Party Preparation

Hi again! Today is the last day of the week for me, so I just wanted to give an update on what I'm working on. Yesterday, I was in the warehouse pretty much all day helping Lily prepare for a dinner party that is coming up. I got to see the other part of the business, which is finding all the necessary equipment for the party, such as various dishes, forks, knives, glasses, etc. I cleaned all of them so they are ready to go when needed. I've been working on the website more, just added a bunch of new images to it! I still have some questions I need to ask Elissa before I can continue with anything. Today, I am going to be in the warehouse again so well see what I'm going to be doing. Have a good weekend =)

The Website is lookin' good!

Today was dedicated to working on the Luxury Travel and Vacations website. I added new links to the site that we have never had before and added a lot of new information to it. It is coming together very well! I still need to make some adjustments and add some more information, but hopefully it will be ready to publish soon! I am excited for people to be able to see it! I really enjoy working on the site and being creative with it. Tomorrow, I will be in the warehouse all day helping organize the billions of boxes so I'm not sure if I will get a chance to post, but hopefully I will post soon. =)

Market Research

Today was all about market research. I looked up as many travel agencies as possibly to find out which wholesalers they were advertising on their websites to see if there are any that we don't have at the moment but might want to have in the future. I also looked at these websites to see how they organized their pages, so I could make adjustments to the Luxury Travel and Vacations' website that I am currently updating. The website is looking pretty good! I still have some work ahead of me before I show Elissa, but its coming along nicely. I have some new page ideas that I am going to run by Elissa and see if she thinks we should add them to the site! I really enjoy fixing up the websites because it allows my creative side to come out! I better get back to work... I'll post again after the weekend.

Summer Cleaning

Hi again! So yesterday, Elissa took me with her to meet a potential business relation. It was awesome to see the process you need to go through to form relationships with other businesses. I was able to sit in on the meeting and listen to the interaction between Elissa and the representative. It was a great learning experience! Today has been pretty slow. We have been pretty much cleaning up the office all day: putting papers in the right files, updating perfect production binders, etc. I also have been on the phone for most of the day contacting different businesses to send us updated brochures. There's probably 500 brochures that I need to go through! I can't believe how much work goes into having a business! You never really think of the tedious things like ordering brochures..at least I'm working on my communication skills. Anyways, I'm not really sure what Elissa has in store for me for tomorrow so I will blog once I know!

Last Week's Update

Last week I was pretty busy and didn't get a chance to blog, so here is what I did! I updated The Perfect Benefit website and added to the Kickball Tournament page! Its exciting to think that people are going to view my work. I also created a flyer for a White Water Rafting trip and I was able to see the real issue with having too much "negative space," which I had only learned about in textbooks before this internship. I also helped find items in the warehouse that were needed, which was very hectic because of the recent move to our new location! I went through many travel brochures to pick out the old ones so we can update them for our customers. This week, I am going to call multiple companies to ask for up-to-date travel brochures and I am going with Elissa to speak with a customer! I am very interested to see how she interacts with customers..should be exciting! I'll post again soon about the rest of the week =)

Exploring the Event Planning World!

Hi everyone! I am happy to say that I am the new intern at Perfect Productions. My name is Gia and I am a marketing major at Quinnipiac University. Today is my first day on the job, and I already love it! I just got back from studying abroad in Australia, which was an amazing experience. I saw so many beautiful places and came in contact with a variety of animals! I rode a camel, fed elephants, and touched stingrays, which not many people can say they have experienced! Although I had an amazing time, I am very excited to start interning and get back into a routine. I have to admit that I am not very familiar with the event planning scene, but I am ready to learn all about it! Being in marketing, there are many different aspects of the major, which is why I wanted to intern at a place completely different than my last internship. Hopefully, my plan will steer me in the right direction of what I want to do after graduation, which is in a year! (Scary!) I always loved planning events for my friends and family, and I am a very organized person. So when I saw Perfect Productions was looking for interns, I was SO happy! I already got assigned to the Annual Bachelor and Bachelorette Auction and the "Hope for Heroes Charity Kickball Tournament" which I am very excited about because its an honor to work with such great charities. I better get going to update the website for the events, but I will be blogging again soon so please look out for more posts! =)

17 Days

Today I worked from home. Elissa and Amanda had to go to New Jersey so they were not going to be in the office and since there is no Internet and phones or anyone in the office I worked on my couch doing some follow up calls for date packages. Right now we have more bachelors and bachelorettes than date packages so we need to step up our game and really get out there get some dates. We got a list of tasks that we need to get in order from Elissa today so we have to make priorities at this point to get everything done. I also went out to more restaurants today and its getting more frustrating with manager in meetings or at home depot. I have to keep trying though we don't know unless we ask. I just want everything to be great and I am sure that it will be. We have to get the bachelors and bachelorettes on board to sell some tickets as well. I talked to a printing company today and hope that they will do our printing as a donation to try and keep our costs down since we have a small budget to work with. Starting to feel the stress a little bit more as we get closer to the event.

