Thanksgiving Celebrations!

Hello Everyone, sorry for the late posting this week.  Fortunately I have had a busy week of new client appointments and networking events!  Anyway, on to this week's topic:  THANKSGIVING!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  The coming together of the family and for me it kicks off the holiday season.  I wanted to share an activity that you may want to use for your Thanksgiving Celebration with your family and friends.

Sometimes the people we are closest to are the ones we know the least about.  So why not pose some questions during dinner or use as an icebreaker before dinner - the answers just might surprise you.  Some questions you may ask:

1. What were the happiest times during your childhood?
2. What did you imagine your adult life would be like?
3. How are you like your parents?
4. Who makes you laugh the hardest?
5. What are you most proud of in your life

We are actually doing this activity at a client's family Thanksgiving that I am working on this year.  To add to the festivities, we have put the questions on colored cards with ribbon and leaves.  They will be included in our cornucopia centerpiece along with some pine cones, leaves, fruit, etc.  I am sure you get the picture. 

Regardless of what you decide to do this Thanksgiving, just remember to have a heart of gratitude and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Communicating with Event Professionals Via Email

I thought with this week's blog post, I would give some helpful tips for communicating with your event professional via email.  This may be your wedding planner, photographer, caterer, or florist to name a few.

As an event professional, we often have a lot of email to review.  It may be a request from a new client, questions regarding your upcoming event, etc.  I have developed a system with my current clients that seem to work really well.  I start my communications with an "event name", followed by the topic of the email.  For example:  Owens-Smith Wedding: Rehearsal Dinner.  This quickly tells my client that this email is in regards to their wedding and it pertains to their rehearsal dinner.  This will allow them to determine how soon they may need to address the email.  And of course, it really helps me to organize my emails and priorities when a client replies.

Remember, your event professional is dealing with several clients at the same time.  We really want to be able to respond to you promptly.  Here are some additional tips to consider:

1.  Only put one topic in each email, as many of us now use email as a TASK LIST item (especially those of use with Type-A personalities).
2.  Keep your emails concise, wordy emails will only make us put the email aside until we have time to REALLY read it.
3.  Use a helpful subject line, it will help us to better prioritize and address your email.

I have been using this system for almost 3 years now and I know it works.

Drama Behind The Scenes: What!? The cake is here already?

Welcome to the first installment of Drama Behind The Scenes! 

Recently I was hired as a Day-of Coordinator (DOC) for a wedding.  Everything was going rather smoothly, meeting with the vendors, reviewing the final plans for the day, and ensuring all the timelines were correct. 

Well, the vendors and I all SEEMED to be on the same page, I even made a follow up call the day before the event, to ensure that all the scheduled delivery times of the flowers and cake were confirmed.  So, why on the wedding day does my cake arrive at 9:00 AM instead of 3:00 PM as scheduled and confirmed?

Upon discussing this with the bakery, they informed me that they had overbooked their deliveries for the day, and had the delivery the cake early to stay on schedule.  This is a problem, for one, the cake table is not yet setup and decorated and two, the cake will now need to be refrigerated because of the filling and the early delivery, and three, the cake is not fully assembled.

Now, you may wonder where is the DRAMA in this....let me reiterate, the CAKE STILL NEEDS TO BE ASSEMBLED and the hotel will not set up and assemble the cake either. Fortunately, we have experience with assembling and decorating wedding cakes, so needless to say, the CMS staff was able to get the cake set up and assembled before the reception.

A Word of Wisdom:  Please check with your event planner before thanking all your vendors about the beautiful job that they did to on your wedding day.  Things may not have gone as smooth as you think.  Also, quite often you are charged a delivery and set up fee----you may be entitled to refund, if they in fact did not do the set up!

Graduation Party: For the Love of Fashion

Laura's Graduation Party, June 2009


It was so exciting working with this family to plan their daughter's Graduation Party.  And needless to say, our guest of honor, was truly into make up and fashion.  The theme colors were Fuschia, Orange and Yellow. 

We had custom designed centerpieces, by Sublime Creations  that replicated a makeup table.  The were  incredible and even lit up.  Sublime Creations also designed 5 ft cut-outs that respented fashion models and used them as a sign-in board for guests to leave messages.

The cake was designed by Jason Reaves of Market Salamanders.  It was lovely, highlighted all of the graduates favorite stores, FREE PEOPLE, SEPHORIA, MAC, and PINK.  The cake was a tiered cake that boasted 5 layers of Red Velvet.

The food was catered by Shirley's Catering!!  The were absolutely fabulous and we enjoyed "mini-foods", such as mini grilled cheese, mini burgers, mini crab cakes, and mini chicken salad sandwiches, to name a few.  Look at the beautiful fruit display!

The graduation invites were bordered with Fuschia, Pink, Yellow, and Orange gerber daisies.  We carried this them into the floral centerpieces of gerber daisies which were provided by Donna's Flowers. 

The candy buffet consisted of a variety of candies that were in our theme colors and was enjoyed by all the guests!  It also included some additional desserts designed by Market Salamanders.

Bartender 2 Go, provided us with a non-alcoholic bar, of smoothies, frozen drinks and frappacinos.

Halloween Party Signature Drink and More!

Celebrations Made Simple is very excited to be working with a repeat client for their Halloween Celebration!  It promises to be a truly scarry event.  My clients take 6-8 weeks to decorate their home for the event and we help to coordinate all the other pieces.  What I am most excited about this year is that Jason Reaves of Market Salamander will be designing a half-body (life-sized) zombie cake for the occassion. 

I wanted to share with you, the signature drink we will have that night....it may be a wonderful addition for your own event:

Orange Satin Cosmo (serves 20)

• 8 cups of Vodka
• 2 1/2 cups of Mango Juice
• 2 1/2 cups of Cointreau or triple sec
• 1 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 7 tbsp superfine sugar

Mix well and strain into cocktail glasses.  Garnish with black licorice sticks. 

Well, we hope you enjoy the recipe!  Visit us again soon to see pictures of the Halloween Zombie Cake!!

New Beginnings!!

Well, I think I finally have time to really get connected with the whole Social Networking/Marketing for my business.  My business coach, Coach Marvin Powell, says I really need to get on board.  Well, here goes!  Please visit and I will do my best to provide you all some valuable information for planning your next event!  I will also post some of my events with feedback from my clients so you can see the challenges and growths I experience as I grow my business!!