Graduation Celebrations...Creating a Spectacular Party with [Relative] Ease...

Graduation season is almost upon us!

At Jennifer Holly Events, we do more than just coordinate and execute plans. Sure, we can be and often are present at the events which we are involved in, but we also offer consultation services. If you have a student who will be exiting high school with the Class of ’14, no doubt you have been awash in graduation information for the past year and no doubt..., you are getting tired of thinking about it. Well, now it’s finally here~it’s time to stop thinking and get the ball rolling! But, where do you start? There are many details to consider, not the least of which is the question of “when,” especially if you know more than one graduate. When our daughter graduated in 2011, we attended a minimum of three graduation parties every weekend in May and June…including the weekend of her party! That was a lot to schedule around, but~as we started planning well in advance~we were able to pull it off without a hitch!

There are several schools of thought regarding how to prioritize your planning; for me, the first step is a combo, that is: WHEN and WHERE. After all, if you do not have a day and a place, you don’t have a party, right? Then, of course, you’ll need to know your budget (we strongly advise that you always budget extra of three things: Money, time and help. It’s better to find yourself with $10 extra, running 10 minutes ahead, and with 10 people who are willing to help “in case,” than it is to lack any of those things). Once you figure your budget, the questions really start to crop up... How many guests will likely attend? Will there be a theme~how will you let people know about it? What will the menu be~who will provide the food? Will there be music~who will do the honors? Dancing~does the facility have a dance floor? The list is potentially exhaustive, and it will exhaust you. So what do you do? Let us take care of the details for you!

Aunt Myrna makes graduation cake, you say? Ok, let us call and work out the details. Cousin Freddy’s girlfriend’s dad has folding chairs you can borrow? We can pick them up, make sure they’re in good shape, and deliver them right to you. You want music, but aren’t sure how to get the party started? We know Pink…ok~no we don’t, but we do have a fantastic DJ who happens to be an EDP (Event Design Partner), and we can contact them for you and make things happen! You want a specific theme, but you aren’t sure how exactly you can get your back yard to look like the Emerald City? We got this…no worries!

This is what consultation is all about: Sure, you can get the details all together, and deal with implementation, but sometimes it’s nice to just give your list of “wants” to someone else, let them do the work, and relax in your ruby slippers!

Call Jennifer Holly Events to schedule a graduation collaboration ASAP!

Budget...a few thoughts.

Budget. That’s really the beginning of your event, right after you get the notion that you want or need to have an event, that is… And that’s what I wanted to talk about briefly: Your budget, and its impact on your event. Seems kind of ...simple, right? Right…and wrong.

The definition of “budget” is as follows:

A systematic plan for the expenditure of a usually fixed resource, such as money or time, during a given period.

The total sum of money allocated for a particular purpose or period of time.

It’s important to understand what a budget is really for, and why it’s important to have one. First of all, when you budget for something~let’s say Grampa and Gramma Opaldome’s 50th anniversary celebration~what you are doing is this:

Acknowledging that not only will you need financial resources, but that those will have a limit, whatever that limit may be. As the definition above mentioned, a budget is fixed, allocated for something particular. It’s a good idea to keep this in mind while planning, because while resources are limiTED, the number of things that can and will eat through said budget when it isn’t respected are limitLESS. So, back to Gpa and Gma O…

You realize, with a shock, that the big 5-0 is coming up. 50 years of making pancakes for the same person is kind of a big deal, and so you decide to stage a thing. Great. Now what? Well, obviously, you should call Jennifer Holly Events, and here is the reason: We can and will respect your budget, whatever that is, and if you don’t have a budget when you call, we can and will help you figure that out, as well.

We’ll start with some basic questions:

What kind of event would you like to host?

Are you hosting alone, or is this a group effort? If so, will the cost be evenly split, with each sibling or grandchild contributing an equal share?

How many guests will be invited?

So, that’s the “simple” part, and gets us started.

Now Holly and I know that:

You’d like to have a formal, sit-down dinner for 300 guests and that the costs will be split among you and your 3 siblings. You personally can put in $250.00, and they’ll each do the same, so we can plan on a total budget of $1,000.00 for this event. That gives us a per-guest budget of a little over $3.00. Now, the not-so-simple part…budgeting reality into the mix.

The reality is, no matter how we slice it, not even JHE can design a formal, sit-down dinner for 300 guests for $3.00 apiece. And we’re pretty brilliant. So many things have to come out of that budget~food, wine, invitations, postage, decorations, venue rental, paying your coordinator, etc… But don’t despair! We are not yet beaten! Never say…well, you get the idea. Here is where we start “creatively thinking…”

First, we will ask, how married are you to the 300 guests and a formal dinner? You will likely hesitate for a moment, wanting to do so much for G&G O.

Sensing your distress, Holly will suggest that we all talk a bit more, and when we do, we’ll discover that:

Realistically, at least 150 of those 300 guests are out of state and you don’t expect them to attend, but they must be invited. And we know from experience that about a level third of your guests who plan on attending…won’t, for whatever reason, so now we’re down to approximately 100 guests. POW! Your budget just got a little more comfortable.

