Imperial Ballroom 2009 event

CFF site

Here is their site about the event.
http://www.grandchefsgala.com/

Lollipop Voting Center

This would be Yellow and Gold Ribbon and Fabric Twisted and Swirled together Starting at the Yellow brick road motif center. I would extend to the ceiling in an elegant way supported by the large lollipops which double as signage to direct guests and voters to the voting boxes located here.

Square Table Ideas

Red Poppie Balls of Various Sizes with Branches and Many Green (Emerald) jewels hanging and glistening off the branches

Table Ideas

Meeting

Hi everybody,
Thanks for coming to our meeting today. I think we have some really awsome ideas.
I will talk to Amy about the center piece and if it has to be a "voting area" at the same time.

I am posting the sketches that Brian Naglich did, wonderful job Brian.

We will meet next Thursday, October 21, in room 106.

Demetra

Great posts

Great posts everybody, keep them coming.
Demetra

Meeting

Let's meet next Thursday, October 14, room 106 at 12:00.
Everybody please bring your sketches so we can brainstorm...
See you then
Demetra

staircase and chefs' room

I like that the ideas for the main ballroom focus on the actual Emerald City theme. So I was thinking that maybe we could touch on other parts of the story in the surrounding locations.

Staircase: Perhaps setting the tone for the Wizard of Oz theme, we could create clouds that wrap the staircase like a tornado and then have a mini-house extended into the air at the top of the staircase.

In the ballroom where the chefs set up, there is a table on which the focal point must sit. Because it is in the center of a busy room, it has to be somewhat substantial to stand out. Maybe creating a scene like munchkin land with the lollipop kids would be interesting. This is also where people cast votes for the chefs - we could use fake flower petals (or lollipops) for voting markers and tiny mailboxes for the containers.

Tin man

I found these instructions online about how to make a tin man...may be helpful if we need to :-)


Tin man instructions

Graham Rawle’s Wizard of Oz collage

This artist has been working for two years on his version of the Emerald City. Pretty amazing detail, check it out!

Graham Rawle’s Emerald city

Conceptual ideas

The Wizard is a really interesting character and probably one of my favorites. As the ruler of the Land of Oz he used magic and trickery to present himself to the people in many different forms.

I really like the part in the book (which doesn’t make it into the movie) where the wizard admits that the Emerald City is not actually Emerald. In order to protect the people from city’s splendor he convinces them to wear Emerald tinted glasses.

This use of magic and trickery could be an interesting concept to focus on. We could create a yellow brick road through the hallway, which could lead up to the city inside the imperial ballroom. The city could look emerald from the outside, but on the inside it could be vibrant, colorful, and magical.

Idea 1

We could create centerpieces out of tiered potion bottles filled with rainbow colored liquids (kind of like a cupcake tier but without the stand). We could use LED lights to make the liquid glow.

Sketch:



eBay sells small reasonably priced potion bottles that could work for this type of thing:




We could use more interesting shaped 'magic' bottles as accents throughout the venue. For example, on the auction or buffet tables:




Idea 2

We could create chandeliers or light accents from old glasses lenses. We could use green led lights to make these look green tinted. The lenses would reflect the light and create a really interesting effect.



There is a London based designer- Stuart Haygarth- who does something similar to this really effectively:



Idea 3

We could create a scene on stage with the wizard and his hot air balloon, illustrating the final part of the book where the wizard leaves the Land of Oz. This balloon could be multi-colored and 'magical' looking.





With this scene we also have the option of creating the rest of the characters...maybe waving goodbye?

Prefunction area -International Ballroom

Prefunction area- Imperial Ballroom

Main staircase- first level

International Room

Fairmont Hotel meeting

Natalie, Desmond (new member of our team) and I met with the catering director Wayne and Kim from CFF on Thursday at the Fairmont Hotel. It was a great meeting where Wayne answered a lot of our questions. He showed us the linens that he uses, the black will work but we have to look for an overlay elsewhere.
There is no problem with storage rooms.
As far as setting up the day before, we will know one month in advance if the rooms are available.
We will work with their lighting designer once our design is more formulated.
We could do something at the grand staircase.
We will be dealing with two rooms. The International Ballroom where we will design the central piece as well as the hallway (mostly walls-they need the floor space).
The Imperial Ballroom where 50 or so tables will be set up for dinner. In the front of the room at the entry points they will set up auction tables as well as a bar. The back part of the room has the stage, so we need to think of a backdrop related to the concept. I will show you the floor plans at our next meeting.
I am posting some pictures of the spaces that we visited.
The budget questions were not answered, I have to talk to the CFF people.

Can everybody meet this Thursday, same time in room 106?

Additional Ideas:

Incorporate horses? Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Lion are taken into the Emerald City via horse and buggy. The horse keeps changing color. Is there something we can do with this?

An idea to use a large, tall glass vase and use it as a dimly lit lamp. (it's possible, I saw something like it online). Incorporate an emerald green lamp shade and emerald beading.

An idea in the main ballroom to drape emerald green fabric from the ceiling to give the true feeling of being engulfed in an emerald room.

Concept 3: A more modern take on the poppy. Uses scientific test tubes as individual vases for each flower to form a single, large vase, the center of which will be filled with emerald cubes. Each individual vase will be tied with an emerald ribbon.

Concept 2: Incorporate decorative "sticks" to look like trees from the woods since Emerald City appears as Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Lion exit the woods on their journey.

Small leaves will be on the branches. Emerald colored shiny beads will be draped over the branches and will hang off of the "trees" like Christmas tinsel. Votive candles will also be placed on the tables.

Concepts

Concept 1: Emerald colored votive candle holders hung from ceiling/poppy floral bouquets. Will emit emerald glow throughout the room.