Well the office is slowly but surely coming together. I went out yesterday to try and find some printers that would possibly be able to print out some tickets and flyers for us. I didn't have much luck. But I was able to go around some more an look for date packages and was able to get a few more, every little bit helps! The event is less than 3 weeks away and there are still a bunch of tasks to get done. It is going to be a a few busy weeks coming up but I am really excited to see it all put together.

Flamingo Pink .....

Well Wednesday I did a lot of work from home considering I walked into the office and it was like walking into what Elissa calls her crayon box. We moved out of our old office and are in the process of moving into the new one. There is lots of new painting going on in the office each room is a different color. Yesterday I stopped by the new office and then headed back home so I would have access to the Internet. I was able to follow up with some more date packages and send out some more information about the event. I also spent the afternoon visiting some of the local restaurants in Middletown to get some date packages. My follow ups and visits paid off I was able to get some date packages. YAY!!!!!!! Jackie went to the Hamden area to check out some date packages and she had some great adventures and got some donations along the way. I am happy with the progress from yesterday but this event is in about 3 weeks and I still feel like there is so much to do. Its crunch time for sure!!!!!

Last week was pretty busy. Tried to follow up with some possible sponsors again and also worked on going over date packages and also narrowing down the list of things that needs to get to done and try to prioritize some of our tasks. By the end of the week we were consumed with a spare of the moment move of the office. This kinda put a hault on everything while we packed up. I never realized how much I depended on the Internet to do my work. Whether it be waiting for return emails or looking up different date info and contact information. Once we get into the new office and get settled it will not be long before the auction is here, I am getting a little anxious about some of our details that we need to still work out. Guess I get to keep the ball rolling on Wednesday when I return to the office.

Friday .... yay!!!!

Today was pretty productive. Got a bunch of great leads from Amanda and James for bachelors and bachelorettes. Hopefully we can get every spot filled for the number of participants we want. I did however manage to get through some of the bios for the bachelors and bachelorettes to post up on the website. I feel good about starting to get more applications back I am starting to feel like everything is slowly and surely coming together. Still have a bunch to do and get done but I am confident that it will all come together and be awesome. I know this post is short and sweet but that's kinda how my Friday was today.

5 Weeks and counting !!!!!

Well I spent most of the day working on getting some more sponsors. Looked through the Hartford Business Journal and sent out about another dozen or so requests for sponsorship or donations. Its very frustrating a lot of these corporations have forms that need to be filled out to ask for sponsorship. It takes a lot of time but if we can get some sponsors out of it then its worth it!!!! Also got some more applications back for bachelors, everyone seems to be interested but is spending a little too much time getting them back into us. Also got on the phone to a few people who thought we were producing a great event but are not able to give at this time. Got the emcee contract sent out to be signed so that's another item checked off the list. Right now we are only about 5 weeks away from the auction so we need to step up selling tickets in advance and we have to start dropping off flyer's and get the word out that we have the best party in town on April 16th 2011 ... so if your reading you better be there !!!!

Another busy week comes to an end ......

Well it has been another busy week at Perfect Productions. We did get back a date package on Friday to put towards the auction and a rejection letter too. Can't win them all I suppose although we would like too. Jackie and I had spent most of Friday getting in touch with many of our local larger corporations looking for sponsorship. Most of them have very strict guidelines bout giving to local charities and sponsorship. Most of the people I was able to contact we not able to give at this time which is kind of frustrating. I am hoping that we can obtain more sponsor ship from our smaller local businesses. I was able to use the constant contact system to send out a mass email blast to about 500 people. The email contained all the info about the auction, the reasons, how to be a sponsor, a bachelor or bachelorette or to buy tickets and attend the event. I am hoping this will put out some more info into the community and awareness about raising money to support the Petit Family Foundation. I am ready to start fresh on Monday, my brain is starting to feel a little fried at this time so the weekend is going to be good recovery time. Hopefully next week we can get in contact with some more people and follow up with some more that we have already contacted. Well off for now stay tuned to see how next week goes !!!!! :-)

Sponsors, Dates and Donations Oh My!!!!!

