Before and After!

Not every event has the luxury of a million dollar budget or anywhere near that especially in times like these. On several occasions we've worked with clients who have "champagne tastes on beer budgets" but no matter we always do our best to come up with creative and smart ways to stretch that penny. Here are a couple of before and after pictures of rooms where we really used our brains, resources, and two hands!

A college faculty lounge

Before:

After:
Before:
okay you caught me, really after the after during breakdown but you get the idea!

After:
HELPFUL TIP: Lighting and table cloths, lighting and tablecloths - these items make the most impact in a room. I'm no financial advisor but I do know this, invest in decorations that visually take up the most surface area and which cost the least per square inch if you think about it.

A backyard tent

Before:After:
BORROW THIS IDEA: In the same idea of going for the items that cover the biggest surface, we chose a colored astroturf over the standard black to add to the room decor. Also the very affordable pink napkins ($0.60 each) helped to bring a pop of color to the tables as do the very economical paper lanterns. Also we had a few extra table cloths so we turned them into curtains - aren't we resourceful :). I felt like Scarlett O'Hara but opposite. In some cases we'll even get cheap yards of fabric and pin them directly over unappealing existing curtains. Oh I spoiled the next case!

A mess hall

Before:

After:
BORROW THIS IDEA: We pinned $1/yard red fabric over the not-so-wonderful-print curtains. The venue liked it so much that they asked if we could leave it up. We were thrilled we didn't have to climb the ladders and unpin them :)

HELPFUL TIP: Before you borrow this idea, make sure your venue is cool with you pinning into their curtains.