“Oh, what a wonderful party,” you hear the guests say as they head out the
door. “Everything went beautifully. The food, the music, the room. It was
all so perfect.”
If only they knew.

“I’d say something goes wrong about 75 percent of the time,” confessed Lynne
Brownstein of Arrangements Unlimited in King of Prussia, who’s been putting
together weddings, Bar and Bat Mitzvahs and other kinds of events for 41 years.

“That’s because there’s a million minor details, and it’s impossible to keep all the balls
in the air.

“It’s sort of like motherhood. You just have to come up with solutions and make
everybody feel good because there’s no second chance and no manual.

“If you don’t fix it now, you’re done.”
That means there’s a lot more to being a party planner than ordering the food,
entertainment, flowers and decorations, then sitting back while the show goes on.

“You can
always rest assured
something’s going
to happen. You have
to think fast on
your feet and
be prepared.”
— VALORI ZASLOW
ReEVENT Bride: Ingram Publishing; frame: peekeedee/iStock/Thinkstock.com; Zaslow: Photo provided
18 MARCH 23, 2017
SIMCHAS JEWISHEXPONENT.COM




Photo provided
You’ve not only got to react when
we needed as many screens as
something goes wrong, but often
possible, so people couldn’t see
anticipate disaster and come up
what was going on.

with plans B, C and D.

“When the truck arrived and I
“You can always rest assured
realized what had happened, I
something’s going to happen,” said
checked and re-checked to make
Valori Zaslow of ReEvent, who’s
sure everything had been ordered
been in the business for 20 years.

properly. They had loaded the
“You have to think fast on your feet
wrong things.

and be prepared. Maintain a sense
“They had just come from New
of stability, because how you react Low tables had to be converted to high-tops on-site
York so there was no way they
us is how everyone will react at a ReEvent Bat Mitzvah party.

could go back and get everything,
around you.”
so I told them they had to fix it.

Make no mistake, it’s an acquired skill.

They were handymen who knew how to make tables. They built it
“The first time something happened, I thought, ‘What am I
on-site.” going to do?’” Zaslow said. “But time after time I’ve learned, ‘OK,
And other than having to extend the cocktail hour a little
try to fix it.’ And sometimes you can’t.

longer, no one ever noticed.

“You just try to do the best job you can, because people under-
stand there’s always human error.”
THE THREE-DAY PARTY
Just try not to let the hosts know about it.

The folks at Mae & Company Events in Cinnaminson, N.J., do
Here are a few tales of events gone wrong.

everything from murder mystery dinner theater productions to
character impersonations ranging from Marilyn Monroe to Lady
TURNING THE TABLES
Gaga to Donald Trump. That’s in addition to planning weddings,
With 200 guests due to attend a Bat Mitzvah party in
Bar and Mat Mitzvahs, casino nights and a lot of other things.

Doylestown, Zaslow was busy preparing for the event when she
A few years ago, they were on their way to a big corporate event
got a surprise delivery.

at the Philadelphia Airport Marriott when Mother Nature got in
“I’d ordered tables that were supposed to be high-top, and
the way. But that didn’t stop them.

they came in the wrong size,” she recalled. “We had a crew on-
“This was about 10 years ago,” recalled Sharon Lee Daniels, who
site and so they went out, bought lumber and literally built the
partners there with Tony Farma. “Tony picked me up in Cherry Hill
legs for the tables.

See Tales, Page 20
“It was 5 p.m., just before the cocktail hour. I told the facility
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