Today I was in the office just Amanda and I everyone else is gone. I started working on my campaign to get date packages for our bachelors and bachelorettes, and boy I did a lot of that. I was working of a list Jackie and I have compiled went through and sent out emails to everyone to get the word out there. Friday I plan on making follow up calls in case my emails didn't get to the correct person or if the potential donators have any questions. This took most of my day!!! Some places I had to fill out special forms for donation requests and follow up with some missing info I needed to get from The Petit Family Foundation. But on the bright side, we have started to get back some of our applications from our bachelors and bachelorettes!!! That makes me happy!!! It is harder to find bachelors and bachelorettes than I thought. But that does not mean I am giving up. I have been getting super tired though between internship, school and work it is wearing me thin and its a lot harder to manage my time but I am doing my best and trying to stay focused on all my responsibilities. Just can't wait for Spring Break to have 2 days off !!! Then before you know it we are going to be pushing the petal full force to get everything perfect!!!! Can't wait!!!!

Monday Funday!!!

Today Jackie and I went to some really great restaurants in the area looking for possible date packages. It was good to get out there and let people know what's going on, however the rain didn't make either one of us to happy. We had a glitch in one of our flyer's but were able to fix it while we were out and about thanks to the West Hartford Library. We got some really great prospects and a lot of info passed out but still waiting for some solid responses. We will probably venture out again later this week to finish off our list. In the mean time I am going to send out some emails about the event to some people who are a little out of our reach to go visit. Hopefully we will get some positive responses and keep moving from there. I also finally heard back from one of our vendors about some price details we needed. So now Jackie and I can make a decision on what we want to order and get that also checked off our list. This morning I was also able to get our press release sent out ....... another item off the list but this date seems to be creeping up on us!!!

Has it really 10 days since my last post? My, time is flying by! Since I last posted an update, a lot has gone on. Adrienne and I compiled a list of potential date packages. Our ideas range from dinner dates, to mini golf outings, bowling, "day-cations", and even race car driving lessons! We hope to be able to get in contact with these companies within the next week so we can start lining up packages for the auction. All of the companies are from the local area, making it convenient for the winners of the date package to actually go on the date.
Along with the date packages, we've also been sending out application to potential bachelors and bachelorettes. We've been advertising our hunt for bachelors and bachelorettes on Facebook through our personal pages as well as Perfect Production and Fernando Fish's pages. We've also talked to friends and those we feel would be interested in the program and sent out applications to those interested.
Adrienne and I have also finally come up with an idea for the auction paddles! Originally we were thinking about making a bow tie or a pair of nerdy looking glasses to go along with the picture we chose for this year's event but eventually decided to stick with the date theme. For our design, we chose a white heart with a pair of red lips coming off one side with the number of the paddle on the other side. These paddles will be double sided so there's no need to worry about the numbers not being able to be seen during the auction. Adrienne and I decided we are going to make them as we go so we do not end up having to make a bunch of them as the big day approaches.
Also, we finally got the Perfect Benefit's website up and running! Check it out for more information about the auction as well as the upcoming kickball tournement. Happy Surfing!!

Auction Paddles.... Check !!!

Well Jackie and I put our brains together and came up with a great design for our auction paddles. We wanted to do this early because we have to make at least 100 of them. This way when we have some down time we can work on them between projects. Also our efforts with our Vegas themed party were not put to waste. We were able to use the decor we put together for a "Surprise" birthday party held at Zen Bar over the weekend. Jackie and I weren't able to make it because of some previous plans we had but heard the party was a good time had by all. I am still working on getting some more date packages and hopefully will be able to make some calls on Wednesday and get the ball rolling and hopefully get some great date packages. Still a bunch of details to finish up I am hoping to get some more information on food prices as well as some paper goods. Just another busy and productive day at perfect productions. Gotta get going on this I know before we know it the auction is gonna be here and Jackie and I both want everything in place so we can enjoy the event as much as everyone else will!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!!

Well we are certainly getting our share of work lately! There is so much to do getting ready for the Bachelor/Bachelorette auction. We have been working on finding bachelors and bachelorettes and today Jackie and I had to start coming up with date packages to go along with the bachelors and bachelorettes. We came up with a really great list of of things to do and places to go. I am sure that the date packages are gonna go over really well. Starting on Monday Jackie and I are going on a road trip and we are gonna go collect us some donations to make this an awesome event. We are also looking for some great sponsors for our event. We really want to make our donation to the Petit Family Foundation the most important goal. Whenever I get frustrated I have to think that this is a great opportunity to give to an awesome charity and it makes it a little easier to push through all this work. There's a lot to do but I am sure the efforts will be worth it!!!!

We have also been working on a mock Vegas themed party. Coming up with center pieces and decorations that would make any Vegas goer feel right at home. We really personalized it which made it a little more time consuming but worth it! Besides its all about the details right!!!???

