24th Birthday Celebration!!!! 1/22/11

I received a call about 4 p.m. on Wednesday January 19 from a gentleman wanting to know how fast I could put a party together. My first question was, "When are you wanting to have this party?" His response was "Saturday January 22". My mind immediately goes in to motion as to how and where this was going to happen and who I would need to call to work this out. I asked him a few questions about what the party was for and what he would like to accomplish at the party. He explained that it was his 24th birthday and wanted a very fun night for all his closest friends and family. He is just recently out of the military and has not been home to celebrate his birthday since he joined. He made it clear that he needed me to handle everything for him from finding the venue and vendors, down to set up and clean up. I asked him if I could give him a call back withing the hour. Obviously my first call was to find a location, and I sure was lucky there. My first call was to Swan Lake Golf Course Club House. The nice lady who I spoke with on the phone went over the policies and the rental rate and wow, how affordable in comparison to the other venues in town. I set up an appointment with her the following day to sign the contract and reserve the room. Next came finding a bartender (number one request was open bar with a lot of options) DJ (number two request was great music with karaoke) and catering (number three was to have drinking food). I knew to call Marcus with Scott's Bartending. He is my go to guy on any occasion large or small when I need someone great to handle all the alcohol needs. He is so easy to work with and can manage to go above and beyond on any budget. When it came to music I like to find a DJ that has variety and also lighting options so it combines what would normally be two vendors into one. DJ Folley with Big Fish Entertainment is so affordable on his DJ rates and has a huge selection of lighting, probably more options than anyone in Clarksville. I knew he could handle the requests from Josh , the birthday boy, as well as all my lighting requests for the decor. When it comes to food, I must say that I absolutely love Leesa at Relish. She really impressed me with a few tastings in the past few months and the selection they have to offer is endless. When I told her I needed good drinking food, she knew exactly what I meant. We came up with pulled pork sandwhiches, mini ham and turkey clubs, homemade salsa and a cheese and cracker spread. Once I had all of the three requests covered I called Josh back to let him know it could definitely happen and let him know what all I had found. He was very impressed that in 45 minutes I had pulled together this party he had been wanting to plan for quite some time. We met for the first time the next day to sign the contracts and take care of all the business stuff. I wanted to know what he thought for centerpieces and he said "just something cool, but nothing girly with flowers". That I knew I could handle. My next question to him was about a birthday cake, he had not mentioned it. I knew that I would call Heather at Covered With Icing to fulfill my very quick order, but I needed to know what kind of cake he liked. Red velvet was his only request and I knew that Heather's red velvet was THE BEST!!! Saturday rolled around and it was time to kick it in party mode. (It was the second day in a row for me, my birthday was actually the day before and I had my own celebration of sorts.) Everything quickly came together and before I knew it everything was set up and Josh had arrived with his friends and family. They had such a great time. From singing and dancing to taking shots and playing beer pong they really enjoyed their night. From "flaming B52 shots" and "something fruity where I can't taste the alcohol" Marcus rocked the bar and Folley kept the fun music going all night. I was sure it was a success. I was of course worn out Sunday from to consecutive late nights, but it was a short little text message from Josh himself that made all the tiredness go away, "thanks again for everything I had a great time, I am referring you to my friends". This may have been the quickest I have pulled an event together but I always love a challenge. Happy Birthday Josh and thank you for choosing me to make your plans happen.