Last month I styled a Quinceanera that surely tested my decision to be an event designer. I can now say that it was definitely a defining moment in my Madly Stylish Events career. Called in about one month before this Quinceanera took place, I had to turn a clubhouse space into a hip lounge for a crowd of 15 and 16 year olds. Well, of course, I was up to the challenge! Working with my floral designer, Angelita, we created a lounge draped in white organza curtains that lead to the “club”. The “club” curtains were held back with a gorgeous arrangement of an assortment of lilac and purple roses and overhead hung over 100 poms in various sizes and shades of purple. As you entered the “club” the milkshake bar was to your left with some uplighting, it was a pretty sweet bar ! The cake table had a backdrop of hanging crystals layered on top of a mirror.

I arrived just as the dance floor was done and the DJ was not far behind. I started working on the candy bar, a decadent assortment of the birthday girl’s favorite candy in purple and pink, of course. As I start to unload the candy Angelita says we have a problem…some confusion over the rental space and date over the event. Then the cell phones start ringing incessantly and on the way back from my last trip of unloading the candy; I see the birthday girl in tears and her mom not far from tears herself and her dad not knowing what to do. Long story short, there were two contracts with two different dates and with a language issue to boot, the end result was that the family did not have the space. With 2 hours left to go before the party, we were told we had to break everything down and vacate the space…..yes, you read right….break down and leave!

To say things got messy here is an understatement. For about 10 minutes we were in a fog, although it seemed much longer! Mother and daughter are crying hysterically, I’m trying to figure out what the game plan should be and my team is looking at me with a now what on their faces! The photographer has arrived, the cake is being delivered and I realize we have got to figure something out. I step outside for some air and start processing it all and thinking of all my friends in the biz who can help me out here. I go back in and literally begin triage…..once mother and daughter are settled, we agree that we want to make the party happen and make it happen that same night. I send the daughter home, the mother takes the cakes and cupcakes to the fridge, the stylish crew begins the take down, and Angelita and I start making phone calls. To this day I am still amazed at how quickly we were able to work to salvage this party. For the next two hours we worked on auto-pilot. We found a new venue sight unseen, negotiated a price, took down and reloaded all our decor and props, posted a sign on the old venue doors saying the party had moved and included the location, new party time, and address. I got a hold of 4 of the birthday girls friends and had them start a texting tree, and one other posted the change of venue on Facebook. I then race off to the new venue leading a caravan of vendors and praying that this is going to turn out fine.

In the end, we pulled it off. It wasn’t the lounge I had envisioned and created, it wasn’t the dessert table I envisioned, it wasn’t the club entrance that we wanted. Our poms and flowers were a little traumatized! But it wasn’t about me and my decor……it was about a 15 year old birthday girl who had envisioned a day celebrating her Quinceanera with family and friends. So we changed our designs and let go of what we thought we had to have. In the end I think we did ok, but most importantly, Ana got the party she wanted! So here are the pics from that fateful day that sealed my fate and made me realized…..I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

Special thanks to the vendors who rolled with us that day:
Madly Stylish Events
Flowers by Angels -floral design
Borrowed Blue Photography
Anders Ruff Custom Designs-favor tags, straw flags, and candy bar tags
Goldren Bull -venue
Cake Dreams -cake and cupcakes

Come back for Part II: The Dessert Table tomorrow!