Getting Ready!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post...my girlfriend and I volunteered to decorate a benefit for a local charity. 250 people planned to attend. We were definitely designing on a dime so that most of the proceeds could go back to the charity (which is always the right thing)! However, with a theme like Venetian Masquerade it became so challenging to stick to a budget! Trust me we had to dig deep on this one! Oh the possibilities.... but we stuck to our allowance. Here is a brief look behind the scenes....

For a peak at our venue...click here. For the inspiration for the decorations click here.
The day began with us unloading our cars as snow began to fall pretty steadily and it kept falling all day...Mother Nature decided to lend a hand to help make things look pretty!

The decorating daze began.....

I don't want to show you the table centerpieces until the big event in tomorrow's post with the room all lit up at night. We spent the day assembling the voluminous centerpieces for the 25 tables. However, weeks ago we sprayed a bunch of branches white that I found in local parks... we figured you can't get more economical than that for adding interest to the rest of the spaces. We added masks and crystals for extra oomph. White lights were added inside the base for the evening for extra glow.

Thank goodness we had a number of these chandeliers in the room for extra sparkle.

The staging area for completed vases. We had purchased a bunch of glittery ribbon in different colors during the holiday sales to help add a layer to simple glass containers. We basically ribboned as much as we could for maximize effect.

After about 6 hours of diligent work we were fairly set....then it was time  for me to focus on how I was going to decorate myself! I decided to configure a comfortable boho-inspired-for evening-look. I have this beautiful long black crepe skirt that I decided to pair with a lace black bodysuit underneath....

(I'm really only 5'10" not 7 ft. tall as this photograph of this skirt makes it appear! I have misplaced my good camera and my iPhone camera just doesn't take the same quality picture...so please excuse the blurry and distorted factor of some of these pictures!)

and this soft... bell sleeved... sea foam blue green silk blouse....

these are the accessories I will be wearing....

 and some really comfortable heels...

Here is a little peak at Cinderella at the Ball.... tomorrow I will post about the night of the event!

                                       Moi with Mon Ami Mademoiselle M!