Event Planning Ideas, Trends & Inspiration

As you may have noticed, we love green here at WM Events. That’s one of the reasons we are so excited with Pantone’s choice for their 2013 Color of the Year: Emerald! This rich color can transform any color pallet into a vibrant, interesting design. As Pantone tells us, Emerald is “a color of elegance and beauty that enhances our sense of well-being, balance and harmony.”

Check out some of the ways we’ve used Emerald in our events:

2013 NACE Atlanta Design Trends:

Farm-to-Table Dinner:

Corporate Art of… Party:

-William Fogler
WM Events

The Cobb Galleria hosted the American Craft Council’s Atlanta Show this weekend. The juried show is the largest indoor craft show in the Southeast, featuring fashion, furniture, and art collections that are truly inspiring. Here are some of the WM Events team’s favorite things!

Interior Design Booths

June Corley’s Typographic Sculptures

Marvin Shafer Q3 Art Mobiles

Ashley Buchanan Jewelry

Amazing Demonstrations from Local Artists Including The Chattahoochee Hand Weavers Guild

-William Fogler  WM Events

WM Events would like to welcome everyone to our new website! We have been working extremely hard on this project for quite a while now, wanting to make sure everything was just right. Let’s take a walk through the new features of this gorgeous site.

-William Fogler
WM Events

Patrick Williams has seen a lot. His camera has too. From matrimony to motorcycles, our go-to photographer here in Atlanta has a portfolio of pictures that would make your mamma blush. We recently sat down with Mr. Williams to find out a little more about the man behind the lens.

Patrick began his photography career as a means to fully support himself through Auburn University and at 23 years old had documented a staggering 600 events. But perhaps 600 was just a few too many, because for the next 4 years he didn’t pick up a camera. Instead, Patrick ventured into the world of computer security in Denver, Colorado and did classified things we’re not authorized to talk about at this clearance level.

A transitional period soon after 9/11 had Patrick moving jobs, selling his Mile High loft, and rethinking his career. After vowing only to work for himself, this entrepreneurial expert set out to capture everything that moved- and a few things that didn’t. He began with fine art photography, then moved on to portraiture and family photos, and went straight to custom built motorcycles and aerial photography. Imagine hanging out of a vibrating, tilted helicopter with no door and trying to take a picture of a high-rise construction site without losing your equipment OR your lunch.

For 2 1/2 years, Patrick took on the Atlanta Wedding Photography biz with astounding success. It was, however, the corporate market that really fit what the re-branded PWP Studios was looking for. That brings us to March 2009 where WM Events and PWP Studios team up for the first time to plan and photograph a pirate themed party at the GA Aquarium. We have since collaborated on a number of events (including the Pink Power Mom weekend and Stay With It Day of Engineering) and have a few in the works. We love PWP Studio for the consistency and depth of expertise. And while the ups and downs of the photography business have required some ingenuity and perseverance, Patrick Williams has emerged with greater success and ability.

But Patrick is not just a great photographer. He’s a dedicated father of 2, a weight lifter- often carrying 60 pounds of equipment at an event, and a savvy businessman. Ask him about erasing proximity in global marketplaces with contract hiring of micro-tasking. As for his work, the pictures speak for themselves.

-William Fogler
WM Events

Since we were just talking about large scale flower projects, we thought we would show you this. Every year, cities in the Netherlands and Belgium host parades in which floats (or in some cases, boats) are covered with fresh flowers and displayed throughout the town.  The largest of these annual Bloemencorso’s is in the small, western town of Zundert, Netherlands, and attracts over 50,000 spectators the first Sunday in September. A largely social event, neighboring hamlets compete against each other to have the most spectacular, most creative, and most difficult entries.

Below are some of the most impressive structures we’ve ever seen. And while we’ve been arguing here which one we think is the best, we want to know your thoughts! Tell us which impressed you the most in the comment section below!

-William Fogler
WM Events

New York City is my favorite place on Earth. I consider it the center of the Universe – the place where US trends begin. The people are the innovators, thinkers and doers of cool.  As I watch the pain that Hurricane Sandy has caused, my heart is broken for the citizens of that great city.  To do my part for the recovery of the city I love best, this post is dedicated to NYC and a fewrecent discoveries from my trip a few weeks ago.

Brooklyn has a distinctively different flavor from her big Sister Manhattan, and I am totally enthralled with Williamsburg– with it’s small town America feeling in a really big city kind of way. Everything there is hand touched and artisanal, from food to fashion to art. Creating a connectivity and interdependence that goes beyond a buyer-seller relationship, this concept extends to the very essence of being in a community that cares for and supports each other. Nowhere is this connectivity more clear (or delicious) than walking around the Farmer’s Market.

Pork Pie Hatters is a really interesting and fun shop that carries Barsolino, a brand of beautifully made capellos (hat in Italiano). These hand made beauties come is a variety of styles including my personal favorite, an Angora and Beaver felt fedora you can roll up and put in your pocket.  I purchased  a modest driving cap called the Doria. But rest assured, I will be back to do some more damage on my next trip!

The Roebling Tea Room is a neighborhood restaurant presents some of the most delicious food I have ever tasted. Nothing fancy just rich, tasty homemade goodness.  I highly recommend the Poached Egg Omelette, a divine dish that hit the spot.

