Engage 2011: The Luxury Wedding Business Summit

“Engage” is more than a quote from Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise (Patrick Stewart), or a wedding term devoted to the process of becoming engaged; in this instance, it is a networking event by invitation only, conveniently located at the Ritz Carlton in the Grand Cayman Islands for 2011.

This nomadic event was produced by Kathryn Arce and Rebecca Grinnals, whose 20 years shared experience in the wedding and honeymoon industry, made this event unique bursting with the extensive knowledge this team has learned over the years. Kathryn and Rebecca began as Wedding Event Managers for Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings, whose branding strategies has built Disney into a nearly $100 million dollar per year business. Combined, these two logistic mavericks, form Engaging Concepts, and create a magnetic team that attracts the wedding industry’s key personalities.

This symposium, my first, (I was often referred to as a virgin engager) was unlike any other I’ve attended before. Sure, it had its share of motivational speakers, array of events and signed books, but what I found really amazing was how intimate this conference actually was.

Capping this seminar at 250 attendees made me feel more engaged. Each day had designed, among the activities, time for networking, which typically is not inherent in my DNA, but at this event, seemed to come naturally by the third day and final night gala.

This forum, a backdrop primarily for planners, designers, photographers and a scattering of unique companies (Kelly Kiefer 303-956-1376 who celebrates life through high art by creating unique art pieces celebrating distinctive occasions, and Julianne Smith www.thegartergirl.com The Garter Girl that designs one-of-a-kind garters) encourages relationships among peers.

One of the highpoints of the symposium was the dine-arounds, where guest speakers randomly entertained attendees at intimate dinners for nearly one-on-one interaction as well as a three hour Catamaran Cruise that led us to the middle of the ocean on a giant sandbar. The journey was as intriguing as the destination and an activity of swimming with stingrays made for a memorable experience.

After attending this symposium, I’d have to say that I am looking forward to attending the next conference this time in Las Vegas. I implore you to add this conference to your scheduled portfolio of symposiums as it encourages you to develop engaging partnerships with fellow colleagues on a personal level, creating partnerships that are quintessential in building your event empire.

Here’s a link to the Engage 2012 Website: http://engage12.com/

To inspire you further, here’s a few of the industry celebrities that attended the conference this year:

Randy Fenoli of TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress

David Behm, Event Designer

Bryan Rafanelli, Event Designer

Carley Roney, Co-Founder and Editor in Chief of The Knot

Darcy Miller, Senior Vice President and Wedding Editorial Director of Martha Stewart

Color and Events

Colorfull Events

Color is such an unobtrusive, simplistic, and ambivalent word yet its power has such impact creating fear, uncertainty, anxiety and excitement.

In the 60’s, color created psychedelic prisms and tie-dye, during the early 70’s, it was race riots and a divide between black and white. The 80’s brought us Color Blocking, and in the 90’s it was the same color balanced by different weights - kelly green, avocado, sage and lime, and in the new millennium it created a homeland security threat level system.

For me, color can make me feel cheerful (canary yellow) or angry (ruby red), it grabs my attention (hot Pink and lime), or calms me down (Pastel blue) makes a room appear larger (mother of pearl) or cozy (mocha cappuccino), rejuvenates my spirit (aquamarine) or keeps me feeling safe (mossy green). Color creates an ambiance of royalty or a youthful celebration.

Within special events, color should be used with deliberation and precision; bright to catch the eye, red to express love, pink to express sweetness. Don’t be afraid to experiment; trial and error is the key to success. To master color is to master the color-wheel, in the design world there are a plethora of schemes; however, the three most commonly used schemes are Complementary, (colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel), Analogous, (colors that are next to each other on the color wheel) and Triadic, (colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel). The images below clarify each of the schemes.


If for some reason you are intimidated or confused by the color wheel… go to nature. Mother Nature, that is. She has designed the most amazing palettes. Look closely at your spring flowers, often each individual flower has a multitude of color combinations. A pansy, for example, could have a golden rod center with brilliant rings of violet to aromatically become a complimentary scheme. This caterpillar and surroundings, with shades of green and accent of yellow, is a crawling example of Analogous. The image of a lone scuba diver framed against a beep ocean blue background, with contrasting radiant shades of mauve and luminous persimmon in the foreground, breathes life into a triadic scheme.


Now that you’re familiar with color, and with constructing fundamental color palettes, how do you bring that knowledge into Events? Yes, it is scary, but don’t be alarmed. Simply find a connection that works for your event. Some color discoveries can be simple ones - such as red for a strawberry festival. Or you can jazz up this same simple idea by playing off of an Analogous scheme by adding adjacent colors on the color wheel so the final color scheme becomes garnet red, fuchsia, and blushful pink, much more tangy and potentially exciting than plain red.

What’s Intriguing to me is the formation of International societies forecasting (or maybe setting) color trends for years to come. The premise behind these groups in my opinion is to coordinate and forecast annual color pallets for textiles, art, design and fashion to name a few; By doing so, industries at large have a fairer market presence. For example, if the International Color Marketing Group (CMG) forecasts deep cranberry and camel as the HOT color chemistry for 2010, and every auto maker used this pallet in their autos except for Chrysler who choose pomegranate spice and dessert wheat. Chrysler has the potential to be the trend setter and completely cash in when they corner the market, but more realistically will become the pariah and be on the fashion don’t list. It becomes safer and more marketable to align with the safe forecasted color pallet.

