Say you wanted to hire a sequin-clad drag queen for a central London party, or hula hooping dancers for a bash in India, or a mini orchestra for an outdoor do in the countryside, would you even know where to start? No, us neither. But we know a girl who does.

In her role as wedding entertainment coordinator at Sternberg Clarke Alice Chorley spends her days coming up with creative entertainment solutions for every type of party with every size of budget. She’s there from the first ideas meetings until the party itself, ensuring that everything goes without a hitch on the night, even if the DJ gets stuck on the District Line.

Name: Alice Chorley
Current position: Wedding Entertainment Coordinator at Sternberg Clarke
Education: A Levels in English Language and Literature, Media Studies and Drama. “I was never going to be a nuclear scientist, was I?!”

What was your first job after A Levels?
I worked for a cutlery design company as the assistant to the Sales and Marketing Director. It was a small company, just four people, and a really interesting first job. I was involved in the sales side, going to meetings and cold calling restaurants to introduce them to our brand. After a career break I went back and my role grew. I had my own accounts and when we started to sell through retailers I would go into stores like John Lewis and Selfridges to advise staff how to sell our cutlery. The job gave me an eye for detail, which is crucial in my current job.

How did you get your current job?
I found it on Facebook! My sister was friends with someone who worked in sales and marketing at Sternberg Clarke and forwarded the job advert on to me.

What’s an average week?
At the start of the week I’ll sit down with my boss Adam, talk him through any meetings and events from the previous week and discuss what’s coming up during the week ahead. Then I’ll meet with my team for a quick catch up. If we’ve had any events over the weekend I’ll get in touch with the client to check they were happy with the entertainment. During the week I might have meetings with couples or wedding planners, or a site visit to a new venue. There are always enquiries to deal with and, of course, I attend events that we’ve planned. My role on the day is to make sure all our performers are in the right place at the right time, ensure that everything runs smoothly and come up with a solution if it doesn’t. I might drop in on as many as four events in one night. When the last performer’s arrived and they’re about half an hour into their set, I can go home.

What’s the best part of your job?
I love the variety. One minute I’m chatting through suggestions to a harpist for music to play during a ceremony, the next email is booking a drag queen for a party. I love the creative side of meeting clients, finding out about them and their event and then coming up with a plan for their entertainment. I feel really lucky that I get to see so many amazing performers and beautiful venues. And I love looking around on the night and thinking, “We made this happen.”

And the worst part?
When a performer gets stuck in traffic or on public transport and they’re not going to make it in time. The way you deal with the situation impacts on how the client reacts. You have to stay calm, keep the client calm and think on your feet to come up with a solution.

What are your work essentials?
My iPhone because I’m always on email. For meetings I always have my iPad with me, loaded with images, examples of music, case studies and so on. During an event it’s crucial to have the running schedule to hand and a watch to ensure everything’s running to time.

What’s been the best moment of your career so far?
Going to India in November last year. It was for a pre-wedding party and not only were the acts we booked incredible (we took 30 performers over – dancers, hula hoopers, aerial performers and stilt walkers) but it was also a huge learning curve in working abroad and how other cultures work. We were away from London from Friday afternoon to Monday morning so it was a real whirlwind trip and a lot of hard work (with very little sleep!) but looking back on it now, it was also a lot of fun. It feels like it was a real once in a lifetime experience (although I hope it wasn’t!). The acts we took over were only one part of the whole event and it was a real honour to be part of something so stunning

What advice would you give to someone who wants to work in events?
An events degree isn’t essential. Being passionate about events, an eye for detail, patience and unflappability during difficult situations and being good with people are more important. Make the most of introductions and networking and industry events, you never know where one meeting/call/email will take you.

What would you be doing if you weren’t working in events?
My dream has always been to be a dancer, either ballet or contemporary. I had dance lessons from the age of 8 to 18 and went to a musical theatre school at the weekend. I still love dancing but after I went travelling life sort of got in the way!