From stunning clifftops, wild mountain landscapes, to luxe poolside locations, the team at The Flagship Events Company are well known for creating magical marquee celebrations in unique destinations all over New Zealand.
As a family-run business, the team behind Flagship provides a warm, personal experience with strong family values and an honest love for their couples, and every event their marquees are a part of.
Offering a beautifully luxe alternative to your traditional wedding marquee. The Sperry Tent design combines simplicity with elegance to craft a completely unique space. These soaring canopies and modern structures of a Flagship marquee create an exquisite event experience.
A perfect setting to celebrate marriage surrounded by loved ones in dreamy locations all over New Zealand.
Read more as Gin Thorp entails the story of The Flagship Events Company founding and delights us with her own experience growing this extraordinary business.
Tell us about Flagship and how it began…
Before we get into it it’s probably much easier to understand who is “Flagship”.
Ted and Patch, brother-in-laws, are owner-operators and myself (Gin) Ted’s wife, does the client correspondence, social and admin. Liv, Patch’s wife is also very much involved in key decision making within the business. Liv and Patch were in NZ, while Ted and I were overseas working on Super Yachts undecided what we would do when we returned home. L & P noticed a gap in the market for premium marquees back in Hawke’s Bay, G & T happened to be near Massachusetts where the Sperry Tent company and boutique factory are located. Patch flew over and we went and met the Sperry family. We were so impressed by their values as a business and their honesty with the challenges they faced. We formed a great relationship with them and became the exclusive providers of the Sperry Tent here in New Zealand.
What is the best thing about your job? We love that Flagship is a family run business. We appreciate that there is an element of risk when there is a close intertwining of family members present however we believe this sews the foundation of our company and makes us a stronger united team. We love coming to work each day because we genuinely love who we work with and feel privileged that we can incorporate a strong work/life balance into our business operations as we both grow our families alongside the growth of our company.
Additionally, we absolutely LOVE feedback, especially from our brides and grooms. This is arguably one of the most important days of their life and how privileged are we to be a small part of it. We love hearing about how special their wedding was and we love being able to contribute to making it happen.
What is the most memorable project you have ever worked on? For the last four years, we have been co-organisers of ‘The Enchanted Ball’, an annual charity event held at a secret location each year here in Hawke’s Bay. We love working on projects like this as it is a chance for us to not only give back to our community but an opportunity to get creative and host a truly unique experience for guests in attendance.
Are there any trends you have noticed this wedding season? The Instagram obsession continues to be a trend in the wedding market in particular. Where customers see an image on Instagram and want to replicate the look often without factoring in current climate conditions or what is actually available in NZ. Regardless, it is always helpful when clients come to us with some reference points of what they are after and Instagram can be a great starting point for inspiration.
Hardwood flooring also seems to be trending at the moment which we are thrilled about as our hardwood flooring options, although they take us forever to custom build, create such an elegant finish to any event.
Three favourite New Zealand venues? That’s a tricky one. We are so spoilt with exquisite venue options here in New Zealand I don’t think we could narrow it down to a top 3. In saying that, we absolutely love events that are held at private residences. There is always something so intimate and special about setting up a tent in the backyard of a family residence or a space that already holds so much significance and pre-existing memories for the client.
If you could go back and tell yourself anything during your first month of business, what would it be? Source-based on demand as opposed to presumptions. We naively filled a container with items that we thought would be popular hire items without doing any prior market research. We got particularly excited in an old antique store in Boston and purchased items that unnecessarily took up a large corner of our storage shed and attended very few events… Your purchasing decisions are crucial and you need to factor in current market demand as well as operational, storage, and transporting practicalities. You live and learn!
What are some wise words for others wanting to get into the industry? Be unique and original. Be passionate about what your offering is and back yourself. At the end of the day, New Zealand is a reasonably small market so instead of replicating inventory offered by other companies, look to complement what is already available in the events space to enhance collaboration and collectively provide our clientele with unique event opportunities.
Magical images captured by these talented photographers:
Family Photo: Wanderpip
