Tips From an Event Planner on How To Achieve a Seamless Wedding Day
Dana Statkun-Howley is a wedding planner and coordinator with Events by Emily, an event planning company based in North Carolina’s Triangle region. She previously worked as an account executive for Heart of NC Weddings and, prior to that, as an event sales manager for 21c Museum Hotel in Durham and lead event planner for The Catering Company. Dana married Chard Howley on Feb. 11, 2024, aboard the Argo Navis catamaran in Key West, Florida. The couple met on their first day of college at Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and began dating a few years later.
Should I Have a Destination Wedding?
Q: Did you have a good idea of what kind of event you wanted to host when you got engaged?
A: We knew that we wanted to plan an intimate event for close friends and family – something more than just one day, so that everyone could really get to know one another! Our biggest hurdle was choosing a location. We are adventurous and have many places that mean so much to us, so once we decided on Key West, Florida, it was much smoother sailing – pun intended!
Why a Wedding Planner is Important
Q: As someone with experience in event planning and the wedding industry, did you feel confident taking on the planning?
A: I felt confident [with] the order of vendors to reach out to and in managing them leading up to the wedding. I also love design! Hiring a planner to do purely event management (but who was always on call to help!) kept me from ever feeling too stressed.
Q: What were you surprised by?
A: I was surprised by how time-consuming [wedding planning is]! There’s lots of second-guessing, but that’s why having a great planner who will be there to calm those thoughts is so worth the money.
Q: If you could turn back time, is there anything you’d do differently?
A: If I could go back, I don’t think I’d change anything, because it all led to the beautiful wedding we had – except using time more wisely, since we planned it in six months!
Customizing Your Wedding Day
Q: How did you make your wedding day a reflection of you and your partner? What choices did you make to incorporate your personalities, your values or your histories in the day?
A: Chard has been going to the Keys with his family for 20 years, so it’s a special place for them, and over the years we made so many amazing memories there.
Every choice we made, from location (at sea!) to the thought put into [our guest list] all felt very right to us, and we were not afraid to make it our own and go against tradition. As a planner, I love the little details, but once we did a sunset sail in 2023, we knew we wanted to put our money toward that experience so our
guests could enjoy that all together!
Q: What choices were you happiest with in the end?
A: That we planned three days of events. Friday was the bachelor/bachelorette party, Saturday we had our welcome reception, then Sunday was the wedding. It really [made space for] our guests to get to know one another, to enjoy vacation and have downtime. I loved the way that the day flowed, from the boat to the trolley to the reception and after-party drinks.
Q: Were there any traditions that were important for you to include or that you sought to modernize?
A: We did a first look with private vows. We decided to keep those vows between us and asked my sister to recite a poem during the ceremony.
