Kennedy Creative recently had the opportunity to throw a Texas dream wedding at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort and Spa. Sara and Jordan lived a block from each other in Midland, TX their whole lives, so a ceremony in the beautiful Texas Hill Country was the perfect setting.
The moment Sara laid eyes on the Lost Pines Ballroom she fell in love with the butterfly chandeliers and the moment we met the happy couple we fell in love with them! The entire wedding was designed to match the couple’s simple and elegant personality. In the outdoor Pavilion, where the ceremony was held, we chose pastels as the color scheme and boxwood as the ceremony décor. Sara didn’t want to be the center of attention, she wanted the mood of the ceremony and reception to stand out above all else. The boxwood is a traditional Midland, TX natural element and they loved the fresh, vibrant color and simplicity of the wreaths to bring in a touch of “home.”
The reception had a rustic yet romantic feel with soft hues of creams, yellows and pinks. Florals emphasized texture and femininity with curly willow bringing in elements of nature and organic style. A custom candy bar was adorned with handmade S + J cones hanging on iron trees that the guests could fill to bring home fanciful old-fashioned candy in apothecary jars that fit the couple’s décor.
The 9 piece band Blind Date Austin rocked the reception and Studio 563 Photography captured the most amazing moments of the couple and their guests by literally dancing all night on the dance floor with them to get those great in-the-moment shots. Both the bride and groom having graduated from UT, it was only right that we added a little something to show that Texas spirit. In addition to a romantic 5-tier Bridal cake, Coco Paloma created a second cake that was a phenomenally accurate construction of the UT Stadium.
Weddings by Kennedy just can’t get enough of those little fabulous details that are endearing, unique and make our weddings glow with personality. We have fallen in love with the fabulous ceramic products we have found! These hand touched products are the perfect touch for the day of your wedding but are practical in your household as newlyweds for years after. We are in love all over again with those oh-so-frilly details…what can we say, we are such girls!
A new spin on the ring bearer pillow from palomasnest in Austin.
Gorgeous cake plates from Clara French (check out their new registry too!).
The perfect addition to a bridal bouquet also by palomasnest.
Summer is now in full swing, and to the team here at Kennedy Creative, that means BBQ and picnic season! Check out some of our favorite sites and items to make your backyard BBQ the talk of the neighborhood!
Tools for the Chef
- Williams-Sonoma : OK, this is an obvious one. But you just can’t go wrong with them! Make your mark with a monogrammed steak brand!
- Red Envelope: The chef manning the grill needs the use of both hands, so where does he put his beer? In his beer holster, of course! That way it never leaves his side!
Fun table settings
- Always Elegant: Features all kinds of great items to beautify your tables. We especially love their cloth placemats.
- Plum party: They have many adorable pieces for all your party needs, including these mini-Adirondack chairs that can hold tea lights and place cards!
Dishware to dish about
- Home Infatuation: They have all your outdoor living needs. We love these adorable melamine plates, resistant to chipping, cracking or breaking!
- Smarty Had a Party: Some of these pieces look so fancy you would never guess they were plastic or even disposable. We love this retro looking clear serving bowl.
Beautifully served beverages
- Velocity Art and Design: This modern home store carries so many great design pieces. Their functional serving pitchers are just as pleasing to look at as it is to drink the beverage inside.
- Front Gate: They have a broad selection of colorful yet plastic drink ware. Unbreakable can still be stylish! Like this acrylic blue drinkware set!
Outdoor Décor
- Design Public: We love all that design public has to offer for entertaining. They carry many great outdoor accessories to spice up the atmosphere, like these gorgeous lanterns you can set out on tables or hang from the trees!
- Glassbaby: Everyone enjoys the ambiance that candlelight brings to the mood. With Glassbaby you can pick the perfect color candles to accent your backyard theme. Select from these special colors and they will donate part of the profits to cancer research.
Kennedy Creative recently kicked it into high gear for the PBS National Conference here in Austin. The two day event consisted of two breakfasts, two lunches and a closing reception for 800 people at the beautiful downtown Hilton Austin. Each of the meals were hosted by a different PBS station and were planned with a theme of a new PBS program or documentary to be released next year.
Our first breakfast was decorated for “Wild Kratt’s” a children’s program about animals and science hosted by the Kratt’s brothers. The second breakfast had the theme of “The Cat in the Hat Knows All About That,” hosted by KQED out of San Francisco. Martin Short, the voice of cat and the hat, and Dr Seuss’ former editor were even present and spoke to the excited guests.
