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PRESS
The Splendors of Billinda For anyone lucky enough to score an invitation to an event planned by Billinda Wilkinson, Prepare Yourself. We aren’t talking about the usual gala, birthday or celebration. No way. Not when Billinda of Wilkinson-Rhodes takes charge. This premier event planner has earn d awards and recognition for exquisite presentations that would make others in her filed just a tad envious. Her talent lies in her creative ability to transport people to exotic locations with no more than a “set design.” Whether it’s journey to Morocco under seven hand painted tents lit by imported jeweled and brass chandeliers or an evening at the Moulin Rouge – complete with can-can dancers, Parisian store front windows and ice carvings of sexy legs – you are there. What is that you hear? Belly dancers clicking their castanets, or a living water fountain – a geisha interacting with streams of spewing water. Wilkinson elicits all the senses to bring her “sets” to life. “I have the best job in the world,” says Wilkinson. “I travel all over the country and to foreign destinations to conduct research. It’s my job to create memories.” Wilkinson worked as an interior designer and had a large showroom in Dallas during the 1970s and 1980s. She imported antiques from Europe and opened an antique store and another store that specialized in Christmas, gourmet foods, and stationary. After becoming a single mother with two small children to raise, she knew she had to prioritize her life. “I sat down and determined what my strengths were and how I could apply them. I volunteered for many years. I looked at this and began tracking down the right people who were the best in their industry.” She put together a core group of five. “It’s all about our blending of talent,” she says. “This industry crosses over into lots of other industries. I have to stay on top of trends … colors, schemes, fashion … it all dictates,” she says. “Ideas are always working in my head.” Wilkinson travels to linen shows, gourmet food shows, fabric shows, and AFID floral shows, to list a few. “I spend days researching lighting, choreography, entertainment, travel schedules and cuisine,” she says. “I work with art majors, floral designers, travel agents, lighting experts, caterers, interior designers, entertainers, and seamstresses.” The list goes on and on. “Everything must be top quality, every ingredient, same caliber across the board.” “We design and build everything. We’re dream spinners; people come to us with what they want and we take their vision and make it reality,” she says. “We build a temporary, magical event. It has to be safe, like building a house. We entertain a wide range of ages and that’s a challenge.” She reviews numerous entertainers and productions for the perfect mix for each event. Entertainments acts are timed and coordinated with lighting and special effects. Special care is used in choosing cuisine, flowers, invitations, and décor. One of her event presentations, Splendors of Asia, took first place for best produced even in the country by the National Association of Catering Executives. Special Events magazine awarded her one of three best parties for entertaining, invitation, and for bets party. “I am all about sizzle and pretty.” She says. “From start to finish, (and that may last as long as six months) for the past five years, I have been creating fantasies.” Wilkinson’s creativity and flair paired with attention to every detail, a vast array of resources, and the ability to astonish, have earned her high marks with satisfied clients and businesses. If you are one of the lucky ones to receive an invitation that resembles a work of art, use your good manners, RSVP immediately and prepare yourself! Wilkinson-Rhodes aims to please.
Having Fun at Your Own Party
On your arrival you are met by turbaned men on Arabian horses who usher you into a giant desert tent. As you enter, you see performers at every turn, jugglers and dancers in full regalia. You hear an indescribably beautiful eastern melody and turn to see a Syrian pop start on stage. You are quickly distracted by the smell of Kebab Koutbane and honeyed delicacies. As you sit back on a satin cushion you wonder if you somehow blacked out and wandered onto a 747 bound for Marrakesh. No, you want need a passport, just an invitation to one of the festive creations of San Antonio even planner Billinda Wilkinson of Wilkinson-Rhodes. Wilkinson teasingly calls herself a Jack Russell in a dress, playing on her high energy and eagerness to make her clients happy. Her job is twofold: to create your dream event and to do her job so well, you have nothing to do but to have fun at your own party. Wilkinson sat down with City Pages to tell us a little about this high energy, creative industry and to share some tips with our readers. What are some of the events you have really enjoyed doing? Really, whatever one you are working on at that moment is the most fun. It’s such a fast paced life that you live in that moment. I really enjoyed doing The Alamo premier. It was Disney’s largest premier to date and it involved so many different elements to bring it together. We created chandeliers that look like they came from Spanish colonial cathedrals and miniature chuck wagons. Can you imagine putting 35000 square feet of tent space in the middle of downtown? What do you love about working in an industry that many people would consider stressful? I get to create magic and fantasy! People bring you these ideas and you get challenged to make them a reality. It’s also a great deal of fun to do the research to get the theme right. We like to be authentic in everything we do. We hire chefs from the countries or special areas we are trying to present. We research every detail. We will travel if necessary. If it’s an historical period we learn all of the nuances to make it look authentic. Working to get it right is what makes it fun. I also love the people I get to work with. You meet every kind of person when you do these events. I know jugglers, lighting technicians, chefs, singers. I have a tremendous team of people who I count on. They can do anything. They learn recipes from every culture. They get to know the music. We had a Syrian pop singer at our Moroccan event. Do you know how hard it is to find a Syrian pop star, let alone get him to San Antonio? But it really added to the authenticity of the night. What is your goal when planning an event? We