Our First Event!

This was our first event as Natasha F. Wayne Events! It was a dance marathon fundraiser for UNC and Duke Children's Hospitals. We were hired by the Wake Forest-Rolesville Middle School SOS Club to assist with publicity, contracting, and logistics. The dance marathon took place on Friday, June 4, 2010 at The Factory in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

This was the line to get into the dance. People were waiting outside the building! Everyone was so excited!

The evening featured a laser light show during dancing.

Check out that crowd! The event drew over 500 students from the Wake County School District.

Here all the students are waiting to hear the grand total raised in 2010 ... $18,033!

To see more event pictures, visit our Facebook album.

Awesome Raleigh Venues: North Carolina Museum of History

We're still exploring Raleigh's coolest and most unique venues. This time, it's the North Carolina Museum of History.

The building itself is amazing. Built out of marble and glass, the museum looks sleek, clean, and elegant. Even the steps entering the building are impressive. Imagine yourself walking down these all decked out in a wedding gown, or your guests milling on the landing while they sip cocktails. Pretty great image, isn't it?

The museum allows the use of the lower level of the building for large seated receptions. Your guests walk up marble stairs and through giant glass doors to enter the lobby. This venue is the ultimate is elegance, making your guests feel like stars before they even get inside. The lobby opens up to reveal the staircase and seating area.

While the museum exhibits are usually closed after hours, you can arrange for your guests to have special access during your event. Right now the museum is featuring an exhibit of a 1920s Drugstore. The picture to the right is of an old fashioned drugstore counter. The photo opportunities are endless!

The North Carolina Museum of History is an awesome Raleigh venue, and a great place to spend an afternoon. The staff are very helpful and willing to share information and photos of past events. During my visit, they allowed me to view pictures of previous events as well as watch the set up for a wedding taking place that evening. The building is exquisite, modern and can accommodate large parties. The lobby can hold up to 200 people at a seated dinner or 500 at a standing reception.

Keep this venue in mind the next time you're in the market for an event space, or drop by when you're looking for something interesting to do on a Saturday afternoon.

For more information on renting the North Carolina Museum of History, visit their website.

Irish Vow of Unity

I'm researching traditional cultural vows for one of my clients, and came across this one:

We swear by peace and love to stand,
Heart to heart and hand to hand.
Hark, O Spirit, and hear us now,
Confirming this our Sacred Vow.

This is the Irish Vow of Unity (found at Irish Celtic Jewels).

I like this vow because it's beautiful but simple, saying everything that needs to be said without going overboard or being too gushy.

I wanted to share this with you all in case you're looking for something to add to your ceremony.

Awesome Raleigh Venues: North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Every city is filled with amazing museums, landmarks, parks, and garden, and Raleigh is no exception. While these places are fun to visit, they are also amazing event venues. Looking for a cool place to host a company cocktail party, wedding reception, or book release party? Before resorting to a hotel conference room, check out some of the more unique area venues, starting with this museum.

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

First of all, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is really cool to visit. Just go hang out there for an afternoon; you won't be disappointed. You'll be equally impressed with this museum as an event venue.

The Museum of Natural Sciences has four levels available for rental space. The first floor is home to the museum's oceans exhibit, complete will full whale skeletons! This long, thin room offers a spectacular space for a cocktail party or buffet line. Surrounded by ocean-scapes and aquariums, guests get to interact with the exhibit while enjoying your event. The second floor features a balcony overlooking this space, creating pretty awesome photos taken through the skeletons. We took a few here during our adventure.

A short ride up the escalator opens up an entirely different world. This floor features event space in the Mountains to the Sea exhibit. Reception tables can be set up right along the border of this exhibit, overlooking an indoor waterfall. How is cool is that? Overlooking a mountain scene while eating dinner in downtown Raleigh! The second floor continues to include the Underground North Carolina exhibit. While this area isn't really designed for events, part of the exhibit forms a natural dance floor. These two areas combined create an awesome seated reception or cocktail party space.

The third floor can be summed up in one word: DINOSAURS! The exhibits are called Terror of the South and Prehistoric North Carolina. Part of this exhibit includes a tunnel through which visitors walk to see prehistoric aquatic life. While this space isn't ideal for a seated reception, this would be a great place for a standing or cocktail reception. And, if you're looking for a unique place to take photos, this would definitely be high on that list. Between the Tyrannosaurs Rex skull, Acrocanthosaurus skeleton, and aquatic tunnel, you and your guests will have a blast exploring and snapping shots on this floor of the museum.

The fourth floor of the museum features the Living Conservatory and Anthropod Zoo exhibits. The Living Conservatory features live butterflies fluttering throughout the space. Personally, I think this really awesome, and provides a beautiful natural background for photos and events. The Anthropod Zoo exhibit is filled with interactive bug themed activities, including some live bugs in cases. For the right people and personalities, this could be a truly amazing event space.

