Mark Padgett Event Design

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Mark Pad­gett isn’t your every day wed­ding plan­ner. Mark Pad­gett is fab­u­lous! He is more than just a plan­ner or a coor­di­na­tor. He is a vision­ary. He is elab­o­rate. He is multi-talented. He is a design genius. I’ve watched him lace up a brides dress when the mother of the bride was hav­ing trou­ble. At the same wed­ding he arranged all of the brides flow­ers, includ­ing her pur­ple bou­quet (pic­tured below). Mark has a real tal­ent for help­ing a cou­ple iden­tify what their vibe is and to elab­o­rate that style into decor. Get to know the awe­some Mark Padgett.

 

How did you get your start?
My mom tells me at age 6 or 7, I would rearrange the fur­ni­ture all the time and at Christ­mas I would get up after every­one had gone to bed and com­pletely rearrange the tree. So, it started young! I also stud­ied music, art, the­ater and design in col­lege. That diver­sity has helped me immensely in the event indus­try. Then I met a Wed­ding Designer (a voca­tion I wasn’t aware of at the time) while man­ag­ing a local ball­room in 1996 and I was smit­ten. He swooped in and cre­ated the most gor­geous things I had ever seen and when the bride entered the room, the look on her face and the tear that rolled down her cheek was life chang­ing for me. It was right then and there that I decided this was I wanted to do.

What’s your per­sonal busi­ness phi­los­o­phy?
Make it fun, make it gor­geous.
I hon­estly try to keep it that sim­ple.
With the amaz­ing ven­dors I work with I have three pre­req­ui­sites: Of course they have to be bril­liant at what they do, that’s a given, but I look for them to have a huge heart and good sense of humor. If you have all that every­thing gets done how it should, when it should.

What or who con­tin­ues to inspire you?
I am addicted to wed­ding Blogs of course and my clients inspire me with their unique story. Other design­ers that inspire me are Pre­ston Bai­ley for his over the top drama, Mindy Weiss for her clas­sic & roman­tic approach, Tara Girard for her sweet details and clean lines and Sasha Souza for her bold and play­ful palettes. I have met all of them and their drive and bril­liance inspire me.

Describe a piv­otal moment that led you to be an artist.
I go back to that moment with the bride and her designer and it hap­pened to me at a wed­ding early in my career. The bride was speech­less, with tears and her mom said to me, “Mark Pad­gett, thank you, thank you for mak­ing my daughter’s dream come true”. I know it sounds cliché now but at the time it made me real­ize my work had real value.

What makes your busi­ness unique?
Being a guy in what is gen­er­ally con­sid­ered a women’s pro­fes­sion helps to set me apart. It gives me a great per­spec­tive of both the bride and the groom. Father’s can relate to me as well. Also, I travel a great deal; Europe, Africa, and Indone­sia. It gives me fresh ideas and a global per­spec­tive when I design.

Why do you do what you do?
Beau­ti­ful place to live. Check
Make pretty things. Check
Share some­ones Joy. Check
Reward­ing, artis­tic, con­stantly com­pelling. Check.check.check

Favorite part of a wed­ding?
The first design plan­ning meet­ing with the bride, it’s all so fresh and new, the design pre­sen­ta­tion meet­ing with the bride and groom. On the wed­ding day there are many but I love the intense emo­tions of the bride and groom, the first glimpse of her in her dress, the look on his face when she enters the cer­e­mony, the expres­sions on both faces when I sneak them into the recep­tion before guests arrive and the sweet and ener­getic good-byes at the end. Oh, and the glass of wine or cold beer as we break down!

Some­thing that moved you deeply at a wed­ding or with a cou­ple recently?
Sarah and Deron! Super sweet cou­ple I worked with this sea­son, they were so much in love and were so child-like in their joy.

What is your ideal cou­ple?
Not too, too young, intel­li­gent, fash­ion­able, savvy, have trav­eled a bit, knows what they want and are madly in love!

What ques­tion do you always ask the bride & groom?
How did he pro­pose. I like to hear his and her ver­sion. It tells me a great deal about their relationship.

