Saturday, June 6th marked a HUGE millstone for Evan and Company. We celebrated our 50th Wedding. It’s hard to believe that 2 years ago I decided to leave my full time job and take a leap of faith.
I’m not gonna lie, it’s been tough. Really tough. Running a business is hard. Being a boss is hard. Hustling to make ends meet it hard but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Being able to live out my dream is feeling like no other. If you would’ve asked be 3 years ago if I thought I would be were I am today, I would’ve told you No. Maybe even a HECK NO. I was content shooting weddings (as a photographer) and being a full time studio manager at KBP.
I had always dream of running by own business. Mom worked briefly in a flower shop when I was younger, so I grew up tagging along some afternoons. My sister is an incredible artist. She can draw and paint like nobodies business and my Dad is a handy carpenter/builder/Mr. Fix-It, so I always imagined that my career path would in someway be creative, but no necessarily a floral and event designer.
In honor of our 50th Wedding we pulled together a super fun shoot to celebrate. Complete with champagne, glittery hats, party horns a TONS of balloons.
We have some pretty exciting things in the works for Evan and Company and can’t wait to share them with you guys. If all goes at planned our NEW (teeny tiny) retail space should be opened (Fingers Crossed) by July.
Thanks to everyone from the bottom of my heart who has shared in my journey, cheered me on and continued to support and believe in me. I know it sounds cliche, but it means more than you know. I couldn’t do what I do without the FANTASTIC clients that put their trust in us. Happy 50th Evan and Co.
50
2014 Favorite Things Day 3
This holiday season has been nothing but a blurry rush. I honestly don’t remember everything being so GO, GO, GO in years past. My apologies for not staying on top Favorite Things. But no worries, I am here and ready to give.
Remember, if you’re just now catching on the Favorite things bandwagon, you can catch DAY 1 or DAY 2 by clicking the links. There’s still time to enter.
If any of you follow my Instagram feed, you know I’m pretty infamous for my #SundaySocks posts. I LOVE a good pair of graphic socks and in honor of our “guys night” this past weekend with consisted of a 2am run to Krispy Kreme, I figured these socks were perfect for today’s giveaway. These doughnuts socks aren’t a fancy name brand or anything special, but they are some of my FAVORITES. They retail for $3.99 at Target. Isn’t that a steal?
You’re in luck today, NOT ONE but TWO giveaways. This candle from Anthropologie is everyone’s Favorite. I know tons of folks who burn the volcano scent. Once you burn this scent, I promise you won’t want to burn anything else. It’s AMAZING. They retail for $28.00 and I promise, it’s worth every penny.
To Enter #evansfavoritethings it’s simple, all you have to do is Subscribe to my blog (on the right hand side of the blog homepage under the “Video” section, make sure you click the confirmation email or it doesn’t count ) AND then pop back on over here and leave a comment in the post. You might even win extra points if you post on Instagram and Facebook and use the hashtags #evangcooper #evansfavoritethings. 
Photos: Aubrie Moates | Balloons: Kim Hall, Kreative Moments | Wardrobe: Gap Eastchase
DIY Halloween Costumes
Can you believe halloween is exactly a week away? Where has this year gone?! I’m gonna need 2014 to slow down. In the spirt of the upcoming holiday my always willing assistant, Laura and I decided (well, I kind of made her) it would be fun to pull together some quick and simple DIY Halloween Costumes.
If you’re like us, we could honestly care less about the spooky holiday. But of course this is the only time of the year you have an excuse to go to a costume party. I recently came across and image online of an elaborate Ring Master and Giraffe costume, I LOVED it so much I figured we could dumb it down a bit and make is easy and simple of all you DIY’ers that are on tight budgets and crazy timelines.
Meet Georgetta the giraffe and RingMaster Bruno.
Laura had her yellow dress hanging in her closet, so the only addition we needed to complete her costume was this CRAZY AWESOME giraffe balloon “hat” from Kreative Moments. Can you guess how much it cost?!?!?! ONLY $5.00. That’s a steal of the deal and certainly not something anyone else is going to be wearing.
As for my costume, I had just about everything in my closet as well. The only thing I picked up was my blazer from discount store and the $6.00 top hat from Party City (I added the red ribbon accent). All in all the most expensive part of both costumes is the balloons in my hand and of course you wouldn’t necessarily need 17 of them, we just thought it added to the photo. 😉 By the time it was said and done, we spent $25.00 on BOTH costumes. I know, it’s cray cray!
