Attention to Detail

Every creative person knows - God is in the details and details make all of the difference. The photos of the Concept tables from the previous posts of The Special Event 2007 Wedding Luncheon were all about the big picture to show off how grand everything was. Below are some details that give a much better idea of how creative these companies are and can be.

You can really see the Hollywood influence of set design - something that plays up to my love of theatrics and all things beautiful. Which I believe is distinctive in the Carpe Vita Photography approach to event and wedding photography. We appreciate detail - we love detail - we crave detail and we make sure the details are documented because we recognize that every little detail was probably a decision that could have be labored over or made on a whim but it truly tells the story.

I'll be a little honest, the first concept I encountered when I walked into the ballroom was the TFS Studio design of what I am calling A Taste of Marie Antoinette in honor of the recent Sophia Coppola/Kirsten Dunst film that I have yet to find the time to see. But what I hear about the era and the film is the celebration of grandiose and these incredible details demonstrate this completely. There was so much to see at the this table scape that I spent more time here than some of the other tables.

Pyramids of Champagne glasses dripping with jewels...
Confections nestled in a precious pump...
Filtered Smokes with an antique match box...
Butts of used cigarettes stained with the royal's lip color mingled with jewels probably cast aside as the evening wore on and the bubbly flowed...

More Wedding Luncheon

I would hate to presume... But I believe these concepts were by S & R Originals/SRO Events.

The following are from Luna Gardens Events and Michael Walls Florals & Events - I wish I could tell you which was which...



These last two concepts were by TFS Studio

The Special Event 2007 - Wedding Luncheon

This year's sold-out Wedding Luncheon at The Special Event was held at The Millennium Biltmore Hotel. Definitely a venue that would make any bride feel like a celebrity starting with being greeted by a dozen violinists to the white gloved waiters passing the champagne freely. Dramatic lighting filled the entrance of the Tiffany Ballroom and showcased unique cake designs by Layers Cake Design Studio (see design below), Cake Crumbs, The Cake Studio and Fantasy Frostings.



In the actual Tiffany Ballroom, there were eight concept tables and two concept chuppahs designed to leave spectators in awe. The two tables were designed by Eventful overseen by Linda Pittelli, who was also one of the featured speakers for the lunch.

More of the concept tables can be seen in the next blog posting. Too many amazing things for one posting...

Keynote Speakers - Passing Zone

Passing Zone Humor Guys/Jugglers Extraordinare Jon Wee and Owen Morse brought their message of team building in an innovative highly creative manner. That's the Search Foundation President risking his life driving a point home. It is a difficult to tell here but those plates and that three legged thing on his head that is also on fire are all also spinning! Yes, those are chainsaws and costuming borrowed from Swan Lake.

The Special Event 2007 Opening Ceremony

Ignite Your Imaginaion is the theme of The Special Event 2007 being held at the Los Angeles Convention Center this week and event planners working to impress event planners attending from around the world made sure the opening ceremonies screamed that this would be one hot ticket! Each event planner found a fun glow globe toy in each of their seats which just complimented the electric atmosphere.

Fire was everywhere!
The Special Event 2007 Ambassadors are Andrea Michaels, President of Extraordinary Events and John Daly of John Daly, Inc. International . And as you can see Special Event Group Show Director Sharon Morabito is as proud as a peacock for how well everything started out.
More to come...

Sunrise in Los Angeles

Ahhhh, time zone changes... On a normal day, Kim awakes pretty early (without the assistance of an alarm clock) to get caught up. Fast forward to Los Angeles to participate in The Special Event 2007, same thing happens but instead of it being 5ish - it is 3ish. Luckily Steve, the non-early bird stayed in Dallas to hold down the fort.

So what is a girl photographer to do? Take photos of the view, but of course! The lovely white glowing building above and below was like my very own night light - a beacon in the night. As you can see, not much is happening at 4am but I really enjoyed taking photos of the shadows created on the ceiling... I know get a life, but this could the beginning nugget for a fine art show.
Here's the sun coming up a little later - 6:20am. I'll be sharing photos taken from the show. It is amazing to see what all event people can do and how out of the box everyone is. Incredibly inspirational, which is why we attend!

Thanks for Making 2006 so Rewarding

2006 is just barely over but before we totally let it go, we wanted to thank everything one we worked with and encountered this last year for making it even more memorable. Every year, we get to meet more wonderful people and make lasting friendships - definitely one of the best perks of being photographers! So as you can imagine, we are anxious to see what 2007 brings us as we continue to develop our existing relationships.

We are kind of known for our fun holiday cards - the ones we send out to our friends and Carpe Vita family. This year, December seemed a little more crazy than ever and before we knew it, Santa was on his way. So instead, we threw together a card (we hope for it to mail later this week) honoring the terrific people we met and got to work with in 2006.

The image above is a sneak peek and what you see below are some of the outtakes from the year... We learned, that it might actually be easier to come up with special holiday card photo than try to squeeze everything into a traditional 5x7 card side. Of course, as soon as we had it off to the press, we realized we overlooked some very important occasions, like our Lincoln Properties friends we photograph each year, the ConocoPhilips group Steve photographed at their annual meeting, the Villalobos wedding and you'll see nothing of the many Living Magazine contributions we made in 2006. Ah but what a great year it was!

Happy New Year!

2006 ended with a blast with Steve and Kim photographing the groovy Hotel ZaZa 007 themed New Year's Eve Party. Definitely a night of beautiful people partying the year away and celebrating the arrival of 2007 in a stunning venue. Where else can you dine at the fabulous Dragon Fly, walk on water at the Urban Oasis and cuddle with a few friends on luxe linens feet away from the thriving dance floor? For a few highlights of the night, click here to see a slideshow.

If you were lucky enough to be one of the lucky one thousand on hand and are interested to seeing all of the photos - you know you looked good!! This link will take you to our online lab partner Pictage where you can see everything and order anything you might be interested in having to remember this awesome party. Register an email address and assign yourself a password but no Event Key is required to see this event.


James Bond - eat your heart out! This was the party to be at! Happy New Year!