When I’m looking forward to something, my imagination paints a picture about what it will feel like, taste, smell, play out. Now, mind you, I have a very hyperactive imagination, but the Inspire Smart Success Experience was beyond anything I could have ever imagined! My talented friend, Lauren Harper Grove of Every Last Detail and new friend (thanks to Lauren and ISSE), Caroline Smith of CSE Photography decided to car pool and room together for this event. Let’s just say that it was an unforgettable adventure, right ladies? We stayed at the Waldorf  Astoria, where the ISSE event was held. Brides, this gorgeous hotel is a beautiful setting for an elegant and artsy wedding and we had a great experience on our stay. The evening of our arrival was the welcome party and what gal doesn’t like to get dolled up and mingle?! I met some amazing women, had fabulous conversations, and had my first inspire-tini! Delish! I have to thank Staci Francombe (founder of ISSE) for so much, but especially for creating the opportunity to finally meet two of my favorite online peeps, the fabulous wedding planner/coordinator,  April Dorsey of The D-Tales and the super-talented photographer, Garrett Frandsen, along with all the other talented individuals at this event! The Get Published and Get on TV ISS panel consisted of Diann Valentine, Tiffany Cook, exectutive producer-Dave Francombe, Leigh Duncan-editor of Orlando Weddings Magazine, Karlena Wallace-editor of Stiletto Woman Media, and Lauren Harper Grove-editor of the online blog, Every Last Detail. The knowledge, advice, and experience that Stacie and the panel provided was beyond overwhelming! To say that I left ISSE inspired is an understatement! I loved how approachable everyone was, how interactive the talks were, and the smooth flow of the day! Add in the mix the vivid and alluring colors, amazing details, yummy delicacies, the best vendors working together and a fun-filled atmosphere-you have one heck of a party!

I seriously wish I could attend every ISS experience! I recommend all entrepreneurs attend and experience this for themselves. Stacie also offers mentoring sessions, so contact her for more information!

A HUGE thank you to everyone involved in this amazing experience and to Stacie, for this wonderful opportunity!

Update: You can watch a recap film created by Key Moments Productions here.

Vendors:
The D-Tales
Diann Valentine
Waldorf Weddings
Every Last Detail
Orlando Wedding
Wrapped Couture
DJ Carl Entertainment
Over the Top Rental Linens
Cupcake Jubilee
Bottle Your Brand
Flourish Floral Productions – Event, Wedding and Floral Design
Sweet Maralyn’s Chocolates
Amy Raith Artistry
The Paper Shop, Inc.
A Chair Affair, Inc.
Our DJ Rocks
Natural Impression Design
Key Moments Productions
Christopher Confero

We are thrilled to be part of NACE, a professional society that provides resources to better serve our clients, networking opportunities to meet with the best wedding professionals in the Tampa Bay area and ways to expand our knowledge. Last week’s event was held at the gorgeous Vinoy Renaissance in St.Pete. It was our second time attending a NACE event and it was great meeting new faces and catching up with some of our favorite wedding pros! The night was filled with delicious food, great conversations, a stunning display from MMD‘s vintage collection (which we will be featuring in a part II of this post tomorrow) and much more. The topic of the evening was the elements of floral design. We learned about scale, the art of floral design, and how an experienced floral designer can help you make your floral dreams a reality. The best part of the night was putting into practice the information that the floral expert shared. Every table was given certain elements to create a client’s dream floral arrangement, while implementing the design principles we just learned. From the images, I’m sure you will see how much fun and what creative pros we have in the bay area! The evening ended with judges choosing the winning table and some fun raffles.

We photographed the event for NACE and here are some of our favorite images from the evening. Enjoy!

