About 5 weeks ago, a long lost good friend from Highschool found me on facebook and called out for event planning help for her schools 50th Anniversary Gala. My friend Jo is a magnificent kinder teacher and while she can do many many things at once (like raising 2 wonderful boys AND write a book) she was drowning fast with not much time to pull it all together. Enter me. She needed everything…….starting with a tent. I was so honored she thought of me and I had an absolute blast reconnecting with her and working on creating an event that her school could be proud of. Eldorado Emerson Private School had it’s 50th Anniversary this year and they wanted to celebrate by inviting past and present alumni to a fun party! I called on all my favorite vendors in the industry and with only 5 weeks to pull it all together they jumped in and impressed as usual.
As you know, my fabuluos assistant Brianna has a hidden talent for taking detail shots for me. Go here & here to see more! I couldn’t wait to post and I HAD to show a few teasers! Thanks B! You get better and better my dear!
The fun centerpieces were created by Christine at The Spiraled Stem Floral Design. Christine was so wonderful working with me on what we called “the moving target”. Because we only had 5 weeks, the guestlist changed drastically day to day which was to be expected. Hitting that number was hard on rentals and tent size and 5 days before the big day, we didn’t know if we’d need 15 or 25 centerpieces. We settled in at 18 and nailed the guest count right on the head. Intuition people!!
I brought in Diane from Signature Party Rentals to help us with the tent and rentals. She was marvelous as usual! Lighting and Generator was provided by Joe Paxton of Atmosphere Entertainment. We turned the blank canvas of the white tent into a vibrant oasis of blue with projections of stars on the ceiling! I love having creative freedom! I went for gold and more gold, with accents of blue.
I don’t think the uplights on the sides of the tent were on yet when this picture was taken and there was so much more blue than shown below.
What would a Gala Reception be without yummy food? This was the fun part! Jeremy Smith with TGIS Catering put together a delish menu for us…….and 2 days after he got married. That’s commitment to your craft! We decided to do stations so guests could float around, chat, and reminisce with old classmates. The cupcake display brought the kid out of everyone. From mint chip…….. to red velvet……….to peanut butter chocolate, it was a sugar shack of bliss. Even though kids were not invited into the tent, they snuck through the back and nabbed these tasty treats. My favorite moment by far was the stealth 8 year old who tip-toed in and out of the tent like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible. 
Too cute! There were plenty to go around and everyone was in heaven with these babies!
I truly couldn’t have done it without ALL these amazing vendors along with the trust and support of the school’s staff! There are so many more pics to share and I will save that for Jim Kennedy Photographer’s images. We had a step and repeat photo wall, Projection Gobo, Conga line, and a silent auction that was anything but silent. Good times!
