Inspiration Tuesday New Year's Eve Party

Amidst all of the preparations and celebration of the holiday season such questions come to mind as, "What am I going to do on New Year's Eve," and, "What am I going to wear?"
How great would it be to have the answers to these questions provided to you by a fortune teller who arrives at your home with a small crystal ball that would help you see the future. Inside the crystal ball would be a small invitation inviting you to the party of the year. In addition to the necessary information, you would be instructed to wear clothes in variations of black and/or white.
The night of the event you would make your way down a white carpet amidst mimes and various other street performers to the black velvet drapes you will pass through to enter the event.
As you enter the room, you will immediately take notice of the funhouse mirrors which encircle the room. These mirrors will be enhanced with the addition of dramatic chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the soft glow of countless candles. These candles would be displayed on simple black and white stands and/or holders.
Throughout the room would be a series of food and beverage stations to choose from. The array of heavy hors d'oeuvres and desserts would be presented on pristine white serving dishes, mirrors or black enamel trays and bowls. Each food station would be paired with a signature drink such as Black Russians and White Russians.
All evening long those in attendance would have the chance to visit with a variety of fortune tellers and palm readers, etc. who might be able to offer some insight into the year ahead.
Later in the evening an elaborate dessert display would be unveiled featuring an lavish array of sinful truffels and mousse and decadent creme brulee to name a few. All of these treats would be paired with rich Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Martinis made with Godiva liqueurs.
Beginning at 11:00 PM, service staff dressed entirely in black with faces painted white would begin passing around a myriad of hats, beads and noisemakers for guests to don in anticipation of the midnight hour. Mere moments before midnight, strategically placed plasma televisions would come to life with live coverage of the action in Times Square. The service staff would then begin presenting each guest with glasses of crisp champagne and sparkling cider.
As the countdown begins and the New Year officially arrives the lights would begin to flash, confetti would begin to fall, the band would play Auld Lang Syne and you would receive that traditional first kiss of the new year.
The rest of the evening would be spent involved in fantastic conversation with new and old acquaintances or cutting a rug to the sounds of the band on the black and white checked dance floor.
When the last glass of champagne had been drunk and the band had finished their final encore you would make your way back to the velvet curtain where a small buffet of popular comfort food would await. You would have the opportunity to fill black and white take home boxes with your favorite items for the ride home.
As you step inside your taxi or limo you would be struck by the fun of the evening and the possibility of the year to come. After all, when a year begins and ends in this fashion...how could you go wrong?
From all of us at Circle City Planners, "May everyone have a HAPPY and SAFE New Year!

Inspiration Tuesday - Engagement Party

Tis the season of cold, snow and ice. Tis also the time of year for diamond rings and proposals. So after you have said YES why not throw an engagement party and celebrate with friends and family. If you're like me, you love the first snowfall but after that I'm ready for warmer weather. At your engagement party throw a themed luau and get your guests to stop thinking about the cold weather for a few hours. You can decorate with tiki torches and a bamboo bar. Use bold colors: hot pinks; vibrate blues, bright oranges and reds. For centerpieces- use wishing bowls filled with sand and seashells. Always have your food and drinks carry through with the theme of your event. Serve jerk chicken on skewers, bacon wrapped scallops and other Caribbean favorites. You could even have a fruit display with a carving of your and your fiancé's name. Have bartenders blend fruity drinks and serve them in unusual glasses. You could also name the drinks. Another nice touch would be to display pictures of the both of you and if pictures were captured the night of the engagement frame those up too for everyone to see. And finally best way to follow through on a luau theme engagement party is of course a destination wedding! But you will have to take Circle City Planners along just to make sure everything goes as planned!

Inspiration Tuesday - Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

This time of year is a wonderful time to use the decorations that are already easily available. Isn’t it lovely the first time it snows for the season, everyone loves the snow, so why not celebrate your wedding by embracing the snow? First, you will need to hire a great coordinator (CCP, of course) to clean up the wonderful mess, BUT how cool would it be to have a winter wonderland occasion with snow falling from the ceiling! This is where my inspiration begins. Everything would be in white from the linens to lamour white chair covers with a matching white dance floor. Twinkle lights and white fig branches create a grand entrance outside your venue as the guests enter. During the cocktail hour, the servers (or your guests) could dress the part by wearing all white as you have carolers singing outside! White chocolate is served with warm drinks as your friends and family come inside to get warm (don’t forget the valet parking). As the dinner chimes ring, the snow could begin to fall to notify the guests it’s time to start the dinner and dancing. Don’t forget the surprise when your favorite singers (or IPOD)come out to sing the duet “Baby Its Cold Outside” and you and your new husband have your first dance to the freshly fallen snow. The centerpieces could be this minty holiday season centerpiece filled with crystal snow. Sugar can be used on the buffet to create a winter look. The white, cool drinks could be poured out of an ice louge while the guests dance the night away. Okay, who’s ready to have some fun in the snow?! Check out this live video stream of a snowfall inside a Marriott Ballroom, how cool!

