The Special Event 2013

What a terrific we we had attending The Special Event in Chicago!  Megan, Lisa, and myself drove into the city four days in a row to attend multiple sessions jam packed with great information on all things related to event planning.  In addition to all of the educational sessions, the TRADE SHOW was DYNAMITE!!!!  We found some amazing products and fabulous finds for decor, table linen, centerpieces, and lighting.  We also collected a ton of great ideas for centerpieces and wedding decor.
Trey is excited that we found wireless uplights!  These will enable us to adjust the color of  all the lights in the room at the same time!  We also don't have to worry about anybody tripping on cords.  They are a little different from our wired uplights, but we are keeping those, so we'll have some new and exciting capabilities having both types.  Just think!  Uplighting in the garden!  Uplighting in the chapel!! The possibilities are mindboggling!
As I predicted over a year ago, PEARLS are the new and exciting thing in event decor!!!  We have already purchased the pearl curtains to do the ceiling, and at the show we were able to purchase the curtains to hang on the wall behind the head table!!!  These will match the ceiling decor, in both white or ivory pearls.  I'm so excited to actually see them in action!  I think for the next Taste party we are going to do the pearls over the dance floor and on the wall.  And by the way, if you have already attended, but you want to see the decor, we will be setting up the ballroom on Saturday the 2nd, and you are welcome to stop in and see everythingon Saturday afternoon!
Here is what the new pearl curtains look like:

So along with the pearls, we have also found an amazing source for linens, directly from China, which will help us to hold our linen costs at the current level.  We found a wonderful stretch lace fabric.  It looks a lot like Cluny lace.  SOOOOO pretty!!!

We are buying it in white and ivory both.  We've purchased an entire line of tablecloths, wall curtains, chair ties and chair bands.  It's going to be tremendous!

Something else we saw at the show was a really cool treatment for cylinders.  This was done with bouillon wire, wrapped around the cylinders.  So pretty!  The wire comes in silver, gold and colors, so we would have a lot of different ways to go with this. 

Isn't that elegant looking?

Something else we ordered at the show was spandex cloths for our cocktail tables.  We ordered them in black. We thought it would be elegant, and not as likely to get stained.  They will be so pretty caught in with a sparkly band!
We also have wired pearls coming to wrap vases and the like.  I've found a source to buy the large pearl vase fillers, so we will be getting those soon in both white and ivory. 
Bling still continues to be the thing!  We've found some great sources for more bling as well.
All in all it was an awesome conference, and while we were all beat at the end of the week, we felt that we had squeezed everything we could out of TSE 2013!!  We saw many friends from the ABC conferences as well as from TSE last year, and enjoyed making many acquaintances, both old and new.  Sometimes the best information at a conference comes from the people you meet!
We'll be rolling out our new things as they arrive.  Unfortunately, because of the Chinese New Year, we won't be receiving our lace linens till the end of March.  So they won't make it for the Taste party.  We will keep you posted though, and hopefully they will be here and ready to rock for the 2013 season!!
Looking forward to a great year of making weddings gorgeous!!!
Let me know if you are interested in any of the above items so that we can plan our usage.  Just e-mail me at denna@aberdeenmanor.com if you are interested in using any of our new "stuff"!

By the way, we have set up a Pinterest Page for Aberdeen Manor, and will be posting pictures of things we like on it.  Keep posted and subscribe to our boards for all the latest and greatest!!