Take some time to explore the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences when planning your next event. The museum's rental spaces allow you to throw an event requiring very little decoration, as you can use the amazing exhibits already around you. An added bonus to using these spaces is that your guests will not only get to experience your event, but also the museum exhibits at the same time. For your guests, it's like two events in one!

This article is the first of many more to come. Keep checking back for more cool venues, starting in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Visit the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences' website for more information, or call the museum for rental pricing information.

We're Now on Facebook!

Natasha F. Wayne Events is now on Facebook! Check us out for DIY wedding ideas, venue pictures, and events in the news. Got a wedding or event question? Post it and we'll answer. Share what's worked in your wedding too!

Click here for our Facebook page!

"Something New" in Etiquette: Book Review

In the past few months, I've been reading a lot of books on wedding etiquette. While they're all filled with fantastic information on how to write invitations, protocol of pre-wedding events, and appropriate attire, most are written like a textbook. This textbook feel is very discouraging to the reader. Even as a wedding planner, I'm turned off by an etiquette book that makes me feel like I'm back in college studying for an exam.

There is hope, though! I have recently finished reading Something New: Wedding Etiquette for Rule Breakers, Traditionalists, and Everyone in Between by Elise Mac Adam. Brides-to-be this is the etiquette book for you. It's short, to the point, and rooted in issues that face the modern bride. Mac Adam divides each etiquette topic into three main parts: traditional etiquette rules, the modern evolution of that rule, and letters from real brides.

The letters from real brides take this book beyond a normal etiquette text. These letters put etiquette into context, giving the reader advice based on actual situations. What's the best way to tell your guests you don't want presents when the host of your wedding thinks otherwise? As it's proper to invite all out-of-town guests to the rehearsal dinner, how do you ask your fiance's family to pay for extra people? How do you handle financial differences between families? The answers to these questions and more are answered in this book.

Brides, pick up this book for your etiquette questions and forget the textbooks.



To learn more about author Elise Mac Adam, visit her website. Image courtesy of http://elisemacadam.com/.

Even More Hollywood Glamour on a Shoestring Budget

Now that you have awesome wall and table decorations, you only need a few more things to complete your Hollywood event: a way to make your guests feel welcome and something to make them remember the night.

What better way to welcome your guests than to make them feel like movie stars? Lay out a red carpet and line it with adoring fans and camera toting paparazzi. Because no one wants real paparazzi crashing their party, here's a quick and easy way to bring the "fans" home.

Paparazzi Decoration

You'll Need:

• Black butcher/roll paper
• White chalk/pencil/crayon
• Scissors
• Red ribbon
• Aluminum foil
• Cereal boxes
• Glue
• A friend to help

How To Create:

1. Cut pieces of butcher paper long enough for a person to lay down on.
2. Work a friend to complete this step. You will lie down on the paper, and be traced by your friend with white chalk, crayon, or a pencil. You can be traced with your arms up in the air, like an applauding or cheering crowd, like the silhouette on right in the above image. You can also be traced with your hands behind your heads to create photographer paparazzi, like the silhouette on left.
3. After being traced, cut out your silhouettes.
4. For the silhouettes traced with hands behind their heads, the next step is to add flash bulbs. Create a stencil of a flash bulb out of an old cereal box. Draw a multi-pointed shape onto the box. The shape doesn't have to be perfect, and the flash bulbs don't all have to look alike. Cut out the shape, and cover with glue. Paste to a sheet of aluminum foil. Trim off any extra foil, or wrap extra around the back of shape. Then paste the bulb shapes onto the silhouette faces, as if the person were holding a camera and taking a picture.
5. Affix to the walls and tack a red ribbon in front of the silhouettes to create the illusion of a crowd watching your guests pass by.

You brought your guests in style, so you should send them out the same way. Here are some ideas for movie themed favors to send home with your stars.

• When I think of movies, I immediately think of popcorn. Gourmet popcorn can be expensive, sometimes starting at as much as $20.00 per container. A quick search of AllRecipes.com gave me list of gourmet popcorn options ranging from chocolate to caramel to nacho flavored popcorn. Make up a batch of your own special popcorn and package in a white paper bag for guests to munch on later.
• Personalized awards are a great favor, and can add extra entertainment to the party. Oriental Trading carries a wide selection of mini trophies that can be purchased in bulk. After purchasing the trophies, use a gold or silver paint pen to personalize the awards to your guests. During the party, present the awards in Oscar Night fashion.
• No time to make a favor? No problem. Most large retail stores like Target and Wal-mart now regularly stock movie theater candy. Purchase an assortment of candy like Junior Mints, Sour Patch Kids, Mike & Ikes and Twizzlers. Pair with a bag of microwave popcorn and $5 movie rental gift card and you have a great gift. This option will be a little more expensive than the others, but will be a big time saver.

You're all set for a great Hollywood event! From start to finish, your guests will receive the star treatment. Even better, you'll have thrown a terrific party without breaking the bank because Hollywood style doesn't have to cost a Hollywood fortune.