Event Profile: Event on the Move

Bravo Productions puts on a special anniversary celebration

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It was an important anniversary, apparently: 18 months. The client lives in Massachusetts, but decided to surprise his wife during a planned business trip in Los Angeles with an “event” that involved extras and actors, puzzle pieces for excursion cues, planned pandemonium and a little detective and spy work.

“This is one of the most clever projects we’ve ever had an opportunity to work,” says Greg Jenkins, a partner in Bravo Productions of Long Beach. “The key focus was creativity and twists and turns that seemed natural, but that were planned and coordinated for months with much detail.”

There wasn’t a venue; there were multiple venues—some of them selected on the day of the event by the wife being treated.
A quick summary of event high points:
It started at 8:30 a.m. with a town car arriving to pick the woman up at her hotel. The driver had a CD prepared by the husband to play during the drive, puzzle pieces and other items, and instructions on when and how to present them.

At 9:10 a.m., the town car delivered the woman to a restaurant for breakfast. Just before she got out of the car, the driver said, “Should I pick you up at 11:11? My mistake; I’ll pick you up around 11:40.” Doesn’t mean much to anyone else, but there 
was a special memory in the statement for the couple.

In the restaurant, and in stores nearby, where the woman did some shopping, Bravo staff quietly handed puzzle pieces with clues as to what was to come next. “We were literally hiding in the bushes,” says Jenkins. “We didn’t know what stores she was going to go in; it wasn’t structured so she was going to a specific place.”

One puzzle piece, for example, said: “What was the dance studio used one season by ‘Dancing with the Stars.’” That was one of the woman’s favorite televisions shows—and the town car delivered her to the answer—3rd Street Dance—for a private salsa lesson arranged by Bravo Productions. (The client joined his wife at the dance studio.)
Lunch, then more shopping, then back to the hotel, where the wife was presented with a Snuggie—again, something with a special meaning for the couple.

When the couple left their hotel for dinner, Bravo staff came into the room and dressed it with red roses, rose petals, candles and a kazoo. A sign saying “#3” is hung on their door. A kazoo? Room #3? “A lot of this was private messages and he [the client] refused to tell us what they meant,” Jenkins says.

At dinner, a special centerpiece of yellow gerberas was set on the couple’s table by Bravo Productions. After the couple has been seated for 15 minutes, the centerpiece is replaced by a bigger one made of white roses. Another 15 minutes and it’s taken away and replaced by an even bigger centerpiece of yellow roses. Another puzzle piece and clue is given to the wife.

From the restaurant, the couple went to lounge, where a singer and a group of six actors are in place. “One is a phony psychic who pretends to know a lot about the wife but nothing about the husband,” says Jenkins. “There’s a couple who fight and create a distraction, a waiter (the Bravo lead person on site), a flower girl who goes by the name Carnation and provides flowers to everyone, but a lot to Kim.” With knowing it, the wife was in the middle of her own drama. The singer performed many of her favorite songs, in an order planned by the husband.

The couple returned to their hotel and go to the rooftop, where the husband pretends to get angry that things are not in place and stomps off to “complain.” In fact, he goes to the room to light the candles. Five minutes later, Bravo staff hand the wife her final clue and puzzle piece, which says, “How many doors are on the game show ‘The Price is Right’?” She’s given a room key and told to go to Door #3. She opens it to find the room confettied in rose petals, a kazoo on the bed, two dozen candles glimmering—and her husband waiting for her.

And it was time for Bravo staff to go home, after an interactive event that involved only two guests but lasted 14 hours and took months of planning and a lot of quick footwork during the day.

“We just had an enjoyable time in the process,” Jenkins says. “Sometimes you get tired of doing the set up and the tear down; This was one where you didn’t mind being there through the whole process.”

Although Bravo Productions’ primary clientele is corporations, Jenkins says that in a tough economy, the company has found some new opportunities—like this anniversary event—in the special events industry. The company’s full range of services includes event design and decoration, meeting planning and coordinating pretty much everything needed for any size event, from lighting to transportation to site and venue selection to props and sets.

BEHIND THE EVENT

Production: Bravo Productions
Hotel: 
London West Hollywood Hotel
Limo: 
Karmel Shuttle Service
Venues: 
3rd Street Dance, The Ivy Restaurant, Beso Restaurant, The Woods (bar and lounge)
Flowers: 
Sam Van Wert
Entertainment at The Woods: 
Eric Fraley
Photography: 
Jeff Kimbel, Bravo Productions