Do you love New York as much as I do? What are some of YOUR favorite spots in the Big Apple? Tell us in the comment section below! 

-William Fogler
WM Events

An accent rug can really spice up a room, adding that pop of color or interesting design that cohesively brings everything together. The Belgians certainly understand this concept. They’ve been spicing up their Grand Place (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) with a “carpet” of 750,000 begonia blossoms since 1971. This enormous living sculpture takes place every two years in August and covers just under 20,000 square feet in between the Town Hall and the King’s House.

The one below from earlier this year is a dedication to African tapestry weavers. Amazingly, it takes the volunteers only 4 hours to lay the flowers (no soil is used) onto the design. We’re definitely adding this to our bucket list (right after the RHS Chelsea Flower Show). What design would you like to see for the next carpet?

-William Fogler
WM Events

It’s spooky how busy we’ve been this past month at WM Events! Executing a record-breaking month, we wanted to do a little recapping  to let you know exactly what we’ve been up to. Let’s take a look back over our ghoulish October to see what kind of ghoulish trouble we got ourselves into. No tricks here- just treats! Stay tuned for the details of each of these events in the new future. Meanwhile, contact us for your upcoming event!

1. 40 Under 40 Alumni Luncheon – GA Aquarium

2. Fundraising Celebration – Athens

3. Tailgate Party – Athens

4. Classically Southern Wedding – Cherokee Town Club

5. Community Center Opening – Caring for Others

6. Cocktail Reception – Hyatt Regency

7. Corporate Summit – Four Seasons

8. Corporate Dinner – Hyatt Regency

9. Centennial Celebration – Ansley Golf Club

10. Intimate Corporate Dinner – St. Regis

-William Fogler
WM Events

This past weekend WM Events had the pleasure of working with Caring For Others, Inc. to celebrate their brand new Community Center and No Bare Soles shoe distribution. Adding to the excitement,  Andrew Young, Evander Holyfield, and Mark Winne spoke to the importance of CFO’s work at the ribbon cutting ceremony. Over 40,000 pairs of shoes were distributed to children in need. Indeed, the president and CEO, Ms. Eslene Richmond-Shockley, shared her vision and warm heart at this special event. Check out the pictures below!

-William Fogler
WM Events

Take a look at these creative artists who truly believe that less is more. These intricate designs, cut from paper and other non-traditional materials, have transformed a blank slate into amazing pieces of art. And while laser cutting is a big trend right now, our top 5 favorite examples hand cut designs are below. Hiring one of these talented people to create an invitation would be an excellent idea! Where else have you seen this lately?

1. Dried Leaves by Lorenzo Duran

2. Yuken Teruya Studio‘s McDonalds Bag Tree

3. Rob Ryan’s Heathrow Airport Christmas Card And Other Things
The card reads, “Days became hours until hours eventually became minutes and then it finally was merely seconds until all the time that I had been away from you had dissolved and I was back safe with you again.”

4. More Leaves for the  Plant for the Planet Ad Campaign

5. Lisa Rodden’s Zen Portfolio

-William Fogler
WM Events

Many of you know that I’m on the Community Board for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Hughes Spalding. So when a chance to promote their cause comes along I try to help out as much as I can. Thursday, October 4th is the big day for a Charity Spades Tournament at the Loft and Castleberry Hill.

Bring a friend and save $5 a ticket! Not a card shark? No problem! Come mix and mingle with other caring Atlantans. Besides, who could resist a face like that?

-William Fogler
WM Events

The WM Events team traveled to the Big Apple last weekend to experience what the New York International Gift Fair had to offer. As we searched for great ideas and found inspiration, we took note of major trends both in products and presentation. We want to share with you what we found. Enjoy!

1. Hey, that wood is vinyl.
Booth designs need to look great but assemble and disassemble pretty easily. We take special notice of these creative expressions because of the same is true of creating events. Take a look at the faux wood consoles below that are printed on vinyl. We love their unexpected nature!

2. Why build it when you can draw it?
Remember when we first reported to you guys about the versatility of chalk back in January of last year? Well we are still seeing a lot of this classroom trend. It’s appearing in various colors (terracotta shown below), as printouts that aren’t actually chalk, and in white washes to mute the layers underneath. The team also noticed a lot of booth designs with a hand drawn motif of cartoon black lines used to define objects and create environments.

3. All About Precision

Laser cut items were also a big trend at the show this year (more to follow on that trend in the next blog post). It allows for meticulous and intricate patterns in a variety of materials while suggesting a purposed devote to detail. In a similar thread, we adore this geometric string art. It reminds me of the inspiration for our ribbon treatment!

4. Think Modular
Two of our favorite things at the show were  a really cool modular set design and the innovative use of cardboard. The modular set pieces all fit inside of each other when not assembled and include cool clamps for an industrial look. Custom cardboard figures, cardboard skulls, cardboard furniture and even cardboard, wall-mounted animal heads were lurking around every aisle at the show. They all come assembled in a nice flat package too!

5. Shabby chic is still in
If we had to define an overall look at the show, we’d say it is along the lines of urban rustic. The natural and repurposed look is still in, and continues to offer advancements and variations on the theme. It’s been really interesting to see the progression of this trend from farm to party table. I wonder what’s next.

-William Fogler
WM Events