The System for Everything

10: The System for Keeping It Together (When Your Job Is to Make It Perfect) with Julian Leaver

Julie Fried, Business & Systems Strategist

Be the calm in everyone else's chaos. Then cry in your car—like a professional. Right? Just kidding. In this episode, I sit down with Julian Leaver, luxury wedding planner and etiquette expert, to talk about what it really takes to stay grounded in a high-pressure, high-image industry. With decades of experience and a client list that spans from Aspen to Paris, Julian is known for delivering elegance with empathy while setting firm boundaries in a world that resists them.

We go deep into sobriety, burnout, boundaries, and why the wedding industry could use a collective breath and a bit more grace. Also, you’ll hear about the wedding trend Julian wants to kill (amenity bags beware), why Murphy Brown would make a great assistant, and what it means to stop comparing and start competing with yourself.

3 Key Takeaways:

  • Why getting sober was the turning point in Julian’s professional (and personal) life
  • How the luxury wedding industry normalizes self-neglect—and how to resist it
  • The mindset shift that can help burned-out planners take their first breath again

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