AOO EventsĀ threw a 50th bash thatĀ incorporatedĀ all the glitz and glamour of Hollywood - Old & New. Originally featured on DesignDawgs.
The Hollywood Athletic Club has been the site of many exciting and well-documented rock ān roll blowouts. This night was no different, but instead of hundreds of people, the club had been bought out for an intimate, perfectly choreographed birthday party for 100 guests. AOO Events was at the center of this intersection of Hollywood design style and Las Vegas glitz.
Creative director, David Merrell, integrated dĆ©cor, floral and digital mapping with the star power of Bruno Mars, Dave Koz and John Stamos for an event that would go down in his clientās memory book as a blow out event as exciting and important as any other that had taken place at the iconic Athletic Club.
The entrance had been transformed into Club DB (the birthday galās initials) with a custom marquee, cheetah carpet, a custom branded plaque, and large planters filled with hydrangea in the nightās chosen color ā purple. Inside, two huge silver gilded mirrors etched with a custom DB logo and blue-washed walls further defined the grand entrance.
A basket-weave mirrored host stand was enhanced with an artistic arrangement of white calla lilies twisted around each other and fuschia Mocarra Orchids āhangingā on the end of grass in a fiber-optic effect. It was classic Hollywood with a modern blend.
The main room was transformed into a Hollywood lounge with area rugs and seating done in earth tones and white leather furniture with customized antique mirror tables holding votive candles and small fuchsia orchids and mini white calla lilies. A custom stage with a gold tufted wall was background for the jazz trio featuring Dave Koz, who performed and then led the guests into the concert area following cocktails.
Splashes of purple, baby blue and fuchsia underlined the evenings color palette. Gold and silver mercury hurricane lamps enclosed candles inside a fireplace framed by two 7-foot-tall white vases with lily/dendrobium arrangements. Uplighting patterned the white walls to give them character and warmth.
A unique, high-end installation designed for group photos by Scenario displayed the DB logo and graphics from the invitation as a step and repeat backdrop. Guests memorialized the evening by āstriking a poseā on custom gold metallic furniture flanked by matching shimmery gold curtains.
In this area, designed for the performance of Bruno Mars, blue light bathed the walls and a six-foot high scrim displayed a variety of digitally mapped looks throughout the evening. Standing, stainless steel cocktail tables topped with fuchsia roses, gold and white art deco furniture, vintage 70s dĆ©cor, and custom bars with leather tufted fronts Ā completed the look.
Buffets and bars featured large containers filled with hand-opened Pink Intuition roses. Gold striped and brassy votives festively sat on mirrored cocktail tables with Vonda Orchids shooting out of hand-opened pink Intuition Roses.
The stage sported a glossy black Marley floor with a custom gold-front faƧade and a gold disk curtain flanked by towering white leather walls and glam ā70s wall scones.
Digital mapping served several purposes here. In this ābeforeā shot you can see that there is an upper catwalk area that needed to be disguised. A six-foot-high scrim which wrapped this area completely allowed Merrell and team to create eight digitally mapped custom looks leading up and through Bruno Marsā performance. All animation was custom-created and controlled by AOO Events ensuring that technology was fully integrated and a major focal point of the decor.
A custom cake with a gold base ātuftedā to carry through the elements of design AOO Events had incorporated earlier, and the ever-present DB logo sat in the middle of table designed in black and gold. Stamos and Koz led the guests in singing Happy Birthday after which the clientās husband introduced a music video. Heād written the words and recording artist, Kelley James, arranged the music. Glen, Kelly James, Dave Koz and John Stamos, along with the clientās son and daughter, performed in the video, entitled My Heart.
The only way to follow something as heartfelt as this was with a performance by Bruno Mars! After his energetic and infectious 60-minute set, he invited DB on stage and sang his mega hit, Just the Way You Are, to her. It was a flawless evening from start to finish. The only thing that might have worried the clientās husband at all was what he is going to do for his wifeās 60th.
Article by Liese Gardner, Editor of DesignDawgs
