Ira + Lucy Event Design, Seattle Spring Gala

Boise is a city, but it certainly has a small town feel and we know the industry is wondering.... Is Ira + Lucy moving out of Boise? Nope! We are still based out of Boise and working hard as ever on our home base turf for our incredible clients with a very awesome team of creatives! I can't wait to introduce you to them all! We'll have brand new team profiles coming soon! So, stay tuned! So, what about this announcement on Instagram about Seattle and Portland? We are glad you are wondering and asking. Jonnathan and I are from WA and also lived in Portland for some time and do miss our more greener homes and are excited to have the opportunity to expand our service to meet the PNW markets. We'll be focusing on Event Design in those areas, while utilizing existing coordinators and rental companies already in place. So, yes, we are stationed in Boise, but we are serving clients in Portland and Seattle as well. We will continue to take a limited amount of events to ensure that our clients get our full attention and care. So, hope that clears any questions up for you. Have no fear Boise! We aren't leaving.

Seattle Spring Gala

The Children's Garden School "A Garden Life" Spring Gala

Now, let's chat about our recent event in Seattle! We were pleased to design "A Garden Life" Spring Gala for The Children's Garden School, in Issaquah at Blakely Hall Community Center. We focused on a classic green and white palette with organic touches. Details included custom throw pillows for the VIP Lounge, milk glass and vintage mason jar centerpieces, hand lettered signage, a French Garden photo booth station, and a beautiful food station featuring incredible catering from Zimmer and Co. Jonathan Zimmer is a renown chef in Seattle and was such a joy to work with him and his team. We adore having the chance to style catering stations to allow the catering to focus on what they do best and let us handle the styling, for a cohesive experience for the event.

Obviously, I'm going to be biased, but I thought our "photo booth" was so perfect! The guests LOVED the set up and were taking pics all night! I'm beginning to be very partial to a green and white palette. I just love it! "Fantine" settee from France worked her charm on the guests, perfectly accented with our vintage crates, lanterns, mason jars and planters. Now if only I'd put that much effort into our home patio! I need more plants!

Our attempt at organic styled floral design! In keeping with a tight "fundraising" budget, the Chair of the auction requested that we and some lovely volunteers pull together the floral centerpieces. I might say, it was pretty fun, but I would much rather have the professional florists handle the flowers!

P.S. you NEED to try Armstrong Family Wine! The Chardonnay was out of this world! I might add that the Gala raised about 35% over their goal!!!! Wahooo! I'd say we were successful! Inkling Calligraphy rocked the signage for us! She's a Texas sweetheart who's moved to Boise and we are so happy she's here!

Zimmer and Co.

Lissa, from Weddings with Lissa, did a great job handling the coordination for the auction logistics! We love working with other fabulous planners.

DIY Wood Pallet Wedding Projects

DIY Wood Pallet Wedding Projects

A former thrifty DIY Bride myself and now a Vintage Rental business owner and wedding designer, DIY is something we do often! And ohhh the lessons we have learned! Today we're sharing some tips for working with wood pallets. Hopefully we'll help you from a "Pinterest Fail".

TONS OF GREAT IDEAS of how to utilize recycled wood pallets are all over Pinterest and leading wedding blogs. You can check out some of our favorites! In the meantime, let's talk the reality of working with these puppies!

1. Wood Pallets are hella heavy! Enlist the help of your friends or fiance when working with wood pallets. They are super heavy and large! Think about what your use for them is going to be. A large pallet backdrop looks awesome, but you are really going to have to think through how you will prevent it from toppling over, especially if you are adding floral or other weighted decor to it.
2. Decide new vs old pallets. Is the end product going to look best with rustic upcycled wood pallets or would new be a better option. For us, we wanted not quite as rustic of a vibe old would offer, so we purchased new pallets and sanded the top of the boards down some for a smoother surface.
3. Disassembling wood pallets takes some sweat! Get your crow bar out! But, BEWARE! Removing the boards can also cause them to split where the nail was in place. Take your time, but realize you may split them during the process. I personally liked working with brand new pallets from a local wood pallet supply company. Also if you want your project symmetrical, like our wood backdrop, make sure you pick the most similar pallets, otherwise, like us... you'll be forced to disassemble them and rebuild them to match.
4. Staining wood pallets is a *^%#@ after the first attempt of staining wood pallets, I was ready to throw the project out! I was irritated, covered in stains and I was so sore from the crazy positions I had to put my body into to get to all those hard to reach places. So, here you go!

Insider Tip!

Do not stain with a brush! GET A SPRAY GUN! You'll blow (literally) through more stain this way, than doing it by hand, BUT, it'll take you less than 5 minutes vs 2 hours per pallet! Also, you need to cover the ground with more coverage than you see I did below... I killed some of my grass...

We LOVED this model we purchased from Lowes! The Wagner Opti Stain Plus for only $49.99! Keep in mind, it is for STAIN only! They have a different model if you are wanting to use paint. We used the Minwax Special Walnut from Home Depot for this project, which matches our custom bar.

Ira + Lucy Custom Wood Pallet Backdrop

Yes Dear. Studios

Ira + Lucy Matching Bar

Laken Fulton Photography

Hope this helps you with your wood pallet DIY projects! If this all seems like more work than you want to handle, you can rent for a fraction of the price! Contact us to rent our wood pallet backdrop!

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