Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Labdon

Hi Emily, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.

My love for event planning started during my time at Marist College where I pursued a degree in Fashion. In school, I got used to being in a constant grind. While taking classes, interning in NYC, and working on campus, and commuting between all of it using public transit (I didn’t have a car) I learned quickly how to use my time wisely. While interning for Oscar de la Renta and working for IMG (International management group) during NYFW (New York Fashion Week) as a production assistant I gained valuable insight into the events industry. I was able to continue refining my skills through event planning classes at Marist, planning events for the fashion and alumni community in the NYC Metropolitan area.

In spring of 2020, I was all set to graduate and chase a career in fashion, when Covid hit. We were sent home from school, graduation was canceled, and no one was hiring in the fashion world. In a strange twist of fate I landed a role in IT training at a major healthcare company in NJ, here I honed in on learning how to work in a corporate setting, professional communication skills, and leadership. During my time at my corporate job I also co-founded and co-chaired a business resource group advocating for people with disabilities. Overall, my corporate experience although not aligned with the event industry has been equally important in forming my identity as an entrepreneur. I think every business owner can benefit from understanding the corporate world.

In 2022 I started Emlabdon Events – We offer bespoke event planning services, we do anything from baby showers, corporate holiday parties, networking nights, birthdays, and more. We make sure that each event is unique with it’s own branding, a lot of what we do in terms of decor and overall event design is custom. This is what sets us apart, clients come to us when they want something different than what they see all over social media. We sweat the details, there are so many little yet important things to coordinate for events and our clients trust us to take care of every thing from start to finish.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?

In the first year of business, there was so much I didn’t know! I had it in my head that if I could DIY a large part of the event (hand making centerpieces & decor, providing my own table cloths/photo backdrops/party favors) then I would get a higher profit margin with each event. This turned out to NOT be the case. When taking into consideration cost of supplies for DIY projects, and adding in the time and labor it took to complete, I realized quickly it was not sustainable to take ownership of basically everything except the food and drink.

I put a lot of thought and did research into how i could make things easier, and not have to create something from scratch or tackle it on my own each time. For example: I realized that renting table cloths from a party rental service was actually much cheaper and much easier than buying them on amazon, setting them up and ironing them at the event, then dry cleaning them. I look back on when I did that for a 75-person event and think how crazy it was that I made things so hard for myself!

I found power in knowing that as a business owner I don’t have the be the best at everything, I could outsource balloons, photo backdrops, linens, and other things to vendors, while my team focused on the thousands of little details that help bring together the look and feel of the event. We still DIY a lot in order to maintain control of the design and look and feel of the party.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?

Emlabdon Events – We offer bespoke event planning services, we do anything from baby showers, corporate holiday parties, networking nights, birthdays, and more. We make sure that each event is unique with it’s own branding, a lot of what we do in terms of decor and overall event design is custom. This is what sets us apart, clients come to us when they want something different than what they see all over social media. We sweat the details, there are so many little yet important things to coordinate for events and our clients trust us to take care of every thing from start to finish.

Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?

I’ve had an amazing mentor – Fran Green – who I’ve worked with through the Score Mentoring program. She has been my guiding light in helping me figure out what steps I need to take in order to reach my specific business goals. Through Fran’s guidance, I’ve been able to accomplish many of my goals and make dreams a reality. One of the things she’s empowered me to do is hire interns.

In the fall semester of 2024, I kicked off the first internship program for Emlabdon Events, where I had the pleasure of collaborating with talented students from Rutgers University who played a huge role in event planning and social media.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://emlabdonevents.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emlabdonevents/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086253794910