Coordinating pallets across all industries allow carpets to harmonize with drapes to synchronize with glass tiles to complement wall paints which encouraged the purchase of a Haute Couture garment that inspired a theme for a special event. Whatever your event passion may be, choose to embrace the power of color(full) events. You will never be disappointed and will always find something interesting that will make the occasion extra ‘Special’ for your clientele.

A Baccarat Level of Style for Your Event

The lifeline of any business is the consistent drive to improve customer service, enhance creativity and develop new product. Design Works is no different in this category; we consistently implement training programs (often taught by David and myself) for our employees, captains and managers. It’s a daunting task at times, but creates a Las Vegas type payoff.

We encourage our creative staff to think outside of the box and then collect their thoughts to fit within our clientele’s budgets. With a creative staff of ten, a windfall of ideas gets tossed, generating a jackpot of results.

New product risk is always a gamble, so this year, I rolled the dice and thought double-down and I am proud to offer two new lines of product for rental to augment your networking lounge motif. The first is our GloTec Luminary Line designed around multiple elements brought to life with lighting.

These essentials include square white plexi cabaret tables, floating pool orbs, luminary cube ottomans, crescent benches and matching crescent cabaret tables. The crescent benches can have complementing cushions produced to customize your event. We also have several styles of illuminated bars to complete the look.

Our second new line Modern Royalty includes ornate white Victorian styled lounge furniture and comes in William Love Seats, Grace Kelly Chaise Lounges, Kathryn Coffee Tables, large Ludwig Chairs, and smaller Victoria Chairs, all very unique to Denver and ideal for weddings or that extra sassy eclectic event. *Please note: Modern Royalty Furniture is only available in white.

The Modern Royalty Furniture Line arrived in Denver the 1^st of September. The GloTec Luminary Line will be available mid to late September.

Let us extend your limit with these intriguing sculptural pieces as you give your guests a chance to experience the lifestyle of a high roller. Ante up!

Higher Ground

When thinking of the phrase “higher ground”, what comes to mind?

In Japan, I’m sure it conjures up communities outrunning tsunamis and traversing up hills, trees and stairways to safety; or maybe, higher ground is a photographer seeking a better vantage point for that perfect perspective.

For me, “higher ground” is not only a Stevie Wonder song that gave me a great tempo to my work outs, but it’s also encouraging words from my mother when dealing with ethical situations. I remember her always saying take the higher ground; show them you’re better than they are…. And it was that advice that has laid the foundation for the way David and I do business.

In our day to day business, we come across epic situations where we have the opportunity to choose a positive bright trail or be tempted by a narrow shady alleyway. For example, a terminated employee chose to pilfer and plagiarize our design concepts and proposals on her exit and take them with her to a competing company. She, in this case, chose the narrow shady alleyway while the venue recognized the proposal from an earlier event we had designed and chose the bright trail by informing us of the design theft.

This ex-employee had the opportunity to create her own wedding and be her own designer but chose to take the lower ground and ride the coattails of others. If this scenario had happened with a photographer and his image, there would be a greater likelihood of being prosecuted. I think the difference here is that thieves think they can get away with the plagiarism of design concepts as the probability of them being caught is much less, or maybe they don’t think of it as theft. I’m confident our ex-employee did know it as theft.

There is an overabundance of examples of morality gone badly, but there are limits to the reactions available. The simplest is to plead to their honorable side, and if that doesn’t work, shame them by sharing the info with others. The positive twist to this circumstance… Design Works won the bid.

Ethics are the grounds for many destroyed partnerships as well as many successful relationships. Ethics can make your business bloom or wither…. Make your choice.

My motto as coined by Stevie Wonder reminds us all to “Keep on trying, till we reach the highest ground.”

From Humble Beginnings to High Tech Necessity...

I began my attraction to drafting many, Many, MANY years ago in high school where we were taught the basic skills of using various hardened pencil leads to give diverse weights to different lines for unique meanings. The basic tools used in those decades were T-squares, triangles and drafting tables. During college, I thought I was the cat’s meow when I upgraded to a drafting arm… a simple yet modern device that maintained a straight line anywhere on my table respective to my drawing.

THEN, the three smallest letters revolutionized the architectural world… CAD, Computer Aided Drafting. This brought the end to rolled up ammonia smelling blueprints, large format file drawers, and erasure stubble brushed onto the floor. It was amazing how drawings could be pulled up and worked on so easily, how multiple architects could share the same document, and how files could be emailed instead of messengered to an engineer for approval!

In my humble beginnings in the Event Industry, I quickly recognized the importance and significance for this radical tool. It was a great means of communication between all vendors… from designers to caterers to entertainment and banquet captains.

CAD brought organization, communication, and creativity to the industry and most importantly, CAD brought space planning to the forefront. Design wasn’t limited to floral, linen or stage backdrops any longer, design extended to the layout. This was HUGE, space plans seemed to sculpt the room, and took the design to a third dimension. Set ups became more organized, vendor relationships blossomed, and life became easier.

From a design point of view, space plans allow for a whole new level of design. At Design Works, we aspire to unique layouts. Most noticeably are the industry award nights at the ICON galas where we contort the rooms forcing them to take on views never before seen by moving the stage to the entrance wall or elevating the stage and placing a lounge or bar beneath it. Creative dance floor layouts allow for more patrons to have interesting and lucrative seating… The possibilities are endless!

You’re probably asking… where could this possible go from here? Well, I am excited to share with you, Design Works is now taking layouts further to a third dimension. We are extruding our floor plans into 3-D images where clients with appropriate budgets can meander through the floor from different perspectives and advantage points creating virtual tours of their events, helping those who are either spending a lot of money or have trouble visualizing the design elements and placement.