A few weeks ago, Epic Memorials had the privilege of collaborating with the friends and family of Laura Weight to create a truly meaningful celebration of life for a truly inspirational woman. At noon on Sunday, January 26th, 2020, many of Laura’s loved ones gathered at lovely Broadway Hall to pay respects to, by all accounts, a deeply compassionate, whip-smart woman well known for her sharp wit and willingness to speak her mind as colorfully as she pleased. Again I am reminded how unfortunate it is that in this job I only learn about these really incredible people after it’s too late to know them myself! Laura is certainly someone I would admire as a friend and it was an honor to be an integral part of creating the beautiful memorial she deserves.
While I managed the design aesthetic and the long list of details that go into hosting 200 guests, Laura’s closest friends set about developing a thoughtful memorial ceremony weaving eloquent speakers with songs and poems requested by Laura before she died. Taking my cue from Laura’s love of the written word and the compilation of “Poems for Friends” she left behind, I created a simple, contemporary design for Laura’s memorial keepsake card which in turn influenced my design elements for the event which featured framed poems and inspirational quotes by one of Laura’s favorite authors while Laura’s favorite flowers - peonies - added warmth and beauty to the setting.
One of Laura’s primary requests for her memorial was that there be space and opportunity for her children to blow off big grief energy. Unfortunately the bouncy house she suggested several times did not seem plausible for a cold January day! Thankfully, with its two large event rooms, Broadway Hall is the perfect location to meet Laura’s general request of a space for kids. In collaboration with her children’s teachers, the lower level of the hall was transformed into an inspiring space featuring multiple stations, each providing kids a different opportunity for intellectual, creative or physical expression. We couldn’t make a bouncy house happen for Laura, but I did manage to secure the use of a mini-trampoline from my friends over at Our Treehouse. I will always do my best to find a way to meet any requests made by our honorees.
This was Epic Memorial's second paid event and I will admit, it is challenging being a newbie in the event planning industry! I worked my butt off and I learned so much from planning and executing this event. Besides discovering I CAN buy peonies in January, I learned I CAN pull off an epic memorial for over 200 guests in less than two weeks! This is by far the shortest notice I’ve had in planning any event and I proved I was up for the challenge- a confidence booster, for sure. At the end of the day following Laura’s memorial, I crawled into bed and wrote three pages of notes of things I learned and ideas to streamline my processes. I’m so anxious to test my new knowledge with my next clients! Can you help me spread the word about Epic Memorials to our community by sharing this post?
More photos from Laura's memorial can be seen in Epic Memorials' portfolio.
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