After watching Oprah’s monumental speech at the Grammy’s, the Women’s March yesterday and preparing for our next Take Time to Toast event in a few short weeks, Danielle Gibson Events’ has been feeling all sorts of inspired lately! All of this seemed very fitting heading into our annual Vision Board Party, where we hosted Grace Gulley, author and founder of an online community meant to encourage and empower women to pursue their goals.

During the event, Grace shared her journey of finding and pursing her passion to coach women in doing just that – finding their happy. We’re not talking about the happy that society tells us we need to obtain or that we tell ourselves we need to be living. Instead, Grace invites you to focus on finding that place where you truly feel yourself. Whether it’s a side hustle you’ve been considering for some time or that next BIG move to take your business to the next level, she pushes you to step outside of your comfort zone to take those BIG dreams into action.

To kick off the afternoon, Grace led the group through a visualization exercise. She asked us to sit with our thoughts for a few moments and jot down some of our goals for the future. Did you know that simply putting a goal into words or onto paper makes you ten times more likely to achieve it? Yeah, manifestation is some powerful stuff!

As the group began to feverishly jot down their thoughts (because let’s be honest, this group was full of hustlers!), Grace then asked us to write down a few words of affirmation to assure ourselves we would achieve our goals. Telling yourself “I can,” “I will” or “I am” can be more powerful that you would ever imagine, as we all have a tendency to get in our heads from time to time and let that little voice of doubt creep in.

Once Grace got our brains moving on our vision for the next year we began the vision boarding! Oh, and we dug into some of the most delicious treats from Elaine Bell Catering and Whetstone Wines! These tiny sandwiches packed a serious flavor punch and we definitely ate more macaroons than we care to admit, but hey, it’s all in the name of creativity, am I right?!

Another special guest in attendance was Sheryl of Blushtype calligraphy. See all of these super cute, super inspiring signs below? Yeah, those beauties were handmade by her! Sheryl spent the afternoon preparing custom calligraphy signs for the group to pin to their board.

After an hour or so of open conversations, our vision boards were (mostly) complete and we were ready to share! We love this group shot of everyone with their goals literally in the palms of their hands. It’s moments like this that remind us that we have the power to make our dreams come to life, we simply have to get out of our own way and get it done!

This event was truly magical and it simply would not have been possible without these incredible sponsors. Be sure to check them out on social!

@daniellegibsonevents – event planning and design

@kvenues – venue in Napa, California

@gracegulley – guest speaker

@the_happy_planner – planners

@blushtype – calligraphy

@erinheartscourt – photography

@elainebellcatering – catering

@encoreeventsrentals – rentals

@scarlettandgrace – florals

@latavolalinen – linens + pillows

@whetstonewinecellars – wine

If you’re interested in participating in this same exercise, take 2-3 minutes to sit with your thoughts for each of the items below. Jot down anything that comes to mind. Keep in mind, there is no wrong answer. Your list can be big or small, and it can continue to grow as time goes on. You do you, girl!

1) What are your goals for the next year?
2) Share a few words of affirmation about achieving those goals. For instance, if one of your goals is to run a marathon, you could say something like, “I will run a marathon within the next 6 months.” The key part of an affirmation is using the phrases “I can/will/am going to…(fill in the blank).”
3) Name one thing you can do tomorrow to work towards these goals.

You’ve waited long enough…a toast to you for bearing with us as we sorted out the press for our rosé themed soirée. We’re so excited to finally share it with all of you!

Take Time to Toast

A toast to the fabulous girl bosses in our lives and all that we’ve done as a team.

Take Time to Toast was an event hosted by Danielle Gibson Events to take time to honor and thank (aka *toast*) the girl bosses that work with us! The concept came from the idea that we all work so hard, but we don’t take the time to toast each other, or ourselves, for that hard work. Being in the events industry, we are constantly throwing parties for clients but never for our own staff. The time has come in our book! This concept should be across all businesses, not just the events world…so Danielle Gibson Events decided to lead the way in celebrating those around us!

This Take Time to Toast event was for eight very special women who partnered with DGE on our most recent corporate retreat. The retreat was a big deal for some high profile clients and these ladies worked their butts off to help everything go off without a hitch. What better way to say thank you than with rosé (both the wine and the color), delicious bites and picture-perfect photo-ops? We had tons of vendors and sponsors that made this event come to life, including our photographer @megsmithphotography, our florist @scarlettandgrace, and our caterer @fogcutter_sf, who created our idea of “bespoke bowls” perfectly. 

Again, thank you to Meg Smith for these perfect images.

Thank you to our vendors:

@megsmithphotography for the pics

@scarlettandgrace for the flowers

@fotcutter_sf for the food

@sixthcoursesf for the dessert

@balloonspecialtiesnapavalley for the rad indoor/outdoor balloon sculpture 

@azurwines for the jerobaums of rosé

@theark_ for our table runner, napkins, napkin rings, and flatware 

@thepeculiar.ink for our calligraphy

@harlowandgrey for the pink and gold splashed cocktail napkins

@theonicollection for the BEAUTIFUL coupe glasses and chairs

@concretegeometic for our centerpieces under the loads of pretty florals

@augustcalifornia for our handbags

@glossier for the makeup station

@katespadeny for the gold pens

@latavolalinen for the velvet pillows and poufs 

@studio.noel for our TTTT stir sticks and photo booth prop!

@snapfiesta for the photo booth

@packedparty for the disco ball cups

@foryourparty for the custom Take Time to Toast cocktail napkins

^^^Be sure to give them some social media love!

In attendance was @annewilner, @allsetevents, @lmmrks, @flutterevents, @rebeccareateguiweddings, @2shaina, and @napavalley_celebrations.

You can give them some love too by clicking on their names!

This event was a huge success and so much fun.                  

Moving forward, we plan to make Take Time to Toast a DGE staple and we can’t wait to partner with more brands and make this happen on a larger scale.

XOXO

This past weekend, I took on the project of getting a sixteen foot chalkboard wall built as a backdrop for our photo station. It was an undertaking, but worth every minute!

Here are some photos of the process.

JP, our calligrapher!

Testing it out!The final product!

-XOXO, Danielle