The Night of the Cougar: Class of 99 Ten Year Reunion

All I can say again is wow ~ what an amazing night.

 Thoughts......
Let me back up a moment:
A few of my former classmates approached me a little over a year ago asking if I was going to plan our reunion.  I was a little apprehensive initially simply because I knew what a big undertaking this was going to be and I was unsure if I could pull it off with my hectic workload at Seville. But after some gentle nudging.... I soon realized that I had to be apart of this, how could I not?  After all, my CGUHS days are where my hunger for event planning began.

 At the time I never really understood why I was class president in my underclassman years and Student Body President my senior ~ I had zero interest in politics and hated my "Girls State Experience".  But now I realized that I was obsessed with wanting to make sure that all the parties and events were fabulous, I knew if I was in Student Council I could have some control over this.

So ten years later here I am, still planning events.  Although I can be obessive compulsive about this I totally love it!  It was a ton of work but I really enjoyed the process.  I will say though anyone who takes on planning a high school reunion deserves MAJOR PROPS!!!  I've been involved with at least 300 plus weddings and I will say PLANNING A REUNION is much harder!  Especially a ten year.  Why you ask?
Wedding:
~Guest list is established and confirmed
~Budget is set ahead of time
~People have to attend to show support and their love for you
Reunions:
~Trying to track everyone down is next to impossible. Granted facebook, myspace, emails, websites, newspaper certainly help but there are always a handful of people who never get contacted.
~It's like pulling teeth for people to buy tickets and commit
~You're working with a budget full of "air and hope" you're signing a contract that makes YOU responsible for a $5,000 commitment and if you can't sell enough tickets you're responsible for paying the tab
~ And it doesn't matter what the price is, the school, the age of the classmates.... you'll always have a handful of people who publically voice their opinion on how "over priced" the tickets are. 
~ People always have to get over the initial feeling of being "too cool" to attend

So my advice for anyone reading this who is yet to attend their high school reunion:
If you desire to go....GO! BUY YOUR TICKET early.... and just go and have fun!!!  And please..... this is coming from a "Professional Event Planner :) " ~ support the committee/ person planning your reunion, it's not an easy task!!! 

Okay, now that I have that out of my system... geesh... I feel better..... do you wanna here about how amazing the CLASS of 99 TEN YEAR REUNION WAS????

FRIDAY NIGHT:
Alrighty then: the reunion weekend kicked off with a meet and greet at Casa Grande's famous pizza shack "Dells".  My dear friend Addie was in charge of this, she had the place decked out in Blue and Gold balloon, streamers, live music, private bar... totally off the hook!  Then on to the big "Homecoming Game" where we able to return to our ole stomping ground once again... A big thank you to Alex Griffen for taking is task on.  Then following the game, a few of us went over the Gluch house to hang out just like old times ~ super fun ( sorry I don't have any professional photos from this night)

SATURDAY NIGHT:

Setting the Scene......

The room looked amazing, the photos are great but it was even better in person.  All the tables will linened in cougar/leopard print.  On the tables set silver chargers, the "Night of the Cougar" program, and a copy of the senior dvd. 

My mom (SweetPeas Floral) did all of the centerpieces which consisted of tall black vases filled with silver sticks, with black jewels dangling off the branches.  At the base of the sticks the vase was filled with green succulents and orchids. 

My favorite part of the room was the tunnel ( I'm obsessed with entryways to events).  The room could be divided into 3 sections.  We used the first section as the cocktail hour and the last 2 sections for the dinner and dancing.  So when guests were enjoying cocktail hour they could only have a "peak" into the room.  The best part about this tunnel that you can't see is that we had ice crystals dangling from every branch ~ it was really a beautiful entryway.

This is a backwards shot.  Taken from inside the "main" room peering into the "smaller" room where everyone was cocktailing.

Another shot of the table.  We also rented six high tops ( you can see in the back).  The goal was to fill as much space as possible, because the full room could have set 300 people.  You never want a room that feels "too big", it intimidates the guests and you lose the momentum of the party completely.  So we made sure we used all the space. 

A close up of the centerpiece.  The vase sat on top of a hallow glass block that allowed for a tealight inside to illuminate it.  Surrounding the glass block were four mini squares filled with water, floral and floating candles on top. 

High top centerpieces were simple.....

Thanks to Aimee and Addie who donated all the cupcakes and candy we were able to create a candy station buffet for everyone to enjoy after dinner. 

So during dinner the staff opened the wall divider to create a larger space and this was the view of nearly the entire room. 

The People.....

Wow... my heart just melts when I think about all the wonderful people that are in our class. I really just can't get over how great everyone looked and how quickly 10 years has flow by.

The Moments.....

The Memories.....

Will live on.  Such a fun night!  So many great photos were captured that night it's hard to pick my favorites.  If you' d like to see more photos from this night please view our website Social Grace Studios / go to the proofing gallery/type in password:  cougar99.