Events by Emily

My focus is on approachable, flexible event planning. I try to make the process as user friendly and stress free as possible. My mantra is to keep things simple, and not overdo it. I aim to elevate, refine and produce fabulous events and venues, in North Carolina and beyond!

Emily Izakowitz is a private event planner and venue consultant based in Durham, North Carolina. After working in New York City for ten years, she recently relocated to the Triangle area to start her own company. Emily began her career in restaurants, where she developed her palate for food and wine (Italian whites are her favorite!) She became maitre’d at Union Square Café and the General Manager of brucie restaurant.

After attending Wesleyan University, she moved to New York City in 2007 and joined the management team at Union Square Café. After several years as the General Manager of brucie restaurant in downtown Brooklyn, she joined the private events team at City Winery NYC in 2013, where she served as the Private Event Director until 2017. While serving as the director of two downtown venues, she began producing weddings and events for friends, family, and increasingly independent clients. She has planned weddings in NYC, upstate New York, Virginia, and California. Most recently, she consulted on the event department’s program development at City Winery Nashville and City Winery Atlanta.

After several years of juggling two ventures, she realized that it was time to take her love for working with individual clients and turn it into her own full-time business. As a native of Charlottesville, Virginia, Emily grew up surrounded by the greenery and beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her events have a naturalistic, clean design style that focuses on sustainability. When she’s not busy planning her next big event, she can be found running around Durham with her dog Levi, hiking, biking and enjoying all that North Carolina has to offer. She is passionate about creating a meaningful and valued experience for all of her clients, and is thrilled to be back down South, home of enlightened hospitality.

I have no technical requirements.