Dreamy and Easy Holiday Decor!

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Hi everyone!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been very busy with the holiday season this year. Last year, it was just a blur. This year, I can notice when it’s Monday or Friday at least! I’ve been working hard are getting ideas for decor that are natural and reusable to save money and to be friendly to our Earth, and I’m happy to say that I found it!

As you know, I like to use items from around the house  that I already own, and get some accents to make it more special and make it distinct depending on the occasion. This year, unfortunately, I won’t be decorating my home because I will be traveling to see my dad in PA, meanwhile some of my family is in Chile, and my mom is in Paris having the time of her life. So, I had a little fun at work and prepared a package for my clients this holiday season which included the decor. We didn’t have too much in the budget for this, but it gave me the opportunity to resort to other things that I would probably have purchased otherwise.

I looked on Pinterest (always!) for inspiration and I loved the idea of using holly berries and cranberries. These berries have the perfect shade of winter red for decor and they look absolutely stunning with pinecones, and different leaves. The challenge was, where to get these berries at a reasonable price and not stealing them from people’s yard? I went to different stores and I hated the plastic look and honestly, it is not the most sustainable option either. After brainstorming for a couple of days, I had my aha moment! I work at a golf club! We have so many different trees, pinecones to decorate an entire block and holly berry trees everywhere! I also realized that I need to get out more and just grab a golf cart and drive around the course more often…

I also purchased vases in different sizes that I used to put a small branch of the holly berry with water and I topped it off with  real cranberries, which I purchased from the store, and added a floating candle on the top. The end result was amazing! I loved how everything looked! The good thing about the holly berries and the cranberries is that since they are submerge in water, they get to hydrate, and then after using them, I drained the water from the vase and leave the holly berries in the vase overnight and yes, they get dry, but once you put them in water again, they look just the same. The cranberries were drained and put in the fridge to keep them fresh. So you can keep using them as often as you need and no one will know that you are reusing them!

I think it’s the perfect idea to save money and be a little kinder to Earth!

What are your ideas to decorate for the holidays?

 

Holly Berry TreeHolly BerryBerriesPinecones With love,

Natalie

Thanksgiving Table Escape with a Twist

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Hi ya’ll!

Last year I didn’t write about Thanksgiving and wrote about sustainable events instead, but I would still like to share with you the table decor I did. Sometimes we rather go for the more traditional look or just not a look at all because we place all the food in the center. If that is the case, you must have a BIG table!

In all honesty, table escape is one of my favorite things to do. Sometimes I visit vendor’s show rooms and I kind of wish I worked there so that I can play around with all the types of linens, china, different shapes of tables and oh the chairs and sashes!

Anyways, I wish I had taken more pictures of this table escape, but who knew I would have a blog! That year, I decided to get a little more creative and add some shiny and metallic objects. Now, I didn’t want to spend too much money on new decor just for Thanksgiving, so I picked out my favorite pieces from around the apartment and grabbed some Christmas decor and created my own version of a Thanksgiving table escape. I absolutely loved it! It had touches of Fall with the pine cones and dry scented flowers, and it still had original pieces such as the white china, wine glasses and the wood table. I love the look of wood, so I just added a beige table runner with soft designs to give it more color and to make all the different pieces connect with each other.

As you can see in the picture, I have Fall, original and metallic pieces giving it a special twist.

The following year, I did pretty much the same thing, but I made linen napkins that I absolutely loveand placed them in a trifold shape on the top of the plates and I alternated pines cones and cranberries.

Thanksgiving table settingNapkins

I hope you love it!

With love,
Natalie

Spooktacular Halloween

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Hi everyone!

I love the fall and the month of October because Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I don’t usually dress up, but I love everything from the imagination people have with their costumes, the spooky decor, the movies, and the pumpkin scent in everything! This year, I was once again a witch…

We hosted a Halloween party at the club this past weekend for both the parents and the kids and it was a huge success, I would say. I started planning this event about two months out. We had decor all around the club. We had spider webs with tiny spiders on the chandeliers, on the corner of some doors, and we also did a candy station for the kids. We had games set up around the banquet room and played a kids Halloween movie, which they loved by the way, especially the older kids. The only thing that was missing was the spooky golf cart ride around the 4 mi. long golf course. Now, that would have been awesome!

For the food and drinks menu we got inspired by the fall ingredients and had from Butternut Squash Soup (which was vegan and awesome btw!) to Smoked Salmon. We also had some signature drinks perfect for the day such as Bloody Mary and Pecan , Maple, and Peach Whiskey on the rocks.

