Alpha Gam Formal at The Graduate

Wow oh wow, the event I've been working on all semester has come and gone! This semester, I had the priveledge of planning date nights for Alpha Gamma Delta at UGA, and I'm happy to say-- last one, best one!

Formal took place on Friday, April 20 at the Graduate Hotel in Athens. We booked the Foundry, an area at the hotel with a bar, stage, dance floor and beautiful courtyard. My goal for this event was to use every penny of my budget and go for all the special touches!

My first special touch was an hour to honor our graduating seniors. They signed up to attend a "Senior Hour" from 8:30-9:30. We had a total of 48 couples come during this hour, and there was a drawing to win a free spa visit to the Graduate. The photographer came, and seniors got drink deals before everyone else arrived at 9:30.

In addition to our wonderful photographer, Blane Marable, we also had Off-the-Wall Photography set up a photo booth for this event. We had unlimited prints, and they sent us a link afterwards to download all the photos. We also had our favorite DJ come out, and I would like to formally thank him for not rolling his eyes when I sent him our 255 song requests for the night.

Another major shoutout to my personal assistant for the night. My best friend from home, Charlie, came with me to formal and helped me set-up all day. Right when we had finished setting up, I looked over at him and said, "I am so excited!!!" As I declared my excitement, my phone flung across the patio and got completely destroyed. Charlie was the real MVP and let me give his number to our vendors and all my sorority sisters in case they needed to reach me. What a guy!

More special touches included pink tassels, twinkle lights and gold crowns straight from the children's party section at Target (they were a hit, okay?). My very favorite project was something I have been wanting to make since it was the wedding trend of 2016..... a donut wall!

This was 200% the craftiest DIY project I have ever attempted, but I've got to say, it was a success. I bought peg board, pegs, fake flowers and 22 dozen donuts to complete my creation. A hot glue gun was necessary, and the Home Depot worker who cut all my pegs to be 6 inches is my hero. Pinterest is lying when they say it's a "5 step process" to build this tasty wall, but I will say it was not impossible with a little help. I event painted a ~donut leave me hanging~ sign to go with!

In addition to donuts, we had cookies, ice cream sandwiches, chocolate milk shots (non-alcoholic and completely delicious!) and my favorite--- LATE NIGHT FRIES! The event lasted until midnight, and my 22 dozen donuts somehow all got eaten by the time I left.

We had over 500 people attend this event, and I charged $10/couple to attend. After charging, the event came out to be a little under $8,000.

Courtney Shilling, a junior in Alpha Gam, summed up the night perfectly with her Instagram caption: "Came for the donut wall, stayed for the Walmart boy yodel remix." (I'm serious, our DJ rocks.) All in all, I hope all my guests were as excited as I was when I threw my phone across the courtyard-- thankfully they were able to express this excitement in a more appropriate manner than I was. Long live Formal 2018!!!