My, my time sure does fly! I'm already on my 4th week of my internship with Perfect Productions and it honestly feels like I just started a week ago. So far things are going great! Adrienne and I have just about finished all of the paperwork and the tedious parts of planning so we are about to start recruiting people for donations, sponsorships, and to be auctioned! We've already found a handful of people interested in being auctioned off but we would love to have more.

On Friday, I started going through last year's auction book and looked through the call log to see who they contacted last year about the auction. I was able to compile a decent sized list about possible date package donors. I also started getting more ideas about the type of companies we should look into for date packages. Now that the flyer is just about done as is the save the date, we can really start to promote the event. As of now, tickets are $35 if you buy them in advance and $40 if you buy them at the door. (If anyone is interested, don't forget you can reach me at jaclyn@perfectprod.com.) Hopefully, we will soon have the website for the Perfect Benefit running. When it is finally running, you can access the site and information about the event by visiting http://www.theperfectbenefit.org.

Check back soon for updates!

I must start off by saying I love the opportunities Elissa and Amanda offer me and Adrienne while interning for them. On Friday, they gave us the opportunity to plan a mock party to give us the experience of choosing decorations and planning out the details. Adrienne and I decided on the classic Las Vegas theme and came up with a slew of decorations we could have used if we were actually carrying out the party.

Between Friday and Monday, we spent the days specifying each detail of the "event" and even look through the back storage to see what we could use from the back, to cut back on the budget. We found a bunch of Vegas themed decorations, from cards to red and silver shred, and even little glass boxes which could be used for dice. I was introduced to a wonderful tool, the Cricut. This device is able to cut out various shapes, as long as you have the proper cartridge, making cutting out letters virtually effortless and flawless. After looking at everything we had, Adrienne and I began brainstorming what we could create.

At the end everything, we came up with the idea of creating red and white dice of different sizes and stacking them for the main decoration. We also found these large cards in the back that we thought would look great coming out of the top of the dice towers. To give the dice a little more Vegas feel, we thought it would be a good idea to have a few big poker chips on the tower. For the center pieces, we thought doing little black and red dice with small cards coming out the top, filled with dice, would be a nice continuation for the Vegas theme. Finally, just for decorations around the room, we thought sticking the larger cards out of big red tins we found in the back, covered in red or silver shred would be great.

Amanda and Elissa both loved our ideas and thought we were on the right track when planning decorations. Maybe, if someone comes in for asking for a Vegas themed party, Adrienne and I have given Perfect Productions a great head start on the decorations!

I'm so excited to announce the 2nd Annual Bachelor and Bachelorette Auction is well underway. On Monday, I was finally able to meet and start planning with the other intern, Adrienne. After a short while of getting aquainted with one another, we started to organize our check list and deligate the numerous tasks. Doing so, worked out great for us. We both know what we are good at and were able to select tasks that highlighted our skills. By the end of the day, we were able to set up a facebook event page, get the final drafts of all the contracts and letters approved, get the website ready for final review, and start to brain storm what we wanted for not only food and decorations, but how we were going to go about finding sponsors and bachelors and bachelorettes.
Adrienne and I were also able to sit down with Amanda and Elissa for a bit to go over the budget. They explained to us the different aspects of building a budget and even showed us last year's budget to give us a better idea. I really can't express how appreciative I am to have Amanda and Elissa there to guide us. While all this was going on, they made sure we understood what they were explaining and gave us helpful tips for things such as food selection, possible decor choices, and even ways to keep the budget managable.
By the time the day was over, I was thrilled with the progress Adrienne and I had. As of now, we are planning on creating a program which includes bio's on all the bachelors and bacheloretts. In order to accomplish this, Adrienne and I must stay on track and start looking for people as soon as possible. I was so glad we were able to get the more technical things out of the way so we can really start to plan the specifics for the event.
By the end of Friday, we will hopefully have a solid list of sponsors to contact, a start list for bachelors and bacheloretts to contact, a rough idea of what food we will be serving at the auction, as well as a rough time line for us to accomplish each task by. I'm thrilled to be working with Adrienne and hope the rest of this planning proves to be as smooth and efficient as our first day together!

Here we are day One!!

