Engage!17 Nizuc Luxury Wedding Business Summit

From the moment the gates opened at Nizuc Resort, we knew we were in for an incredible Engage!17 experience, and boy were we right! We love attending Engage!17 Luxury Wedding Business Summit and are so honored to be a long-standing creative partner working to design the events with event professionals across the world. Did you see how everything came together at Engage!17 Cayman Islands? Scroll through and peek into what last week had in store…

We kicked off the day checking in at the Pop Up Mercado where Gifts for the Good Life dreamed up the most incredible experience for picking up a locally curated selection of swag like hand-woven tote bags and Mexican-themed ornaments (we scooped up a Frida Khalo one!).

Fast forward to Opening Session where we stepped into a room set for over 300 excited attendees! Our Pink Velluto dressed the tables for two days of back to back engaging speaker sessions. Each day we found new fun surprises at our seats, from Two Paper Dolls and Gifts for the Good Life, to help get our notes down.

Monday night’s welcome party was a festive fiesta-themed party! We snacked on delicious dishes while taking in some custom entertainment from Elan Artists; think glitter face painting, Lucha Libre wrestlers and a brilliant fireworks display. Welcome to Engage!17!

We went from general session to breakout sessions on Tuesday with a tropical lunch in between. We found the perfect place for an outdoor lunch at Nizuc’s Terra Nostra, where the tables were set in our Avocado Oxford, Petal Oxford and, introducing, our NEW Palm inspired linen (launching in 2018!). If you’re dreaming of summer weddings and brunches under the sun, this has just the vibe!

As Dine Arounds rolled around, we enjoyed the diverse cuisines on site at Nizuc before heading to the poolside Dessert Party, not knowing what Elan Artists had in store for the night! As we walked through the lush path to desserts, performers in Dia de los Muertos-inspired attire lead us to the fun. We danced with skeletons, took in some face painting and snapped photos in front of a hand-painted mural photo booth. And the after party? An intimate speakeasy in Nizuc’s Havana Room with Elan Artist’s musicians setting just the mood.

Before we knew it, Wednesday was here and it was countdown to the gala! We dropped in on breakout sessions all morning, from talks with Anja Winnika of The Knot to Sylvia Weinstock of Sylvia Weinstock Cakes, there was much to listen to and take in.

And then there was the pool party! Hosted by Shutterfly, we kicked around in the water while enjoying poolside snacks paired with cool tequila palomas. Bringing more of the fun, Elan Artists had some synchronized swimmers in vintage-inspired garb to get the party started.

Onto the gala, a celestial inspired event that was well beyond our dreams! We stepped into the ballroom as aerial acrobats danced to music performed by a full band on a stage that was just glowing in the space. Talk about making a first impression! The room was set in an assortment of linens, from our Midnight Parker, to our Navy Sequin Taffeta and introducing our New Navy Lace Overlay (launching in 2018!). With galaxies projected on the walls, a constellation designed on the dance floor and performances coming down from the sky, it was truly out of this world!

We woke up Thursday with our hearts full (and admittedly our feet tired – all that dancing!). From meeting new friends, connecting with friends from across the world and watching the top wedding professionals come together to dream up another amazing Engage!, we can’t believe our stars. Will we be seeing you at any of the upcoming Engage!18 summits?

Photographers Gigi De Manio, John Cain Sargent, Paul Morse, Laura DeCarlo and Phillip Van Nostrand | Host Hotel Nizuc Resort | Design and florals Canteiro Weddings | Presentation Gifts + Event Branding Gifts for the Good Life | Graphic Designer + Show Director Trisha Hay | Agendas, escort cards and menus Two Paper DollsLighting, Technical Production + Sound JSAV Mexico | MC + Music DJ Brian OfficalEntertainment Elan Artists | Artists in Residence| Mercantile Fireworks Pyrotech | Linens Nuage Designs

 

Engage!17 Cayman Island

We could not have dreamed up a more incredible Engage! to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Rebecca Grinnal’s and Kathryn Arce’s Engage Summits!

Straight from the luxurious Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa on Grand Cayman, we partied with mermaids, unicorns and the most amazing group of event professionals and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

The Cayman Islands set an idyllic backdrop for the events with inspiration ranging from beach festivals to under the sea and culminating in an unbelievable technicolored gala designed by Rishi Patel of HMR Designs.

Not only did we get to hear from one amazing speaker after another, in between we were treated to some spectacular breaks as well! Under an ombre-colored row of ornate handmade tents from Raj Tents, we snacked on chocolate delicacies and sipped from coconuts.

Our linens had a chance to enjoy the fun too! Fire Metropolitan to match the Welcome Party’s fire dancers, Blue Scale to pair with the Dessert Party’s mermaid tails and White and Silver Koi to serve as additional entertainment for the rainbow hued gala were some of our stand out picks.

The team from Elan Artists really blew us out of the water with the customized entertainment! We were welcomed by festival go-ers and fire dancers on the beach and closed the week with spandex-clad go go dancers and a surprise performance from En Vogue! Oh, and did we mention there were mermaids?

Thank you to all our friends for creating magic!  We can’t wait to see you all again!

