Hooray for Toriwood! The Rockleigh Country Club Rolls Out The Red Carpet for Tori’s Bat Mitzvah

When your mom is the co-owner of Flirty Finds, and your dad works for Alfred Dunner in Manhattan, one thing is for sure at your Bat Mitzvah… you’re going to look fabulous when you step on the red carpet and make your grand entrance!   If you happen to be a tall, gorgeous and elegant young lady to boot, the paparazzi will love you.  And, if you & your best friends like to dance like there’s no tomorrow when the music starts pumping, having one of the best nights of your life is inevitable.

Tori was a trifecta Bat Mitzvah guest of honor….fashionable, beautiful and able to boogie down with the best of them.    I remember celebrating with the Hoff family a few years ago for her brother’s Bar Mitzvah at the Preakness Hills Country Club and saying to myself, “this family rocks and really knows how to party!”    Tori, Roger, and their mom and dad-  Jamie and Mark, danced and sang along to current and classic hits with all their guests from the opening set to the finale.  I’ve been doing this long enough to notice when the younger sibling is already looking forward to their special night in the spotlight… It was obvious that Tori was just getting warmed up.

Next thing I know, it’s 33 months later and I’m escorting Tori into the Rockleigh Country Club to make her red carpet premier at “The Tori Awards.”  Thanks to designer, Ellen Meckles, from Party Girl in Tenafly, NJ, Tori looked like a glamorous movie star.  Ellen was instrumental in finding the perfect dress for her to wear at Temple and then for the gala later that night.  Thanks to event planner,  Martha Baum, the Rockleigh Country Club looked cooler than the Kodak theater on Oscar night.   Martha, who is always a pleasure to work with, did a fabulous job with the florals, centerpieces and over-all décor.    *(As you’ll see in the recap video, Tori got perfectly super-imposed onto/into some of her favorite movie posters.  They looked incredible!)  **I highly recommend “borrowing“ this idea if you have a Hollywood-themed event coming up.   Or, save yourself a lot of time and invest in the expertise of a professional event designer, like Martha.

The Hoff’s teamed up again with my friend, Ivan Piedra, for paparazzi coverage of the fiesta highlights and for some unique interactive stations during the kid’s cocktail reception.  A crowd favorite was called Hair Flair.  A crew of professional hair stylists set up a beautification booth where all the young ladies (and a few fearless boys) were treated to L.E.D hair extensions and other chic tweaks to enhance their A-lister fashion status.

While we were keeping Tori and her friends entertained, busy and out of trouble  during cocktails, a hip and delicious cocktail reception for the adults was taking place on the other side of the property outside the grand ballroom.   In addition to the delectable cuisine, the mood was set like an ultra-hip Hollywood premier party thanks to Mrs. Hoff.  Jamie hired an acoustic duo to jam in the background while her guests mingled, noshed and sipped a few signature drinks.  Everyone seemed to dig the vocal recreations of artists like Jewel & Dave Matthews.    Whether it’s a jazz trio, electric violinist, piano player or solo saxophonist, we always recommended live musicians if you want to enhance your event.  Jamie knew her crowd would dig the duo, and she was absolutely right.

When It was time for the candlelighting, Tori personalized the entire segment by writing her toasts in the form of nominee announcements & thank you speeches.  She even had custom-made “Tori Award” statuettes created so each recipient went home with a little bling and memorabilia.  Nice touch!

When the guests rested their dancing feet for the entrée, Mark’s toast and the celebrity-filled video tribute montage, Tori and her dad had a heart-warming father-daughter dance to yet another hit by Taylor Swift called Never Grow Up.  It was awesome to see Mark and Tori singing along and enjoying every moment of their spotlight dance together.

The rest of night, like the first few hours of the celebration, flew by.   I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing, as it usually means everyone, including yours truly, is having a blast.  When the guest of honor and the host family only get off the dance floor to eat or visit the powder room, it’s easy to see how the “time flies” expression came to be.

Thank goodness for companies like Videoccasions, who tastefully and unobtrusively capture the entire evening in HD so you can be in the moment all night long and then relive it forever on your living room plasma or iPad.   Kaan and the Videoccasion’s team sent over the video highlight reel below.  And, if you appreciate the art of capturing specific moments in time, you can call a professional photographer like Jamie K, who was kind enough to share her fantastic work for this article along with Ivan.