Our luncheons took on a circus theme and a baseball theme for two upcoming documentaries. “Circus” will follow the Big Apple Circus on the road for a year and “The Tenth Inning” is a new baseball documentary by Ken Burns.
The closing ceremony took an emotional turn as it was planned to the theme of “Freedom Riders,” a very moving documentary about the Civil Rights Freedom Riders who rode across the country in an integrated bus as a protest to racism. Mug shots of the eventually arrested riders were posted as the stage backdrop as well as a photo of them at the start of the ride, hanging out the bus windows. We had an engaging panel discussion with the producer of the documentary and an actual participant during the rides. The crowd was in awe.
All of these events took place in the same ballroom – meaning the KC team was setting up at 5 am every day, tearing down at nine and resetting for noon lunch. It was crazy, but so worth it to see the amazing results and happy guests!
Kennedy Creative recently had the pleasure of planning one heck of a bash for Leadership Austin. The ninth annual “Best Party Ever” gala was a highly anticipated event celebrating community leaders for their contribution to making Central Texas a better place to live. It’s the single largest fundraising event for the Austin organization that is dedicated to preparing leaders to effectively address challenging local issues.
This year’s event took on a fun circus theme and was held at the Austin Four Seasons Hotel. Entryways were adorned with large jewel-toned balloon columns and arches, centerpieces of glowing red, fuchsia and teal feathers topped the dining rounds and circus-tent boxes and circus themed candy tempted guests mingling in the cocktail area.
Tarot card readers, a Zoltar Booth with live fortune tellers and psychics, and the amazing Flourish and Fool circus act entertained the guests as they enjoyed the always perfectly presented (and delicious) catering from the Four Seasons.
A 40 foot backdrop of a vintage circus tent provided the perfect setting for the evening’s presenters and musical entertainment from Austin favourite, the Sara Hickman Band.
500 delighted guests contributed enough for Leadership Austin to exceed their fundraising goals, making this truly the “Best Event on Earth”!
Kennedy Creative was recently called in to plan a final send off dinner for a corporate group staying at Hyatt Lost Pines Resort. The event was held in the Hyatt’s LBJ Pavilion, overlooking the serene Colorado River and surrounded by beautiful green foliage. Inspired by the relaxed Texas hill country environment and the lush accommodations of the Lost Pines resort, the chosen theme for the dinner was Denim and Diamonds.
Table settings included denim linens and silver square vases full of white flowers and spring greenery. Tallboys were wrapped in silver linens and tied with denim sashes and small diamonds were scattered about all the tables. The stage backdrop included three oversized neon diamonds hung on a white drape with custom neon signage.
Guests were greeted at the entry with a custom neon cowboy hat. To keep them entertained, two live longhorns were brought in for photo opportunities and a handsome cowboy trick roper also performed with his horse “Trouble”.
During dinner, guests enjoyed a performance by Paula Nelson, Willie Nelson’s daughter. Post dinner fun was a concert by local favorites Two Tons of Steel in the hotel’s beautiful outdoor amphitheater. It was a hugely successful event and a perfect end to a Texas visit.
We love working with Performance Contracting. For the fourth year in a row, Kennedy Creative was called in to create a themed kick off party for the fun costume-loving group. Past themes have included pirates, Austin music and a roaring 30’s jazz party. This year we outdid ourselves with a retro-inspired beach party, deep in the heart of Texas.
The Kennedy Creative team went all out transforming the lawn at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort in San Antonio into a Southern California style beach party where people could twist the night away.
The entrance was flanked by two lifeguard stations, surrounded by surfboards, beach umbrellas and foliage. Overhead was a piece of driftwood with every surfer’s favorite saying, “Hang Ten” spelled out in neon.
The round dining tables brought to mind a favorite 60’s beach tune with their yellow and white sheer polka dot overlays atop bright yellow linens. Centerpieces were another 60’s classic – a VW Bus surrounded by brightly colored daisies and wheat grass. For an extra special touch, the tallboy cocktail tables had surfboard tabletops with wrapped thatch skirting.
“Big Kahuna’s Surf Shop” was a large, realistic surf shack where guests could get drinks and mingle. Sprinkled about the party were large multi-colored beach umbrellas with beach balls dangling whimsically. Hula hoops were placed strategically about the party to add to the 60s fun.