http://www.effectspecialist.com/VideoListsnow.htm

Tony & Tina's Wedding

This Saturday I attended a funny comedy in Chicago called “Tony and Tina’s Wedding”. If you’ve never been you have to go at least once in your lifetime. It was neat as an event planner to finally sit down at a wedding, especially this one. It was absolutely hysterical! The actors did a great job staying in character and making you feel like you were really attending a wedding. During the ceremony the priest came out and performed the ceremony while the funny photographer tried to take pictures and sister Mary led you in worship. Tina, the bride, had the big hair with the unbearable pregnant maid of honor and the obnoxious bridesmaids dresses in hot pink with a matching, large bow. After the ceremony, we were invited into the reception where the DJ rocked the house. They did the traditional first dance, prayer before dinner, and cut the cake and threw the garter. It sounds like a typical wedding, but it was everything but a typical wedding. It was so funny, I was laughing the entire time. The priest got drunk, the unexpected ex-boyfriend showed up straight from jail. The bridesmaid and a groomsmen hooked up on the dance floor. The mother of the bride cried the entire time, grandma passed out at one point, and the bride and groom got in a fight. What a time! I had to post this to our blog. It’s not everyday that we have a chance to sit down at a wedding let alone laugh! It was a great concept for a bachelorette party.

Ashli & Ryan

November 24, 2007
Ashli and Ryan were married this past weekend at the United Methodist Church at 55th and Meridian. The reception was at Mavris Arts and Events. The bride’s family was absolutely wonderful and the organized groom was like none other. What a beautiful day to have wedding. Ashli has to go on the record as being the most striking bride I have ever worked with in my career. The peacock feather and rose in her hair completed her timeless look. She had a Marilyn Monroe/Gwen Stefani look about her, absolutely classy. The overall event went according to plan! Her colors were Tiffany Blue, Chocolate Brown, and Pink….very striking. MBP Catering was the caterer and Julie from Geist Flowers assisted us on the floral décor plan. Brian from Indy Sounds rocked the house with his tunes. And the best part of the evening was wedding cake. This is probably my last cake from Cindy Carlson at Carlson Cakes, she is retiring in April. We will miss her dearly. The cake table had the words “LET THEM EAT CAKE” on the table in gold letters. Thanks to all of our vendors for a very stuffed Thanksgiving Wedding.

Zotec Partners

What a unique event! Paige Horvack contacted us on Sunday October 28th asking us to come up with a plan for their company party at the RCA Dome on November 12th. We ended up getting more involved and created hospitality decor to enhance their 4 day conference. Sunday night was a Colts themed welcome party at the Vitesse Conrad lobby bar. The room was decked out in Colts gear and decor. The employees dined on fajitas and other Mexican specialities as they watched the Colts and Chargers duel it out. Monday morning we decorated the West Foyer area at the Conrad Indianapolis in Zotec colors. That night was the highlight of the event when all of the employees gathered at the RCA Dome for a surprise reception. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for everyone. I must say, I was a little awe struck walking out on the field. We had many fun activities for everyone including a inflatable obstacle course, cornhole,tug-a-war and karaoke. The open bar was busy as they watched Monday night Football on the JumboTron. And exclamation of the evening ended when David Law dumped a cooler of Gatorade on the CEO of the company! A special thanks to everyone involved especially our new friends at Zotec! Pictures of the event to come.

Sugary Sunday

October 14, 2007
On Sunday October 14 the entire CCP gang attended the quarterly Association of Bridal Consultants luncheon at the Conrad Indianapolis hotel. Tonya had the opportunity of planning the event.
She decided that this luncheon she would do progressive tablescapes. We had 4 tables the first was what we call the Bronze Table. This would be what the Conrad would offer standard to their clients. The next table was Silver. This table was a step up from the Bronze. We added chair covers and a simple centerpiece. The next table was of course Gold. This table had a nicer linen and napkins, chiavari chairs, plate chargers and a larger centerpiece than the Silver table. The last table was the Platinum table. At this table we added an overlay to the linen, napkin tassels, a sash to the chiavari chairs, rented gold-rimmed china and stemware and a tall centerpiece.
Gloria Boyden, the state president made a presentation on proper invitation etiquette. Kay Krober, Cindy Basker and Clare Welage all spoke about cute favor ideas. My personal favorite was the guitar picks and writing on “Matt picked Darcie”on the pick. How Cute!!!
Monica Whitehead, the catering manager at the Conrad put together a wonderful menu for us and gave everyone a tour of the hotel.
Everyone had a lovely afternoon and is looking forward to the January meeting.