We can’t wait to see all of the DIY costumes next week. If you’re making your own costume, BE SURE to use the hashtag #EGCDIY, we’d love to see what you come up with. We’ll be picking one lucky winner who will be a recipient of a $25.00 gift card to Hobby Lobby, a DIY’ers playground. Happy Costuming.
Toni Is Sweet 16
Most people think Evan and Company is strictly a “wedding” related business. That’s not at all the case. We do everything from weddings, corporate events and NOW, even Sweet Sixteens. I remember laying in bed one evening watching Criminal Minds (as I do most late nights) and I heard the email alert on my phone go off. Of course, like any good business man, no matter the time, I opened it within seconds. The email was from Julie Sanders, owner of Glow in Troy. She mentioned that she needed our help desperately planning a Sweet 16 party for her daughter. I emailed her immediately and told her I would call her and chat all the details out. After numerous conversations back and forth on dates, guest list and 324 menu revisions everything started coming together….
Did I mentioned we planned this HUGE shindig in 3 weeks. NO LIE.
Party week finally arrived and our Thursday and Friday started with vendor load at the Emporium and 500 pink roses. Oh and 700 yards of pink ribbon.
It wouldn’t have been a proper initiation if I hadn’t of dragged our newest (at the time) Evan and Company team along for the crazy ride. I am not sure Brian had a 4am wrap time in his mind. But he’s dang good at retrieving giant balloons from tall ceilings.
No party is complete without a KILLER invitation suite and Courtnie from Poppy Pedals delivered just that. Pink and gold glitter, every sixteen year girls dream.
And can we talk about that gold calligraphy on those pink envelopes? OBSESSED!
While planning #toniissweet16 I called Kim, owner of Kreative Moments with my CRAZY balloon ideas and she brought them to life. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE flowers and we used LOTS of them but I didn’t want Toni’s party to resemble a wedding reception. I wanted it to have the glamorous feel of a reception but an overall fun vibe of a Birthday party and the balloons did just that. Most people think balloons are just on a string that you pick up from a party supply store. NOT. Look at those wraps around the columns…
I’m still kind of dying over these centerpieces. They combine two of my FAVORITE THINGS, Balloons and Flowers. What do you think?
We even carried the balloon theme outside. The entrance was draped with pink fabric and accented with pink and gold balloon columns from Kreative Moments.
Didn’t your Sweet 16 party have a pink carpet too?
Honestly, this was my FAVORITE part of Toni’s party… I think Brian and I ate a combined total of 7 popsicles during a 3 hour period. If you haven’t heard of 80 Pops in Birmingham you need to know about them. The lemonade pop is TO.DIE.FOR.
The folks at Jennie Weller Catering always have topnotch presentation and with the addition of a custom menu chalkboard from Poppy Pedals, it’s every event planners dream. Oh the buffalo pizza was delicious by the way.
Can’t have a party without a cake, right? a few flowers never hurt anyone.
We ended the night with a 600 piece balloon drop. I was chatting with Julie earlier in the week and we decide to add this like 3 days before the party. Kim was on top of it and made it happen. SO, SO Fun!
The hours and hours of hard work paid off when Toni came up to me at the end of the night and said, “Thank You so much for my party. We had a blast”
Though I dreamed up an over the top celebration, I couldn’t have done it without an INCREDIBLE team of Vendors.
Balloons: Kreative Moments | Rentals: Brendle Rentals | Venue: The Emporium | Lighting: Special Event Lighting | Invitation/ Paper Products: PoppyPedals | Popsicles: 80 Pops | Photography: Saxon McClamma Catering: Jennie Weller Catering | Cake: Ligers Bakery | PhotoBooth: Birmingham Photobooths | Entertainment: DJ Porta Party!!
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE working with these vendors and couldn’t imagine it any other way. In ways we’ve become family working with each other weekend after weekend, but the real goes out to my team Sharon, Laura and Brian. I feel like I drive it into the ground weekend after weekend, but I couldn’t do what I do without them. They make me look good. It’s really all them. My name is just on the t-shirt. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! Love You Guys! Thanks again Julie and Toni for allowing me to be a part of such a exciting moment in your life.
