Tips for Planning a Successful Event | Style Collective Spring Meet Up at Mesa Restaurant

Lifestyle and fashion bloggers from Orange County and Los Angeles gathered together for a meet up at the swanky Mesa Restaurant in Costa Mesa, CA.  It was a honor to plan and host this event for my Style Collective Sisters. The energy that night was out of this world! I invite you to read along to experience the spirit and beauty of boss babes in action at the chic Mesa lounge.

The first key to a successful event is the venue selection.  Mesa is a hot spot in northern Orange County located in Costa Mesa, California.  This amazing restaurant has an edgy vibe, diverse crowd, and very desirable food. The ambiance is eclectic, contemporary, and energetic due to a vibrant bar scene and a roof top that opens to the sky.

The ambiance of Mesa is both cool and swanky and perfect for parties, meetings, special occasions, and dates. Reservations are made easy though Open Table. For our meet up Mesa provided a complimentary cocktail, a small dessert and the following small plates:

Spring Pea Salad/Pea Tendrils, Pea Shoots, Compressed Watermelon, Kalamata Olives, and Red Wine Vinaigrette, our Sundried and Tomato Hummus and our Margherita Pizza/Tomato, Herb, Mozzarella, Basil, XXVO and Sweet Balsamic Glaze. Yum in the tum!

The lusty menu features delectable small plates from contemporary American cuisine. My favorite is their Grilled Marinated Shrimp that showcases sweet and spicy bilbao chorizo, corn, heirloom tomatoes, and chimmichurri sauce. Just talking about it now is making me crave this dish in a very bad way!  It is a foodie dream come true to experience the creative, fresh, and pleasurable food from Mesa.

Along with their inspired cuisine and mouth-watering tapas, Happy Hour is an “experience” to experience! The lively bar has abundant seating perfect for people watching while enjoying a creative handcrafted cocktail.

Make this hot spot in Costa Mesa, CA a part of your restaurant bucket list for great food and ambiance. Mesa is an excellent venue choice to host your next dinner party, work party or business meet up.  You will not be disappointed!

Another aspect in having a successful meet up (or any momentous event for that matter!) is professional photography. It is vital in my opinion to make the investment — memories may fade but photos last a lifetime! I am a complete believer of having professional photography to capture life’s dearest events.

As a fashion blogger — my photography quality is vital to the success of my brand! Think of pictures as your calling card and having the right photographer to capture who YOU ARE should not be left to experimentation.

As you all know you only get one chance to make a great first impression. Shawna Henrie of Bleudogfotography preserved every moment of the Style Collective Meet Up superbly.

Shawna was so gracious to donate her time and service to capture the evening’s event gratis. She is an expert at making photo shoots fun and a great experience for all of her clients. One of her many talents is having an eye for creative angles and passion for studying the human face.

It is easily evident that she pours her soul into her work and craft.  Her clients become her friends and she made many that night.  Another plus, is that she offered free head shots to the Style Collective members attending and the women were so excited for this gift!

Another talent that Shawna has is creating the most beautiful and awe-inspiring floral arrangements. Her business is cleverly called Bleudogfloral. Her herbaceous creations has graced the parties and special events of many families and businesses throughout Orange County, San Diego, and Los Angeles counties.

Each dining table showcased Bleudogfloral botanical creations she specifically designed  for the meet up. Beautiful blooms shining bright in round glass globes got the ohhs and ahhs of all the ladies! Shawna was gracious enough to donate her centerpieces to Mesa Lounge for a charity event to be held the next day and most ladies got to take one home to adore.

Another fantastic item that was displayed next to the beautiful floral centerpieces is wine from Middle Sister Wine. Each sister went home with their own bottle to enjoy.

Don’t forget the importance of a swag bag! Providing companies with an opportunity of marketing their goods at event full of social media gurus is HOT!  Offering gift bags featuring the latest in greatest in beauty, food, fashion, and technology to media savvy women is a recipe for success for both the sponsor and recipient.

It is amazing what happens when you combine the efforts of ambitious and passionate women. When I asked my Style Collective Sisters if they would help to secure sponsors – boy, did they! We had over 25 sponsors who supported our event. Another company that has been a Style Collective favorite is Guilty Soles who donated two gorgeous pairs of shoes for a giveaway.

I would like to thank those special ladies (Kathleen Anderson, Alison Barker, Jessica Forest, Maria Guerrero, Nancy Lin LeGregori, Claudia Materdomini, Mindy Nguyen, and Shelby Soileau) that worked hard to find sponsors who supported our event.

It was completely humbling to have so many wonderful companies honor us! I would like to share with you the list of businesses who graciously recognized our efforts as social media influencers with their generous gifts. Please, take the time to visit their websites and consider their services or products for your own personal or gift giving needs! Thank you to ALL of the sponsors who donated to our Style Collective Spring Meet Up!

Our Style Collective Spring Meet Up Sponsors for OC + LA April 2017:

Lastly, another aspect in having a successful event is having a tribe that supports you! When Annie Spano the founder of Style Collective selected me to spearhead this event I was flabbergasted.  I was honored but also quite overwhelmed at the prospect of organizing such an experience.  My life is already so full of responsibilities and commitments.  To be quite honest, I operate from crisis to crisis!

However, I rose to the occasion because Annie has supported me from day one!  This was my way of thanking her in believing in me.  It was a goal of mine to create an evening that would be engaging, warm, and supportive for my Style Collective sisters!  Plus, now I can say I am an event planner too!

Blogging can be a lonely business and this is why I felt driven to design an experience that would build friendships and a supportive network. I am so grateful to Mesa Restaurant and Bleudogfotography in joining me on this mission to create an event that would change lives of female entrepreneurs.

There are so many reasons why it is important to find your tribe. Being a part of a community that respects and understands your struggles and shares your accomplishments without envy is a vital step in doing what you love! There is an amazing power in female friendships! As a Style Collective Sister I am a part of a community that supports big ideas, dreaming big, and accomplished big goals!

If you are a new lifestyle and fashion blogger or a seasoned one I invite you to join the Style Collective Sisterhood. It has changed my life and I know it will do the same for you. Click here to learn more. For only $10 a month you will connect deeply with like-minded professionals and have access to tools, guides, and support to be a successful blogger.

I would like to introduce to you my friends who came out to support this event and me. These ladies amaze me with their creativity, passion, and heart. Make sure to check them out for style and lifestyle inspiration! If you are a business reading this these beauties are a perfect choice for your social media promotion projects.  These gals are the real deal!

Style Collective Spring Meet Up Attendees List:

Shop This Look

Dress: c/o Shein

Bodysuit: Nordstrom Rack

Necklace: c/o The Songbird Collection

Purse: c/o Cocovann

Shoes: c/o Guilty Soles

Lipstick: Smashbox

In Partnership with Mesa Restaurant  |  Photography by Bleudogfotography