TURNING fifteen is a big deal in Latin American culture, and one young woman is throwing a celebration fit for a princess. The birthday girl has partnered with A-list celebrity event planner Lisa Lafferty, who's coordinated events for stars like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, to throw the social gathering of the season. Lafferty has an impressive portfolio of luxury events under her belt, including a Met Gala-inspired wedding and a Tim Burton-esque quinceañera.
Speaking to The U.S. Sun, she explained that birthdays are often when she dares to dream big, starting at the drawing board.
"It's a little more fun and personable for me because ...
it brings me back to a childhood memory of feeling like I can be a kid again, look at these movies, and create some magic of things I used to watch," Lafferty said. "It's rewarding, but it's also at the same level as some of the high-end weddings that I've done — a lot of my stuff is very experimental; it's very luxury, opulent." Now she's taking on 15-year-old Beverly's Princess and the Frog-themed quinceañera.
With an estimated cost of "high six to seven figures," the party took the event planner and fellow organizers at Revelry Events seven months to iron out the details. A crew of over 90 per day assembled the fete over the course of a five-day installation process. Beverly was given the royal treatment down to every last party detail, from twinkle lights to live animals and even authentic New Orleans-style cuisine.
The extravagant affair spared no expense for a guest list of just 50, including 25 teenagers and 25 accompanying adults. Beginning with location, Lafferty and Beverly chose The Colony House in Anaheim, California. They repurposed the venue's massive parking lot as the atmosphere for their reimagined pond and hand-constructed Bayou.
"We're bringing in faux grass and materials to actually house water that we're filling ourselves and creating a moat for a photo moment," Lafferty said. The designer also recruited a Hollywood movie prop house and woodworkers for custom furniture, which initially included plans for a gondola that would float guests to shore. We had these two beautiful black horses that had beautiful feather headdresses on, and she's arriving in that for all her guests to see.
"We originally wanted to have guests arrive in a gondola and ride there in the water to the venue entrance, and we were going to have mechanical alligators that are very Disneyland," she said. "That became way, way, way over [budget], so we pivoted from that." Lafferty, a culinary curator on top of her extensive resume of skills, coordinated the party's Creole-inspired fare, arranged by the team at 24 Carrots , with specialty sweets from Sweet Novelette .
Starters included pan-seared cajun-spiced red snapper, vegetarian jambalaya, whipped sweet potatoes, cornbread and honey butter, bayou chopped salad, and apper cider-braised greens with ham. Guests snacked on hors d'oeuvres like mini southern chicken sliders, caviar fondant potatoes, and short rib chili. The meal was wrapped up with a decked out dessert menu, including lotus flower lilypads, dragonfly shortbread cookies, storybook rice krispies, and lemon meringue tartlettes.
And of course, a non-alcoholic juice bar offered refreshments like "Swamp Water" cucumber and lime mocktails and agua frescas. Guests were even given takeaway goodie bags with gourmet chocolate frogs, custom candles, and framed photo portraits in front of the Bayou. A non-negotiable for the birthday girl, Lafferty revealed, was the five-foot, custom Lambeth-style coconut and passionfruit buttercream cake and an eight-foot non-alcoholic champagne tower.
No party is complete without some tunes, and of course, the duo went all out with their New Orleans-themed party. They brought in a live jazz band and a team of dancers to introduce Beverly to a dress change. The band serenaded guests with traditional mariachi songs (another one of Beverly's non-negotiables) for a full-blown jamboree.
Initially, the pair planned to collaborate with a Hollywood animal training company for 25 live frogs in their constructed pond. It was to be complete with ground haze and faux fireflies to add a smokey rainforest ambiance. They eventually settled on koi fish instead after plans for the frogs failed to make the final leap.
The most difficult part of the quinceañera to pull off, Lafferty revealed, was the Herculean task of bringing in genuine Weeping Willow trees with faux accents to make them appear even larger. Lafferty explained that Anaheim's blistering climate didn't make the feat any easier for her and the team at Butterfly Florals . They arranged an assortment of foliage from smilax, ivies, and juncus grass to wildflowers, Spanish moss, and protea and parrot tulips.
"We're competing with Anaheim's hot climate here," she said. "I know New Orleans is already warm in itself, but it's a whole different vibe here in California." Beverly, who took the lead on the night's fashion, made a dramatic entrance from the get-go.
"We had these two beautiful black horses that had beautiful feather headdresses on, and she's arriving in that for all her guests to see," Lafferty said. Beverly, who also donned two custom-made Natayla Valentine Atelier gowns for the special occasion, made sure guests remained captivated by the fantastical function. Speaking to the collaborative effort between the birthday girl and her team, Lafferty added that all it takes is an idea to make magic happen.
"She gives us a few photos she loves and we bring it to life and show her what can be done," she said..