Special thanks to Mel and the staff from the Rockleigh for their hospitality and professionalism.  I’m looking forward to our next collaboration this fall.

Mazel Tov to Tori and the Hoff family!  On behalf of the MMP team, we wish you all of the health, happiness and success that life has to offer.

 

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How to Make Your Wedding ‘Something Special’: Michael and Caitlin Celebrate Their Love at The Meadow Wood Manor

Usher’s smooth r&b track, ‘Something Special,’ not only served as the perfect first dance song for Michael and Caitlin, but its title also perfectly described their wedding reception from start to finish.  The same could be said for the song that Caitlin chose to dance with her dad, The Best Day, by Taylor Swift.

I knew this wedding was going to be awesome from the first phone call.  I recognized Caitlin’s voice instantly.  She sang beautifully at another exceptional wedding ceremony that MMP had the honor to direct and entertain at a few years ago.  That wedding was for Michael’s mother, Patty, and my uncle, Lou Vetere.  As guests, Michael and Caitlin danced the night away along with their family and friends.  Since many of the guests would be attending this celebration and I knew I was working with a bride and groom who weren’t shy about literally ‘gettin’ jiggy with it,’ I knew an unforgettable evening was on the way.

Speaking of Will Smith, another dance he made famous called The Apache, from the Fresh Prince of Belle Air, turned out to be a nostalgic favorite of Michael and one of his groomsmen, Mike DiGiacomo.  During our final design session one month before the wedding, I found out that Michael used to host some of the best house parties in town and that he and Mike would crank up Apache out by the pool and perform the dance moves so all the party goers could watch and join in!  We incorporated Apache into one of the evening’s classic dance sets and the crowd loved it… Mike and Mike had the floor pumpin,’ jumpin,’ and smiling’ from ear to ear!   This is why we always encourage our clients to personalize their reception.  The more questions we ask, and the more information you give us, the more we can suggest how to make your reception a true reflection of your personality and style.

Michael and Caitlin also put a cool spin on one of the traditional feature dances of the night, the Mother-Son dance.  Since we knew from the design session that many of their friend’s moms would be there as guests, we arranged to have all the moms dance with their kids for the second half of the song, Hey Mama, by Kanye, after Michael and his mom enjoyed the spot light.  What a great way for your guests to feel like they are a part of your celebration, and not just at your celebration.

Another highlight of the evening came from Caitlin’s input during the design session.  First, she let me know that she and her friends were fans of Taylor Swift.  Then, she told me about the special relationship that she had with her grandfather, “Pop.”    Since we like to spread the love (spreading out the parent’s dances and special dedications throughout the evening instead of doing everything back to back to back) we carefully planned a feature set specifically for the post-dessert portion of the reception.  We always encourage our clients to empower us with ways to bring the focus back to the guests of honor and the dance floor area.

In this case, since the Meadow Wood hosts a delicious Viennese reception in an adjacent room after the cake cutting, we needed a way to tastefully and seamlessly guide the guests back into the ballroom when they were done enjoying all of their sweet delights.  (p.s.  Michael and Cailtlin chose the  vintage track, You Make My Dreams Come True by Hall and Oates for the cake pics… very cool!)   By simply playing Taylor Swift’s Love Song just loud enough for the right people to hear it, Caitlin and some of her closest friends excitedly made their back to the dance floor to put their arms around each other and sing their hearts out.  Then, after making sure that the V.I.Ps were back in the ballroom by personally notifying them, I played Caitlin’s request and dedication to her grandfather, Wind Beneath my Wings.  “Pop,” was a crowd favorite.  All of the girls from the Taylor Swift sing along starting to chant, “Pop, Pop, Pop!” like he was a rock star!  It was such a cool thing to watch and hear.

All of this positive commotion created an organic invitation for the rest of guests to return to the ballroom and enjoy the Kodak moment.   Sensing the participatory momentum that was brewing, I went right into another request from Michael and Caitlin’s play list, Adele’s gorgeous version of “To Make You Feel My Love,” to pack the dance floor with couples…  and then it was Party Rock Anthem time!  The energy was off the charts right up until the final song of the night, Save The Last Dance for Me by Michael Buble.

