Our Story
Hi, I’m Rachael – founder of The Events Lounge and the person who will be by your side from the very first conversation to the moment your celebration comes to life.
Events have been my entire career – nearly two decades and event management has been the only role I have really known. I started young, travelling to South Africa at 22 to produce trade expos for a mining company, before moving into the world of corporate events where I spent years producing international incentive trips, product launches, travelling roadshows and gala dinners for some of the world’s biggest companies including Hewlett Packard. At my peak I was running luxury high end international incentive trips for groups of up to 50 and national reward events for 300 people plus – end to end, every detail accounted for.
It was an extraordinary experience. But somewhere between the roadshows and the conference rooms I realised I was producing the same event in a different city, over and over, with no room for creativity. So I made a deliberate choice – to take everything I knew and pour it into something with heart.
What I found in weddings was everything corporate events couldn’t give me. Culture, connection, creativity, the deeply personal, the emotional, the joyful. Every couple carries a story that has never been told before and every celebration is completely and entirely its own. After years of “death by travelling roadshow”, I had found my place.
The Events Lounge was born during maternity leave, in a season of life that brought both great joy and great loss. After losing my dad and my brother, my family and I made the decision to leave Sydney and relocate to the Gold Coast – chasing sunshine, ocean and a slower, richer way of living. I’ve always been someone who builds things – I started my first business at 14 and never really stopped. The Events Lounge felt like exactly what I was meant to build.
I’m a wife, a mother of three, and proudly part of a family that spans Dutch, Māori and Indigenous Australian heritage – culture, connection and storytelling are woven into everything I do and into the way I approach every celebration I’m part of.
What I brought with me from corporate is a deeply professional way of working. We are trained problem solvers – calm under pressure, completely switched on and entirely focused on you from the moment we arrive. The celebration is yours. Our job is to make sure every detail of it is flawless.
Outside of work you’ll find me at the beach, obsessing over interiors, chasing good food and live music, dancing whenever there’s an opportunity, and planning the next trip somewhere that will teach us something new.
I bring all of that – the two decades of expertise, the professional rigour, the personal heart, the cultural richness and the pure love of a beautiful experience – to every wedding and event I plan and style.
Our team
Behind every celebration is a close knit, incredibly talented team who share the same values – creativity, care and an unwavering commitment to getting every detail right. Many of our team have been with us for years, some have left to start families and come back, and all of them pour their hearts into the work. You’re in very good hands.
Our approach
We take on a limited number of weddings and events each year – not because we have to, but because every client deserves our complete attention. From your first enquiry to the moment you float off the dance floor, we are entirely present for you.
We’ve spent over a decade building relationships with the finest suppliers on the Gold Coast and beyond – photographers, florists, venues, caterers and stylists who share our standards and our passion. When you work with us, you get access to that network and the trust we’ve built within it.
No two celebrations are ever the same here. We thrive on fresh ideas, collaborative planning and the kind of creative thinking that turns a vision into something that feels entirely, beautifully yours.
We’d love to hear your story – Say hello