As people were coming in, I went around the club greeting the parents and kids. I was also offering what we had on our special menu and honestly, I felt like it was wrong to offer alcohol at 3 pm, but the funny thing was that one of the mom’s who came, when I told her about the menu and the cocktail specials we had, and I may have mentioned that I understood that it might be too early for some parents to drink, she literally looked at me, smiled and said “we have kids, of course we need the cocktails!”. That sentence right there pretty much made my day and realized that most of these parents were pretty laid back and that they were up for anything with kids or not. Some of them even came wearing costumes, which I thought it was amazing.

Now, I know to always have alcohol, just in case, no matter the event! Something to really think about when planning your next event!

With love,
Natalie

So Much for Majoring in Marketing! The learning continues…

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Hi everyone!

Yesterday, I had a realization at work. A realization like many other, it was a no-brainer, but often I overlooked it because it’s an obvious thing.

Well, yesterday, as I was giving yet another wedding tour, and like many other times, clients call me later accepting the proposal or rejecting it after they have slept on it and toured other venues, I booked two weddings back to back on the spot. Then, I thought, wow I guess I’m getting really good at selling events, and the the club is not one of the gorgeous venues around the Atlanta metro area? After of five minutes of congratulating myself, I started really thinking about what encouraged them to book us instead of other venues.

So, I feel like I have to start the story from the beginning…

In D.C., the market is very different than here, at least the area I’m at (not Atlanta downtown). When I worked at a popular wedding venue and off-premise catering, the clients that we usually got were not too concerned about how much they were paying for just the venue or just the food. In fact, they wanted to wow their guests and they showed it with the venue, design, and food and the open bar was never missing. Yes, they were working with a budget, but it was way more reasonable than the budgets I get here!

Here, the market is different. When I started working for the club as a private event coordinator, my main responsibility was to sell events. And so, when I came on board, I was adjusting a lot of things such as: menu, food presentation, the way events were coordinated, the vendors that we partnered with, etc. I was doing this because there wasn’t much in place for weddings.

After trying to sell and sell the first couple of months, I felt like I was being unsuccessful. So, then I started to really understand the types of inquiries I was receiving from potential clients. I later realized that this market doesn’t care too much about the decor, the different options of food, and many called me only a few months before their wedding.

With my unsuccessful wedding menus that were probably too high for the market here, I decided to do an inclusive wedding package that looked more reasonable, yet appealing so that the client felt like they are getting a better deal.

Long story short, the new inclusive wedding package I designed, after I started advertising it, was getting more and more attention and people started booking us. We also had to do a styled wedding shoot to update the marketing materials, but that’s for another story…

So, what to take from this long article? Study the market and don’t try so hard to change it. I accepted the fact that we probably wouldn’t get the clients that I wanted to get just yet and I was the one who needed to adjust to them.

With love,
Natalie

Alpharetta Wedding Show 2017

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Hi everyone!

I’m going to start this article with my early New Year’s Resolution, which is being more proactive on my blog! This is my first blog and so I’m trying to get used to it and honestly with Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat how can I not forget! But no worries, I’ll be much better this time.

The purpose of this blog it’s not just posting about any topic. This blog is very much more specific to events and also sustainable events. That includes, everything from flowers, food, decor and everything you could think of that you would need at an event. Lastly, I also want to share cool vendors I’ve met along the way!

Today, Sunday 24, 2017, I attended my 3rd wedding show of the year. And yes, you’ve read that right…3rd wedding show. I do love my job, but wedding shows can get very repetitive and tiring. The cool thing about them though is that if you are new to an area, it’s a great way to meet new vendors and put yourself out there and network while getting new leads. In my case, since I moved to GA earlier this year, attending wedding shows has really helped me find vendors to add to my preferred vendor list at work for weddings and any other type of event.

The Alpharetta wedding show took place at The Metropolitan Club. I’ll start by saying that this venue is not a country club as I had thought. It is just a venue, but its name makes you think it’s some sort of club. It is very spacious, so it’s perfect for those big weddings of more than 150 people. I would say even bigger.

Now onto the fun part. I met a vendor that bakes the cutest pies ever–Southern Baked Pie Company. This company was started by University of Georgia graduate in 2012 and today, the bakery has locations in Gainesville, Alpharetta and Buckhead, and they also have an online store, southernbakedpie.com. The amazing thing about this bakery is that they only use seasonal fresh fruit from local GA farmers and businesses!

So, while I was introducing myself, I saw a cute little pie wrapped nicely and perfectly sized to share. I immediately thought that it would be perfect to give to the bride and groom at the end of the night to share once they get back to their hotel or home after their wedding. As we all know (or may not), many couples don’t even get to try much of their food because family is coming and going congratulating them and the picture session, let me tell you, it can either be very long or stressful depending on how the bride and groom take it. So, long story short, at the end of their perfect wedding day, they might still be hungry and honestly, who doesn’t love a sweet late night snack after a long and most amazing day of your life?

