60th Surprise Party
Vendor Team:
Full Service Event Planner- 618 Events, Maggie Farchmin
Venue- Orpheum Champaign
Catering- Michaels’ Catering
Linens- Herriott’s Rents, Tents, and Events
Florals- CU Flower House
Photos- Rebekah Albaugh
Harpist- 1st Choice Music Services
Invitations- Alyssa Woodyard Calligraphy
Hotel Block- Hyatt Place Champaign
Sound System Rental- Crash Events DJ
The birthday girl’s husband called me to inquire about my services for his wife’s surprise 60th birthday celebration. Social gatherings such as this are my absolute favorite so I was really excited to receive the inquiry. I met with Arthur at Art Mart to discuss how my planning process works and he immediately hired me. I asked lots of questions to better understand what he was wanting at the party, Wendy’s preferences for decor/food/entertainment, etc. We also chatted a bit just to get to know each other to ensure we were a good fit for each other. Arthur has the most amazing life stories! I could have sit and listened to him all afternoon sharing his crazy life experiences.
I put together a proposal, based on what we discussed, for Arthur to approve or submit changes. Once that was finalized. along with budget, I got to work planning!
The process of planning with Arthur was a BREEZE. He was so easy to work with and responded promptly to my questions during planning. Even though we’d just met he completely trusted my expertise in every area- catering, decor, who to hire, the party’s timeline of events, etc.
Our first challenge was finding availability of hotels and venues because the original date was UIUC Homecoming weekend. Yikes! Thankfully we were able to switch the date to a week earlier and therefore avoid the craziness of Homecoming. Lots of party guests would be coming from out of town and therefore would need a hotel room.
He wanted a really unique venue that would WOW the guests. I immediately thought of Orpheum Champaign as it’s probably the most unique venue in town with so much rich history. I showed Arthur pictures and he loved it. I did reach out to several other venues just to be safe but Orpheum was available so we booked it.
The next most important aspect of the party was food. Arthur wanted to include a clam boil food station because Wendy grew up in Massachusetts and loves clam boils! He wanted to make sure it was authentic and also include several other food stations that included dietary restrictions such as vegan because he knew guests would have such restrictions. The wine was also of utmost importance because Wendy loves drinking wine! Of course I though of Michaels’ Catering because I trust they’ll do thorough research on Massachusetts’ clam boils and suggest the appropriate wines. I was thrilled when Ling with Michaels’ was available for the party. We nailed down the menu with estimated guest count and officially booked their services. We did have to rework the menu to fit in Arthur’s budget which still worked out wonderfully and so delicious.
We decided on the clam boil, a make-your-own stir fry station, and a crudité with hand held sandwiches station. We spread the stations out around the theatre so that guests would freely grab food from whichever station whenever they wanted. I was curious to see if the line for the stir fry station would get too long but luckily it never was. The nice part was that guests could always monitor the line and therefore socialize while waiting until the line shrunk before waiting.
Wendy’s favorite color is pink so we used pink table cloths and flowers to compliment the deep maroons and golds of the theatre. When I met with Andrea at CU Flower House to discuss the florals, she had the idea of mixing up the pink linen colors and to use all pink flowers for a monochromatic look. I loved it! Arthur approved so we ordered the different pink linens and Andrea ordered the monochromatic pink flowers in white bud vases. We also included lots of candles to help with the budget (flowers are sadly so expensive) but also to soften the decor inside the theatre.
Arthur wanted some sort of live music for guests to enjoy as background music throughout the evening. He didn’t want it to be anything loud and crazy so that guests weren’t able to easily hear each other while chatting and catching up. For Wendy’s 50th birthday he had a sitar player and desired to have a sitar player again. I contacted everyone I knew, and then some, and sadly could not find a local sitar player. Bringing a professional down from Chicago would have cost too much so we decided to hire a live harpist which was the perfect classy touch.
For the invitations, we had to create a Google form to gather addresses as many of the guests were past and present students and co workers of Wendy’s. Therefore they had moved in the last several years and we needed updated addresses. This caused some confusion because guests didn’t realize they were simply sharing their address and some though they were RSVPing for the party (even though we *thought* we made it clear the form was for address collection only and a formal invitation would be mailed. I felt bad for causing confusion but Arthur was so gracious and didn’t blame me at all.
For the invitations we decided to incorporate the vintage vibes of the Orpheum Champaign along with Wendy’s favorite color- pink! Alyssa Woodyard designed them for us and they turned out so perfectly!
For the evening’s timeline, we invited guests to join for a cocktail hour the hour before Wendy would arrive. That way everyone would be there by the time Wendy showed up for the surprise. We had passed appetizers from Michaels’ along with an open bar. The theatre was closed so the guests stayed in the front foyer. We wanted the theatre reveal to be dramatic when Wendy was there.
Wendy was under the impression she was getting dinner downtown with her family. Arthur was driving and gave me a heads up when they were 15 minutes away. I had contacted the city to bag a meter for their vehicle so they could park right outside the theatre. Parking in downtown Champaign can be tricky! I got everyone up close to the doors and when she entered they yelled “SURPRISE!”
Wendy had the cutest reaction! She was so surprised and kept seeing all the different faces and reacting “oh!” and “ah it’s you!” It was very sweet! She had the biggest smile on her face and so did Arthur.
Arthur gave a lovely welcome speech right there in the foyer to thank everyone for coming and quickly give brief instructions regarding the food stations. Once he finished we opened the doors to the theatre and the harpist started playing and the food was ready! Seating was open (no assigned seating) and because there was confusion with the RSVP we had to guess how many guests would attend. We had high top tables out in the foyer for cocktail hour and brought them in for dinner in case we were short on seating. Guests did enjoy mingling around the high tops but we did have the perfect amount of seating inside the theatre for dinner- it worked so wonderfully!
One lesson I learned was to better describe the food stations. This crowd wasn’t too sure if dinner would be served after a “second round” of appetizers (aka the stations) so I went around to ensure everyone understand the stations were open for dinner and that it was indeed their dinner.
I heard nothing but positive reviews of the food including the clam boil. Michaels’ Catering of course knocked it out of the park! The harpist was the perfect amount of background music and not too loud.
After most everyone had gotten their dinner from the stations, Wendy’s siblings each gave a toast. It was so sweet to hear their kind words regarding their sister. From the moment guests arrived it was clear how loved Wendy is! Her siblings traveled from all over the US which is so very cool that they have such a close relationship still that they’d come to CU for this party.
We lit the cake’s candles and everyone sung happy birthday to Wendy. The evening concluded around 9:30pm as guests said their goodbyes to Wendy. I know there were friends there that Wendy hadn’t seen in over 10 years! What a special gathering! Arthur emailed me a week or so after the party to say thanks again and how people were STILL talking about what an amazing evening it was!
Arthur and Wendy were such a joy to serve and I was honored to have been entrusted with this special evening. Like I said above, I LOVE parties like this and hope to do more in the future! Happy birthday Wendy!
