Good Questions. Straight answers.

Gold Standard Events Consultancy is a boutique, founder-led event strategy and hospitality consulting firm built on 28 years of corporate event, hotel, restaurant, and venue experience.

We serve three kinds of clients: corporate teams and meeting planners who need a strategic partner or boutique DMC support, private hosts planning luxury celebrations, and restaurants, venues, and hospitality brands that want to grow their event business.

Most event planners focus on logistics. We focus on strategy first, then execution. Before a vendor is hired or a deposit is paid, we build the thinking behind the event: what it needs to accomplish, who it is for, and how every decision supports that.

For corporate clients, that means a true strategic partner rather than another vendor. For venues, it means building or rebuilding the entire events revenue operation, not just offering advice.

We serve clients nationally and internationally. Our experience spans major markets on both coasts, and we bring trusted local partners into every destination we work in.

Yes. We plan events of every size: team building days, office holiday parties, intimate dinner parties, birthday and milestone celebrations, client appreciation events, and brand activations, as well as conferences and 400-guest galas.

Every client gets the same senior-level care. We simply shape the support to fit your guest count, timeline, and budget, whether that is a strategy session, advisory and planning support, or full planning and production.

Every engagement is led personally by our founder, with a trusted team of planners, coordinators, and specialists brought in as each event requires. You get senior-level attention and a team that scales to the size of your event.

We act as a strategic advisor and boutique DMC partner for corporate teams and meeting planners, designing programs that deliver real business outcomes. Services include:

• Event concept and program development
• Vendor sourcing, vetting, and negotiation oversight
• Boutique DMC support for local, national, and international programs
• Conferences, corporate meetings, and board and executive retreats
• Incentive programs, team building, and brand activations
• Attendee engagement strategy and event ROI planning
• On-site execution oversight and run-of-show management

Yes. We plan and design private events of every size, from intimate dinner parties to 400-guest celebrations: milestone birthdays and anniversaries, holiday and dinner parties, estate and private residence events, galas and fundraisers, and destination celebrations.

We do not plan baby showers, bridal showers, engagement parties, or rehearsal dinners.

We step in as an outsourced Director of Events for restaurants, event venues, and hospitality properties. Engagements may include:

• Building or rebuilding a private events department
• Sales team hiring, training, and performance frameworks
• Revenue strategy and growth planning
• CRM setup, SOPs, and booking systems
• Private dining and venue buyout programs
• Sales coaching and ongoing mentorship for venue teams

Yes. We build the sales kits, proposals, marketing plans, and brand positioning that help venues and hospitality brands win clients and fill their event spaces, including website refreshes when the website is what is holding bookings back. See the full service list.

Yes. We help food, beverage, and lifestyle brands design brand activations, package them as offers, and build the sales materials and pitch to win corporate clients and event bookings.

That is exactly what Event Rescue is for. Start with a 90-minute Event Rescue Strategy Session for $495, or ask about our 48-Hour Planning Rescue and Emergency Coordination options for events days away.

No, and this is by design. Clients contract with and pay vendors directly. That removes the traditional DMC markup (typically 20 to 30 percent), keeps your procurement process clean and transparent, and keeps every vendor dollar working for your event.

We handle the strategy, vendor relationships, negotiation oversight, and execution management. Your finance team works directly with the vendors.

Every engagement follows the same foundation:

• Discovery: a 30-minute conversation to understand your goals, timeline, and whether we are the right fit.
• Strategy: we build the framework, event concept, vendor roadmap, and success measures around your goals.
• Execution: with the right partners in place, we oversee every element so you can show up with confidence.
• Debrief: every engagement closes with a review of what worked, what the results show, and what comes next.

Corporate event strategy projects run from scoping through post-event debrief, typically six weeks to six months depending on complexity. Venue consulting engagements are often longer-term retainers, typically three to twelve months, because building or rebuilding an events department takes sustained effort.

You do not need everything figured out. That is what the discovery call is for. It helps to have a general sense of:

• The type of event or project you are planning
• Your approximate timeline
• A general budget range for the event or the engagement
• What you hope a consulting engagement will help you accomplish

We will guide the conversation from there.

Pricing is a flat consulting fee or retainer, not an hourly rate and not a percentage of vendor spend. That keeps the relationship clean and aligned: our incentive is the best possible outcome for you, never a bigger vendor bill.

Fees vary with the scope, complexity, and duration of the engagement and are discussed after the discovery call.

Yes. Every event starts with understanding what you want to accomplish and what you have to work with. From there, we recommend the right level of support, so you are never paying for more than your event needs.

If you are not sure where to start, the best first step is a free 30-minute consultation.

Often, yes. Traditional DMCs typically add a 20 to 30 percent management markup on top of vendor invoices. Because clients contract with vendors directly, that markup disappears. You pay a flat consulting fee, and every vendor dollar goes to your event rather than an agency margin.

Internal teams are great at what they know. Most still face at least one of these: limited bandwidth in peak planning periods, limited knowledge of an unfamiliar market, a vendor roster that stops at their usual partners, or difficulty raising production quality without raising the budget.

We step in as a seamless extension of your team and fill exactly those gaps, without adding headcount, overhead, or the friction of a large agency.

Traditional DMCs add value, but they also carry a significant cost structure and a reason to steer you toward their preferred vendors and packages. Our model is advisory. We have no inventory to sell, no markup to protect, and no vendor exclusivity agreements. Our only incentive is the best program for your goals and budget.

Yes. We serve clients nationally and internationally and have supported programs in destinations across the country and abroad, bringing trusted local partners into every market.

This is the client we work with most often. Many restaurants and venues have the space, the team, and the demand, but not the systems, sales discipline, or strategy to capture what they are capable of. We have rebuilt departments like this many times, with results that include a 200 percent increase in private event sales and more than $550,000 in catering and event revenue within six months of a hotel re-opening.

Yes. We have built private events programs from the ground up: defining the roles, writing job descriptions, helping with hiring, implementing CRM and booking systems, developing sales scripts and rate cards, and creating the SOPs that let a team run on its own.

Yes. Sales training and coaching for event sales teams is one of the most impactful things we do for venues: inquiry response, site visit presentation, proposal strategy, objection handling, follow-up cadence, and closing, all tailored to private events and private dining.

The best way to find out is a free 30-minute consultation. We will listen to what you are planning and recommend the right next step. If something else would serve you better, we will tell you and point you in a good direction. There is no pressure and no obligation.

Send an inquiry through our contact page, book a consultation, or email jennifer@gseventsco.com. We respond to every inquiry within one business day.

Email jennifer@gseventsco.com and you will hear back from our founder personally.