Well, here are some pictures of these pies. I also heard they are amazing!

These are the bite size pies

Southern Baked co

And these are the ones nicely wrapped ready for a gift!

Cute little pies Southern Baked Pie Co

I hope you enjoyed it!

Love,
Natalie

How About that Leadership?

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Hello and Happy New Year everyone!

I know is February and very close to Valentine’s Day and I  know that I haven’t written articles lately, but today I feel inspire. Inspire because I want to stress the importance of team building and respect. Yea, I also thought that it’s a very obvious matter but believe or not in many places such as orgs, work and even at home, many people forget the importance of team building and respect.

Why is it important? Because if you don’t feel like you are being guided through a process that’s new to you, you might feel discouraged and yes, you will keep working on it, but it does get difficult when the person who is supposed to guide you is not supportive and you feel like she/he just wants you to fail.

So, I’ve read quotes saying that it’s better to be a leader than a boss. Those words are very true when it comes to having to work (in any place) with a group of people. How is the organization or company supposed to grow if there is a huge employee turnover ratio who are not even lasting a year on the job? Other than being disadvantageous for the new person, it is also hard financially on the organization or job.

So, just a tip to those so call leaders out there, you can be tough and hard as much as you want, and I’m not saying you have to be easy when it comes to business, but you need to learn how to appreciate your staff and teach them to be as successful as you, so that your organization’s or business’s culture is known for their leadership and employee advancement within the company, which will also reflect on the numbers.

And just because I love quotes, I’ve written below some of my favorite ones that I found today.

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” – Warren Bennis

“No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it.” – Andrew Carnegie

“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.” – Jim Rohn

“Don’t find fault, find a remedy.”- Henry Ford

“Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.” – Sam Walton
Any comments are welcome!

With love,
Natalie

EXPECTATIONS

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Hi all,

The topic for today is “how to manage your client’s expectations” which has been a topic lately especially now with this coming Inauguration Day. In the world of event planning, and in any kind of business for that matter, you encounter many types of people with different wants, needs and expectations. Because you want to do business and also provide everything that is possible to your client, you may promise things that you may not be able to deliver. This is when you need to Manage Your Client from the very beginning.

How can you manage your client? Well, it’s actually pretty straight forward and that is why we might not always think about it (I’ve done it!). You need to tell your client what you can offer, how to deliver it, the time frame to finish your job, and just be sort of honest. In event planning, and this happens not just to event planners, clients reach out to you with a vision of their event , but they are not sure how to develope it and they want you to help them figure it out with your expertise. Or some clients come to you with a vision knowing exactly what they want (think decor, music, venue, overall experience, etc).  Either way, as a knowledgeable person in the industry, you can certainly help the client make their vision a reality, BUT there are a few things to take into consideration after talking to your client about their wants, needs and expectations of the event:

  • Obviously, the biggest thing would be BUDGET
  • How capable are you to deliver what the client is asking?
  • Are the client’s expectations realistic?
  • Is the time frame to plan the event realistic?
  • Do you have the right tools to plan and carry out the event?
  • Do you know people in the industry that could give you some tips about something you don’t know much about?

These are some things you need to think about as you talk to your client while discussing and going over the ideas and plans for the event. The client will definitely appreciate your input so that he/she is prepare as to what to expect and as to what can be done. Trust me, building a trustful and professional relationship with clients should be one of your top priorities.

Trust and professionalism = repeat business

I hope you find this helpful!

With love,

Natalie

Food for thought

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Hi all,

I’ve been horrible at writing these past few months, and I know I should be writing about Halloween decor ideas (oooppss) but with changing jobs, trying to enjoy our bipolar autumn, and trying to organize my trip to Chile for this Christmas,  and also celebrating the birth of my nephew (!!!), I’ve had not thought about a good topic to write about until a couple of weeks ago…

As you most likely have read, heard, or talked about in the past few months, the main topic now is how our world is deteriorating due to our lack of interest, knowledge, resources, and/or technology available to us. I had written an article a few months ago about how you can do little things to have a meeting that is a little more sustainable and there you will find that there are ways that everyone can do to accomplish an event with a little less footprint.

In the event industry, there are lots of ways to be more green when having any type of event such as meetings, lunches, weddings, birthdays, conferences, etc. One option and a starting point, would be to find vendors that support and are advocates of this movement. Not many people know or do their research about this topic and they go on about their lives not thinking about the little things they can change in their daily lives that leave a smaller footprint on Earth.

