Decorating the cultural hall of the church for a Women’s Conference and luncheon with a modest budget was intimidating at first. I knew I couldn’t do it alone, so I called my amazing, talented, friend Melissa, and loved getting to work with her on the project.

The challenge:

Decorate 31 tables and two church foyers for a luncheon to feed 200-300 people.

The kicker:

All of the table decorations must be a gift that could be given away.

I knew that our limited budget wouldn’t buy anything nice, so I tried to make a few things myself. That attempt resulted in almost cutting my finger off with the chop saw.

As I was laying on the floor trying not to pass out from the tiny drop of blood (yes I’m a wimp) a sweet friend texted and asked if she could come over. I’m pretty sure she was following promptings, because I was alone, and kept getting dizzy just trying to clean the cut! (I was in total shock from realizing how close I came to losing a digit.)

Not only did my friend clean and apply the bandaid, she smacked my emotional head and told me to ask for help. She convinced this oldest-child-syndrome, girl-who-does-everything-herself, that I couldn’t do it all.

After a little prayer and some wonderful inspiration from one of my favorite women, whom I’m so blessed to have as a mentor, I had a plan, and a committee!

Table decor:

Melissa did some incredible graphic artwork and we enlisted a friend to cut out our table decorations using the laser cutter at the library! These are made of wood, and we glued a base on them and painted them. Total cost for 36 centerpieces including the paint: $66. I’m so grateful for the time they donated making these for us!!

Our ladies spent countless hours cutting triangles for the pennant banners. But they added a fun whimsical touch. These old borrowed doors were my favorite way to create a unique photo booth. The bench and ferns made it bigger while letting people sit for photos.

Alisa W has some mad skills with flowers, and put together all of the florals. The floral hoops she created were a hit. People kept asking if they could take one home! The secret: the hoops are actually spray painted hula hoops from the dollar store!

Melissa K was our fabric girl! I’m always so impressed with her sewing skills and decorating gumption! She’s done some incredible events and her husband even built some stands for some of the old doors we used.

I’m always amazed at Tya’s talent with color! Her eye for decor and style helped us keep our colors on track! She also donated the beautiful, touching Kate Lee artwork for the foyers.

Whitney was our muscle!! It was so fun to hang out with her while she hauled doors, reached high things, and helped set up! She heard me utter a few choice words… and she still likes me! (Yes… I’m going to repent for swearing in the church.)

The theme of the conference was “On the Covenant Path”. This sign was also cut out of wood on the laser cutter.

Being the leader of this group of talented women, (all of whom could’ve done it themselves) was humbling. But the best thing I learned was to just let people run with their ideas. I had a vision, and was able to keep moving us all forward with our theme. I turned a few ideas down, but for the most part, found that if I let others be in charge of their idea they took ownership of it and it turned out better than I hoped for!

A few times I had to stop and realize that the people were more important than the event. I felt friendships grow and deepen and truly enjoyed working with these gals! Everyone seemed genuinely excited to help and lend their talent, and I amazed at how it all came out!