Here at Mamamia we are doing a series of posts on amazing and inspiring women.
Our next wonderful woman is Rhiannon Swan. When she isn’t working 60 hours a week as a Wedding and Event Stylist/Planner at 2 trending Sydney cafes/restaurants (The Boat House Palm Beach and Moby Dicks Whale Beach), she is a wife and mum to an almost three-year-old.
When we asked her to describe her family, she had two words: my everything.
“The ones I wake up with every morning. The ones I tell my stories and days’ experiences to. The ones I get to have avocado toast and coffee out and about with on Sunday mornings. The ones I get to go on holiday adventures with. I get to cry and laugh at the same time and they don’t think I’m strange. My husband and daughter are everything.”
Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Dove. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100 per cent authentic and written in their own words.
So here is how Rhiannon makes it through 24 hours:
Wake up time
It varies, 7am is good. Willow (Rhiannon’s daughter) runs in to my bed (dad leaves at 5:30am before we wake up), and says “You awake yet mummy?” We start with tea for me, bot bot (milk in a bottle) for her. As she drinks, I do the daily Instagrams I love doing, 3 accounts for work (@theboathousepb, @theboathousepbweddings and @mobydickswhalebeach) and my own account (@rhiannonswan).
Then we get up, toast with veg for Willow and me (easy!), decide what to wear for us both (I usually try to have this worked out the night before but usually unlikely), pack Willow’s bag, pack my bag, throw on some makeup, out the door by 8am and drop bugs (nickname for Willow) off to kindy or her grandmother’s house (my mum), or other grandmother’s house (my mother in law).
Starting work
I usually start at 9am, but on Saturdays it is 8am. Everyday is different which is what I absolutely love! It usually combines, and in no particular order…
- Emails – brides booked, new enquiries, suppliers and marketing prospects (magazines)
- Liaising with the team across our venues – weekly debrief with our three full-timers and rostering for the weeks ahead of all our events (I have 35 casuals to look after)
- Organising hire and logistics for the week, ordering stock
- Meetings with suppliers and venue inspections with new enquiries, catch-ups and planning with current brides, planning with chefs
- Function detail sheets, run times, room layouts, styling decisions, invoicing
- Watch the amazing flowers arrive in our vans, we do all our own flowers on site and visit the markets three times a week – roses, hydrangeas, Lillie’s, ginger, dahlias, fig plants and more on mass! The cafe owners, Andrew and Pip, have amazing creative vision that we get to be a part of everyday.
Receiving the flower delivery - New package decisions and exciting new additions to our wedding offering. Innovation is everything in our business.
- Research – see what suppliers have to offer, see what others are doing, being unique is important so coming up with new ways to make our weddings and functions even better
- Venue setup – moving furniture, stocking bars, setting tables, hosing, icing drinks, styling, so much more!
- Lunch…as I’m in hospitality working with a talented group of chefs, lunch is always something yum! We are very lucky! And coffee anytime!
Working in Weddings and events, people are at their happiest. Weddings in particular are so exciting and fun, we get to be a part of that. I love my job, I got to begin the wedding side of the business from scratch at the Boathouse and Moby Dicks so watching it grow is exciting. I love variety: I get that with my job and life as a whole.
Home time
It varies. In events you have to be prepared for anything. So it can be big days. I have a very supportive extended family with both sets of grandparents always being there. My days in the office are usually 9-5 and weekend days (Fridays and Saturdays) are 15-hour days. But the day goes so fast, I truly don’t notice. I limit myself to one coffee a day, however, when I meet with eight brides on a Saturday, I tend to drink more coffees.
When I do finally finish, I pick up Willow, pop into the supermarket to get milk and bread (which we strangely always seem to run out of) and call my husband to see what we should cook for dinner (he cooks, we clean). My husband is a very good cook and I absolutely hate doing it. Once home, I get Willow fed, bathed, dressed in pjs, give her milk in a bottle, read her a book and get her to sleep by 7pm.The rest of the night
Shower, pjs, eat dinner on the couch (naughty I know), watch The Block, read my favourite magazines (personal and work related, I love home magazines like Real Living and wedding magazines like Hello May) and I go on my iPad for Pinterest and Instagram.
The last thing I do before I fall asleep
Instagram. I’m a bit obsessed. Just looking at it, no posting at night. Sometimes I fall asleep with my iPhone in my hand!
Click through this gallery of Rhiannon’s busy life:
Which women inspires you?
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Top Comments
love the last photo of your gorgeous little human being xxx
Hate to sound like the biggest pretentious wanker with a cliche quote but....
“Who are you to judge the life I live?I know I'm not perfect
-and I don't live to be-
but before you start pointing fingers...
make sure you hands are clean!”
― Bob Marley
( Yes, I just copied and pasted from a quotes page, as you see I know i'm not perfect either )