Be Sage Conference / Welcome Party

Corporate Events

The biggest event design project that I ever worked on was the entire Be Sage Conference last year in Cabo San Lucas. I was given the task of designing the conference, which included the main learning space (a kind of ugly hotel conference room that had to be made beautiful), a welcome party (around the pool), and a closing party (at Flora Farms). I’ve been a huge fan of Be Sage Wedding Pros for years and being able to work with them to create a welcoming, intentional, comfortable learning environment for their amazing conference was such a great honor. I’m excited to start using my design experience on corporate events, and although I’ve done smaller ones in the past, a three day conference with 60 attendees, two parties, and a conference room was my largest undertaking to date.

Now, let me show off all of the hard work in this series of three blog posts about the conference. Designing a wedding is about letting the couple’s personality shine, designing a corporate event is a delicate dance between creating instagrammable moments, building a comfortable environment, and infusing the brand’s aesthetic and tone into each element.

With the planning help of Meagan from Sweet Pea Events Dallas, we successfully collaborated with a team of vendors in Cabo to make this conference happen.

You can get a quick idea of the event design work we did in this amazing video by Splendor Films. Three different locations tell three different stories over the course of the conference. Each with it’s own design board, color palette, and overall feeling:

First up, the welcome party. The conference took place at the Secrets Resort in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. All-inclusive resorts feel….fake to me. They are luxurious and beautiful and the service is remarkable, although it doesn’t feel like real Mexico to me. So, for this welcome party, my goal was to design a space around the pool that felt and looked like a traditional Mexican fiesta. We used custom made upholstery and linens created from original Otomi embroidered fabrics. The chefs created foods that their grandmothers would make at family gatherings. I literally said to them at our first meeting: “cook what your abuela cooks.” Finally, a classic mariachi band entertained the crowd.

Here is the Design Board I put together for the Welcome Party:

The Welcome party was sponsored by Rentivist, which gave me as the designer an interesting challenge: how do I design a party that feels like a Mexican fiesta while keeping to the clean aesthetic of the conference hosts, Sage Wedding Pros, and the sponsor, Rentivist? We did it by doing exactly that: contemportary white furnishing enhanced with the Rentivist Logo. Foil printed cocktail napkins with their cheeky slogans. And bright colors that instantly made the mood fun-loving.

I used this opportunity to really go colorful with the lights, which I wouldn’t do for a wedding. Designing for corporate gives me the chance to try different things. I’d say that these lights are very, very different than the twinkly wedding lights. Super fun, bright, and gave the party a feeling of a good time.

Here’s what the party looked like before the sun went down. Still fun, with the balloon installation in the pool and the Otomi fabric on the modern white tables. As the sky darkened, the palm trees were slowly lit to be bright and colorful to get the party started.

Gotta have hashtags. And they have to be prominent, easy to remember, and easy to find. Check out all the cool images here on instagram.

Huge thank you to all of our collaborators on this welcome party at the Be Sage Conference. Being the event designer at an event that was taking place internationally was a new challenge for me. Without these amazing businesses, it wouldn’t have came together as seamlessly and beautiful as it did.

I’m now taking on corporate clients for 2017 and 2018 events, conferences, brand launches, product parties, etc. Contact me to get started on your design process.

Event Planning: Sweet Pea Events

Event Design: Michelle Edgemont

Event Sponsor: Rentivist

Rentals: Del Cabo Event Design

Floral: Arete Florals

Stationery & Signage: Pink Champagne Paper

Photography: Barbie Hull

Video: Splendor Films

Photobooth: Booth-o-Rama

Blanket Gifts: Aisle Planner