Secrets of Multimillion-Dollar Weddings

What I learned from going behind the scenes and working as an elite event planner

- Brandon Presser

There's something leonine about Colin Cowie, party planner to the stars. He's cool and calm, his vibrato grabs the attention of everyone within earshot, and when the sun sets, he roars. Zambia-born and South Africa-raised, he hit it big when Oprah anointed him her event planner of choice in the early 2000s. Now, Cowie counts Qatari princes, Nicole Kidman, and Ryan Seacrest as clients.

That was all before Covid-19 put an 18-month halt on large-scale events. Flash forward to today, and we're in a destination-wedding frenzy so unparalleled, there are big-budget celebrations seven days a week. According to Wedding Report, an industry group whose survey predicts 2.5 million nuptials in 2022, this will be the busiest year for event planners since 1984. And 45 of these ceremonies will be designed by Colin Cowie Lifestyle, up 50% from his pre-pandemic norm.

Cowie relies on a coterie of talented freelance producers and designers-and hard work. According to a Career Cast study, party planners have the fifth-most stressful careers, after military members and firefighters.

I learned that myself when I signed on to work a week for Cowie to see how it all goes down (the aisle) from the inside. In just seven days, I followed him on a tour of several cities, starting with a five-hour tasting in Manhattan and ending with a multimillion-dollar wedding weekend in Mexico. Along the way, I smuggled Fritos across borders and helped apprehend thieving rabbis. Here's everything I learned about what really happens behind the scenes of a seven-figure party.

1. How to Spend $25 Million in One Weekend