To make your reception ‘something special,’ team up with an entertainment company and an event producer that are experts in preparation, personalization and pacing, as well as music programming and a Master of Ceremonies skill set.   As a certified Wedding Entertainment Director, I’m proud to provide all of these specialized services to my discerning clientele.

Best wishes to the new Mr. and Mrs. Michael and Caitlin Smith.  It was an honor to serve your family again.  We wish you a lifetime of health and happiness!

Special thanks to the Meadow Wood Manor for their hospitality and professionalism.  It’s always a pleasure when we have the opportunity to collaborate.

 

 

Thank God for Grandmas and Zappos! A Tour of Zappos.com

After reading Gary Vaynerchuk’s, The Thank You Economy, I was inspired to read Tony Hsieh’s, Delivering Happiness…  After learning about Tony and how his extraordinary company, Zappos.com, offered friendly tours of the corporate headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada, I knew a field trip was on the horizon.

As a result of some logistical good fortune, I was in Vegas last month with a group of dear friends from the special events, entertainment and production industry who also wanted to see this Zappos Culture that we heard and read so much about, in person.    Zappos turned out be the real deal and left our many of our heads spinning with traces of wonderment and unequivocal WOW.

In the Culture book that each guest receives at the end the tour, Thich Nhat Hanh writes, “The amount of happiness you have depends of the amount of freedom you have in your heart.”  To me, this quote encapsulates the Zappos.com mojo that fuels its uncharacteristically happy employees, appreciative customers and ridiculous numbers.  The Zappos team is given the freedom to make their workplace as comfortable as their living room, to be a little weird, to obsess over the customer- in a healthy way, to be inspired- not intimidated by the success of others, and to contribute beyond self through philanthropy and mentorship.  All of these core values, among many others, translate into daily WOW on a scale that was tough for a few of us to wrap our aspirational minds around.

Did you know it was possible to generate 12 million dollars in sales in one day?  Me neither.  Did you know that there’s a company out there that intentionally makes less profit each year so they can make the lives of their employees better instead?  Me neither.    And did you know that you can get paid to train for a job at Zappos and then get paid even more to quit if you don’t gel with the positive culture DNA that their looking for?  I did, because I read the book… but it was still impressive to hear it again nonetheless.

I’ve learned a lot about branding over the past few years.  Zappos used to be known as a shoe company. Now, even though they still sell a gazillion shoes, they are known for their exemplary company culture and their laudable level customer service.  How does this happen?  When your employees feel like this… Here’s a Culture book excerpt from Stacy H., a six year Zappos veteran;

“Coming to work at Zappos is like going to visit Grandma’s house as a kid.  You are spoiled, you have fun and get fed.  At Zappos, we get fed so much that I am convinced that I will not lose any serious weight until the day I leave.  It makes me think about the letters people write when they have to leave.  Usually it is due to moving out of state, because, well, why else would you leave Zappos?  The e-mails are sent out to the entire floor to say goodbye to their work-family.  We typically throw a mini-happy hour for the person who is leaving and demand to see them back for visits.

Our Zappos culture is more than just 10 ideas to live by, or a fun environment, or even happy customers.  It’s looking at those around you, those you will never see but hear their voice on the phone, or read their words in an e-mail, as family.  When you can see the world in this caring light, you become a better person and the joy spreads.  The Zappos culture is paying it forward to everyone that comes in contact with us.  Our vendors, our employees, our customers, and even our tours get joy out of the experience that is Zappos.  Thank God for Grandmas and Zappos!”

If you have a trip planned to Vegas and like the idea of going home with more than you came with-  do yourself, your team and your organization a favor and set up a tour.

Special thanks to Jodi Harris and Andy Ebon for setting up a day filled with joyful experiences.

As Tony likes to say, “Live in The WOW!”

 

 

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Exceeding Expectations at The Indian Trail Club: Alex’s Bar Mitzvah

In some recent articles, I’ve mentioned how “stacking the deck” can help to ensure a successful event.  Allison and Jeff Karpf stacked the deck perfectly for their son Alex’s Bar Mitzvah and helped make it day he and the family will always remember fondly. 

They chose the Indian Trail Club to host the event, Wendy Robinson for the photography, Seth Elgart for videography, David Mitchell for the decor, and MMP for the entertainment to round out their A-Team.

That’s a pretty solid line up of Bar Mitzvah specialists to have as a resource leading up to the celebration and to handle everything the day of.  We’ve all worked together numerous times in the past… this really helps everyone stay on the same page as a team while still allowing plenty of room for each individual to shine  throughout the seamless affair.

