I’m an event planner and have been for the past 12 years. I have done events through the dot.com boom when the challenge was finding the most expensive and extravagant, and I’m doing events now, which needless to say, is an entirely different challenge. For most event planners, it’s a dream to produce a Preston-esque event. That being said, most of us will never have a six figure floral budget and I don’t really miss the over-the-top days when that might have been a possibility. But, I find inspiration everywhere, even from pie-in-the-sky ideas, so I was excited to spend the afternoon listening to Preston talk about his sources of inspiration and his love of creating the beauty of the “ahh-haa moment.” That moment when you first step into an event and forget that you are in some ballroom, in some city, living in a country in the middle of a recession; that moment when you have been transported to a magic place that is someone’s two dimensional vision, brought to three dimensional life. If you’ve been to an “ahh-haa event” you know what I am talking about. It is a beautiful thing.
Still, it’s tough in this economy to see the beauty and even tougher to create it. Let’s be honest, it’s ugly out there and that presents a real challenge when your job is producing events. It was nice to hear Preston, the godfather of flamboyant, talk about practicing restraint and keeping things in good taste in the midst of a gloomy, global recession. Preston and I certainly agree on this point: events are not only about $500,000 of flowers or about out-doing the last party you attended. They are about the organic beauty in bringing people together to share the joy of friendship; to celebrate milestones in life; to connect with others for a compassionate cause; to celebrate the success that there is and the success that there will be. Because, in the end, events are really about taking a moment, in a not so beautiful time, to soak up the beauty that is right here, right now.
So, I say….. plan a party. Put some spaghetti sauce on the stove, your favorite playlist on the ipod, a bottle of Trader Joe’s finest in a decanter, some daisies in a vase and invite the people you love to join you for the evening. Trust me, it will be an event and it will be beautiful.
To read more about Preston Bailey visit his website at www.prestonbailey.com or check out his blog at http://www.prestonbailey.blogspot.com/
Here’s a picture of me, Preston and my friend Erin.
Tags: event planner, events, floral, society, weddings