Special Interest, an all star Texas band, played all the Beach Boy favorites and classics from the era on a stage that was fit for the Beach Boys themselves. Lifeguard stands with beach umbrellas, surfboards and other beach-themed accents were on each side of the band platform. Lush live palm trees and tropical plants softened the edges and added to the tropical feel. 
Kennedy Creative teamed up with the most historical city in Texas to go back to the good ol’ days, when soda pop cost a nickel and tipping your hat to a fellow on the street was the neighborly thing to do. In Bastrop a simpler life is a way of life and, for the night, our guests experienced why small town livin’ is so great.
The night started off with an interesting twist as the buses bringing guests to Main Street stopped to let “hitchhikers” on for a quick ride. As the buses arrived, the guests learned that the hitchhikers formed the opening band for the evening. What a hilarious surprise!
A small town party isn’t complete without a high school marching band and cheer-leading squad. Guests followed the musical marchers from Bastrop High School down the street to let the party begin.
The backdrop of beautiful historical building facades was further enhanced by white bulb lights strung across the street and large round tables draped in bright yellow and white gingham linens, topped with Texas wildflower centerpieces. The Bastrop Area Cruisers provided vintage vehicles for the evening, which were parked up and down Main Street adding to the old Main Street feel.
Guests enjoyed many old Texas fair games like rodeo inspired mechanical bull roping, soda bottle ring toss, cork gun shoot the can game, and “chunk” the tail on the donkey. There were even live armadillo races to get the crowd riled up! And at the far end of the street was a drive-in theater, decked out with vintage cars where guests could sit and watch old black and white television episodes of classics like Leave it to Beaver, Bewitched and The Andy Griffith Show. For an end of the night treat, Hey Cupcake was in attendance with their mobile trailer providing guests with their famous cupcakes.
The Hyatt Lost Pines Resort provided delicious fare such as grilled burgers, a traditional crawfish boil and a make-your-own sundae station.
The historic Bastrop Opera House was converted into a old fashioned dance hall for the evening. Texas favorites Owen Temple kept the guests moving with their blend of country western and American folk music.
It may be 2010, but it was the city of Bastrop, the Kennedy Creative team and our fantastic partners that were able to bring us all back in time for some good old fashioned fun!
Turning 16 is a huge milestone in every young woman’s life. That’s why one birthday girl turned to Kennedy Creative to make her sweet sixteen the party of the year. The event was held at Austin’s newest favorite nightspot, The Highball on South Lamar, where a dance floor, retro-style bowling and karaoke rooms are among the highlighted and highly entertaining activities.
More than 300 guests enjoyed a “Sweet 16 Bar” that included an assortment of the guest of honor’s favorite candies; cakeballs customized with bowling pins & bowling balls; mini cupcakes and made to order smoothies and sundaes.
In addition to satisfying the sweet tooth, guests took to a dance floor lit up with LED panel images that changed to the beat of the music and intelligent lighting and lasers that splashed color across the floor. Celebrity guest DJ, Basshunter, hailing all the way from Sweden, provided tunes that kept the crowd on its feet all night.
To add a fun glowing edge to the evening, guests adorned themselves with LED glasses and glow necklaces, light up orbs and candles were scattered throughout the venue and glowing tables changed colors throughout the event.
With only five days to deliver the sweet sixteen party every girl dreams of and nobody forgets, the Kennedy Creative team jumped in and went to work… and we had a blast!! Happy birthday Hannah!
Kennedy Creative was honored to produce a fabulous event for the Harley Davidson Owners Group Annual Meeting at the unique and beautiful Horseshoe Bay Marriott. This group was full of energy and one of the most enjoyable groups we have had the opportunity to work with, incredibly down to earth and ready to have a good time! After all, they live by the mantra, “It’s a journey, not a destination” which just sparks that wonderful energy we love in a client.
There were officers from HOG (Harley Davidson Owner’s Group) Chapters from all over the world – Singapore, The Kingdom of Jordan, Hong Kong, Germany, Britain, and even Dubai. You name it, the country was represented amongst the 200 attendees.
Kennedy Creative produced a fantastic Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament with 8 tables of players, concluding with the winner of each table going to the final round. A gentleman from Hong Kong, who had never played Texas Hold ‘Em before was the Grand Champion. How about that for beginner’s luck!
You know you have had a fabulous event when guests are standing on chairs, whooping and hollering to get a view of the final round. Now THAT is what we call a good time!
