Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 7:00AM 
Did you know that you can use a dryer sheet to wipe away deodorant stains on your clothing? Needless to say, I always keep of box of dryer sheets on my dressing table. Dryer sheets are such a simple fix for a fashion emergency. Remember to have them around, especially when you are getting dressed for your special event.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, April 2, 2014 at 8:22AM 
A few months ago, I celebrated the bar mitzvah of a very important client, my son Jordan. It was really important to me to create a party that reflected Jordan. Being that he is an aspiring DJ with dreams of headlining the ULTRA Electronic Music Festival, we decided that we were going to turn his party into the most fabulous Bar Mitzvah "Rave".
My biggest challenge was finding an industrial, raw space to serve as the venue. I wanted the "rave" to feel authentic and the venue was key. Luckily, one of my decor FAVORITES, Jeffrey Fox of FOX VENTURES came up with a fabulous solution to my venue challenge - he offered me his warehouse. It took a lot of vision on Jeffrey's part but I knew he would not make the offer if he could not make it happen. I think that my friends, family and husband thought I was a little nuts for picking such an untraditional venue - a warehouse in an industrial park in Beltsville, Maryland - but it turned out to be the perfect venue for the edgy atmosphere that I was trying to create.
Once I had the venue lined up, it was time to create a cool logo that would "inspire" the decor and finishing touches for the celebration. And then the fun began...
After a few months of planning, the day finally arrived. My guests were coming to the celebration directly from Jordan's Havdalah service. Although the venue seemed "out of the way", it was just a 20 minute ride from our synagogue. We provided busses for Jordan's friends from the synagogue to the venue and then back at the end of the evening to make it easy for all of Jordan's friend's parents. A big shout out to ACCESS LIMOUSINE for the professional and reliable bus service that they provided. Since most of our guests were unsure about the location of the venue aside from the direction cards that we provided, I wanted everyone to know that they had "arrived" when they made it to the FOX warehouse. We did this by creating an "entrance" complete with spotlights (from TALK OF THE TOWN) that could be seen from the highway. Valet Parking was provided by MJ VALET.
Once inside, adult guests enjoyed cocktails and live music by keyboardist, KURT GIBBONS. I gave Jeffrey and his team at FOX free reign to create a cool cocktail lounge vibe for the adults and I could not have been happier with the results. I especially love the Photo Gallery concept that Jeffrey came up with. Family photos are so important to me, and this was such a unique way to show off pictures of Jordan at the event.
Jordan's friends had a separate cocktail hour space filled with Glowing Casino Tables and a Graffiti Wall Green Screen - all from TALK OF THE TOWN. Whether the kids were lucky at the casino tables or not, there were plenty of candy prizes - custom labeled mini bags of M&Ms (one of Jordan's FAVORITE candies).
After the cocktail hour, all of our guests came together to celebrate with dinner and dancing. Once again, Jeffrey and his team went above and beyond - the decor exceeded all of my expectations.
The entire entire space was filled with eclectic lounge seating groupings and even though I did not have traditional "tables", every guest was assigned to a "lounge area" to insure that every guest had a seat.
One of my FAVORITE things in the room was the bar. Since I was not planning on doing a photo montage, but I wanted the event to reflect Jordan, the team at FOX created a "Photo Bar" - another great way to personalize the party.
The energy of the party was amazing and that is due to the incredible amount of energy that MC Russell and his team of dancers from NYX ENTERTAINENT AND EVENTS brought to the party. They kept everyone dancing all night long!
Lighting was a key element of this party. For lighting and special effects (including the coolest Nimbus Cloud effect when Jordan was introduced) I worked with John Howard and Randy White of A2Z MUSIC FACTORY. The lighting and special effects were definitely the BIG WOW factor for this event.
As I mentioned before, Jordan is an aspiring DJ and since this was his party, he wanted the chance to showcase his talent. He was totally in his element when he took over the DJ Booth...
I wanted the party to be all about Jordan, so I did something a little out of the box for the food. Instead of using a traditional caterer, I selected four of Jordan's favorite restaurants to create food stations with all of Jordan's favorite foods. Debbie Lessens of OPTIONS CATERERS coordinated all of the service and presentation. Our friends and family feasted on sushi from YURAKU, lobster, crab and shrimp rolls from LUKE'S LOBSTER, burgers, fries and onion rings from BGR, and mac and cheese from CAPMAC. For dessert, were served bite size treats including mini pies for DC's PIE SISTERS, rice crispie treats in the most delicous flavors such as Chocolate Pretzel, M&M, and Oreo from TREATHOUSE, and an amazing assortment of chocolate covered treats.
At the end of the night, Jordan's friends found Zippered Hoodies in their cubbies...
And Jordan gave his Bar Mitzvah a thumbs up...
It was truly an amazing night and one that I know Jordan will never forget.
In addition to all of amazing vendors that I mentioned above, there are a few more industry friends who helped me to make this night possible. Big thanks to Claudia Ades of EVENT FULLY and Terri Bergman of TERRI BERGMAN EVENTS for helping me to coordinate all of the details and making sure everything was seamless at the celebration, to Dana Nestel of THE WRITE OCCASION for designing beautiful invitations, and to Tom Bowen of BOWEN FILMS for the photography and videography. Of course, you have probably guessed that the logo, favors and finishing touches came from PARTY FAVORITES. I was so lucky to work with an amazing team of vendors!
Enjoy!
Bar Mitzvah, Fox Ventures, MC Russell, MJ Valet, NYX Entertainment and Events, Options Caterers, Talk of the Town, Terri Bergman Events, bar mitzvah inspiration, eventfully, orange-grey color theme in Bar Mitzvah Photography, Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Decor, Finishing Touches, Inspiration, REAL BAR MITZVAH, Themes, djs, favors Email Article Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at 7:00AM 
photo via Buzzfeed
When it is time to figure out your seating arrangements, sketch out your tables on a piece of poster board and then write the name name of each guest on a sticky note. This method makes it easy to arrange your guests at their tables. Since Sticky Notes are easily repositionable, you can keep making changes until you come up with the perfect seating plan.
Enjoy!
Monday, March 31, 2014 at 4:19PM Two fabulous clients from this past weekend! Love their logos and the favors and finishing touches that I created for them. Here is a sneak peek of the the logos and favors from each celebration...
And I promise to share all of the details from these parties soon. Both had gorgeous decor, amazing entertainment and fabulous finishing touches. Check back soon!
Enjoy!
