No job too big for event styler Yvonne
EVENT catering for 12 to 700 guests comes naturally to Yvonne Kilcullen, who decided to follow her passion for event management by setting up her own business, Yvonne Kilcullen Events, in 2010, writes Tom Gillespie.
The Castlebar mother-of-two - Liam (13) and Lea (6) - had been working as an interior designer in the family-run business of 22 years.
“When the downturn came I wanted to diversify,” she admitted. “I love interior and I love styling so I started out just meeting a friend and she recommended that I do a wedding for her. I agreed. I did it and I just loved it.
“I extended from there and people got to know me and got me to do coordinating and styling for different events.”
To ensure she was able to offer a fully comprehensive professional service, Yvonne went back to college to study room styling, event management, coordination, budgeting and marketing.
She added: “I started working with charities – the hospice, Western Care, Mayo Rape Crisis Centre, Soroptomists and Rotary - to ensure their fundraising events had that special touch and added to their success.
“From there I went on to the bigger ones, like Ireland West Airport Knock’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Most recently I did a gig for Vodafone. It was a real honour to do those.”
The Knock airport event was exciting. She was so nervous but still loved the anticipation.
She said: “We catered for 200 VIPs upstairs in the airport and over 500 downstairs.
“The smallest event I organised was a mixed marriage two months ago - there were just 12 people at it. It was the most intimate, beautiful event, and it was so special to the couple.”
Other past projects she undertook include Healy Macs Restaurant, Breaffy Resort, and Nollaig na mBan.
Yvonne says that preparation before the event is paramount, adding: “In these events, there is a lot of preparation beforehand. I always like to be prepared. I prep before the actual event and there is a lot of prepping before it that people don’t see.
“We have a lot of professional contractors we bring in - sound, light, waitressing, caterers, etcetera.
“We are catering for a big wedding coming up in Knock where we will bring in the marquee and we set up the whole thing from start to finish. We being in everything that is needed to dress that venue.”
Yvonne ensures that every detail is attended to and works with a large team of professional contractors to provide all the styling aspects of an event. She continued: “For large events such as Knock airport we provided pipe and drape, lighting, catering hire, balloon decorations, floral arrangements and staff, including waitresses.”
Yvonne has a real passion for what she does and combines that passion with style and knowledge to ensure the organisers of the event can relax knowing the styling and coordination are in safe hands.
She declared: “No venue is too small or too large and I use my interior design background to advise clients what the room needs to be spectacular and I work with their budget to provide the agreed styling elements.”
Now Yvonne is lending her expertise to organising wedding packages for returning brides and grooms.
She explained: “We work through the internet with people abroad to host their weddings here. A lot of people cannot come back from, say, Australia so we do all the arrangements for then on this side. They actually only need two initial visits and then turn up for the wedding here. It takes a lot of pressure off them.
“We organise all aspects of the wedding, including sourcing venues, dresses, suit hire, florists, caterers, etcetera, ensuring the couple can enjoy their day.”
Yvonne’s husband, John, is also involved in the business but stays mainly in the background and, as Yvonne admitted: “We could not do it without him.”
Every event is different, as Yvonne explains: “I recently provided a surprise balloon drop, stage drapes and mood lighting for a concert with four choirs and Stockton’s Wing. You just never know where the next call will come from and that’s what makes it so exciting.”
Yvonne Kilcullen Events also offer a DIY service with very reasonable hire-out rates for much of her stock and equipment.
“It makes it all so affordable to give your event that extra bit of sparkle,” she said.
“We are working at the moment with The Big Red Barn and they are interested in bringing bigger events into Castlebar and I am interested in working with them. It will open up a lot of things for Castlebar.”
Yvonne Kilcullen Events can be contacted on (087) 1770478 and on info@yvonnekilcullen.com.