You’ll see from the video recap that Alex’s Bar Mitzvah had another huge component in it’s favor throughout the event… the Karpf family invited a stellar guest list of fun loving family and friends to help them celebrate.  If the guests weren’t eating delicious food, they were dancing , if they weren’t dancing, they were playing a game, and if they weren’t playing a game or dancing or eating delicious food, they were smiling and laughing from their seats taking it all in.

Alex was definitely beyond his years with regards to his maturity and ability to command a crowd.  When it was time for his thank you speech, which he presented in lieu of a formal candlelighting, he looked like a seasoned pro and captivated the crowd.  And when it was time to honor his parents, he touched the hearts of many by sharing a few of his favorite memories…  I particularly liked these specific sentiments from the notes he used to speak off the cuff;

“Dad, you always save the day for me when I’m in need.”

“Mom, the daily, after school ‘Hi Alex, how was your day’ that I only recently learned to appreciate.”

With three younger brothers, I’m looking forward to seeing more of Alex and his family in the coming years.  Brett, Owen and Will have a great role model to look up to. .. Alex has 2.

In the video testimonial, Alex’s mom, Allison, said that her expectations were high- yet we exceeded them.  It was our honor and pleasure to be a part of such a momentous day.

Special thanks to Debbie Pagerie, from  the Indian Trail Club, for her hospitality and professionalism.  Our sincere gratitude to Wendy Robinson for sharing her photos for this article, to Seth Elgart, for producing and posting the highlight recap video and to David Mitchell, from Still Life Event Design, for helping to bring the club to life via exceptional decor and ambiance.

Mazel Tov to Alex and the Karpf family,  we wish you all of the health and happiness that life has to offer!

 

 

 

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Neen James- It’s Australian for Fabulous, mate!

You know it’s going to be a great party when the hostess greets you at the door and offers you a beverage and a tattoo.

Super-Productivity expert and social media darling, Neen James, along with her Master of the Barbie and technology aficionado husband, Andy, held their annual Celebrate Australia soiree at their lovely home in Bucks County, Pa.

What makes a party fabulous?   First and foremost, it’s your guest list.  As I mentioned in the last post, 10 Tips for Celebratory Success, when you invite the people you care about and the people who care about you, the rest will fall into place. 

Neen and Andy are connected to an eclectic group of cool people and thought leaders from all over the world.  The house was buzzing with teachers, lawyers, publicists, professional speakers, realtors, media specialists, marketing managers, designers, make-up artists, yoga studio owners, tech experts, and even one special event entrepreneur who got a golden e-ticket this year.

The vibe was ultra-friendly and positive.   Laughter was a constant-  as was a nice mix of aspirational conversation, trips down memory lane and a sprinkle of networking for potential collaborations… Just right for a festively-chic night out.

Neen tweeted her guests earlier in the week reminding them to “bring your appetite.”   I’m glad I took her advice and also ran an extra 3 miles in the morning.  The constant service of delectable Aussie-inspired appetizers featured; prawns on the barbie,  meat pies, sausage rolls, lamb chops and specialty quiches. The aromas were as delightful as the flavors.

Neen Knows:  If you’re planning a party and want to create an intimate affair but don’t want the potential stuffiness and conversational limitations that can result from a sit-down dinner, opt for a heavy menu of passed hors d’oeuvres instead.   When paired up with the right mixology offerings, this ‘freedom to mingle alternative’ to being a seating chart slave can really enhance your guest’s experience.

Neen and Andy also came through in what I call the “little things” department.  They decorated the house with Aussie flags, played some cool Aussie beats in the pool room, offered everyone temporary Aussie tattoos, and had an awesome ‘Best of Australia’ photo montage playing on their huge living room plasma screen.   The images were stunning! All of these elements combine to spark fun and interactive exchanges among your newly-introduced friends.

It was a pleasure meeting everyone in the fabulous network of Neen.  No matter who I encountered, everyone agreed that her ability to ignite people’s productivity on both a personal and professional level is uber-impressive.  If you think you can keep up, fasten your seat belt and follow her on twitter. @NeenJames

Special thanks to Neen and Andy for their generous hospitality and friendship.

Continued health, happiness and success!

 

 

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