Vendor Credits:

Venue: Vinoy Renaissance

Linens: Connie Duglin

Flowers and Speaker – Ian Prosser /Botanica

Lounge vintage pieces: MMD Events

Drapery, lounge areas, chairs: Showorks

The vivid colors, the Indian vibes that just seeped into your skin and made you want to move your body in that mesmerizing rhythm, the gorgeous one-of-a-kind pieces by K.Hendrix…I just can’t seem to pick my favorite part of Vertical Tampa Bay Magazine’s So Not Sari event at PUSH Ultra Lounge! The fashion show was absolutely stunning with 12 unique pieces by Kimberly Hendrix that were auctioned later in the evening with fifty percent of the proceeds benefiting a local organization that assists homeless children in our Tampa Bay area. Khaled & I had such a great time meeting new faces, enjoying some delicious dishes by Puff ’n Stuff Catering and taking in the stunning roof-top view of downtown St. Pete! A huge thanks to Leslie, the publisher and creative director of Vertical, for inviting us to be part of this event and for all she does to share the beauty of our community! We were honored to share our evening with these amazing people, not only because it benefits children in need of care and homes, but also because of the story of generosity behind the event. The guest of honors, the amazing ladies that donated the Sari fabrics so that Kimberly could create her magical pieces, set off a domino effect of kindness that I hope continues on and on, past our community and into the hearts of many!

Khaled was able to take some quick shots of the night to share with our readers and to remind us of how much fun we had that night! Enjoy!

P.S. This awesome cd (and flower) was a gift to the attendees that night and I have been playing it in my car ever since! It’s addicting! CD mix created by: Son Of Maestro

This birthday celebration had Miami Vice written all over it! :) We were stoked to work an event again with Kania Coley & her team from  The Complet Package , and we couldn’t have asked for a better venue than the fabulous Tampa Bay History Center. These beautiful gals at TCP (you can see them on the last image below) did an outstanding job! We are sure Brian, the birthday boy & family had an amazing time!

Here’s a sneak preview of the night! ;)

In the past, We’ve worked and collaborated on a couple of projects with Tampa Wonderworks, the amazing cinematographers/film makers, Bryan & Tracey! When Bryan contacted us to work together with an awesome team (“Leftover Films” team) on a Film Project called 48-hour Film Project, we were very excited and couldn’t wait to get started! The 48-hour film project is an international film competition and it’s about creating a fim in 48 hours given a couple of elements at the kick-off party (see image below)! and when I say creating, I mean writing, casting, shooting, editing, and producing in 48 hours! :) Though we had a couple of road bumps and no sleep, we had the best time ever putting together our creativity and artistic skills to accomplish such an amazing project and couldn’t have asked for a better or more talented team!

On Friday night, we received our genre, character, prop, and the line of dialogue and with the amazing team work, we were able to submit the film just on time on Sunday night! Everyone dedicated his and her time and efforts and though we can’t summarize in one blog post all the amazing happenings from the weekend, the slideshow below shows a lot of great memories, talented team members and a unforgettable experience we had! Also, we were able to watch all (Tampa – St. Pete.) participating teams’ films at the screening in Channelside in Tampa, FL on Wednesday and were nominated for audience award! Check out below the film’s poster designed by Tracey, we were super excited to see one of our action shots chosen as part of the poster image!

We (Mariana & Khaled) love to take a moment and thank everyone for their efforts and commitment! It was such a pleasure to work with each one of the team members and our best wishes to everybody!

As of today, the judges have not announced the winners yet! We should hear from them soon and we’ll let everyone know ASAP!

We are also happy to invite you to watch the film below, but before you watch it, here are the elements that we had to work with:

- Genre: Buddy Film
- Character: Diego or Dolores Florio, Tourism Worker
- Line of Dialog: “That’s not what I meant”
- Prop: Bathing Suit

These rockin’ T-shirts were printed by Big Frog displaying one of our action shots used for the poster (taken by Mariana)

From the left: Amy Fox, Bryan Coward, Tracey Daugherty-Coward, Khaled Mosli, and Natalie Campisi at the screening in Channelside in Tampa, FL.

“Fugitive Hunters” Smart. Stealthy. Tipped Off. from Tampa Wonderworks Films on Vimeo.

Starring – Bobby Black
Heath Blackwood and
Jessica Wyckoff

Directed by – Tracey Coward
Produced by – Bryan Coward
Written by – Natalie Campisi
Director of Photography – Bryan Coward
Editor – Bryan Coward
Asst. Director – Khaled Mosli
Production Coordinator – Erica Petramala
Hair and Makeup – Holly Nazario
Still Photographer – Mariana Mosli