Party Planning: The female-led businesses at the top of the events game

Photography by Elizabeth Taran, Kristen Perers and Melanie Mullan

Kate O’Dowd

Wedding planner, Love & Gatherings

Kate graduated from a journalist and wedding magazine editor here at team IMAGE to the role of wedding planner in 2016, when her company Love & Gatherings was born. A luxury wedding planning business with home-worthy style and a lot of heart, her job is to guide “loved-up clients, both local and international, who value a wedding approach that aligns with their personal style”, she says.

“From May to September each year, myself and the team spend most of our time in Ireland’s best manor houses and castles, bringing what is often two years of planning to fruition as well as forming lasting friendships with clients and their families along the way,” says Kate. “The rest of the year is spent office-based, building up to these privileged moments… and of course, the little hobby of mothering my three kids.

Asked what trends she is seeing in weddings for 2025, Kate says patterned crockery, scalloped napkins, bone handle cutlery and curvy crystal stemware are all very much on the radar. “Overall, the vibe is vivacious but confidently refined – it’s colour and detail, but only just enough. The ribbons trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere for 2025. I loved them this summer on candlesticks and stemware, and I feel like I’ll love them next summer too. The key is to do long-legged bows in slim ribbon, let them be floppy, all over each other and placed with balance.

“I’m also noticing a new creativity in the aesthetics attached to secular wedding ceremonies, which is particularly exciting in Ireland, as the notion of non-church weddings is relatively new. Even if you just look at seating plans, we’re moving away from the classic straight rows of seats, facing an altar up front, which very much replicated the church format, and instead, couples are having fun with how they gather their guests around them for what is really the key moment of the day.”

We have some lovely ceremony layouts in the plans for next summer – a meandering aisle that feels like the bride is walking a path worn down in a meadow; we have circular seating, with a central altar; and we have a small wedding in a woodland clearing, where seats are in no order at all. What’s common to all is an intuitive approach, based on the setting and the couple’s vibe, rather than tradition.”

loveandgatherings.com

Orla McAndrew

Zero-waste chef, Orla McAndrew Bespoke Catering

“Food is just a wonderful connector of people,” says Orla McAndrew, a chef and wedding caterer who brings a natural warmth as well as a commitment to sustainability to every event and wedding she caters. “Food for me is love, and I am very passionate about breaking down barriers within Ireland. I really believe in the power of food to bring people together.”

Orla’s Cork-based catering business focuses on zero-waste practices, using surplus food from suppliers to create unique menus. In the last six months, Orla was not only awarded Solo Businesswoman of the Year by Network Ireland, but also her first book, Larder (published by Blasta Books) was out in February this year and has been an immediate best-seller.

“Sometimes new ingredients are still coming in on Friday and the wedding’s on Saturday and I’m still putting a last minute menu together like Tetris in my head with all of these random ingredients,” she says. “But I thrive under this pressure too. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year and to be honest, this has been incredible for me as I now understand myself and my processes so much better. I now know why I can do these things and also why it suits me so well.”

Orla balances her work with family life, prioritising time for her homelife and three young daughters, now limiting her workload to around ten weddings per year.

“In terms of trends, what I have really seen this year in terms of events and wedding is that there is such an increasing demand for vegan and vegetarian options.”

omcatering.ie

Katie Smyth and Terri Chandler

Sustainable florists, Worm London

Stylist Katie and actress Terri Chandler are the creative Irish duo behind Worm, a floral design studio based in Stoke Newington, East London. They have made a name for themselves with the jaw-droppingly cool and sustainable floral installations they provide for events, weddings and fashion clients, including Whistles and Toast. They designed the flowers for TV chef and Cork cookbook writer Clodagh McKenna’s wedding and have even written a book on blooms called Wreaths, which is published by Quadrille. This year Terri has moved back to Dublin, working remotely on the planning side of the business, while Katie is continuing to man the London shop and events, as well as study for an MA in Fine Art.

“The end of May and the start of June are best weeks to get married in terms of flowers,” says Terri, who has recently located to Dun Laoghaire with her husband and two small children. “And while these days we do more corporate and fashion events than weddings, one of the most spectacular celebrations we did last year was a wedding in Cornwall where there were undulating tables of wildflowers on handprinted floral table cloths with Faberge eggs down the table – it was all so beautiful!”

In terms of trends, Terri says, “nature is in! There was a time when painted, dyed or unnatural flowers at any time of year would be used for weddings and events. This is just not the case anymore,” she says. “Seasonality and sustainability are at the heart of what we do, and what our clients want now.

“Wild stems have great personality, and I love to recommend scented jasmine and wild roses,” she says. Terri also says she has not only seen a leaning towards natural, seasonal flowers at events but also in terms of entertainment and party venues too. “There’s a real folkloric, earthy feel in parties now, and traditional dancing and music is much more the thing than ever before.”

Asked what the one thing they get asked for more than anything else, Terri laughs and says “Meadow mounds! These are like mini rockeries we put around the room, like small installations. They bring a natural feeling to any space.”

She, for one, loves this new direction. “There was a time when events were they quite formulaic and all very much the same. I actually think anything goes now. Everything feels very unique and personal at the moment.”

weareworm.com