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Meet Alice Issac

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Alice Issac.

Alice, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Can you believe as a professional planner, that I didn’t plan to be in this career? HA!

I wasn’t looking to become an event producer and wedding planner. The job really found me through helping friends plan parties and by working with causes I believed in. And I love people! I genuinely love seeing the joy that a successful event can bring to everyone involved. That’s how I found my motto, “Make your event memorable for all the right reasons.”

This is how it started: When I was 19, my college roommate got engaged. After congratulating her, she shared with me that she didn’t really know what to do or where to start in terms of how to plan a wedding, because she’d never actually been to a wedding before. I was so perplexed by the fact that she hadn’t even attended one because by that point, I had attended a ton of weddings on top of already having been a bridesmaid, a flower girl (3 times), a candle girl (2 times), and even jobs that were made up like “veil carrier girl” (ha!). I knew a lot about the process and was happy to help when she asked me to show her where to start.

I understood the broad strokes—find a venue, figure out where to get flowers, hire musicians or get a DJ and caterers. I wasn’t necessarily thinking with that first wedding, or even the first few, that I was a professional wedding planner. As it was happening, I didn’t know that it was happening except that each piece was part of the next step. I was just investing time and energy in helping my friends, collaborating with vendors, and coming up with creative solutions to problems. I also volunteered a lot growing up and was involved with events at my church and school, so I was familiar with delegating, thinking on my feet, and troubleshooting issues as they came up.

Six months later, I had checked off all the pieces needing to be in place for my roommate’s big day, and her wedding ended up coming together beautifully. As it turned out, one of the guests at her wedding was one of the film editors for a popular show at the time called, “The O.C.” He was newly engaged, and he approached me at the end of the night to say that he’d had a wonderful time and that he wanted to hire me.

I laughed and explained, “Oh no, no, I am only a student helping her roommate, not a professional. You should hire a professional.”

But he insisted, “We had an amazing time, and she said you were great to work with.”

He handed me his card and reiterated that he fully believed I could do the same for him. Flash forward to eight months later, he and his bride enjoyed a perfect wedding day, and they were very happy with my work. It also just so happened that one of the bridesmaids from their wedding was engaged at the time, and you guessed it. She hired me for her wedding. My business (that I never really planned on) continued to build like that for many years after.

When I was 25, I decided I wanted to see what Los Angeles had to offer in terms of the event world. I spent a while working in television in one fashion or another, coordinating for shows like, “Deal or no Deal” (Fun Fact: This was when Meghan Markle was one of the briefcase girls.) to “America’s Got Talent” (celebrity judges David Hasselhoff, Sharon Osbourne, and Piers Morgan.) During that time, I continued to do a few weddings a year, generally through word of mouth. Eventually, I was producing events like concerts, fashion shows, music video premiers and fundraising galas. During the 2007–08 season, Writers Guild of America went on strike, and so the only available jobs at the time were for reality T.V., but I personally couldn’t find one with a message that I was really excited to champion. I wanted to really make sure no matter what I was doing, I was making an effort to make the world a better place, so I decided to focus on making event production a full-time job, specifically pursuing companies, non-profits, and people who were also striving for positive and beneficial change in our society, not just entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, I love to throw a fun entertaining party, but one that can change the world for the better, that’s the sweet spot.

Some people stress out trying to keep track of details. I’ve had friends ask, “How do you not drink? If I had your job, I would crumble under that stress and pressure!” HA! We’re all just created with different gifts I guess, I don’t see a mile-long list of to-dos. I see a puzzle needing all the right little pieces to make a big, beautiful picture.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Much like anyone starting out in business, in the beginning, as a freelancer in a new town where no one knows you, it can be challenging because building relationships and a good reputation takes time. However, at the same time, that spirit of adventure for what the next creative endeavor might be had me really motivated to keep going.

Of course, there are all kinds of high-pressure moments that are specific only to my industry, but I know to expect the unexpected. In LA, the weather is hit and miss during the fall/winter season, so I always have a contingency plan should it rain. Last year, though, I had to change a wedding location 36 hours beforehand due to fires in Malibu, which made the original venue completely unavailable. I was creating a totally new table floor plan, contacting all the guests about the new location, communicating with all the vendors how the timeline for set up would be impacted because of the increased distance they’d be traveling, as well as creating new maps as to loading according to the space. New insurance certifications had to be collected. But the biggest job was in finessing the conversation with the head chef of the new venue to allow the caterer to come in and use his kitchen since the menu was already set, food ordered, and deposit paid. In the end, it was a B-E-A-U-tiful day. The bride hugged me so tight before her glowloon exit, saying how grateful she felt knowing she could count on me to make it all work out just right.
And then, I slept the deepest sleep from the exhaustion of working around the clock.

Please tell us about Alice Issac Productions.
Almost 20 years in, at this point in my career, I feel fortunate to have served alongside as well as consulted for other event planners and producers. Some of the wide range and beautiful celebrations that stand out are:

*The “Five Feet Apart” movie screening/ Q&A with Justin Baldoni & Andy Grammer
* Benefiting, Claire’s Place Foundation
* “10 Ways to Win a Girl’s Heart”, book launch for Author Kris Wolfe at The One Event Venue
* The “Kind Campaign” Kind Day Camp with Julianne Hough, Lauren Paul and Molly Thompson,
* Former Miss USA Kristen Dalton’s wedding
* A wild animal-themed party fittingly at Clifton’s in downtown LA,
* The Union Station Golden State of Cocktails Gala
* The “Two Wings” non-profit high fashion tea fundraiser at Katherine McPhee’s house
* The panicked call from a husband who needed to make sure his wife’s milestone birthday would go off without a hitch, with only a month to plan and invitations that needed to get to guests in France A.S.A.P. so he’s not in the doghouse. HA!

In 2020, I’m looking forward to heading to the East Coast to coordinate the wedding of actress Amanda Jane Cooper, who played “Glinda” in the Broadway musical “Wicked”. I got a chance to produce her one-woman show years back. I’ve had a few repeat clients over the years and I consider it an honor.

I work hard to be a sure bet for the clients I partner with, from concept to completion. I won’t take a job if I don’t feel that I can knock it out of the park. Because events aren’t like shooting a movie, there’s no “take two.” These are mostly once in a lifetime events, so it’s imperative that clients feel that what they’ve entrusted me with has been placed in the best possible hands.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I need to start off by saying, I promise I’m not making any of this up. HA!

When I was in elementary school one summer we flew to Egypt to visit and stay with my grandparents at their farm on the Nile river. One day I was just following my grandma around, helping her feed the chickens and the rabbits outside. When my grandma looked up noticing something in the water and then said in Egyptian, “He’s almost here, follow me.” Next thing I knew she went and grabbed two large heads of cabbage and gave me one of them to carry. I followed her to the edge of their property where the Nile began and out popped a massive hippo! A Hippo y’all! I was stunned! He opened his jaw wide, I couldn’t see his face any longer, it was just all mouth. Per her instruction, I tossed the cabbage in and then she did the same. He chomped a few times and then went on his way. She carried on feeding the rest of the farm animals as if that was just another common weekly interaction. HA! I remember processing how even though the cabbage was so large and heavy for me, that it looked like a tic-tac in his mouth! I think of how crazy/cool that moment was at least once a year. Mostly when that Christmas song “I want a hippopotamus…” plays on the radio. HA!

So yeah….that happened once.

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Image Credit:
Laura K. Moore, Kate Garcia Weddings, Allison Webber Photography, Paul Archuleta, Caitlin Mcnaney, Kelsea Holder, Gatson

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