The Dreadful Word

Hello World.. What a time to be alive. The world is at a standstill. Fear. Anxiety. Uncertainty. Death. Sickness. Panic. Lockdown. These are the words that have gripped our daily lives.  Overnight, our lives were turned upside down and came to a halt. Nobody knows when this will end and when we can go back to normal. I don’t think our normal will be the old normal. I think we will have a new normal where we will appreciate every little kiss, hug, food, friends, family, taking a walk, a touch. The dreadful word has forced us to stop. Stop and Appreciate. I have always been a positive person and seeing the good in every bad etc.. but this has really ripped my positivity apart. I heard about similar situations in the past or hear about things of this sort to come in the future but never, have I thought that myself and my family would actually live through something like this.

Despite this chaos, I strongly believe that God is in power. Nothing happens without His Will. I believe that for every disease He has created, there is a cure. I feel like God saw us all so engulfed in our daily lives, working so hard trying our best to be everything to everyone that He decided to press the reset button on earth. I know that some weeks, I have so many events that I am not even present in my day to day. I am just so focused on ensuring that these events goes off without a hitch that everything else becomes a blur. I remember a couple of years ago, I had a really difficult client who had an unlimited budget for his event. If he wanted something he had to have it at any cost. I didn’t realise the pressure he put me under until a week before his event I ended in hospital due to stress. I had multiple events that week and his was the one that needed all my attention. Yet there I was laying on a hospital bed even more stressed out. The doctors refused to discharge me and I had to discharge myself. I knew I needed a break from it all, but my work would not allow it. So now I am forced to sit at home and reflect. I miss my work. I miss setting up events and I miss seeing the joy in my client’s eyes. That first look when they walk into the venue is always the best and most truthful. The tears that follow afterwards are priceless. I miss it all.

On the other hand, I am happy that I have a reason to do nothing without the guilt of doing nothing. I am happy that I can finally finish the stack of books on my bedside table. I am happy that I can watch a movie with my kids at 2pm in the afternoon or play monopoly for 4 hours without worrying about an email that I need to respond to or a quote that I need to send out. I am happy that I can go back to the kitchen and cook and bake, a passion of mines that took a backseat since I got so busy with work and life. Maybe I needed this standstill. Maybe my kids needed me to be at a standstill. So while this dreadful word has taken over our lives and forced us to come at a grinding halt, I will enjoy every moment I have without worrying about the future. I know it’s easier said than done but I am putting all this in God’s hand and staying positive that on the other side of this dreadful word, there will be more lavish parties and amazing celebrations because we will all come out of this appreciating life and the power and beauty of being together laughing, hugging, kissing, and touching.

Corporate High-End Five Day Event

So let’s throwback to this amazing high end corporate event we had the absolutely pleasure of planning and executing. My client who is from America found me on Instagram and insisted that I style these events for her. She directed her team to get in touch with me and get planning. We started planning these multiple events 7 months before it took place and it was a total of 10 events for the week. We had to style 5 gala dinners for 200 delegates from around the world as well as 5 intimate VIP dinners for around 30 people. Each day was a different theme or colour scheme. My client was so amazing that she fulfilled all of my event planning goals for 2019. She gave me complete creative freedom and trusted my judgement. In turn, I played around with different colour combinations and flower styles, lighting etc.. I won’t delve too much into the details – Rather scroll down and have a look for yourself what a wonderful experience the Outlandish Events team had during these five days. In this blog we are posting Day 1 for ease of reference. The rest of this Corporate high end event will be posted separately on our blog.

We are operational during lockdown – Corporate High End Event

We fully support our President in his decision to lockdown the country however due to the nature of our business, we can still work online. We are still having online consultations with our clients for future events. We can’t plan and have parties for now, but we can surely start planning the future events. We understand that your dates needs to be flexible around the pandemic so we are complete on board with that. Pop us a mail info@outlandishevents.co.za and let’s see how we can put the spark back in your life with an out of this world event experience. We have always recommended planning your event at least 3 months before it’s happening so now will be the perfect time. For brides, we are happily taking 2021 / 2022 bookings so please email us on weddings@outlandishevents.co.za – let us have a look at your vision board, let’s consult via skype and we will put together costing for you.

Day 1 – VIP Dinner in Black, White and Gold