Beauty Bash

OUR FIRST FUNDRAISER OF THE YEAR! We have worked soooooo many long and painful hours with Blades Hair Salon to put on the 1st annual Beauty Bash at the Ritz Charles. It was a true success. I cashed in every favor I have ever accumulated with my vendors and friends/family to help put this shin dig together! We raised over $10,000 for the Jullian Center. We had over 250 in attendance at our event. I can’t tell you how rewarding it was to see the women and know that we are doing this together to support one another. A huge shout out to my staff and my dear friend Gretchen Schott for their love and support for this event. I promise we will be posting the pictures later. You have to mark your calendars for next year.

On the Radio Again

Okay, I love Smiley! With our Beauty Bash event we were on the radio Tuesday morning the 2nd of October. It was so neat to be able to be in the studio and promote our biggest fundraising event of the year. Smiley is cute too! Here is the picture I captured right after we were LIVE.

ENJOY!

Emily and Darin

Forgive my camera pictures, it's time to clean the lens. The wedding so perfect I had to post my fuzzy pictures. No worries the professional pictures will be posted later. What a cute couple! They were so sweet and so thankful for everything we did for them on their wedding day. We started off the gorgeous day at Emily's condo literally 2 blocks from St. Mary's Church (how convenient). The timing was perfect and the church was absolutely beautiful. Their reception followed at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. They coolest thing of the evening were the personalized mirror stickers in the bathroom and the hot box breadsticks at the end of the night. After working 12 hours, I went to grab a bag of breadsticks and to my surprise they were all snatched up! This couple will be one I will always cherish! Weird thing, I recognized several guests and one was my children's pediatrician. How ironic was that!

Bridal Show

September 23

Take a look at our awesome display! We created this booth for our Scottish Rite Bridal Show. What a turn out! There were tons of brides and grooms despite the Colt's game on Sunday. We had a blast talking with everyone about their wedding. It was a little stressful creating such a display, but it was worth all the work. Don't worry if you missed the show, you will see this display again in January.

Amy & Rick

Amy and Rick
September 8,2007
WOW! What a wedding. The day started off early at Mavris Arts and Event Center, unloading 142 pounds of white unscented candles, wine bottles and far too many wine corks for one person to count. The Christmas Light Pros were already there setting up. And John, Amanda and the rest of Mavris gang were dropping linens and cleaning up the room for the night's event. Things really started moving when Lindsey, our intern got there. Chad even swooped in and saved the day when the parents realized that they forgot the escort cards (Sorry about the speeding ticket).
Amy was beautiful in her ivory gown coupled with her cathedral length veil that has been passed down from generation to generation. The ceremony took place at Christ Church Cathedral. The couple had 9 of their closest friends standing up with them. Although, the day was raining it didn't bother either one them. We were even lucky enough to get some outside shots.
After the ceremony, guests enjoyed drinks and hors'duvoers on the 1st floor of Mavris. They also took Polaroids of each other and wrote in Amy and Rick's guest book. After the couple took a sneak peek of the room, they invited everyone to join them upstairs for dinner and dancing. After the cake cutting ceremony, Amy and Rick both wrote a speech for one another, there wasn't a dry eye when they finished. Both speeches were so touching and showed how much they really loved each other.
At the end of the evening guests grabbed a cab back to their hotel and a favor bag filled with Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The evening was magical, another great wedding.

More Pictures From Sunday's Wedding

Lindsey our new intern captured these shots from the reception. Enjoy!!!!

Autumn & Brian

September 2, 2007

I FORGOT MY CAMERA! This wedding was amazing and I can't believe I forgot my camera. Autumn's mom sent me these photos that a family friend captured. Let me first say that my prayers were answered and the CCP tradition lives on; Autumn and Brian were married OUTSIDE in the White River Gardens at the Indianapolis Zoo. It was about 85 degrees and as Autumn and her father walked down the aisle I got chills. She was beautiful and the Gardens were too. A chiffon arbor hung over the couple as they exchanged their vows. The cocktail hour and reception were held at the Five Star Conrad Hotel. As guests got off the elevator they saw a long table of wheat grass with placecards on top. Autumn and Brian took a sneak peek at the ballroom before the first guest arrived. I knew my job was complete when she said, "I never thought it would look this beautiful". There were high and low centerpieces, a monogram gobo shining on the wall behind the band, and chandeliers hanging down giving off just the right amount of light . Just like the ceremony the ballroom space was gorgeous. Guests enjoyed dinner and danced into the night. At the end of evening everyone threw tiny heart-shaped candy marshmallows as the newlyweds got into a horse and carriage for a ride around the city. How sweet! I also want to thank my team of professionals;you all did a great job!