We Heart Holidays

‘Tis the season.

These days, the “season” that many people refer to basically stretches from Halloween until New Year’s Day — a solid 62 days (and sometimes more) of parties, costumes, hi-jinx, eating, drinking and being merry. And we here at SUM Booth are here to participate in all of that right along with you.

This year, we kicked off the season in grand fashion at a Halloween house party just north of San Diego. When you think of a house party, you may imagine kegs, black lights and Chex mix — or perhaps you think of the 90′s classic movie franchise starring Kid n’ Play — but let me assure you, neither of those stereotypes were true (although we do love Chex mix). Put together by Jennifer Molloy of Amoré Events, this was on the scale of a Hampton’s house party or an opulent backyard wedding, anchored by a huge tented dance floor which you had to access via a Haunted Trail. Mix in some giant ice carvings, a full catered spread, enough candy to make a dentist salivate, and a costume contest — and let’s be frank, if SUM Booth is in attendance, you know it has to be a good party.

Positioned right at the entrance, guests stopped by for a photo op before they embarked on the Haunted Trail and into the party itself. We then had the photos available for guests to take home with them as they departed, since we all know that a lot of these costumes don’t exactly have a lot of pockets or places to hold photos while partying. When it was all said and done, every guest got to take home a photo to remember the night, and what their costume looked like before the face paint started to run.

Want to bring some SUM Booth fun to one of your holidays events? Don’t be shy and get in touch ASAP, because dates tend to fill up quick!

I Need a Hero

At SUM Booth, we have are typical roster of events that we usually handle — sporting events, trade shows, weddings, private parties, and 3-year old Super Hero birthday parties.

Oh, you didn’t know we cornered the illustrious 3-year old Super Hero birthday party market? Well now you do. Really, would you expect otherwise?

Obviously, we aren’t going to post dozens of photos of toddlers (how can they sign a model release if they can’t even write their name yet?), but we did want to share a sample that we took while setting up — because frankly, it turned out pretty awesome. We did some on-the-spot Photoshop wizardry to make it look like all the pint-sized Super Heroes were actually in flight, adding motion blurs and blending areas to imply speed, and then delivered the photos in trading card format, complete with Super Hero name on the front and stats on the back. I never knew that Super Heroes weaknesses included Kryptonite and bed time, did you?

In conclusion, it was probably the coolest take-away in the history of 3-year old birthday parties. That is, of course, until we work your soon-to-be 3 year old’s upcoming birthday party.

Riders on the Storm

Here’s a practice SAT question for you:

Superman is to kryptonite, as SUM Booth is to ________.

a) awesome  b) radical  c) water  d) puppies

Look, I’m no Mr. Wizard (or Bill Nye, for the younger generation), but the one thing I do know is that electricity and H2O are not best buds. We have no problem working outdoor events and have faced everything from extreme cold to extreme winds — even snow — but unless we’re under a huge canopy or tent, rain is an issue. Luckily, with our two primary service areas being sunny Southern California and (unfortunately) drought-stricken Central Texas, exposure to water in the form of rain isn’t really an issue.

Jinx.

When heading off to San Antonio for an outdoor event for Comdata and Event Logistics, rain was the last thing on my mind. It was the 104 degree heat, spiking right around our start time, that was the thing I was dreading the most. With that in mind, I made sure we had more than enough time to get everything set up, actually arriving 3 hours in advance to ensure a slow-paced process. So, fast-forward 2 hours and about 2 gallons of sweat later, something dark and ominous starts appearing on the not-so-distant horizon.

Yeah, those are storm clouds. If we were Superman, it was the equivalent of kryptonite the size of an iceberg, or Kim Kardashian’s engagement diamond (I forget which is bigger). Anyhow, this wasn’t looking good.

After hasty discussions, it was decided that the entire event would have to be moved indoors on the other side of the resort. Let me just say something right off the bat, it normally takes us anywhere from 60-90 minutes to set-up and test all of our equipment to ensure that everything is good to go. I looked at my watch and saw that it was an hour til start time, got a little light-headed, took a big gulp and told my assistant Claudia, “uhhh, ok, let’s do this.”

After moving at a pace that rivaled Dash from the Incredibles, we broke down all the equipment, loaded it up in the car, drove around the resort, unloaded the car, wheeled it up to the ballroom, set-up and tested everything — all within an hour. In all honesty, I didn’t think it was possible, but we did it, even leaving enough time for me to change into something respectable (and dry) in the bathroom before going live.

Now, although this post has been pretty SUM-centric (it is our blog, afterall), I must give huge props to the staff of the JW Marriott Hill Country and all the other vendors and planners as well. They were completely set up and ready to go outdoors until Hurrican Fubar decided to roll in, and had to transform an empty ballroom into themed dining room in the same amount of short time. Also a huge thanks goes out to my assistant Claudia who got tossed into a little more manual labor than usual, and did so with a smile on her face the whole time.

When it was all said and done, the guests arrived at 7pm and had no clue as to the chaos that had just occurred an hour earlier, and in the end, that’s all that matters. In this industry, it’s all about the guests and the service we provide, and sacrificing some sweat (hey, there weren’t any tears, ok!) is a welcome trade for a job well done. Sometimes life throws you a curveball, and you can do one of two things — watch the ball sail right past you and strike out, or, learn how to hit a curve!

As expected, everyone loved the photos we provided, and we actually went a half-hour longer because people just wanted to keep taking more and more. The lights went on, the bar closed up, but we still had a crowd around us, and I’d like to think that alone is a pretty good testament to our ability to hit a curve.

One Whale of a Wedding

When we design our photo templates, we usually have an idea on how people are going to interact with the elements in the design. The thing is, once you get on location and people start taking photos, the element of “one-upmanship” comes into play, the creative juices start flowing (and sometimes alcoholic libations) and all of a sudden.. it’s a whole new ballgame.

Before we get into that, let me first comment on the beauty of the location and the overall scene of the Geller wedding in Pebble Beach. The wedding was held at a private residence with one of the most dramatic views I’ve ever seen from the backyard (see below for a photo that doesn’t do it justice). Produced by Colette Cuccia, the wedding ceremony and reception were held in the same area, with a decor, lighting and ambiance transformation that occurred while guests were dining. Once dinner was over, that’s where we came in.

Going into the reception, we had designed two photo options that were suggested by the bride — a retro Pebble Beach golf course and whale watching. Wanting to provide some flexibility with the photographs, we designed the golf option as a more straight-forward shot, and the whale watching design was created in a way that allowed some more interaction. The design allowed guests to stand on the bow of a boat with a whale kicking it’s tail up just beyond them. Perhaps if they were feeling creative, they could pull off a little Leo “I’m the king of the world!” action or touch the whale’s tail — but like I foreshadowed, I underestimated the creativeness of the Geller’s friends and family.

It all started with two younger guests wanting to have a photo where one of them was in the water being rescued by the other on the boat. Easy enough, and the photo actually turned out pretty cool. Before I knew it, I had people hanging onto the whale for dear life, people drowning in the water, folks getting thrown off-board the boat, and others getting seasick — and I loved every minute of it.

The spontaneity of the guests combined with the creativeness of the designs create an experience you can’t really get anywhere else — and that’s why we do what we do at SUM Booth.