What’s It Like Working With Celebrities
Hey Babes!
If you’re new here, I’d love to introduce myself! I’m Rachel Burt Garcia and I am a luxury wedding planner and celebrity party planner. I’ve been doing this for about thirteen years. I’ve had the pleasure of planning a ton of over-the-top luxury events, including getting the opportunity to work with many celebrities. On my **YouTube channel**, I talk all the time about my **Say Yes To The Dress experience**, where Randy Fenoli personally picked out my wedding gown! I also talk a ton about the Real Housewives Of Dallas. I plan parties for Stephanie Hollman and Brandi Redman, two of the cast members of the Real Housewives of Dallas. I’ve planned tons of amazing parties for them both on and off camera. You’ll definitely see me on the show, and here is my IMDB so that you can see all of the episodes that I’ve been on! I also have a playlist of all of the Real Housewives content and Say Yes To The Dress content if you check out my playlist as well.
I just wanted to dive in and let you know a little bit about working with celebrities and what it’s like. {I also wanted to tell you a story about a rapper that I worked with, and I don’t think I’ve ever told this story. I can’t believe I haven’t told you until TODAY!} Over the course of my career I’ve worked with a lot of celebrities with them being my actual client, or with the celebrity being the entertainment at the event. So for example, I worked with a corporate client, and they are backed by the Perot Family. So Ross and Margot Perot were actually at the event and were speakers at the event. Another time, I did a wedding where country singer Justin Moore performed at the event. I have a couple of events coming up with other country singers that are going to be the lead performers at the events as well. I’ll definitely keep you posted after that happens, and give you a little recap!✨
Let’s dive into what it’s like working with celebrities. When you are a professional event planner working with celebrities, it is on a different level. When they are the entertainers, the speakers, or the talent you have to make sure that you follow what they want, to the capital T. You need to make sure that you have everything set aside for them that they require as part of their contract. Typically, that’s always a green room or space for them to have drinks, snacks, or the things that they need to get ready for their performance or speaking arrangement. You also want to make sure that you have all the equipment that they need. This could be a specific stage size, specific lighting, or sound system. You are required to provide any equipment rentals or other needs that they have in order to have a successful performance, and this list can be quite extensive. A lot of these artists typically play arenas. It’s important to make sure your small wedding venue compared to an arena still accommodates all of these things. So, as you can imagine, a lot goes into it on the planning side. On a professional level, you want to make sure that you’re putting your best foot forward as a professional party planner. You want to make sure they have the best experience on-site as well. You never want to “fangirl” or fawn over them, and never ask for an autograph or anything like that. You just keep it professional. You’re there to do a job. ✅
This leads me to the time that I worked with the rapper, Coolio. It was such a fun event, and it was actually so early in my career that I got this opportunity. I admit, it was a little crazy, and I was definitely starstruck!🤩 But you have to keep that in check, and you have to remain professional. So, here’s the deal. I had a client reach out to me who was connected with the radio station Kiss FM. The entire Kiss FM team was a part of the wedding party as bridesmaids and groomsmen. They actually got Coolio to officiate the wedding, and perform at the reception! It was such a crazy experience. The wedding itself was at Big Al’s bar, so it was right there on McKinney Avenue in Dallas. The whole night was such an incredible experience.
Coolio got ordained specifically for this event so that he could legally perform the ceremony. So, this wedding is the first time he’s performed a ceremony. As my team is getting all the things done: floral and rental set up, making sure all the paper products are set, talking with the bridal party about where they are supposed to be and when, and lining them up! At that time I got the opportunity to talk with Coolio one on one, and make sure he knew exactly what the plan was. I had to make sure he knew what he was saying when he was officiating, where he was supposed to be standing, and where he was entering in from. It was such a funny and surreal moment because we were literally in the back alley behind the venue, just me, him, and one other team member. I just kept thinking, “I am talking to Coolio in an alley right now! My career is crazy!!!” So, we had planned for him to officiate the ceremony, then release guests to the cocktail hour portion, and then get ready for his performance at the reception. So imaging having Coolio officiate your ceremony, and then you get to dance party to his music. I mean it was such an awesome wedding for this bride and groom!!!
So funny story that happened (and something that you’ll learn when you work with celebrities) is the time that they’re contracted to be there is the time that they’re contracted to be there. And once they are done with that time, they are out the door, and they are GONE.👋 They are not sticking around, they are not mixing and mingling. I mean maybe some do, but for the most part, they are pretty much out of there and on to the next gig. So because this was so early on in my career, I did not know that.
With Coolio being the actual officiant of the ceremony, he needed to sign the marriage license. So funny enough, he actually escaped out of the venue before I was able to get back to him because of all the security and guards there!! The only time I was really one on one with him was right before the ceremony when I was going over everything that needed to happen. So he actually escaped from the whole reception, literally went back to his home state, and was not even in the state before I realized he was gone. And I didn’t even get him to sign the marriage license.🤦🏻♀️ So we ended up having to mail the marriage license to him so that he could sign it and send it back into the county clerks office, and legalize the marriage for my client!! So that was a huge lesson learned that with celebrities once their gig is done, they are gone and they are nowhere to be found. And if you have a moment with them, take advantage of that moment to get everything that needs to be done. Looking back at that now, I should’ve had him just sign the marriage license before the ceremony right when we were standing there!!
Even after that mishap, the entire night was still so fun, and exactly what my couple wanted. It was such an epic dance party. Everybody dancing and having so much fun and screaming out the lyrics to Gangsta’s Paradise…it.was.epic! I was just so grateful to be a part of it. So I’ll always keep you updated on all things celebrities and party planning. I can’t wait to fill you in on some amazing future celebrity events coming up soon!
Until Next Time -
BYE, BABES 😘
More From the Blog
©2021 Rachel Burt Garcia | As You Wish Events | Bride Babe Club