Crazy Rich Austin
Saturday August 4th, 2018
What a turn of events! We are used to putting together other people’s dream visions, but this event ended up putting our visions together. Spark Special Events was given the amazing opportunity to help with an incredible non-profit fundraiser in support of the new upcoming movie Crazy Rich Asians. We were approached by the Austin Asian American Film Festival to help be event coordinators for the fanciest event of the summer! This event meant a lot to Sparks Special Events because it allowed us to represent and support our follow Asian American community.
The event’s purpose was to help raise money for the Austin Asian American Film Festival and to bring the Austin Asian community together in encouragement of the new Crazy Rich Asians movie being released in theaters around the world!
#CRAZYRICHASIANS had a massive $35.3 million #GoldOpen and was one of the top performing market movies in Austin!
The Long Center was the venue of choice and what a perfect venue it turned out to be. The event consisted of three experiences all in one day and at the same location. The focus was to have a community party, night market and a VIP fundraiser running all in the same night to help create a crazy experience you could only get once!
The VIP Soirée started the evening first with celebrity guests arriving at 6:30PM. The soirée was held in the west wing of the Long Center, which was located on the second floor. The room overlooked the HEB terrance grounds, where the Night Market community event was taking place, which also had the perfect view to watch the sun set behind the gorgeous Austin skyline. The VIP guests entered through the Long Center’s main entrance. As guests walked up the first set of stairs, they were warmly greeted by three tiered Chinese red lanterns that were placed at the top. These three tiered lanterns were inspired by the same lanterns that were used in the movie. You can notice them from the scene when Rachel and Peik Lin drive up to Nick Young’s Family home.
VIP guests were escorted upstairs to the VIP Soirée where they were given a special goodie bag. Thanks to our sponsors for providing awesome gifts! After receiving their gift bag, guests walked down the hallway to see a 8’ x 8’ box wood wall with the Crazy Rich Asians sign. From there guest could take photos and check out more photo booths to the right. The box wood was hand made. The letters were individually laser cut and painted white. Individual sheets of greenery were stapled to the wood and letters glued on. The box wood was completed by Jessica and Derek in less than 48 hours! As you can see, a lot of hard work went into this outstanding piece!
In the VIP Soirée, the guests enjoyed a lovely dinner by Peached Tortilla. Dessert was a three tiered cake, which was a delicious passion fruit mango white cake with whipped cream icing. VIP Soirée also opened the floor for discussion about the importance of Asian American representation. Guests listened and participated in a panel of some of the most important influencers from the movie world. Then a silent auction was held to help raise more money for the Austin Asian Film Festival. Christine Ha also had a private book signing and sold copies of here cook book “Recipes From My Home Kitchen”. Overall, it was a night that you would not would have wanted to miss! With 200 influential people in one room together enjoying cocktails and sharing stories, it was the summer soirée of the year!
As the VIP Soirée was happening, there was a hustle and the smell of delicious street style food cooking down on the ground terrance.
List of VIP Guests - Chris Pang - Crazy Rich Asians, Actor | Ronny Chieng - Crazy Rich Asians, Actor | Christine Ha - Master Chef Winner | Minji Chang - Kollaboration, Director | Chloe Dao - Project Runway Winner | Tiffany Lee - Studio Tilee, Celebrity Artist
List of Sponsors - Austin Asian American Film Festival | Alamo Drafthouse | Austin Film Festival | Still Whiskey | Panda Express | Mighty Swell | Noonday Collection | Supryia Kharod | Lily Pad School | Kinokuniya |
Watch the CRAZY RICH AUSTIN Video Montage
Read more about the event by the Austin American Statesman
Click here to Learn More About AAAFF
“It only takes a spark, to get the fire going.”
In the Crazy Rich Asians movie, there is a whole scene devoted to Singapore’s famous street food. We wanted to incorporate that into the event and naturally it made sense to have a night market! A beautiful display of red lanterns were hung high in the air for all to see. Tents lined up with an array of Austin’s favorite food and drink vendors.
The Night Market and Luxury Lounge were both events open to the public. Approximately 2,000 plus people attend these events.
The Night Market consisted of fourteen local food vendors, which helped fill the air with a beautiful aroma and fun all around! The Night Market was inspired by Singapore’s famous street food district. We created a beautiful cascading tier of red lanterns in between the tent booths. The ground terrace gave a beautiful background of Austin’s downtown skyline. We had Ultimate Screens set up a large eighty foot screen that would display the Crazy Rich Asians movie trailer and special clips later that evening.
After getting food and checking out the other art tents, guests were welcomed to go upstairs and relax in a luxury lounge inspired by the movie’s parties and mahjong tables. We had a red carpet set up for people to take photos on, as well as the celebrities. There was even a glam team stationed on the side to help get you picture worthy! The Luxury Lounge also consisted of art installations and a clothing display by Chloe Dao.
Outside on the balcony, there were patio style lounge chairs and mahjong tables set up to play on. Past the bar there was another DJ dance floor and another spot for viewing the entire grounds. Each table was decorated with centerpieces that reflected themes and mementos from the movie.
Overall, the event was a huge success and we helped raise over $5,000 of the fundraising goal for the Austin Asian American Film Festival! We were brought onto the team of AAAF two weeks before the event, which is pretty late for a big event like this. Sparks Special Events is very proud to be a part of this wonderful event! Without the strong team that we got to work with, this event would have been impossible.
This event wouldn't have been possible without the amazing efforts of 50+ volunteers, who put in over 1,000 hours of work. Everyone brought their best and it showed that night on the faces of all our happy guests! We cannot wait to help on another non-profit event and show Austin the powerful skills of two ambitious Asian American women!
-Spark Special Events