Whew, onto day three of Engage! We started the morning off with another fabulous breakfast, and went right into the media panel, which was really great. Michelle Rago hosted it, and the speakers were Marilyn Oliveira from Inside Weddings Magazine, Christy Weber of Junebug Weddings, Jill Meister from Meister Innovative Consulting, Angela Desveaux from the magazine WedLuxe, Abby Larson of Style Me Pretty and Susan Moynihan from Destination Weddings and Honeymoons Magazine. They shared really great tips on getting published and held a q/a session, which was really interesting.
After the media panel we went right into our breakout sessions. My first one was with Diann Valentine…
second one was with Ellen Black of Lehr and Black. Loved that session, of course.
Last one was with Jasmine Star, Harmony Walton and Lara Casey. I really enjoyed their session and Jasmine is so super fun to listen to. Really inspiring.
After the sessions we were free for lunch and the remainder of the afternoon, to get ready for the Gala that night. The gala, was put on by the fabulous Mindy Weiss. Mark’s Garden did all the beautiful flowers and Lehr and Black did the paper products, which were again, fabulous. Before the doors were opened to the gala, we were treated to a cocktail hour, with some really cool furniture. The extra long couch (20 feet I think?) was my favorite.
Once they opened the doors to the gala, it was amazing. We were greeted by amazing amounts of red flowers and lighting, and a full 20 piece band was pretty much right in the middle of a song when the doors opened, as if they had been playing for a while. Needless to say, it was a killer entrance. You can get somewhat of the idea from the picture below…
The tables alternated between fully mirrored, and mirrored tops with fabric draping. The chairs were all silver, and super comfy, unlike the beautiful but totally uncomfortable chiavari chairs.
The band was so amazing, and played throughout the entire dinner. It was really cool, because they would play music you could dance to in between each course of dinner, then while we were eating they would play cocktail type music. Also what was cool, was as each course was served the lighting would change. I really liked that effect.
I loved, loved the fringe that hung above the band. That had to have been of my favorite details. After dinner, and a heck of a lot of dancing, the after party was opened. Another amazing room filled with incredibly posh details and a DJ who could really rock (DJ Nahchey of Dash Entertainment)
It was such a pleasure to finally get to meet Eliana of Elly B Events. We had been e-mail pals for some time so it was so fun to finally get to meet in person!
Last but not least, the video from Engage! 11 Day Two and Three: Engage 11: Grand Del Mar // Wrap Film from Cloud Nine Creative.
All in all, Engage! 11 was an amazing experience. Huge thank you to Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce, as well as the team at The Gran Del Mar, for putting on such a wonderful and inspiring event. I definitely hope to attend Engage again in the future!
All photos by Mel & Co.
