Five Reasons To Hire A Celebration of Life Event Planner

This blog post was first published on July 6th for the Death Doula Network International (DDNI)’s website and is re-shared here.
To learn more about the DDNI, click here to visit their website and learn about their initiatives.

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Seven years ago, my uncle died and my life’s purpose changed. 

I was a budding Event Planner at the time with a degree in Stage Management and a contacts list full of event vendors. 

My mom had “volun-told” me that I was going to be the planner: contacting vendors, organizing speakers, and managing the flow of the day. I imagine my story is not unique. 

If you think about it, event planners exist for almost every other major life event you could imagine: weddings, proposals, baby showers, and even company barbeques. It baffled me that no other planning company existed solely to give families an event planning service solely for Celebrations of Life - so I started my own company.

Since 2017, New Narrative Events has been a part of over 450 events spanning from intimate 30-person receptions to a 500+ musical tribute with friends attending from all over the world. I have seen the first-hand relief, reassurance, and creativity that an Event Planner can bring to a grieving family.

The role of an Event Planner is not meant to replace family involvement, rather they are there to guide and support. They give the family the space to focus on the most important tasks at hand: honouring an important person in the way that best represents them. 

It is often only after the event does one realize the importance and benefit of having help to plan. The following points are several observations shared by past clients about how important it is to enlist a planner’s expertise - whether it’s for an hour-long consultation or a multi-month planning contract. 

• A consultation with a planner gives instant reassurance and mental clarity.

  Groups that choose to work with a planner find immeasurable benefits in knowing that someone else is there to listen, write notes, and keep track of what’s to come. Our job is to listen to stories about the person who has died and to use this information to guide the decisions in creating a meaningful event. A planner’s experience allows the family to receive the answers to their questions that can inform other creative elements. 

  An Event Planner could save you hundreds of hours of time.

  Each Celebration of Life we take on requires at least 20 hours of dedicated planning time ... after six years of experience.
  Without any prior experience planning this kind of gathering, expect to add time for reading articles, watching videos, testing ideas, asking questions, checking, confirming, and supervising, and so on. Before you know it, you’ve already spent a full-time work week on preparation, when a planner’s expertise can streamline the process. 

  A planner is access to a wealth of knowledge and creative ideas -
  including what NOT to do!

  When hiring a company with experience, chances are they come with creative ideas - and their fair share of mistakes. Use a consultation as an opportunity to ask questions, present ideas, and ask about what could go wrong. We want you to be successful and avoid the mistakes we’ve encountered along the way.
  A planner gives you the added benefit of an experienced team matching your vision with real-life examples of what others have done. Think about it as idea matchmaking based on what would fit for your person.

  
  It can be hard to focus on planning a meaningful event while grieving.

  An hour-long consultation (at minimum) gives you the opportunity to let someone else guide you through creating a task list and simplifying what needs to be done with the time you have. Our job also involves understanding where you are in your grieving journey so we can match our recommendations to fit your capacity. 

  
  A Planner knows steps 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d

  If Step 1 is “Book the Venue” then a planner would instantly know to check on other details like assessing parking, directional signage, seating options, setup/takedown details, what needs to be rented, Audio-visual needs, who will be on-site from the venue (if anyone), and so on - Enlisting a planner means every single permutation has been covered. 

  
  A planner allows you to focus on your only job: being present

  A celebration of life is one of the only times you have a unique mix of friends, family, and community members in one room to honour one person.  A planner is there to deal with all of the tiny tasks that happen in the background so you can be with family who traveled from near and far to be with you - instead of cutting conversations short to deal with a matter only you can solve.
  
  

  It’s our job to make sure the event runs as smoothly as possible.

  A Planner takes their event day role incredibly seriously and knows that the key to a successful day is a leader who anticipates what’s to come next and can communicate changes and adjustments. We need to be at least two steps ahead of what’s next, whether that’s anticipating an open microphone, preparation for a live Zoom speaker, or coordinating a group toast that has been delayed. 

At the end of the day, there are many (!) more benefits to hiring professional help for this important day. If we can give credence to the importance of a once-in-a-lifetime event like a wedding, we ought to be able to enlist help to honour a once-in-a-lifetime person properly. When I was grieving in 2016, I had no idea how impactful a role such as this could have been for my family and for me. As the person with the responsibility, it would have been nice to remember the conversations, the food, the pictures, instead of reflecting on fleeting moments I couldn’t take in. 

This is our mission - less fleeting moments and more long-lasting memories. I’m grateful for this experience and every day for my uncle who has inadvertently helped hundreds of families through their grief journey.