I, for example, was not knowledgeable about this topic until about two years ago, and since then, I started recycling, trying (and very, very hard) to bring my own bags to groceries stores, consume less things that are not needed in my diet (sadly being very unsuccessful some days), etc. and it might  not sound like anything, which you might be right if you are thinking that, but I am in a way helping and I think that counts a lot more than knowing about the damage and not doing anything about it. The changes are not easy, but now that I know about the problem, it makes me feel more conscious about something I would do in my daily life and I try to change it.

It’s the same in the events industry. When planning a small meeting, it would be good to use bamboo or compostable plates and eating utensils, or even having your own plates that can be easily thrown in the dishwasher to be available for the attendees. For larger events, look into recycling and food donation programs that vendors already have and are eager for you to ask about it!

The less we consume, the less will be purchased, the less will be produced, the less harm we cause.

I hope you liked this article and I would love any feedback!

Happy Halloween!

With love,
Natalie

The Truth About Networking

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Hi all,

Last night I attended yet another networking event that probably gave me the opportunity to get myself known to a few more people in the event planning industry (within this association). This particular networking event was hosted by one of the associations I am member of and it took place at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Crystal City, VA.

The event was on the rooftop and the view was amazing! (totally worth having an event there) and the music and food was spectacular. The music was very soothing and the food tasty as ever!

I think this has been my fifth networking event that I’ve gone to since I started to enter the industry and let me tell you that it is exhausting. I know some people who go to a lot more, but a girl has enough time, energy, and money to attend these things.

As exhausting as it is, I am slowly accepting the fact that it is a good thing. I’ve met many vendors, planners, and other special event industry professionals that I probably would have never hear of if  hadn’t gone. So, remember the time when you were in college and your professor talked about or the many articles you read about the “best way to get an interview”? Well, I hope you took them seriously because I feel like you are put to the test on these types of occasions.  At every networking event I’ve gone to people ask me: So, why are you in this industry? What do you want to do? Do you want to work on the vendor side? Non-profit or corporate? Social events?  What are your strengths that can help us in our committee, and I stand there looking at them and thinking..this sucks! It’s like being back in college and talking to the interviewer at a job you would really (or not really) want to have. And I also learned that the more prepared you are, the easiest it will be.

Last night, for example, was not one of my best times. I was sort of really tired because I felt like I’ve had a long week already between my job and other things, and also the event was so small, I promise I felt like I was in a knit tight family event. So, I had to try really hard to break out of my shell and approach the very few people there and start a conversation.

A funny thing also is that at most of these events, the attendees are all already working in this industry, meaning they are not looking for a job, and so they are there to get business, not to talk to a student that wants to learn more about opportunities. Usually, the members at these organizations are sent by their companies to network and get business, so they are not really concern about filling up an opened position in the company unless they are in that department and really need someone to fill it up.

Like I said, last night was not my best, and I am positive that I was making some of them yawn with my unprepared and so not captivating speech about my new career and aspirations. I even made myself yawn! Honestly, I get tired at the same questions but at the end of the day, they don’t know anything about me, so I have to repeat it over and over again just how they repeat they speech about what their company provides over and over again.

So, I really hope you understood the reason for this post, but in case you didn’t, my final words are: fake that you are feeling miserable when networking, and having a prepared and captivating response to the most common questions is going to be a life saver because they will be more interested in what you will have to say and you will feel more confident for the next event!

With love,
Natalie

Award Dinner Tips

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Hi everyone!

Last night, I attended my first  event with MPI Potomac Chapter, and it was one of the greatest and touching events that I’ve attended in a while. They were recognizing and giving awards to the most outstanding members including planners, suppliers, etc and introducing the new board for the coming year.

The first half of the event was the awards session. This session was very organized and thought through. They used the idea of “story telling” to communicate and present all of the speeches they had prepared. Honestly, I thought it was brilliant and touching. Everyone loves thinking back to everything they’ve accomplished as a team throughout the year, and having the opportunity to thank everyone who has helped them grow as a person and professionally.

The second part of the event was the reception, and it was gorgeous. The Carnegie Library is amazing! I had attended events there before, but I had not been to one in over 2 years, and it was a pleasant surprise to see it again and remember how beautiful it is. The food was spectacular, and I liked the idea of having a reception instead of a sit-down dinner because it gives the chance for everyone to mingle and walk around instead of being stuck in a chair and having to talk to the same group the entire night.

In my personal opinion, I thought it was great. I had the opportunity to meet great people and learn more about the association.

What you should take from this article is that a very thought through event where the planner thinks about the needs and wants of the clients and reviews the events from previous years to identify areas of improvement is very important. Since all of the people who planned this event are professional meeting planners, I am sure they reviewed last year’s event to see what they could do better this year. Last night’s event was touching as well as fun. It definitely created a memory and a positive feeling for the attendees, including me.

I hope you liked my post and find it helpful. Until next time!

With love,
Natalie