Memoirs of a Wedding Planner

Name: Marcinho [mar-SING-you] Savant

Company: Savvyplanners.com, LLC

Location: Flagships: New York, San Francisco, Kauai & Key West

Years in Business: 5.3 years


How did you first get started in the event/wedding industry?
I guess it was from observing some of Manhattan’s great events as a child tagging along with my mother as she attended them. I could serve a house guest a perfect cocktail by the age of nine and it never occurred to me not to include a garnish, stirrer and bev-nap. By high school I was throwing some pretty outstanding soirees at my home and by freshman year in college I had catered and staffed an evening faculty cocktail party--- OUT OF A DORM KITCHEN!! And got paid. And they all LOVED the food. At that point you could call me hooked.

What and who are your inspirations?
I have so many influences. I’m inspired by creating subtle yet sumptuous elegance in every form from minimalist, impressionist, cubist forms, Viennese Royal Court lavishness… big fan of Japanese simplicity and ageless elegance. I’m inspired by Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Rembrandt, Frank Lloyd Wright, Keith Haring, Ansel Adams, Georgia O’Keeffe…like I said: so many inspiring sources. Architecture, as well as the internal features of the venue, inspires me. I’m inspired by the forms and shapes that I see in the tree branches and leaves outside my office window… even in my desktop water glass. The color variations in the throat of a Calla. The shape of Casablancas; the entire world and every moment in it has something to offer a designer, if you’re open to it and look for it. I’m definitely guided by sensuosity.

What attributes do you bring to your wedding planning business and the industry at large?
An incredible desire to please. A client has to be FLOORED, not just pleased, for us to feel we’ve earned our keep. We’ve got quite a few team mouths to “feed” and overhead is what it is. We MUST pay them as well as we do because they are incredible at what they do for our clients. There is to me, however, no joy in being paid by a client that isn’t beyond happy. We have been so blessed to have not suffered that indignity.

If there were one thing that you could have done differently when starting your business, what would it be?
As a family-run business we had remarkable guidance from a family member of extraordinary business, financial and educational pedigree. We were blessed with her input and knowledge.

How did the company name come about?
As a family business, Savant is the last name. It originally had an entirely different name, and an external partner. However, this partner didn’t work out and was released. We had corporate and license filings to change, immediately, prior to our soft-launch in 2004 and savvyplanners.com seemed reasonable, functional and clear to the consumer. Savvy, playing off Savant is defined as*:
Function: noun
Etymology: French, from Middle French, from present participle of savoir to know, from Latin sapere to be wise.
Date: 1719
1 : a person of learning; especially : one with detailed knowledge in some specialized field (as of science or literature). [or Event Coordination and Design!!!!!]
*Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

No PRESSURE!!!! So we have something to aspire to and work for every day. And people ask “what’s in a name”? lol.

What is your favorite piece in designing an event?
Can I have TWO!? I love creating the vision the client brings to us and doing it with tools and components that they may have never even heard of or thought about while still bringing the mood, flow, visual integrity and feel of their event to life as they envisioned. It’s also LOTS of fun when they just say “I trust you! You know what I’m shooting for…Just do it!”

The second is standing out of the way and watching the event unfold and seeing the pleasure and pride of the client for the comfort, amazement and pleasure that their guests display.

Who do you admire in our industry?
Of course there is the King of the event world, Robert Isabell, whom we’ve sadly just lost! I’d also have to say the men I lovingly call “the holy trinity of event planning”. Preston Bailey, Colin Cowie and David Tutera. These men have been in the industry vanguard and truly blazed, and continue to blaze, the trail for all of us that follow. Each of them has a singular style and one can almost look at a room and know whose room it is even though they are constantly innovating and exploring their art (and are regularly copied!).

Any advice for aspiring event/wedding planners?
1. Dream! Work your rear off but never stop dreaming. It is the dream that provides your special signature.
2. Study and grow. How can we lead and guide and protect and inspire a client if we’re only one-dimensional?
3. Seek certification. It wasn’t always necessary but there are tens of thousands of people that slap up a sign and are suddenly “Event Planners”, which I think is GREAT because they are following step 1. It is, however, difficult for consumers to know where their investment is best backed by constant learning, a code of ethics, professional development and organizational affiliations and professional networks.

If you were to write your memoirs, what would they convey?
I’m not really sure what my memoirs would be about really. I still have MUCH to learn and to experience. One thing I’m fairly certain of, however, is what the foreword would be. I’m likely to select a quote from our 30th President Calvin Coolidge:

“Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

I am nothing, if not persistent! That, coupled with the advice section above, might just lead to my dreams coming to fruition beyond my wildest hopes. Central to those hopes and dreams is doing the same for our clients for their special events.