Inspired by... My Peers

I had the great pleasure of spending three days in San Francisco at the Wedding 360 Academy for Planners and Designers. To be amongst such talented people who are as committed to their work as I am was inspiring beyond words. We heard from event industry greats such as David Beahm, Todd Fiscus, Tara Guerard, Grace Ormonde and many others and learned from each other about design as well as the business of design. I could go on and on, but I know what you'll really love are the design showcases that were on display as well as the party decor.... please excuse my horrid photography skills. :-)

The first event was an "Emerald Underworld" cocktail party designed by Gloria Wong. Kudos go to a long list of contributors for this event, but Gloria was the mastermind behind it all.





The next night, Gloria was at it again with the "Museum of Petals" dinner. The ballroom foyer at the St. Regis San Francisco had some floating petals on the wall and in the art, so I can only imagine that was the inspiration for this theme.


This tree had thousands of hand-strung petals and was probably about 10 feet wide!


This was a fabric runner stitched with silk petals which is much cleaner than just strewn petals.

The design showcases by Bay Area designers Nancy Liu Chin and Asiel Design were both so spectacular that it is hard to say which I liked best. I had been admiring the work of Lanae and Jonathan from Asiel for quite some time, but I fell in love with Nancy at this event, so my affection is split!

Asiel Designs:







Nancy Liu Chin:





Events such as this give me so much creative energy that when I get back to work, I can hardly reign it in! Many of my friends and family asked why "competitors" would want to spend so much time networking with each other, but the truth is that none of us are competitors, we are all colleagues. We each have our own design style and value propositions for our clients, so being together allows us to learn and to grow from each others' successes and failures. If you re-adjust your thinking, I think you might find a whole lot of inspiration exactly where you aren't looking.

Are you up for the challenge?

L

Ps. I just found a link to PHENOMENAL photos from Wedding 360 that put mine to shame. Check out http://www.lunaphotoblog.com/index.cfm?postID=207. Thanks, Luna Photo!