Hosts Engage Summits, Cayman Islands Department of Tourism | Venue Kimpton Seafire Resort and Spa | Design HMR Designs, Rishi Patel | Entertainment Elan Artists | Event Branding and Gifting Gifts for the Good Life | Graphic Design and Show Director Trisha Hay Design | Event Website and Printed Materials Two Paper Dolls | AV, Lighting and Sounds Intec | Tents Raj Tents | Wholesale Floral DV Flora | Custom Carpeting Alma USA | Production Support Celebrations | Neon Signs Name Glo | Shipping Tropical Shipping | On-Island Adventures Majestic Tours, Red Sail Sports | Photography Cloud Nine Omnimedia, Love Life Images, John Cain Photography, Paul Morse Photography, Carla Ten Eyck, Laura Dee Photography, Rebecca Davidson Photography, Deep Blue Images, Picture This, Melissa Wolfe Photography, Better Angle

Engage!16 Breakers: Make Waves

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It’s no secret that we at Nüage Designs are huge fans of Engage! We’ve been lucky enough to work with Rebecca and Kathryn for the past eleven summits and each time we come away with new knowledge, and reinvigorated with more love for the wedding industry. This time we were especially swept up in the magic of Engage! with the summit being held in our very own sunny South Florida, hosted by our friends at The Breakers. While we could seriously write a book about our favorite moments, we sat down and came up with the top things that really gave us the feels this week.

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So many of us come to Engage! to center ourselves and rediscover the essence of our work in the company of our friends and those who have become our family. In our search for great design, beautiful events and gorgeous photos, we become swamped by “inspiration” and lose the true meaning of the word. It was really inspiring to hear from some of our design role models on where they look to get their creative juices flowing. From Jes Gordon we learned to keep our eyes open, and look up constantly. Seeing her take pictures of NYC garbage and transform them into backdrops and ceiling installations at her events was just incredible! And from Matthew Robbins, our favorite hunter gatherer, we learned that inspiration, which we breathe in and feel throughout our soul, is different from the visuals we mood board on Pinterest, which should be seen as tools that help us explain our vision.

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And with great inspiration follow great events. This time around at Engage! we found ourselves with big, goofy grins plastered on our faces the entire time, and can you blame us? From waking up in New Orleans with beignets and a bloody mary bar to an emoji-fueled lunch break where we may have had more than just one happy pill, the fun did not stop! The icing on the cake? A purple rain themed after party à la Prince that topped any dance party we’ve ever been to. Seeing experiences from our real day-to-day lives translated into these awesome parties lifted our spirits to new heights and is something we can’t wait to experience more and more in our own work.

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Even the best theme has to be handled with great execution, and The Breakers Design Studio, along with their creative partners, did not fail! For starters, we were just in love with the coral color palette. Call us Floridians if you want but there’s just something so lovely about this shade of red that makes everything look amazing! Combining coral hues with patterns of pink and mixed metal elements, the look and feel of Engage!16 was deeply felt throughout every event. It was all about the details too – from the intricate laser cut sea fan menus from Two Paper Dolls to the personal dry-erase boards from Gifts for the Good Life and the croquet lawn decor (who doesn’t love a bright pink flamingo?), not one opportunity was missed to imbue each event with personality!

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Of course, a party is only as good as it’s entertainment, which was incredible at Engage!16. The level of talent and creativity was unlike anything we’ve seen yet. Truly nothing kicks your day off with as much energy as a jazzy soul-infused band from Louisiana. The guys behind Equinox Orchestra quite literally blew our socks off! And just as we were hitting an afternoon slump, AA Musicians showed up with a gospel choir that had us hands-in-the-air yelling out “Hallelujah!” The entertainers at night were equally unbelievable. From a psychedelic candy party hosted by Elan Artists’ gorgeous girl band, Pretty Retro, to the Uptown Mix Orchestra from Vali Entertainment that set the mood at the gala, and a surprise performance by opera singer Fernando Varela, not a moment went by that we were not having a blast!

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But of all things, all the inspiring words we heard, the delicious treats we snacked on and the dances we shared, our favorite thing was the sense of camaraderie and authenticity from our Engage! community. We listened to so many of our event mentors talk to us from a real place of vulnerability and truth on the things that scare them and the ones that lift them up. Preston Bailey wonders if he will be relevant in five years, Lynne Easton risked her family home to grow her business and Mindy Weiss wants to quit every other Sunday. These incredible event professionals inspire us to work happier, risk more and evolve, not shrink away, in the face of fear and adversity. To hear that we are all in it together and to imagine the heights that we can take the wedding industry together was just brilliant! 

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In the true spirit of Engage!, we feel rejuvenated and more full of energy than ever before. With great ideas and a lightness of heart, we left The Breakers ready to take on the world…or at the very least our next wedding.

Host Resort The Breakers Palm Beach | Presenting Partners The Knot, Gold Calendar, Style Me Pretty, Minted | Graphic Design Trisha Hay Design | Event Branding, Branded Gifts and Accessories Gifts for the Good Life | Event Linens Nuage Designs | Nametags, Itineraries, Day One Agenda and Lunch Menus TPD Design House | Production Support and Custom Printing Checkerboard Ltd. | Audio Visual, Lighting and Sound Palm Beach Staging and Production | Hashtag Photo Printing Luster | Official Photographers Carla Ten Eyck, C10 Studios, Love Life Images, Cameron Clark, John Cain Photography, Jeremie Barlow | Official Videographers Ray Roman, I Do Films, Party Slate | Engage! 16 App Appy Couple | Social Media Support Maid Of Social | Decor and Florals The Breakers Palm Beach | Candy Bar Sugarfina | Draping Swag Decor | Pool Letters and Fire Pits Event Effects Group | Furniture Rentals Nuage Designs, AFR Event FurnishingsBubble, Events on the Loose, Classic Party Rentals, Great Hire, Signature Chandeliers | Entertainment Elan Artists, Equinox Orchestra, Vali Entertainment, Fernando Varela, Rock With You, The Powerhouse Group | Dressed to the Nines Beglammed Beauty Bar, The Styling Suite, The Black Tux, Rent the Runway | Stationery Alpine Creative Group | Pop Up Boutiquerie The Gilded Group