My First Week Working as a Personal Assistant and an Intern at The Peak Xperience

I just completed my SPM examinations last year and I am waiting for my results. In the meantime I have 3 months of free time until I get my results so I basically am very free. So besides having to practice my piano and taking car driving lessons I decided to fill my time working at The Peak Xperience in Kuala Lumpur. The Peak Xperience specialises in weddings, event management, destination weddings and also private parties. They have their own website too that is www.thepeakxperience.com.

When i first arrived at The Peak Xperience, i was totally clueless and had no idea at all what i was supposed to do. I had in my mind that I would be working as a personal secretary or maybe just doing paperwork such as writing and typing work sheets. Then I was told that i would be working as a personal assistant and also an intern. I realise that working in this industry, one has to be showered with creativity, packed with confidence, be up and proactive, has a heart of patience and the responsibility to carry out an outstanding job. It is not just a challenging job but also a stressful job because there is the need to use the brain to think to the extreme to create something out of the ordinary that is able to make people say ‘Wow’.

One of the things that i enjoyed during the whole period working there was being able to do and see new things and going to new places however there was one thing that was just irritating that is to get stuck in the traffic jam. I was counting down the minutes till when the jam was over. My managing director, Miss Natasha Khoo (who is also my sister) took me around running errands and buying things for an upcoming wedding on the 10th of January 2008 in Port Dickson. The theme for the wedding was ‘Beachside Garden’ and The Peak Xperience was in charge of the decorations for the place. So to make sure that the place looked and felt like a garden, we had to go buy things that we can use to create the mood of a beachside garden. Thus it was quite a stressful week as everything has to be done in time.

It seems that everyday we were on the hunt for flowers. During that trip i got to learn the different types of flowers and the names although i can’t really remember some of the names now. Haha. Other than that the other task was to put on chair covers for over 700 chairs plus tying 300 over ribbons. So add it all up and it would be around 1000 over. By the time we loaded everything into the car to be taken down to Port Dickson, the car was packed. It also seemed like we were trying to smuggle some illegal things in the car. There was also the worry that the flowers would wilt, so we practically had to spray the flowers with water every now and then. The house was filled with flowers the night before the wedding day. Both of us slept at the early hours of 4 and 5 in the morning doing the flowers and woke up at 8-9 am and started to move the things into the cars with the help of the others and headed straight to the venue.

It was a rush all day, the guys putting on chair covers and the girls doing the flowers. As this is their special day, we want to create a memorable experience for them that last forever. All the hard work paid off as the end results were marvellous. The bride and groom loved the place and so did their guests. I felt proud being able to be a part of this event knowing that you had done a good job gives you the boost of confidence. It also feels good when you see the others happy and satisfied. I felt happy for the couple when i see the smiles and joy on their faces.

“People always think that being an event and wedding planner is a fun job because when they see the venue it’s all decorated and looks so grand so they think that it is a fun thing to do but actually what they do not know is the process in making. It is a lot of hard work and stress and it is the end result that makes it look so beautiful.” This is what Natasha said to me when we were in the car. We do not believe it until we go through it and believe me, it is true. Sometimes the after event is also the stress part. Try imagining, folding and counting 1000 over pieces of chair covers and ribbons at 11pm at night and taking down the decorations and stationeries and loading in to the car. We finished everything around 1 am and headed straight home and slumped into bed.

During my period working at The Peak Xperience, it was really an ‘Xperience’ for me. I would say that I enjoyed working in The Peak Xperience because it had opened my eyes into a world that I never seen before. This work is not all stress and work only it is still fun and in this industry it teaches you to explore new things and expand your creativity to think outside the box.

Written by,
Khoo Hsieh June