Well here I am starting day one of my 3 month internship with Perfect Productions. I always knew I wanted to be involved with events such as parties, weddings, corporate events and charity events. Last fall I started looking into Event companies in the CT area. While doing my research I came across Perfect Productions. I thought this would be such an awesome opportunity for me. I emailed Elissa and a week later I met with her and Amanda and knew I would be able to learn so much from both of them. So here I am!!! I am currently a Senior at Central Connecticut State University and I am studying Hospitality and Tourism Studies and if all goes as planned I will have my BS Degree in Dec 2011. I also currently have an AS Degree in Hotel Management from Johnson and Wales.
My first day of course was filled with a lot of user names and passwords to be established so that Jackie (my intern partner) and I can get started working on the 2nd Annual Bachelor/ Bachelorette Auction to raise money for The Petit Family Foundation. Jackie had started the week before me and she is off to a great start with all the information that we need to get collected. I'm glad that I am going to be working with her! By the end of the day Jackie and I decided what we want to get accomplished this week, we need to do food budgets for the event, get some great sponsors and get started on ticket sales as well as finding our auction bachelors and bachelorettes. So if anyone is interested let me know.... adrienne@perfectprod.com or let Jackie know.... jaclyn@perfectprod.com.
Hopefully by Friday we can get a good jump on going after our sponsors and trying to work out a budget. As long as this crazy weather holds off I will be back to the grind on Friday. I can't wait!!

After what seemed like forever, I returned in the office for the 2nd day. Unlike on Monday's, when I work on Friday it's a full day. My day started off a little rocky with some car issues and by the time I arrived at work I was hoping things would turn around. Luckily for me, they did.

Elissa gave me the task of working on the website for Perfect Productions' newest department, The Perfect Benefit. This department, as one can guess, is going to be dedicated to benefits. I started making the different pages for information on the bachelor and bachelorette auction along with the the kickball tournament. I've never created a website before but I was very excited to use my creative skills to create a website I felt reflected what Perfect Productions is about. After it is done, visitors will be able to get information about the different charity events. They can download the various forms for the events as well as learn more information about the programs. One thing I hope to do is create a page dedicated to the bachelors and bachelorettes so people can scout out who will be auctioned off before the actual event.

Around lunch time, I went with Elissa and Amanda to my first vendor meeting. We went to Powerstation Events in Cheshire to pick out a DJ for a wedding. While we were waiting, we were looking through some pictures from other weddings. While going through them, Elissa and Amanda would make a comment here and there about details most people would overlook. I was extremely impressed and did my best to remember what they were pointing out because I feel it's the little details that make things perfect and have the events stand out from the rest. It was interesting to see all the different things that go into picking a DJ. Most would think it would be quite simple but there are really things you need to think about when picking one. The budget, time length, music type, and DJ personality are all things needed to be taken into consideration.

On Monday, the other intern will start working. I'm excited to meet her and start plannging things for the auction, and especially looking forward to having someone to bounce ideas off of and to provide a different perspective. Check back soon for a new update on how things are going!

Today was the last, first day of classes for me. To put even more pressure on such a bitter sweet realization, my professor felt the need to inform the class that there were only 117 days until the seniors would be part of the 'real world.' Immediately, a plague of fear and anxiety swept across the class. Students murmured from one to another about how they had no clue what they wanted to do or if they even had the means to accomplish their goals. I'll admit I was a little jolted by my quickly approaching graduation but I was also excited for what was in store within the next 117 days.

I have been fortunate enough to be chosen as one of the newest interns with Perfect Productions. Located in Farmington, CT, Perfect Productions is an event planning company that I'm am extremely excited to be a part of and learn from.

Now, to introduce myself, my name is Jackie and I'm currently a senior, Public Relations major at at Quinnipiac University. My journey to the event planning industry has been just that, a journey. When I originally enrolled at QU, I was a PR major and was very curious to look into the event planning industry. I've always been someone who loves to plan get togethers among friends and loved the idea of working with people and making their special days perfect. After my first semester, I decided to leave the PR world to become a teacher (I have always enjoyed working with children). Well, after being a math major, psychology major, and getting accepted to QU's Master's program for teaching, I found myself feeling like leaving the PR world was a mistake and switched back to a PR major (amazingly with my parents support!) Well long story short, I continued in the PR program and was thrilled when I received an email that Perfect Productions was looking for a spring intern.

When I finished my interview, I could not stop gushing to friends and family about how badly I wanted this internship. The company is made up of extremely talented people and their events show just that. This semester I've been given the assignment of working on the 2nd annual Bachelor and Bachelorette auction. It is for the Petit Family Foundation and I am so honored to be given the privileged to give back to the foundation and contribute to their great cause. Over the next few weeks I will continue posting blogs about my experience at Perfect Productions, so please check back for updates!

One More Day to Go!

