Sophie Lillingston, Party Planner

Notting Hill’s events queen Sophie Lillingston talks to Natasha Paulini about hosting the perfect party, despite the odd flash flood...

Grove magazine: Has event planning always been your dream?
Sophie Lillingston: Yes! When most five-year-olds had dens, I managed my own child-sized ‘hotel’ in the garden.

Grove magazine: How did you get into it?
Sophie Lillingston: I worked in the arts at Sotheby’s and also worked for a PR company involved in special events, where I discovered that the key to a successful party was the venue. I spent two years travelling to put together the largest database of private locations around Britain and before I knew it, clients were asking me to not only find a venue, but organise the entire event.

Grove magazine: How do you plan a couture event?
Sophie Lillingston: There are the obvious components – a good venue, caterers, entertainment, flowers, logistics, design – but we also try to think about what guests are seeing, hearing, smelling, touching and tasting. Invitations are the first introduction to our parties and are always very creative to lure any guests into having fun.

Grove magazine: What are your inspirations?
Sophie Lillingston: I adore travelling and working abroad as this allows me to pick up on different cultures, traditions and fashions. We then gather our favourite suppliers around an old wooden table for brainstorming session. We never work with just one supplier; we try to build a team around each client. This keeps our events more personal.

Grove magazine: What are you doing on now?
Sophie Lillingston: We are working with three of this year’s most glamorous brides: one has a marquee with a three-week build; another will be held in one of the largest castles in Britain that hasn’t hosted a family wedding for over 170 years; and the third is a fashion-industry wedding in a rusty barn! The one thing they do have in common is that the guest lists read like a Who’s Who book.

Grove magazine: What’s the most spectacular event you’ve hosted?
Sophie Lillingston: It was a Great Gatsby-themed party where everything was beautifully created in an art-deco style. There were mirrored tabletops and engraved invitations as well as three bands; the event was topped off by a great performance by Bryan Ferry.

Grove magazine: And the worst thing that’s ever happened?
Sophie Lillingston: We were organising a desert party in Morocco, a treasure hunt involving four-wheel drives, quad bikes and camel treks, except the heavens opened with the worst-recorded rainfall in over 20 years. Flash floods marooned the clients and we almost had to helicopter them out.

Grove magazine: What’s been your most unusual request?
Sophie Lillingston: We’re currently working on an elegant pole-dancing party in a safari park!

Grove magazine: What’s your favourite street?
Sophie Lillingston: Easy: Portobello Road.

Grove magazine: What do you love about working on Portobello Road?
Sophie Lillingston: Our mews office is directly in the heart of the Portobello Road, but it’s like an oasis of calm in the buzzing neighbourhood. Clients love coming to Portobello for meetings; others just like popping by. Tony, our lovely fruit and veg man, keeps a watchful eye out for us. It’s such a friendly, chilled atmosphere – it almost makes us feel like we’re not really at work.

Grove magazine: What's your favourite local venue?
Sophie Lillingston: Miller’s Academy, just off Westbourne Grove.

Grove magazine: What’s the best party you’ve ever been to?
Sophie Lillingston: Being Irish, I love a good Irish bash and the Guinness family really know how put one of these on! One I attended on this scale included a dance in the Steam Museum with guests fuelled by Guinness and oysters on day one, an old steam train ride across the country to a disused train station where we danced to a local band on the platform on day two and, on day three, a ceremony in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin, followed by reception for those guests still standing.

Grove magazine: What are your top tips for a perfect party?
Sophie Lillingston: A location that reflects you and original invitations to intrigue invitees, plus a few surprises and great entertainment to keep it all going.

Grove magazine: Who would your ideal guest list be? 
Sophie Lillingston: Nelson Mandela, Oscar Wilde, Bob Geldof, Winston Churchill, Grace Kelly, Dawn French, Shirley Temple and Meryl Streep.

Lillingston, Studio 1, Folly Mews, 223a Portobello Road, W11 1LU; 020 7221 5820