CHLOE Magazine Spring 2014 Volume 4 Issue 4 | Page 64

WHAT INSPIRES YOU Having Melissa Andre as Chloe Magazine’s entertaining expert, along with her fashion background and numerous celebrity clients, has provided our readers with a special insight into glamorous nights and beautiful events.With a lavish eye for detail, her unique set of qualifications and experience has made her into one of the most sought-after event designers in the business. What inspires you? Interesting colour combinations, whimsical props, movie sets, fairytales, patterned fabric, travel, architecture, fine art, pop art, hot air balloons, secret gardens, ferris wheels, and nursery rhymes. I love designing events for people who love to dream. Whats the best advice you have for someone planning and designing their own event? When you think you’ve come up with the best idea for an event or a design, keep thinking and come up with something 10x better. What is your most important “Must-have” for entertaining at home? A fully-styled and stocked bar cart. I have a beautiful gold vintage one in my loft. I always keep a few bottles of champagne on hand as well as Grand Marnier, Cognac, Hendrick’s Gin, and lemons to make Barbotage and French 75 cocktails. Chambord and St Germain are also absolutely necessary and beautiful to display at home. I love beautiful garnishes like edible flowers and colourful fruit twists. I display gold-rimmed flutes and rock glasses, as well as my beautiful Brazilian agate coasters. They’re made of a gorgeous variety quartz composed of crystals. Each one is unique and they come in the most beautiful hues. A beautiful and luxurious bar cart display really sets the tone for a fun cocktail party. What are your thoughts on the best food to serve at a party? I love small bites that can be passed so they’re constantly fresh. Oysters are always a top pick of mine because they’re luxurious and easy at the same time. I love the idea of frozen popsicles for dessert as well. The ones pictured here were custom creation for one of the parties we designed with a nautical aesthetic. Our client wanted to host guests for a party on their yacht and we wanted to give the event a nautical feel while keeping a sophisticated edge. Since we chose to skip the more typical nautical references like anchors, we tied the look and feel of the event together with a perfectly styled menu, stationery, and place setting. We worked with La Carnita to design the most perfect soft sea foam blue frozen desserts. They were a huge hit for our floating party. Any other tips on creating a memorable event? The invitation sets the tone for the entire event so I love to spend a bit more time thinking of a way to make it stand out. We tried to come up with a really special invitation design for this party. Laser Cutting the words “Come Away with Us” into the paper and turning a flat invitation into a “pop-up card” hand delivered in a gold box, got the guests really excited for the event. I mean, wh en the invitation is that good, you really need to follow up with an amazing party to blow everyone away (which we did).