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

the great train race

I had the wonderful opportunity to produce my boss's reception following his DMA flute recital on February 24, 2012.  Instantly, I knew I wanted to try my hand at designing a themed dessert bar, similar to many of the ones I've seen done by Sweet and Saucy Shop or Amy Atlas Events. I was most excited for the chance to be creative, down to the small details like signage and table design.  My inspiration drew from a vintage train look, incorporating dark brown, tan, with accent colors of red and sky blue. 

This event was a labor of love for me -- a complete do-it-yourself endeavor, and I loved the experience.  I came away with a greater appreciation for caterers, bakers, designers, and every hand that is involved in producing an event. 

Having never produced a reception of this size (about 70 people) on my own without the help of a catering company and on a very limited budget (I produced this "in-house" for about $120), I took on the challenge of baking many of the sweets for this reception including sugar cookies, cupcakes, and cake pops.  A lot of time was spent planning the menu and testing my baking capabilities to ensure that the desserts I presented had a professional look to them.  Hence, round one consisted of me "test-baking" cake pops and mini cupcakes to see if I could really pull this off. (Note: cake pops are a LOT harder than they look!)  My department got to enjoy the spoils of my first attempt, and because of the great response, I went ahead as planned.  Round two was finding the perfect consistency of icing for the train sugar cookies -- too thin and it'll drip off the sides; too thick and it won't dry smooth.

The next challenge was finding the appropriate serving ware to display everything with a variation of levels.  Because I wanted to create a vintage look, not everything had to match.  A lot of the serveware was borrowed from friends (you may recognize some of the same ones from the Valentine's tea party).  I also really liked the idea of using frames as serving platter like at Ziza and Seth's wedding, so out came the glass in a few of the picture frames I had in my office.  In order to create more levels with plates I had, I used a couple of the floating flower vases and placed them below the plates.

I put my arts and crafts skills to work with the final touches which included small signs propped up by clothespins describing the different food items, and a large sign made of handcut matted letters that spelled "The Great Train Race" to tie the whole display together. It's amazing what you can do with a cutting board, cardstock, and a glue stick! 

I could not have put this event on without the help of my sister, boyfriend, and friends, who dedicated their time and energy in the preparation and setup of this event, so a HUGE thank you to the both of them!  Thanks for looking!

"Vendor" Credits

Styling, Printables & Decoration: Beloved Events & Weddings, Tiffany Yu

Rentals & Serveware: Anna Rogers, Vanessa Rhue

Cookies, Brownies & Fruit: Costco

Cake pops & Baking: Karissa Yu

Event set-up & tear down: Delano Meriwether

valentine's tea party

You know you're an event planner when...you incessantly comment on every tiny detail in someone's house because it's a real life display of a style you've seen on wedding and event blogs.  Yeah, that was me the other day.  It was like an inspiration board come to life.   And a style that in my current position, will never get the opportunity to implement.

It's almost embarrassing to recount the sheer amazement and excitement I had over the details of the tea party I went to hosted by one of the members of my community group.  As a result of perusing so many wedding and event blogs over the past year, I have developed a small (okay, maybe more like huge) obsession and love for the rustic/vintage/romantic style of event.  I think it's the way that so many random pieces can come together to create something beautiful, so eclectic.  I can't help but swoon over the mismatched serving ware, the wood slice boards, the lace, the succulents, the hanging terrariums.  And swoon I did over every little detail of my friend's quaint house, exclaiming "oh my gosh" at, well, let's be honest, everything. It was a perfect setting for an afternoon tea party complete with scones, cucumber sandwiches, biscotti, and of course, quality girl bonding time.

brie + robert

I had the privilege of coordinating Brie and Robert's wedding in the beginning of October at the beautiful Majestic Halls downtown.  A newer venue to the Los Angeles area, this historic bank created the perfect backdrop for Brie and Robert's special day.  Close friends and freelance set designers Seth Bauer (I help coordinate his and Ziza's, the matron of honor, wedding last November -- see the post here!) and Christian Snell did an amazing job transforming the space with tall trees lining the room and black duvetyne draping from the balconies.  The tables were adorned with bountiful amounts of fruits on vintage platters couple with chandeliers to create a classic and vintage look.

See the beautiful photos below by Joseph and Jenny Llanes -- it was great working with you two again!

Brie and Robert, thanks for letting me be part of your special day!

Vendors
Venue: Majestic Halls, Ashley Cole
Catering: Dean Kahn Catering
Photography: Llanes Weddings
Video: Paperback Weddings -- check out their beautiful video here!
Florals: Claudia Johnston
Hair & Makeup: Lorena
Decor: Seth Bauer and Christian Snell
Officiant: Tim Chaddick
Dress: Vera Wang