Kate Landers Events

We are so honored and excited to have one of the sweetest, most gracious, talented women we have had the pleasure of connecting with. She has selflessly given her time to us give us some amazing guidance and direction for our business. She has such a graceful, timeless and elegant style not only to her work but to her personal character. We are talking about the one and only Kate Landers! We are in awe of Kate and her talent and are thrilled to have her on our blog today.
Icing: What was one of your favorite projects that you have worked on?

Kate: It is hard to select a favorite! I would absolutely say that a stand out was my Mystical Mermaid {Signature Party}, working with so many talented designers and artists to help bring the party design to life (many thanks to the client who requested a non-traditional party design that allowed me the chance to create the party, as well as to my photographer Andrea of Open Shade Studios who captured it beautifully!).

Icing: With so much inspiration out there how do you start planning a party...How do you get from inspiration to final project?

Kate: I first want to take a moment to soak in the wonderful, I mean truly *amazing* point you just made: there is a LOT of inspiration out there. I am thrilled to hear this and see this.

This recent surge of staged children's parties and dessert table photo shoots, as well as more moms starting their own blogs and sharing their own children's amazing parties (even in facebook photo albums), is truly remarkable.

I feel that there is a lot more out there now for parents looking for inspirational ideas for their children's parties, than there was even a year ago. Astounding, and for me personally, it provides an amazing sense of joy.

To answer your question about how to get from inspiration to final project, I am afraid my answer would be pages long! I will, however, share with you a bit of news!

I will be running a week-long mini series entitled "Kate Landers' Children's Party Design Advice" and I have very detailed and descriptive blog posts lined up to discuss this very topic. You are the first to hear it officially! It will run the week of February 14th, so stay tuned...

A bit of advice for your lovely readers... When you are in the beginning stages of trying to come up with a theme, ask your child what they want! They are the true inspiration for the celebration, and the theme should be something that makes their heart sing!

Once you and your child have selected the theme {of course this advice only applies to children old enough to speak and understand}, using a color-scheme (I suggest 2-3 colors) to reinforce your theme can be incredibly helpful. Have a game plan. Incorporate the theme throughout the details, from invitations and cake design to party favors and activities. Allow yourself more time than you expect to set up and prepare for the party.

I have much more advice on the topic coming up, so I hope you might be able to stop by and enjoy it! {www.katelandersevents.blogspot.com} (This is from the Marie Antoinette Party that Kate designed...gorgeous!)




Icing: Who are some people that have inspired you or influenced your work?

Kate: Wow. What a great question! Children are a tremendous source of inspiration for me, as well as a great influence on my work.

I am incredibly inspired by my father who has taken big risks and followed his dream (establishing a tuition-free, highly innovative college).

I love designing parties that are based on fairytales and storybooks, so each author and illustrator has inspired me greatly.

I have a passion for design and creating and styling parties for children, as well as passion for business and entrepreneurship. Therefore I am inspired by women in both realms--successful businesswomen, and successful designers.

My husband inspires me, my family inspires me. God is my greatest inspiration of all.
(We love this Wizard of Oz Party! Kate created this party along with the help of Kim from the TomKat Studio (paper goods) and Jess of Pen N' Paper Flowers (silhouette).

Icing: Other than creating gorgeous parties can you tell us one interesting fact about yourself.

Thank you for that most generous compliment! Your great admiration of my work and kindest words about it bring me great joy!

An interesting fact might be my strong performance background (and may explain my passion for styling shoots--mini stages if you will). I was a ballet dancer for over 17 years of my life, and also performed a lot of theater--in particular Shakespeare.

I adore Shakespeare's work, and it took working with some theater experts to truly grasp how to read, understand and then perform his plays.

(The Nutcracker party Kate created a few months ago, was nothing short of breathtaking!)

Icing: Do you have any tricks up your sleeve to help people who have not created many parties of their own that would like to give it a try?

Yet another wonderful question. I will be sharing MANY, many ideas in my advice series the week of February 14th on my blog. However, some tips I always love to share are:

1) Keep your child's party small and intimate. It helps prevent stress for the hostess, birthday child and their guests. It also can greatly reduce the cost of the party, or allow you more wiggle room with your budget.

2) Involve your child in the party planning process {when they are old enough}. Party planning can be a wonderful creative outlet, and it has been my experience that they can really enjoy being a part of it.

3) Keep your expectations realistic. Professional photography is spectacular. Professional children's event planners and stylists often have a lot of experience.

Just as you would enjoy the rooms in a Pottery Barn Kids catalog or stunning cakes and floral arrangements in Martha Stewart Living {I mention these two because I LOVE and highly recommend both!}, enjoy professionally photographed and styled children's parties the same way.

Remember that they are designed and styled by experts, to look the way they do on that page or screen for a reason--soak it in, enjoy these images for what they are, maybe find inspiration from them!

And if you do want your party to look more like the inspirational images you see in publications, hire an excellent professional photographer to capture your party--you may be amazed at how stunning it really is! You may also want to enlist a professional event planner the first time around if you have it in your budget to do so, and high expectations.

Remember: At the end of the day, what matters most is that your child felt truly adored and celebrated.
(Look at this beatuiful Woodland Fairy Birthday party...so magical!)




Icing: Do you have any exciting projects for 2011 that you can share?

Yes! You will be seeing my work in some wonderful national print publications soon, which I am more than thrilled about!

Thank you so much Kate! We are just smitten with you and are so excited to see and hear about all of the wonderful things that are happening for you!

Oh thank you for this opportunity! I am truly honored and humbled, thank you dearly!!!