I know it's been slow going for the past year or so but being a professional student doesn't allow for full time floral designing. Recently, however, going to school in Las Vegas, the event capital of the world, has presented many major opportunities, which is a perk that I'm not sure I'm ready to give up when I graduate this year.
Being in the Hospitality Management program at UNLV requires 1000 hours of work experience and a 90 hour internship to graduate. The good thing is that people in the industry know this and they target UNLV students when they are hiring or looking for interns or even seeking volunteers. I have had some amazing experiences because of this that I wouldn't have been part of had I gone to school anywhere else in the world.
Last October, I completed my internship requirement by working for the Lili Claire Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises money to help special needs kids and their families. It was incredible to be a part of such a great foundation and work for a cause that has a special place in my heart. We put on the Nevada Wild Fest, the biggest fair and carnival in Nevada. I had the pleasure of working on the "celebrity wrangler" team which means I was in charge of all transportation and lodging of the VIPs (which included country singers and Disney stars) coming in and out of Las Vegas for the Festival. I met some amazing people and had such a good time! I can't wait to help out this year!
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| Cody Simpson, ladies and gents |
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| Eating cookies with Gwen Sebastian |
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| Gwen Sebastian was on The Voice a few seasons ago |
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| I really loved hanging out with Craig Campbell and his guys |
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| If you haven't heard Craig Campbell's "Fish" - listen to it, love it, repeat |
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| JT Hodges is beautiful and I'm in love with "Goodbyes Made You Mine" |
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| Kirsty Lee Cook is America's Sweetheart who was on American Idol a few seasons ago. |
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| Yes, this is Jaymes and James. Yes, they are Chippendales, and yes, my husband did take this picture :) |
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| Taylor Hicks won American Idol a few seasons ago. |
Because of my connections to UNLV I also had the pleasure of meeting the wedding coordinators at the Venetian and they asked me to help them coordinate some of their weddings on 12/12/12, the biggest wedding day of the year. I helped with a few of the 30+ weddings that took place on property that day which was way crazy but incredibly awesome! I helped with some of the higher end weddings that took place that day and it just reminded me how much I can't wait to get into the industry.
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| The beautiful wedding gondola |
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| The Waterfall hosted one beautiful wedding |
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| Accordion background music for the one wedding in the middle of St Marks Square. |
Most recently I registered with a temp agency that contacted me through school. They were specifically seeking floral designers for this season and I jumped at the chance. I got my first assignment right after Christmas and you can't imagine how excited I was to find out it was for the floral department for MGM Events. MGM Events does all the huge events for all the hotel/casinos owned by MGM which are MGM, Bellagio, Aria, Mandalay Bay, and Mirage (among others). So amazing! The week after Christmas I helped with floral arrangements for New Years Eve parties for all the properties. I was assigned to the Bellagio team which meant that on New Years Eve we spent the day on the Bellagio property setting up for the New Years party. This party had more than 200 tables which had 1 of 4 arrangements on each table. I mostly helped with set up on this party but I did have a hand in some of the arrangements. I did a lot of the shorter orchid arrangements and the tall tulip arrangements with hydrangea and tulips at the base which can be seen along with the entire set up of the party at the following link:
http://vimeo.com/58779035
So far this is the only New Years event that they have a video of but when the other ones are posted, you better believe I will show them off. The events were all so amazing with all the product and work that went into it. I am just honored to have played a small part in putting them together.
I really do love living in Las Vegas while I'm going to school for this type of stuff. There's no better place for me right now and I love being involved in all the opportunities that present themselves because of where I am. I can't wait to see what else Las Vegas has to offer me!
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