hardback with the fabulous four color photograph on the cover; going through pages and pages of gorgeous flowers, beautiful food stations, and fun decor—it's always a blast.
Planning special events can be a uniquely creative process, one that professionals rush to get started. Choosing the color palate, the texture of the linens, the menu (the dessert!), and the flowers—other than getting to know our clients, this is usually our favorite part. Entertaining and party books are always inspirational, even if sometimes we find what not to do. When opening that book for the first time, it's like getting a clear picture of the author's style. We all have one. After doing a few events yourself, you're bound to find that you have one, even if you weren't looking.
For almost 35 years, Paulette Wolf Events & Entertainment (PWEE) has been planning special events.
Creating a successful event is both an art and a science— one that requires meshing creativity with knowledge. Based on PWEE's experience in blending art and science to produce virtually thousands of events over a 30-year period, they developed a set of guidelines that is always followed, and now I am giving them to you.
Having a fabulous idea is useless if you don't have the ability to execute it. A visual artist understands this principle, knowing that historic perspective, experience, and inspiration all contribute to a successful body of work.
The same principle applies to producing events. Creativity is part and parcel of a successful event, yet the "science" involved in that execution - the expertise, experience, dedication to hard work, good staff, and sound communications skills is what separate the novices from the pros.
As the company that pioneered professional event management as it is practised today, PWEE has learned from producing virtually thousands of special events over the last 35 years that pulling off a successful event requires meticulous preparation, a pursuit of flawless execution, and an ability to respond as a cohesive team when the unexpected inevitably surfaces. Successful events are in the details. They've produced a ton of events, but they are never the same. Quite the opposite, each one is unique in so many ways. The trained, experienced eye, however, can detect that one-of-a-kind fingerprint of a PWEE party. Sometimes it's the abundance of valet staff (we hate it when we have to wait forever for the car), the linens are always to the floor, and we even went through a stage where we tied the linens around the table legs. Whatever we're into at the time, that's what is projected. Whether it's chocolate browns from five years ago or colorful plaids from two years ago, draped fabrics, deep dahlias, food stations or French service, pear and brie quesadillas, or Bananas Foster (that never goes out of style), event design is a collaboration.
We work with our clients and vendors to create a vision of what the party is going to feel, sound, taste, and look like. But what if you don't have a trained eye? What if you're a novice or somebody who has committed himself or herself to a chairperson position or host position? What do you do? Almost any event book will be filled with magnificent and inspirational photographs (PWEE included), but what do you need to do before you find your inspiration? How do you achieve your vision? What are the guidelines to successful event planning? It begins with what every professional does, almost on a subconscious level, when approaching a new event. We all ask ourselves the six essential questions—who, what, when, where, why, and how? In this process we're putting together the preliminary to-do list before we can come up with the real to-do list. The preliminary to-do list is what you will need to do before you can begin to really plan your event. Enjoy!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone provided by Airtel Nigeria.
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