Yikes! The past three weeks have gone by so fast for me; I do not even know where January went it seems. Tomorrow is my last day and I cannot believe all the progress I have made since day one. Today just seemed to fly by because I was so busy. I had to come up with a plan for the rehearsal dinner in the morning. After that Amanda taught me how to write up a final script for an event. A final script is a step by step, minute by minute write up of all the parts of an event. A script allows the planner and the people working to have a schedule for the event. Its good to know exactly what is happening at all time. It not only saves time and confusion but keeps things running smoothly and if a problem does arise they are easier to fix with an agenda of more ideas. I spend the whole day working on my final script. As I prepare to leave the office I am still not done with it. Its a lot of work to make sure that every little detail is planned out to a tee. Tomorrow I have to keep working all day long to finish everything up. I will have to hand in all my work from my internship binder. I'll also will have finalized all my wedding plans. I'll also have one last meeting with Elissa to go over my evaluation of my internship. I cannot wait to finally have everything completed for tomorrow. I cannot believe that I have only one day left!

Getting Closer and Closer

So we came back today from another a day off, since the ice storm from last night left us all stranded at home. Today, I was busy from start to finish. Since I lost a day of work yesterday I had to do double up on the work to try and catch up. Also, because my wedding plans are coming to an end I have to really start to wrap up the lose ends. I finalized the menu with Elissa today. I also researched and picked out a photographer and videographer. I received a quote from a local DJ to get prices on how much it would cost to do a ceremony and reception. It was interesting to see how prices, service, and the styles of work vary from each company. Every place has their own professionals with their own work styles which make the products all come out so different.
I also worked on my redoing my resume. I met with Elissa on Monday to talk about how I can update it so that it looks more professional and unique. I also had a incident report due for today. I was given a scenario and had to write up and incident report on it. Incident reports are exactly what they are called; It is a report that should be done a soon as possible after an incident documenting what happened. They are very important to keep not only on file to show as evidence when going over the cause and reason for the problem.
As the day comes to a close once again I go through my wedding packet filling in some more of the blanks. Since I did make so many final decisions today I had a lot of sections to fill up. With only 2 days left its down to the wire and time to finish up my wedding plans. Can't wait !!!

The Final Week

Today was another busy day at the office. Everyone was busy with meetings all day while I worked on my wedding project. I had a my own meeting with Elissa today to go over some of my questions. I was able to get my bigger questions out of the way so I can start to wrap up the plans. I also worked on and completed my honeymoon plans. I am sending my wonderful couple to Bora Bora for a week to enjoy the sun and sand. I also worked on the wedding packet to fill in some more of the blanks. This is my last week so everything really has to be completed and ready to be handed in by Friday. Tomorrow is another busy day because I have a meeting with Amanda about some of my wedding budget questions. I will be working on the entertainment for the wedding as well tomorrow. Its going to be a very busy week for me because there are so many things that need to get finished before my wedding is complete. I just hope impending snow storm does not mess things up!!!

2 Weeks Down One to Go!

It is Friday so the week has come to an end. Today was different than most days because we spent most of the day at the Connenticut Expo Center in Hartford. Perfect Productions put up a design for one of thier vendors. There is a bridal expo coming up so the place was packed with wedding gowns, tuxedos, limos, and flowers. It was quite a sight to see expescally because I have never been to one before. Besides the trip to the Expo it was a reagualar day of just working on my wedding. I completed as much as I could for this week and cannot wait to have it all finished for next week. I also did my evaluation and goals for the week along with re-doing my resume. Another fun project I got to do for today was a themed menu project. I had to pick a theme and make a menu ecouperationig it. I picked the 1950s theme for my menu. I love that kind of simple good tasting food from back in the day. Milkshakes and fries are some of my favorite foods so I really had a great time designing then menu with my mouth watering at the thought of all that food.
As the week comes to a close I am realizing the I only have 5 days left here. It seems like I have done so much in the past 10 days but so much more is needed to be completed. I look forward to finally putting the finished touches on my mock wedding for next week. Enjoy the weekend!!

Recovering from the Storm

Connecticut had a huge snow storm Tuesday night. The snow reached a state record high of over 2 feet and prevented many people including us from going into work. Its Thursday and after a day off its time to get back to work. Losing a day in the week did not really put me behind in work. Elissa was snowed in all day so it was just me and Amanda in the office. I worked on my wedding as usual. Today I really wanted to start and fill in the blanks with some budget questions. On top of that I had to design an invitation and a save the date. I followed the same design that is used in the decorations in the wedding for both. Tomorrow I want to finish up both my engagement and wedding announcements. In attention to that I have to do my goals for next week and my evaluation for this week. But my main project for tomorrow is a themed menu. Sounds like a fun project and I'm looking forward to keeping my imagination running wild on the last day of the week. With only a week left the final touches in my mock wedding are finally starting to come together.

