Project Report
I chose to do my project on event planning to gain experience in understanding all the things that go into planning an event, hosting an event and concluding an event. I am a communications major and hope to graduate and be an event planner. For my project I chose to plan a graduation event and have a professional event planner be my mentor throughout this process so I knew what direction to go with my event and what all goes into it.
The Process
Pictures For Events:
First I needed to find a photographer and schedule a session for my client to get their pictures taken to then create graduation announcements later on. I did some research and found a photographer and met with my client to get their approval. Then went over scheduling and ideas for the look of their pictures. I met with the photographer to go over the dates my client was available and the looks she was wanting and we planned a photoshoot around those details.
Graduation Announcements:
Next I needed to plan out ideas with my client for the design of the graduation announcements and who she was wanting those to go to. I used Shutterfly to design and order the graduation announcements and envelopes. I then gathered all the names and addresses for the announcements and put the announcements in the envelopes. I wrote the names and addresses on the envelopes and sent them off to those individuals my client wanted to share this exciting news with.
Event Details:
The next step I took was meeting with my client to go over the design, theme and colors of her graduation party. We talked about the location of the graduation party, who she wanted to invite and then the details on what food and drinks would be at this party. I then talked to my client about invites for the party and who she would be inviting. I went over designs and pictures she would want to use for those invites and then we discussed the date and time of this event.
Graduation Party Invites:
I created the graduation event invites on Canva but designed multiple options until my client was satisfied. I then ordered and sent out those graduation invites to those individuals who my client wanted to spend time with to celebrate her during this special time of her life.
Decorations and Desserts:
I then ordered the decorations for the events and some extra pictures from the graduation photoshoot to put up during the event. Next I ordered the food and drinks for the party and we chose an ice cream bar with toppings and fudge brownies to go with it. The drinks were more simple to go well with the desserts and so I ordered water bottles to easily grab and move around the party.
Once I got all the supplies and decorations for the graduation I put together the decorations and hung them up for the event. The day of the graduation I baked many pans of brownies and then put out the six different types of ice cream I bought to go with it and a wide variety of toppings to go on the dessert
As the host of the event I had the responsibilities of making sure all the guests were comfortable and served them with refreshments if they needed, controlling the environment of the party, greeting the guests and restocking any refreshments that were running low. I made sure to write down those who attended the party and who gave my client gifts.
After the event I designed “thank you” cards on Canva to send out to those who came and supported my client at this event and to those who gave her gifts. I ordered the “thank you” cards I designed and envelopes to be able to thank those who came to the event. Once I received the “thank you” cards I sent them out.
Experiences
I am very thankful for this experience to learn and grow throughout this event. The experiences I enjoyed were the initial planning and meeting with my client so then I could see the professional aspect of that to go over their vision for the event and the details for that. I enjoyed figuring out the design process for the graduation announcements, graduation party invites and the “thank you” cards. Lastly, I loved seeing my clients vision come to life for their event and see my hard work pay off.
The experiences that were challenging were designing the clients announcements, invites to the graduation party and the “thank you” cards because as much as I loved doing them it took time to get them completely right and after going back to my client often I was able to create the right look for what she was wanting. Another challenge I faced was tying in the theme, colors, and vision of my client so then everything went together throughout all of the graduation events or hand outs.
The Overview
This experience was such a success and I loved working with my client Hanna on her big day celebrating her graduation and next chapter in her life. I have learned so much and am so thankful for all the skills and knowledge I have now because this experience taught me about the skill of event planning, design when it come to announcements or invites, communication, working with clients and being flexible to be able to get the job done for your client. This has taught me so much about managing my time, planning ahead and thinking outside the box because so much can change or be thrown at you and you have to be prepared to make things work no matter what.
Video
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