Event Planning 101 With Jung Lee

Can event planning and design ever truly be fun? Event planner, designer, and home decor store owner Jung Lee says yes. In today’s newsletter, she shares how she builds connection through her events and bespoke design processes, along with her personal design style that transcends into her New York-based store’s ethos. Plus, our Beauty Director shares the latest beauty launches, the acids to add to your skincare routine, and her personal experience with ditching her iPhone for a flip phone. — Samantha

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THE CLOSE-UP

According to Jung Lee, Building a Wedding Registry is Like Building a Wardrobe

By Samantha Wu

Welcome to The Close-Up, where we indulge in conversations with tastemakers, entrepreneurs, designers, and others paving the way in their respective industries. Focusing on the people at the forefront of innovative companies, join us as we uncover their style ethos, guiding principles, challenges, and insights that have made them successful in the worlds of fashion, beauty, art, and beyond.

This week, I enjoyed speaking to Jung Lee, a New York-based event planner and designer. She founded Fête NY, the wedding registry service Slowdance, and the home and decor store Jung Lee NY. Ahead, she speaks to the white space her businesses fill in the world of events and design, along with her personal design style and approach to holiday hosting, starting with the most important thing: having fun.

Samantha Wu: I'd love to hear how you got your start in the world of event design and event planning.

Jung Lee: I never thought I would be an event planner or a designer. I started it because I didn't find what I was looking for in the marketplace. As I started delving in, I started understanding more about what it takes to plan an incredible event. Design goes hand in hand with that. I learned on my own. I'm a big observer. I realized I had a knack for it, but it took time after years of just refining and honing in.

SW: Can you share your inspiration for starting your planning and design business, Fête NY?

JL: I started Fête NY first because I felt that events didn't have a point of view. I like events that when you leave, it resonates. Especially for these milestone events, whether it's an incredible gala, a fundraiser, or a wedding, it's got to be beyond flowers, music, lighting, and food. It has to all sort of speak the same language.

We took what makes an event, deconstructed it, and started building it back up with soul. It's like any story or a book; there's always a beginning, a middle, an end, and some sort of plot. Some are much more interesting, more compelling, and some are not. It's studying that and making sure that the events that we had, you understood. If it was a wedding, you understood the couple a bit more. You feel more connected to them because you went through all of this, and it wasn't just like, "Oh, the food was okay."

SW: Speaking of weddings, can you also tell me more about your wedding registry business, Slowdance?

JL: I started Slowdance because I felt that a lot of my clients weren't excited about their wedding registry. In the whole wedding planning and engagement [process], figuring out the items that you're going to register for and that you're going to bring home should be so important. A lot of couples were just doing it as a default, and they were afraid to make decisions. They would get all white [items]. To me, that felt safe. This is not a time to be safe. This is a time to explore who you are and what is going to give you excitement as you set the table and have your beautiful meal, whether it be Thanksgiving, New Year's Eve, or all of these special times in your life.

I started creating the registry where it's like how a girl would build her wardrobe. There are foundational pieces. Then there are really great luxury pieces that you're going to add. It's sort of like everyday living with luxury items because that's how I feel like we are. We have our gorgeous designer bag, but sometimes a sweater, maybe that's from Zara. That is what Slowdance is. We genuinely understand our couples and we curate for them based on what we see they like. The things I think that belong on a wedding registry are things you will actually use that will give you so much joy and passion when you're using it.

SW: I know you also have a home and decor store Jung Lee NY. Can you share your inspiration for opening that?

JL: I built the store for something that I was looking for. I wanted a place that genuinely felt like how we are, meaning we were always high and low. You can live in both. That is what I think a modern person is. The store, to me, is an experience. It's a genuine concept store where you can get great flowers, you can get a good coffee. You can get amazing Zalto wine glasses, but you can also get a beautiful $10 glass.

The price point isn't what makes our store unique; it is our genuine curation. Where there's a sense of discovery, you want to just browse around something for yourself or to give gifts. I want it to be like, "Wow, this is so fun. I learned something new and I want to take these things home."

SW: What has been your favorite project that you've ever worked on, and what is the biggest project you've ever been tasked with?

JL:  I am extremely proud that we did two White House dinners, one being the first dinner that the Biden administration did, where France was the first host. The second was the State Dinner celebrating the Republic of Korea, my homeland. I am extremely proud of all of the works. We do a ton of destination weddings all around the world. We are now planning a four-day event in Kenya for the end of year. We've got an amazing party in southern Spain for next June. I've just had the great privilege of doing so many wonderful events. So I can't have a favorite.

SW: Ahead of the holiday season, do you have any tips and tricks for hosting?

JL: It doesn't have to be this full-blown out thing. I remember the first apartment that I had, I didn't have a proper dining table and I got these really fun cushions.

I think that’s the thing about hosting events is having fun. The hostess has to have fun because if you're not, it feels like a chore, it feels like work. The trick to me is to make it attainable, make it fun, and plan it out. I'm a big believer in making your home really beautiful, so it gives you a lot of joy. Your job is to create an environment that you feel excited and proud of, and then other things can fill in.

SW: How would you describe your personal design style?

JL: I am a chameleon in the sense that I have so many different styles that I like. But generally, I'm classic. I need whimsy and for there to be some humor to it and a touch of glam. Everybody has different sides to them. Nobody is single-noted. We're all more interesting than that.

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