Delilah James – d.james@delilahjamesevents.com


Source: GROOP!Place Blogs
Fiona in Sheffield Asks: What Has Been The Worst Event You’ve Ever Managed?