The All-out Blow-out
This event was a unicorn. A dream come true. A three-day event-stravaganza! It reawakened my creativity and reaffirmed my love for what I do.
Ok, now that I got that out of my system and before I get too far into this, I must first and foremost thank Tracy Fuller, President of InnovativEvents Inc.
She gave me an amazing opportunity to be the Assistant Planner on this project. Tracy conceptualized this production and trusted me with key tasks and details of the weekend long celebration.
We kicked off the weekend with a smaller gathering on Friday night. The design for the evening was gold, white, and the family tree; perfectly honoring two celebrations within one family: a couple who has been together through fifty years of marriage and their daughter who had been married almost fifty days. We had intended on having a short New Orleans inspired parade and an outdoor cocktail hour in a beautiful garden, but mother nature wouldn't cooperate. We had a severe heat advisory with a heat index over 100 degrees. Thankfully, we were able to rework our decor plan and our band (Courtesy of Scott Davis) was flexible enough to make it work indoors for us. Max Wellman was our amazing entertainment for the formal portion of the evening, and tops my list of local favorites.
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The decor was simply stunning and elegant. I don't know if I could pick a favorite detail. However, the most unexpected was, by far, the cling that was stuck to the back of the gold-beaded glass charger plates with a special message for the guests: You are the branches that fill in our tree. So Celebrate! Bon Appetite! It's just one of those details that let people know they were in for something big. I even heard a, "They just thought of everything, didn't they."
The following evening was the big event of the weekend that earned the title "All Out Blow Out". From the outstanding entertainment (Jessie's Girls came in from Atlanta), to the over the top and unexpected decor, it was one of my favorite events I have done to date.
Click the photo to view the gallery with descriptions!
Tracy really gave me creative license here and allowed me to push my creativity to places I never thought I would have the opportunity to go. Every time I opened my mouth with an idea, I was sure someone was going to tell me I was crazy. Instead, we just brainstormed a way to make it work and helped me make all I imagined come to life. We broke all kinds of rules but it was worth it and necessary for the caliber of event we were putting on.
Across the weekend we kept a very low budget for our florals at our client's request, but were able to stretch many of the florals we did have for the entire weekend. We also repurposed many of the centerpieces from the first night. Every client is different and many people don't see the value in spending the money on flowers that can only be enjoyed for a few days at best. Taking away the option of elaborate floral centerpieces made way for an even more personalized event that fit them perfectly.
It was as exhausting as it was exhilarating. Aside from the two larger events I detailed above, there was an additional THREE smaller events we were responsible for as part of this weekend. It did require a quick power nap on Sunday afternoon, in 90 degree heat, in a warehouse, because I had maybe ten hours of sleep over three nights. It was totally worth it to know how appreciative our clients were.
This was one of those events that required a team to make it successful because there were so many moving parts. I'm so proud to have been a decision maker and designer within this event. It added fuel to my fire, and I cannot wait to see what big project I can get my hands on next.