It's All Groovy Baby!

I thought it was about time I showed off some of the other things I do. In addition to planning weddings and arranging flowers, I also get to plan parties large and small. Last year one of my clients wanted to throw a surprise 5oth birthday for her husband. She wanted the party to be a disco themed party, and all her requirements were: super fun music, great food and drink, and a party like the guest have never seen here in Sun Valley. So here is what we came up with....

We started with an empty backyard, added a big white tent, and just went crazy with the draping, lights, and disco furniture inside. Once again I requested help from my good friends at Classic Party Rentals and King Dahl Event Designs, and as you can see we transformed that tent in to a groovy disco party.

We had t-shirts made for all of the waitstaff featuring a cartoon face of the birthday boy from the 70's. We also put them in afros and puka shell necklaces. An accessory the birthday boy was famous for wearing back in the day. The menu consisted of only fun food. The caterer's, the Rasberry's came up with all kinds of fun stuff from fruit shaped sushi, to mini corn dogs, to passed test tubes filled with Red Bull and Vodka.

The guests partied hard until 2am, to the unbelievable sounds of the Cheeseballs. The night finally ended when the police showed up thinking a bunch of teenagers were having a party. I'm of the opinion that is the best way to end a 50th birthday party!!

photos by: Kirsten Shultz
event by: Taylor'd Events

Real Wedding: Elizabeth and Paul

This wedding of Elizabeth and Paul actually occurred July 7th, 2007, but decor wise it is one of my very favorites, so I thought I would share it with you all. I was very fortunate to have such great people like Paul and Elizabeth, allow me to design their wedding. They gave me very free reign to design everything, and I was allowed to create something I had wanted to do for years! The biggest challenge of this wedding was we started with an empty horse pasture with no power or water. But with the help of my good friends at Classic Party Rental and King Dahl Designs, we quickly got over that hurdle!

The layout of the wedding consisted of four main areas. The first was the welcome cocktail area.
Since we were in a pasture, we brought in a landscaper to lay grass down and put in a fire pit. We added bistro tables, umbrellas and two large bars. The second area was the ceremony tent. Elizabeth loves chandeliers, so we hung one in the center of the tent as well as under the arch.


Next we had the dinning tent. This tent was placed upon a sub floor, we had built to give a very even stable surface. We then laid navy and white carpet on the floor. Because Sun Valley has the best views ever, we decide to use a clear tent to take advantage of our surrounding. We suspended chandeliers and lit votive candles from the top of the tent to give the ceiling a sparkly look when the sun went down. For the tables Elizabeth wanted tall arrangements which did not impede on the views across the table. We achieved this with skinny fluted vases with 30 to 40 stems of phalaenopsis orchids in each.


The final tent was the dance tent. We draped the entrance to this tent with fabric so you could not see in. At the end of the meal we had the emcee announce the first dance, the fabric was pulled back to reveal the party tent, and the band Wonder Bread 5 launched into an evening of super fun music. Inside this tent you first encountered a giant round white dance floor. We had a ton of fun with the lights and made the dance floor look like a giant pool of water one minute and the next it looked like a giant ball of fire. We had a candy buffet for the kids, and a fully stocked bar for the adults.

This wedding was one of my most fun and challenging weddings I have ever had. But in the end it all paid off, the bride, groom and all of the guest had a fabulous time, and I was lucky enough to have the wedding published in Bride and Bloom.

photos: Kirsten Shultz
wedding planning and floral: Taylor'd Events
Rentals and decor: Classic Party Rentals and King Dahl Event Designs