With parties celebs like Ariana Grande and Nick Jonas in his repertoire, Edward Perotti is an event design expert. 

The logistics of planning a memorable party can be overwhelming, especially during the holiday season when there are so many. But for LA-based celebrity event design expert Edward Perotti, it’s second nature.

HOLR caught up with Edward to get his take on trends and tips ahead of the holiday season.

 

 

How has your theatre background prepared you for event planning?

I am ready for any possible scenario. You throw a curveball at me, I know exactly how to respond. I am ready for the unexpected, which is what live theatre is all about.  

What’s the scariest last-minute situation you’ve been in?

There have been quite a few. I don’t think any event person in their right mind would say that every event has been perfect. I would venture to say that every event is imperfect by nature of Murphy’s Law. I do remember once where we were doing a pretty high-profile wedding. Everyone was outside waiting to go into the main hall and a woman comes up to me tells me that her water just broke and she then proceeds to double over! And my first thought was ‘not in front of the guests!’ We brought her into the hallway and laid her on the ground, as I was calling 911 at the same time. The ambulance got there in time and she gave birth in the ambulance. Without missing a beat, the tables that were messed up were fixed, the doors were opened and nobody knew.

 It was one of those perfectly choreographed moments where my theatre training reminded me, don’t panic now, panic after. Other than that, I’ve had talent not show up, I’ve had food come out where it wasn’t what was agreed upon. There are way too many stories to tell.

What is the key to a good DIY house party?

First off I would say, don’t try and be something you’re not. People always want to recreate what they see in magazines or pictures and that’s all well and good but that needs to be the inspiration for the party, not an imitation. You don’t want to imitate it because that’s coming out of someone else’s head at that moment in time and you’re not that person. So find an element that you like and put your own stamp on it.

Embrace your surroundings. You don’t have to overthink it. The reason that you’re bringing everyone together is what you should riff off of. I’m a big believe in investing in some basic entertainment flat-wear, dish-ware and glassware that can have multiple uses. When you have those key pieces at home, you can use them over and over. 

 

Any holiday trends that you can predict being popular?

Part of my professional and personal brand is that I don’t follow trends. When I’m designing something, I design it for my client versus what everyone else is doing. I believe events should be unique to the host or hostess. The whole trend last year with rose-gold was beautiful but when you started to see everyone using it, it got challenging to say that you’re creating a very special, unique, one-of-a-kind event. 

From a trend perspective, you can never go wrong with the winter feel. But since this has been a really rough emotional year for a lot of people with everything going on in the world, I’m playing with the concept of colour. Just bringing in bright blues, bright yellows. More of a hopeful feel as the year ends and goes into the next one. Even for New Years, the traditional black and white is fantastic but I have one event where we’re doing that and popping a bright yellow into it as a subtle sign of hope, energy and excitement.