Last time we spoke, I was planning South Florida Frocktails with my friend Dayana. Well, South Florida Frocktails was last Saturday night, and it was AMAZING!!! We had the best time, and it’s safe to say, so did our guests. This will probably be a South Florida Frocktails series because there is way too much to share in one blog post.
Leading Up to Frocktails
Leading up to the event, ticket sales slowed down and we were a little disappointed and happy all at the same time. We honestly thought we would sell out right away. I guess we had very high expectations for ourselves. At any rate, we ended up selling about 60 tickets and Dayana and I were beyond excited that all these people purchased tickets to attend OUR Frocktails! I will spare you all the details, but planning this event was literally a roller coaster of emotions. Neither one of us had ever attended a Frocktails event, so we really didn’t know what we were doing. All we knew was that we wanted this to be the Frocktails of all Frocktails. We wanted good food, music, drinks, and lots of raffle prizes. I think we accomplished what we set out to do, based on our guest’s response.
Things were stressful right up until the party started. Dayana and I went live on Instagram and share lots of behind-the-scenes info. You can watch it HERE. Since Mood closed at 5 PM, we really couldn’t do much until the store closed. Once the store closed to the public, we all went into action, set up mode. We didn’t find out the elevator was not working until we got there. That meant we had to carry all 24 chairs, 7 tables, 2 folding tables, all the drinks and prizes and gift bags up 2 flights of stairs. Then, the vendor we got the table and chairs from didn’t send a tool we needed to attach the tabletops to the base of the high tops. Thank goodness, Julio, the store manager had a tool with the piece we needed to put the tables together. Then, as I was making the wine spritzers, I opened a 2-liter bottle of Sprite and it explored ALL over me. It really took everything in me not to cry. I had to hold it together. It was 5:45 at this point and there was no time to cry. The show had to keep going! Once, we got the floor cleaned up and the spritzers made, we ran in the bathroom to change into our party clothes. Thank goodness hair and makeup was done. It was time to meet our guest.
A Night to Remember
Mood set up a backdrop which read Mood and the people who were already there were taking photos. As we walked down the stairs and walked into the store lobby was when it all hit me like a ton of bricks. We had pulled it off. All these people came from across the United States to come and party with US! Half of our guest flew into Miami to come to South Florida Frocktails. A wave of emotions came over me and I couldn’t help by cry. I get emotional just thinking about it. I didn’t want to ugly cry and mess up my make up, so I got myself together and walked around the room to greet the folks who were there. Once I made my way around the room to Dayana, we looked at each other and Dayana started to cry. lol It was a lot. We got our composure and ushered our guests upstairs to the party.
As folks walked upstairs, we had a table set up with bags labeled with all of our big prizes. They could drop their raffle tickets in the bags labeled with the prizes they wanted to win. Prizes ranged from a Janome sewing machine gifted by Tops Vacuum and Sewing, 2 Mimi G Oliso irons and so many other goodies. (More on that in another blog post.)
Once the music was playing and the drinks were flowing, it was time for our hand passed hor d’oeuvres. On the menu served by Bella Personal Chef, Catering & Event Design was:
- Columbian style steak empanada/chimichurri Sauce
- BBQ chicken skewer
- Miniature flat bread, arugula, goat cheese and fig
- Caprese skewer with mozzarella, tomato, and basil
- Churros and dulce de leche
- Chewy quadruple chocolate fudgy brownies
It was time for our first raffle of the night where we raffled off several PDF patterns and other prizes from our amazing sponsors. We let the folks party and mingle, then we had another raffle sponsored by our official sponsor, Mood Fabrics! This was for a $250 gift card to one lucky winner who answered several trivia questions correctly. We let the folks party some more and then it was time for yet another raffle. Once we completed that raffle, it was time for the 360 photo booth! I think this might have been the highlight of the evening for many of our guests. It was a lot of fun. Thanks to Jud Events for the 360 Photo Booth!
How could I almost forget about the fashion show?! Everyone who wanted to participate walked the runway strutting their stuff and showing off their amazing me made fashions. Everyone really looked fabulous, and I think that since we are all sewist and make our own clothes all the time, we take for granted just how talented we are! This was a talented group of people, and it was evident as they came down the runway showing off with pride what they had made especially for the event. That walkway surrounded by rows and rows of gorgeous fabric was THE perfect back drop.
We closed out the evening with a final raffle of all our big prizes. The big winner of the night was Nina who took home both big prizes. Nina took home the Janome sewing machine and the Mood $250 gift card. The funny thing is, Nina was our last sale to Frocktails. Congratulations Nina.
Not to sound like a Grammy speech, but some Thank Yous are in order. Dayana, my partner in crime. WE DID THAT! Thank you for going on this journey with me. Can’t wait to do it again next year. To our families, it really does take a village and we are so luck to have you all. Dayana’s husband and daughter registered all our guests, my husband was the bartender and Dayana’s son, and sister-in-law handled the drinks. A special shout out to Sherelle who flew in early to help us. Thank you, Mood, for believing in us and allowing us to host South Florida Frocktails in your beautiful store. The perfect space for a sewing party. To ALL of our sponsors, you all showed out and allowed us to raffle off some amazing gifts to our guest. Last, but not least, to our amazing guest. You all purchased tickets, plane tickets or drove hours and hotel rooms to the magic city to come and party at South Florida Frocktails. We would not have had a party with out YOU! You guys made it what it was, a night to remember.
OH, PS. Tricia from Creative Costume Academy is holding a master class tomorrow and is showing us all how to make the dress she wore to Frocktails. Make sure you sign up for her class and learn how to make this dress for FREE.99. Sign up HERE.
I leave you all with some pictures from the night and until the next post.
Johanna