Gpa and Gma are not really all that comfortable in expensive formal settings: Gpa was uncomfortable the last time a family dinner was held at Olive Garden, and Gma insisted on using her teabag five times because “$2.00 for a cup of tea is so expensive!” What will they think about chair covers and crystal? After all, this is THIER party… BAM! More comfortable still.

Gpa actually proposed to Gma at a church picnic back in the day, and WHOOSH! An idea begins to take shape…

At this point, I’ll probably suggest that you let Holly and I discuss the notes which we’ve been taking so diligently, and we’ll schedule a second meeting, within a couple of days. You agree, and when we meet again, we have several design proposals, but honestly, this is our favorite:

We’ve contacted a local tree farm, and while they usually don’t have events held there, they are off season, so we were able to get them to agree to let us use a small portion of their land for a nominal fee. We’ll bring in tables and chairs (with an open tent on standby in case of rain), and we’ll provide a lovely dessert bar and some punch and coffee. There will be linen and lace tablecloths, fresh flowers and paper lanterns. Soft music from the year they were married will play in the background. We’ll set up a table for framed family pictures, if you like, and we can get you in touch with one of our photography EDPs. With a few extra details from the fam, we can maybe even recreate the atmosphere of the original proposal, just a bit. And Gma should get a new dress, because she is about to be AMAZED. All beautifully elegant. All within budget.

Sound too good to be true? Of course, I’ve used made up numbers for this example, but the point remains the same: Having a budget, and being willing to work within it and adjust where necessary: THAT is what leads to the ultimate success of your event! The tree farm scenario? TOALLY POSSIBLE, with enough forethought, and some creative design. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the point that I really wanted to hit: It just isn’t necessary to spend unheard of amounts of money in order to achieve a high note! If you hesitate to call an event coordinator because you think that that sort of thing is just for big, costly events, well, that’s just not true. At Jennifer Holly Events, we are equal opportunity event designers; we want to create something beautiful for you, and we don’t believe that you should have to “break the bank” for that to happen!

Contact Jennifer Holly today, and let’s talk!

Planning an event and NOT losing your sanity...it is possible!

Planning an event. Sounds simple enough; I mean, get some people together, have some food, some music, drinks~easy cheesey. And it can be easy. We'll use a wedding as an example, and you can just follow these simple steps (in no particul...ar order):

Choose a date and time, find a place, determine a budget and a theme if desired, make a guest list, gather addresses, mail invitations or call invitees, choose a menu and beverages, and if you're cooking go shopping for food, decide on decorations, decide on music and/or entertainment, contact venue to confirm set up and final details, order floral pieces, order cake, decide on attire, follow up with guests who have not yet responded, shop for something to wear and a gift, coordinate details with family members and others who will be attending from out of town...ok, that's a good start for the bridal shower...

Are you ready to think about the details for the other showers, the rehearsal, the wedding, the reception, etc...?

It needs to be clearly understood: "Planning a wedding" is NEVER just "planning a wedding." Realistically, when you decide to get married with all of the requisite "fluff," you are actually planning one idea~the celebration of the actual marriage~but that idea happens in multiple celebratory steps, all of which require separate, yet coordinated~and compatible~planning.

I figured it out the other day~when my daughter got married, I planned no less that six different-but-connected events (showers, the engagement party, etc...). This meant that, once they were officially engaged, there were multiple meetings with the bride and groom (who lived on the other side of the state) to discuss and decide upon the details for their day, and scheduling excursions to visit venues. There were shopping trips for patterns and fabrics and dresses and tuxedoes; appointments for fittings and florists and photographers. There was listening to music and choosing a DJ, organizing the dinner and food (we catered the reception), baking for the dessert bar, and at one point my counter became a "to scale model" of the coffee bar. For each "event day", I developed and sent out timelines, itineraries and regular updates to all parties concerned, made phone calls and put out little brush fires along the way. I actually had several fairly large side projects to complete well before the rehearsal, and many family members arriving from out of town. This is the short list, and many of these tasks had to be accomplished for each separate "wedding event," and in case you are wondering, results were as follows: The wedding, which was scheduled to begin at 2 pm, BEGAN at 2 pm. At the reception, which was set "buffet style," dinner also started on time and ALL of our guests were eating within 20 minutes, the coffee and dessert bar were opened right on schedule, and we actually were able to start dancing 45 minutes early.

There were glitches, I assure you, but because we had our plans firmly in place, we were able to compensate with very few wrinkles, and the day was everything that we dreamed it might be.

I share this story because, while planning an event is a huge undertaking~several, in fact~with the right, well...PLANS, your beautiful day is right within reach.

This is what we do, and we'd love to do it for you. Contact Jennifer Holly Events, and let's schedule an appointment. The more we know about the wedding you've always wanted, the more opportunities we'll have to make your dreams come true!