The Magic of Matrimony: Event Planning with Kim Stone '96

It’s certainly not a vocation for the faint of heart, or for anyone who’s anything less than a perfectionist, but it’s ideal for a self-motivated personality like Stone.

 

“It’s an involving, detail-oriented process, but I love that it really lets me flex my creative muscles,” she says. “All the people [at Rafenelli Events] are extremely professional and experienced, and know how to develop concepts as a team.”

 

Stone says the average event takes six to twelve months to plan, and that, because of the complexity of each arrangement, she generally handles just one or two events a month.

 

“What can be difficult is that it’s very much a ‘One Night Only’ kind of deal,” she says. “You have one shot to get all the details right on the most important day of someone’s life!”

 

The event-planning bug was planted in Stone here at Rivers, where she transferred as a junior from the Newton public school system. For her, the experience represented “a fresh start” and a chance to get involved in a plethora of activities, including yearbook and the Student Activities Council, where she planned dances and other social events.

 

At George Washington University, Stone organized mixers for her sorority, and during her senior year interned at a company that did event planning for nonprofits like Operation Smile and the Alzheimer’s Association. She moved back to Boston in 2000 and soon started at Rafanelli Events, which at that point numbered a mere dozen employees. (Now, the company has become a national force, with offices in Palm Beach, Florida and Washington, DC.) By the end of the year, she was planning events on her own, and has since developed a niche for herself as one of the organization’s premiere planners of weddings, as well as private social and non-profit events.

 

The highlights of Stone’s tenure thus far include being part of the team that planned Chelsea Clinton’s top-secret wedding in rural New York in July, and a wedding this past June in which R&B singer John Legend flew to the reception in Bermuda to perform a five-song concert for the couple and their guests. She says that the looks on the faces of the bride and groom, who hadn’t been told about the appearance, were “simply priceless.”

 

For those of you who might consider a career in event planning, Stone cautions that it is not nearly as glamorous as it may seem from movies like “The Wedding Planner.” “It’s a new challenge every day, whether you’re sprinting up and down ladders or changing into your suit in a hotel restroom,” she says. “The events themselves are beautiful and glamorous, but the months and months of meticulous work behind them often are not!”

 

Another highlight of her wedding-planning career was coordinating her own, which took place in November of 2007 at the Boston Ritz-Carlton, and served as “a chance to show off a little bit.” This past September, she gave birth to Chase, her first child, and is now taking a well-deserved break from work to care for her son and adapt to her new life.

 

She’d be the first admit, though, that it probably won’t be long before she’ll be back to the drawing board, conjuring up new ideas and continuing her passion for planning – and the relationships that go along with it.

 

“It’s been really rewarding to build such strong connections with clients,” she says. “You spend a lot of time with the people you are working with, and by the end of it you really become like part of the family.”