Preparing for the Snow

Today was a another busy day at the office. Due to the huge snow strom coming tonight into Wednesday I tried to not only to complete my work for today but also for tomorrow. Once again I spent my day trying to make progress on my mock wedding. I designed a center piece for my table today. I ended up coming up with a different design then the one I had orgianally put on my insperation board. This one has more a beachy feel to it but still has the theme of the wedding colors. It is a glass bowl filled with a layer of sand an pebbles. A candle is placed in the center with water and floating flowers that match the other flower arraingments. I spent the rest of the day just trying to organize my ideas. I plan on taking some of my work home tonight so I can work on somethings tomorrow if we end up not coming in due to the snow. I have yet to have a meeting with Elissa because her and James were at a photo shoot for the day but I keep emailing her with any question I have. I hope to have a meeting with her on Thrusday to get some of my biggger questions answered. I wrapped up the day with just cleaning up my desk and preparing myself for the work to take home. They say a huge storm is coming our way so looks like we will not be in the office tomorrow, hope to be back on Thursday. Until then we will all enjoy the day off and I will try and keep up with my tasks so I do not fall behind.

Back to Work

Its another Monday and the week begins all over again. I came in today ready to work. I thought about my wedding plans quite a bit over the weekend, so I was anxious to come in and get started. All day I worked on my mock wedding. I began working on my table design for the wedding. I researched different wedding table layouts to try and find a design that I thought would work best for my wedding.
Besides drawing up the design I found a game to play for my FISH Philosophy presentation. The FISH Philosophy game has to deal with ways of improving a workplace through playing, making each other's day, choosing your attitude, and being here now. All these ideas go into making the workplace enjoyable and productive. I had to come up with a game to help demonstrate a way for us all in the office to improve team work. It has to do with M&Ms but that's all I'm saying for today. You'll have to find out more when the game is finally played!
To wrap up the day I worked on my Intern Evaluation Sheet. It is a really good way for me to reflect on how I think I am doing here at Perfect Productions. I tell about the tasks I completeled in the past week and how I managed to do that. Doing this allows me to see how much I really am doing over the week. I can see if I am meeting my weekly goals and if not how I can improve so that I can do better the next week. The evaluation also gives me the chance to ask my supervisor any questions I may have. Even though I do ask questions when ever I am confused its a nice chance for me to write down questions might have for the future or are not needed to be answer at that exact moment.
Tomorrow I continue to work on my wedding plans. I hope to have a meeting with Elissa and James (my mock bride and groom) to get some of my questions answered in order to continue on with my projects. I also have to work on a center piece design for the tables as well. Looks like its going to be another busy day!

Wrapping Up the Week

Today I had a whole checklist of things I needed to have done before the end of the day. Even though we were supposed to have a snowy weather the lack of snowflakes outside all afternoon made it so we could stay at the office all day to get work done. I finished my inspiration board first thing this morning so I could get that project completed. After that I prepared myself for my meeting with Elissa to go over some questions I had about the wedding venues I looked at. I never was able to get to my meeting because Elissa left for the early for the weekend. So, I spent the rest of my day alone in the office with Amanda. I worked on goals for next week; which really are just to keep up with the timeline of work due. I have more projects due for next week so I planned out everything I have to do for each day so I can stay on task. Come Monday morning I will start off with my meeting with Elissa and then get straight to work on my project due for that day.
My first week of interning comes to an end and I honestly do not know where the time went. Everyday I was full of stuff to do in the handbook, for my supervisors, and the mock wedding assignment. The days have flown by and I can not believe the one week is done. I hope to finish my wedding on time along with my other tasks. Everyone here has just been so welcoming that I know if i have any problems they have no problem with lending a hand or words of advice. As the week comes to a close its time to relax and enjoy the snowy weather before its time to start over again on Monday.

Busy, Busy

Well today was one busy day! I came into the office ready to work all day on my introduction board. All morning I spent my cutting out the perfect pictures, matching colors, and trying to make sure all of the ideas blended well together. I hope that Elissa likes it. Trying to put it all together is a lot harder than I thought it would be. It seems like every two minutes I come up with new ideas for the board but I have to just pick one layout and glue it down. I was unable to actually finish the board because we all left the office early today to meet with a bride, her family, and the caterer. Before we went to see the caterer though I experienced my first cake tasting with Elissa, James, and Amanda. All I could say about that is, YUM, YUM, YUM! All the cakes were delicious and unique in their own special ways. I never tasted wedding cake before and its defiantly beats any box cake.

After testing the cake we all packed up and headed to the reception hall for the client's wedding. Sitting in on the meeting gave me the chance to see, hear, and learn about planning the food aspects of the reception. There are so many different things to go over. Questions about the size of the chairs, numbers of waitstaff, menu options, and reception times were asked in the meeting. My head was spinning with all the information coming in all at once, but at the end of the meeting I was able to understand more of the wedding and grasp how the planning process of it works. It was a long busy day and tomorrow I have so much to do before the weekend begins!!