do traditional parties as well as themed events, but in all cases, what we are really trying to do is sculpt environments. We create a new experience for guests not just through food, but all of it together: music, lighting, activities, and décor. You want the environment to be comfortable and welcoming so that the guest stay and enjoys themselves. Our job is to do all the planning and worrying. I know I am successful if the hosts enjoyed the party as much as the guest. How do you move from a client’s ideas to a grand themed event? First, I ask everyone to think of the top five things they remember from parties they enjoyed. What made an impression? Was it the invitation, the food, the music? That really gives me a good place to start and know what is important to them. Different things are important to different people. From there we start thinking about the things they dream about and we go from there. We did a Serengeti themed party and spent a lot of time personalizing it for the hosts. The family had pictures of their grandmother on safari decades before so we incorporated those into the event to give it a personalized feel. The invitation was a journal covered with traveling stamps from 100 years ago and the RSVP was a steamship ticket. These were things that made the event special for the client. Of course we added out own touches with ethnic dancers and wild game for dinner, but the personalization of the event made it unique to them. In this type of industry it always seems like life throws some surprises. The weather is the biggest surprise. You just can’t control it. Date changes also throw things off, too. One great example is The Alamo Premier. It was moved months off its schedule. When we finally got the new date we found out it was on the same day as the Komen Race for the Cure. Well, what do you do with 35,000 feet of tent space spread across downtown? In the end I had tens of thousands of people running through my tents! You have to learn to roll with the punches, think on your feet, and focus on what’s important. You also have to have a great since of humor. What are some tips you have for people planning parties? We do small intimate events all the way to grand parties and premiers. My experience is that the biggest complaint you hear is waiting to long for a drink! Beyond that you should always try to ensure that space is used well and that the décor fits the environment. You want movement all the time. You want people to have room to move, but not so much room that you lose intimacy. Floor space and décor are very important elements that often go overlooked. In the end the goal is always to have a good time. If you can do that then any party is a big success.
Butterfly Bash With a little bit of luck, Wilkinson Rhodes organizes eclectic entertainment for a debutante party.
FLUTTER FANCY Wilkinson and her clients the debutante and her parents discussed themes ranging from Chicago to casino before deciding on "An Evening of Asian Splendors," based in part on a sranning handmade butterfly-motif dress the guest of honor was to wear in the upcoming San Antonio Fiesta. The 10 day springtime event is similar to Mardi Gras, according to Wilkinson, with courts of young ladies making their debut. Since geishas were considered "butterflies of the night," she explains, the event team decided to expand on the fanciful theme with contrasting vignettes of ancient Kyoto represented with geishas and song birds and Tokyo's electric Ginza Strip of today. The juxtaposition of old and modern was particularly appropriate for a party where guests arrive in waves: It is a tradition of the San Antonio debutante season for parents to arrive at the festivities around 8 p.m. with the teenagers making their fashionably late appearance as late as 11 p.m. The staggered arrivals called for plenty of entertainment, Wilkinson says, "so the guests had something to do other than stand around and drink." Judging from the party's run time of 10 hours, the entertainment was a success. "They didn't go home," Wilkinson says. She credits the 2005 film "Memoirs of a Geisha," which came out as the party was being planned, as pro viding a "template and a footprint for what we wanted things to look like." The event team also did extensive research to find appropriate entertainment, a common activity for the Wilkinson Rhodes team. "We gather books, we go to fairs; we do whatever it takes to make it work," Wilkinson explains.
She says that for this particular event, she scoured Chinatowns around the country. At a bazaar in Houston's Chinatown, Wilkinson bought paper lanterns from a vendor and asked him where she might find Chinese contortionists. Because her grasp of the Chinese language is "nonexistent," the man understood only the word "dancers" and pulled out a picture of himself doing a jete. "It turns out," Wilkinson explains, "at one point in his life, this man was the Baryshnikov of Chinese ballet." The former dancer referred Wilkinson to his former partner who owns a dance studio in Houston that is certified by the Beijing Ballet. In addition to having young ballerinas from the studio perform, Wilkinson also found out that "the guy who does iPod commercials lives in Houston and is Chinese." "So," Wilkinson says, "Moo Moo came and did break dancing and brought down the house." These diversions joined the entertainment roster that the event team had already arranged, including a Rolling Stones look-alike band from Los Angeles called Sticky Fingers, a funk band from Austin, Texas, Japanese calligraphers contacted through the Japanese-American Society in San Antonio, dancers in butterfly costumes dressed by Dania, Fla.-based Designs by Sean and a living fountain from Treasure Island, Fla.-based 2nd Nature Productions. WILD LION CHASE While turning a Texas property into a garden of Asian delights complete with an authentic Japanese teahouse built with bamboo from China and Japan-was tricky, Wilkinson says the real difficulties arose when the entire party had to be planned via text message between Tanzania and Texas. Just seven weeks before the event, Wilkinson's clients set off to Africa on safari, to return only after the husband killed a lion. "I've never done a party predicated on when we've bagged Simba," Wilkinson quips. Eventually she told the clients, "You are going to have to trust me." A good choice; Wilkinson says the night was "just magical and ethereal and really worked."
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