Gandy cultivates teamwork to help his staff perform well under the pressure of attending to an event’s every detail.
Passing several mounted deer heads, Gandy explained that they were for a rehearsal dinner at a private plantation with a groom who liked to hunt. A visitor might believe that anything needed to throw a good party can be found here. “We think we have everything. And then someone will want a ‘leprechaun rainbow’ wedding, and we’ll buy what we need.” Behind the scenes John Gandy Events is not one person but eight people. Additional support staff work events, and interns from FSU’s Dedman School of Hospitality also help out. According to the John Gandy Events website, clients can purchase two Levels of Service — for Level I, John Gandy himself serves as point of contact. Troy Rentz and Janice Powell hold senior positions as event managers. “They’re my go-to team, the legacy members; they’ve been here forever,” Gandy said. “Troy is young and has a fresh take, and Janice has that great traditional feel for events and knows customer service inside and out. Our philosophy as a team is say ‘yes’ and figure out a way to make it happen.”
As anyone who has attended a wedding and reception knows, long days and long hours are prerequisites in the event planning business — making it critical to hire the right team. “You’re with these people in stressful situations, so you’ve got to get along,” Gandy said. Maybe the band won’t play unless they’re paid in advance, and the client doesn’t have cash on him. The bar service may not have the right alcohol. The cake shows up late.” Gandy remembered how one of his biggest events, a $2 million wedding at The Cloister in Sea Island, Georgia, hit a temporary snag. The day before the wedding, one of the three trucks Gandy hired for the event blew its transmission on the interstate. “We had to unload into a rental truck, get that truck to Sea Island, get the other truck towed into Brunswick. But no one at the wedding knew that.” If event planning is the art of limiting the unpredictable, Gandy’s plans are based on years of experience. “We have detailed timelines, and we know what to look for,” he continued. “We have years of knowing what could happen. The thing is, if something doesn’t go as planned, nobody will really know about it but our team.”
A Few Questions for John Gandy What trends do you love for weddings right now? The use of greenery, neutral tones and extended seating areas like lounges. What event would you love to be hired to do? In Tallahassee, we’re really lucky, because we get to do the events we want to do. But a wish list? I’d love to do the Grammys or the Oscars. Shoot, I’d take the daytime Emmys! What’s the most unusual thing you’ve been asked to do? We did a wedding a few years back for a client who got married on the anniversary of the day her mother died. The wedding was at 3:33 in the afternoon on a Wednesday. Do you ever get to throw your own party? We’ll have dinner, we’ll have people over to the house, but I don’t like hosting my own parties. People ask Darin and I when we’re getting married, because there’s so much anticipation around what that will look like. We say we’ll wait and see! What comment or feedback do you typically receive after an event? “That was the best day ever.”
TALL AHASSEEMAGA ZINE.COM
May–June 2018
99