Piecing Together the Right Look

So today I just sat at my desk letting my imagination run wild about the mock wedding. I looked through bridal magazines on ideas for a venue, dresses, cakes, and flower arraignments. I browsed the Internet all day trying to find flowers that would match perfect for my inspiration board due tomorrow. I looked at what seemed like millions of wedding cakes trying to decide which one would give off the look I am trying to create for the wedding. Tomorrow I plan on just working on my inspiration board to be presented. I think I have the right feel on what the bride wants for here big day I just hope all the ideas I have in my head I can have put down on paper. So the wedding planning took up all of my day but I still feel like I need more time to work. The thing I have learned the most out of my first three days is that not only weddings but any event has so many details beyond what meets the eye. There are so many steps that have to happen in order for everything to work out just right. Also, if one step or aspect of an event were to be over looked a domino effect of things being forgotten can occur. The planning process can not continue if step one is not completed in order to move onto step too. In planning you have to make sure you cover all of your bases. When you are planning a memory for someone else you have to ensure that it will nothing short of a great one.

Let the Wedding Planning Begin!!

Day two of my internship and I am already realizing the amount of work and effort it takes to plan an event. I am officially starting off with planning my mock wedding. I met with Elissa today who is my mock "bride-to-be" on what her thoughts are about her wedding. Even though I felt as though I asked a bunch of questions there was still things that I completely looked over. I started looking in some of the many wedding books and magazines in the office right after the meeting to start my planning process. After reading some articles and looking at the checklist of things that need to be done I quickly came to terms with the fact that there is more to a wedding then just a venue, guests, floors, dresses, cake, and food. Even though it is a big task to do in such a short amount of time I am super excited to learn all the details that go into planning a wedding. Ever since my meeting ended with my mock bride, Elissa, ideas and thoughts just keep popping into my head.
In the beginning of the day I completed my tool box assignment. I had to imagine if I was on a deserted island and had only a toolbox to fill of things I would need for events that would take place on the island. I filled it will emergency use items like first aid kit, flashlight, medicine, and an inhaler. I also included a walkie talkie and cell phone to insure ways of communication. Some of the most important items were a planner and a watch. A party planner has to be organized, on time, and prepared for whatever comes her way. Having a planner and watch can help with making sure that things are not only organized but are running on time and according to schedule. Some of the last things I picked were makeup, bobby pins, a comb, safety pins, and a sewing kit because you never know what might go wrong or has to be fixed last minute in an outfit. The activity was fun and creative. It really had me think about what things that might not big so big in a production but can come in handy.
One of the last things I had to do today was to stuff envelopes with "Save the Date" cards for an upcoming wedding. I also finished the case study for the week so I can really focus on my mock wedding plans for the rest of the week. As I close with my second day my mind is going crazy with thoughts on my project and I cannot wait to start working on my inspiration board tomorrow. So let the wedding planning begin!

Day One of Interning

Hello, I am Paige Borda and I am a freshman at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. Today was my first day of interning here at Perfect Productions. I have been anticipating this day for quite some time now. Especially only being three days into the new year I really cannot think of any better way to begin then to start off with an exciting new learning opportunity. Walking into the building today I did not know what to really expect but the warm welcoming from Amanda quickly put my nerves at ease. She presented me with my internship binder. The internship binder may look like it is a lot of reading but the information inside is nothing short of being useful and interesting.
Since everyone was coming back from the holiday there was a lot of catching up going on between Amanda, Elissa, and James. Just hearing them share their stories showed me that they are more than just co-workers but friends.
After our short little meeting on introducing me to Perfect Productions and what I can expect over the next few weeks, I got straight to work. I am only here for three weeks so I have little time to cram in A LOT of information. I am super excited though because I will be planning my own mock wedding! One of the first steps for me to do is to interview Elissa as a soon-to-be bride and ask here all different questions about her wedding. So, today I have came up with what I think are some pretty important topics to touch upon and first thing tomorrow will be the mock interview. After I completed my questions I filled out my weekly goal sheet and glanced through the internship binder. To end my first day I stapled on postcards to the Southern New England Wedding magazine. Perfect Production has 2 full pages in the magazine!! The spread looks amazing so as to help with promotion I stapled on the cards pointing out the article and details about what Perfect Productions has to offer clients.
So, all in all my day went by quite fast. Tomorrow is a new day and I cannot wait to see what is next for me to do in the process of planning my mock wedding. My next assignments look to be the toolbox training and an inspiration board. I cannot wait to see what I have in store for me!