COVID Interruptus: The Creation of the Porch Pop Up Experience
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The new event venue of tomorrow is ... your home! This story falls under the category of "where there is a will, there is a way." It's in our nature to want to come together and it's in the nature of creative individuals to do so with style. So when car parades and neighborhood block parties began popping up it was only a matter of time before someone took it to the next level.That "someone" is Alexandra Rembac from Sterling Engagements, Shawna Yamamoto from Shawna Yamamoto Event Design, Masha Berenboym from Artists Creating Entertainment, Devynn Smith from Edge Design and Decor and Maya Myers Photography -- the core team behind the Porch Pop Up Experience, bringing other creative partners on as needed.With so many graduations and proms going without celebrations in this time of stay-at-home safety, the team wanted to ensure that the class of 2020 had some sort of memory to hold onto. "We wanted to create a series of experiences so they don’t feel they were jilted due to the pandemic," Alex says."We asked ourselves," Masha continues, "how can we as event planning professionals continue to create what we love the most: a magical wonderland that captivates, entertains, and brings our client’s vision to life. How can we enhance these “new” celebrations into special experiences that our guests will remember fondly for years to come?" And do so following all the safety guidelines in place today.The answer was simple.
"We take the key components of any special event – decor, entertainment, photo opportunities, flowers and more -- and tailor it for the occasion," Masha says. Then the team brings all that magic to their client's doorstep, literally.
Their first event they produced was a sixth-grade graduation party. Classmates stopped by via a car parade, were welcomed to a one-at-a-time photo-op, and got to dance along to a DJ performance accompanied by a violin. The second was a prom in which the car parade pulled up, couples entered one at a time via the purple, got a corsage at the corsage station, and danced past a DJ where they had their photos taken at a custom photo booth.
This is a team that's as good at creating hoopla for themselves as they are for their clients. Individually, they marketed the porch pop ups on social media and their websites and collectively got local media attention for these unique events.Cheers to ingenuity, hard work and can-do attitudes![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
