Thursday, May 16, 2013

cru. fellowship dinner

04.19.13 - I had the opportunity to provide and design the décor for the Cru. Fellowship dinner at the Santa Monica Woman's Bay Club.  Working at a university, the style of décor I can design is often limited, so I always jump at the opportunity to design other non-elegant, classic styles. Cru. also has a special place in my heart, and I was very involved in the organization as a student for four years, so I was more than happy to serve them again in another capacity, and honored that they would ask me to help.

With a budget of only about $10/table and complete control of whatever I wanted to do, I was excited to challenge myself to create something beautiful, yet cost effective.  It was a labor of love, but something I truly love doing.  I'll be honest though -- the creative process is difficult by yourself, especially when you're given the option to do, well, anything.

The most challenging point is where to start.  I began with the idea of doing submerged flowers and floating candles, but soon that idea became more costly than I anticipated and I had to go back to the drawing board (and back to Ross to return all the vases).  After finally deciding on a mint linen (and many hours of indecision on google images and pinterest), and to pursue a vintage look for the dinner, the small details began to come together, as if by divine design.  From there on out it was just a matter of putting everything together!

Having never arranged centerpieces for an event before, I decided to do a trial run, which included getting up at 6 a.m. to go to the L.A. Flower Market and do some research.  Despite my reluctance to wake up so early, the minute I arrived I couldn't help but smile at all the colors and textures of the flowers.  I loved every minute of it.

I'm so thrilled with how this event turned out.  It's always a joy to see everything come together in the end and a blessing to help create a beautiful atmosphere for the guests. And the event was a success -- raising $21,000 for USC's Cru.

A special thank you to Vanessa for graciously lending me her collection of jars and Delano for lending his height to help me set up.








VENDORS
Catering: Derek Dickenson Events
Décor: Beloved Events & Weddings
Linens: Elegant Design Specialty Linens

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