Meet Alison Hotchkiss, the owner and creative director of Alison Events, a full-service event planning company specializing in destination weddings. We've featured Alison's beautiful work in the pages of Pacific Weddings magazine (click here to view)— her style always leans toward fresh and modern. She is our kind of girl;) When she is not orchestrating fabulous events around the globe, Alison enjoys surfing, traveling, gardening and practicing yoga in San Francisco. Along the way, she found time to write a book: Destination Weddings; The Ultimate Guide to Planning a Wedding From Afar, featuring photography by Thayer Allyson Gowdy. We sat down for a quick chat with this wedding planner du jour!
Tell us what you're up to these days?
Scouting new places around the world! I was recently in the Bahamas for a photo shoot with a magazine and I stayed a couple of extra days to scout beautiful alternatives to the big hotels. It was fantastic, but I think I need to take a break from conch fritters for awhile!
How would you describe your personal aesthetic?
Natural, romantic, simple, elegant and modern. Not contrived or overdone but comfortable, relaxed and colorful!
Is there a particular kind of client that you attract?
Avant-garde, self-made 20 and 30-somethings, laid-back adventurous types with good taste and style.
You have worked in some pretty amazing locations. Tell us about your dream venue. My dream venue is by the water, surrounded by white sand with an amazing surf break in the background, a warm climate, a light breeze and lots of palm trees
In your experience, what are the bride's top priorities on her to-do list?
Involving family members in the ceremony, whether it's a reading or recognizing their parents for their support with a bouquet of flowers. I encourage my clients to talk to the family about what is important to them in regards to the ceremony and we try to accommodate their wishes.
Getting to the destination early and relaxing is important as a stressed-out bride will make stressed-out guests!
Having fun the wedding day and letting everything else go! It's OK if your hair is not perfect, the cake is a shade lighter or the chairs were supposed to be in a circle and now they are not— that does not matter when compared to the unity of you and your fiancé.
What are you excited about at the moment?
I am planning and designing this wedding in Healdsburgh, California (Sonoma Valley) and we are covering the pool with a subfloor lined with seagrass with the dining area on top. The venue has the most amazing views of the Russian River so it will be really dramatic for the guests dining at sunset. I am also excited to be a panelist at the Enageg09 wedding symposium in the Grand Caymans. I am so honored to have been asked to speak and can't wait to share with everyone!
Purchase the book here. Congrats, Alison!