Wed­ding trend that you’re lov­ing right now?
Fewer staid tra­di­tions, cool fur­ni­ture, dessert or “carb” tables, real suits for the guys and allow­ing the brides­maids to wear any­thing that looks good on them.

Wed­ding trend that will hope­fully be out next year?
DIY brides of course! : )

click to view Jes­sica & Travis’ full wed­ding post.

Where do you see your­self or busi­ness in the near or dis­tant future?
I see myself healthy, happy, suc­cess­ful and with a mil­lion sweet memories.

What do you enjoy doing on your day off?
Day off? Oh yea, Mon­day after­noon. I love to cook, gar­den a bit or play a game on my iPhone. Cur­rently Nyx Quest and World of Goo!

What would you name the auto­bi­og­ra­phy of your life?
I actu­ally have thought about that and have a few things jot­ted down, “Golden Boy”. Now, no judg­ment here, the title would be satirical!

How do you nor­mally begin your day?
A good work­out and a dou­ble shot of espresso with a splash of soy.
Not nec­es­sar­ily in that order.

Favorite pas­time?
Travel, my suc­cu­lent gar­den, not think­ing for at least an hour!

What’s the hard­est thing you’ve ever had to do?
Pole barer in my older brother’s funeral when I was 16.

What’s the great­est gift you’ve ever given or received?
My marriage

What’s in the top 5 of your bucket list?
1) Car­ni­val in Rio
2) Cherry Blos­som Fes­ti­val in Japan
3) Sky Div­ing
4) Fly an Air­plane
5) Ten more buckets

At what age did you really become an adult?
My mid 30’s I think, but there are still parts of me that absolutely refuse to grow up.

What do you miss most about being a kid?
How incred­i­bly end­less a Sum­mer day was.

First (music) album you ever bought?
I was a bit of a geek and the first album I bought was Bach’s Bran­den­burg Con­cer­tos. Hey, I was study­ing piano at the time!

What is your favorite flower?
Tough one! OK, fine; Peonies.

Favorite movie or doc­u­men­tary?
Again, really, just one? Fine; “Love Actually”.

Song that makes you get up and dance?
Hmmmm, I’m usu­ally watch­ing not danc­ing but I love the beat to Gaga’s “Edge of Glory”.

First Job?
My first real job was as an assis­tant in the Music Library in Col­lege. My boss’s name was actu­ally Marian!

Great­est accom­plish­ment?
So far, in a busi­ness sense? Build­ing Mark Pad­gett Event Design from lit­er­ally thin air, But really my mar­riage is my great­est accomplishment.

How do you sign off on your emails?
Had to look! Always My Best, My Best, and xx,

If you had to move to a for­eign coun­try, which one?
France, in a heart beat.

If you were an ani­mal, what would you be?
A cat with me as it’s owner.

If you were in a band, what instru­ment would you play?
I play the piano but who wouldn’t want to rock out with a gui­tar on stage?

Nickname/s?
Not really a nick­name but my friends call my rest­less­ness: “Markie Put­ter”. I don’t do well with sit­ting down for very long.

What’s your favorite wed­ding food?
Appe­tiz­ers, spe­cially com­fort foods.

Sun­rise or Sun­set?
Both, my sun­rise is some­one else’s sunset.

Read the book or watch the movie?
Read first, then Movie

Stranded on a desert island, what would you bring?
My part­ner and lots of water

Favorite song on your iPod playlist?
I’m work­ing out to Kevin Yost

click to view Sarah & Deron’s full wed­ding post.

What’s one of your favorite quotes?
I’m so com­fort­able being stress out, when I relax, I get nervous.

What chore do you absolutely HATE doing?
Clean­ing out the stor­age unit!

What sound do you love?
The garage door open­ing at 6:30pm, bath water being run, the train whis­tle at night

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Still young

What was the last movie, TV show or book that made you cry or tear up?
Twi­light.….. from laughing.

What is some­thing you learned in the last week?
That appar­ently a 3 day pri­or­ity pack­age can take 5 days by the USPS!

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