Three Minutes With Event Designer, Monica Peschmann.

My first job ever was. . . a swim instructor.

My first foray into the event world was. . . throwing parties in my parents’ house when I was in high school. I’d clear out all the furniture, set up a dance floor, change the light bulbs, and decorate the place. Remarkably, my parents were OK with it. In fact, in my high school yearbook I was named most likely to be the next Julie McCoy—the cruise director from The Love Boat. But now I’m totally aging myself, aren’t I?!

Taking a design risk means. . . going bold and using colour. People tend to be really reserved when it comes to colour, but I think it’s an excellent way to inject life into an event.

The perfect event space is. . . any space! Any space can be transformed into a great event space. It’s how you pull all the elements together. Find something that’s a good fit geographically and will accommodate the size of your group and then let a designer work their magic.  

I seek inspiration through. . . the awesome collections of my vendors—linens, furniture, floral creativity. Through collaboration with vendors and clients, the best ideas come to life.

The best part of my job is. . . in the span of typically 24-hours or less, you can walk into a room, transform it into something completely different, and then stand to the side and watch the guests’ expressions as they experience it for the first time. Seeing the results of all your hard work is pretty inspiring.

I surprise people when I tell them. . . I can still rock a dance floor. In a way that would totally embarrass my teenage kids, I must add.

My proudest career accomplishment is. . . throwing an event in the SkyDome back when no one was doing events in the SkyDome. It was the mid-90s and the venue was sitting in the dark due to a MLB strike. We had a small group, under 200 people, and we held a dinner on the pitcher’s mound which was really incredible and unheard of at the time.