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Corporate Event Planning by Merryl Brown Events

Merryl Brown Events' corporate event planning division designs events to reflect the mission of our clients' companies and the style of our clients' brands. Merryl Brown Events has a proven track record producing corporate events, having worked with Fortune 500 clients, significant privately held enterprises, and start-up boutiques. We have designed and produced corporate grand openings, product launches, company holiday parties and quarterly events. Merryl has a background in business, with a Master's Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. Before becoming an event planner, Merryl was an International Banker with American Express Bank and Bankers Trust Company in New York. She later held the position of Director of PR and Events at Saks Fifth Avenue Santa Barbara, producing events and fashion shows showcasing many of their high-end labels.

We understand that in today's economic climate, it is important to get the most out of every investment you make. When you invest in corporate event planning with Merryl Brown Events, we go above and beyond to produce positive results for your company's image and brand identity. Our proven background in producing sustainable events is an added benefit of having Merryl Brown Events as your corporate event planner.

Merryl Brown Events are corporate event planners that have done significant pro-bono and discounted event planning work for charitable organizations each year, including the Community Environmental Council, the Breast Cancer Resource Center, the Scholarship Foundation, the Pacific Pride Foundation, the American Heart Association, to name but a few. Giving back has always been at the forefront of Merryl Brown Events. To that end, we can help match individuals and companies with appropriate non-profit partners in order to help create community connection and support corporate philanthropic efforts. Call us to discuss your next corporate event.

Some of our Best Corporate Events

Springtime Stunner for Six Hundred

The 2013 Royal Ball at Bacara Resort & Spa was an evening full of glamour, opulence, magnificent music and alluring guests, all in support of Santa Barbara’s vitally important Pacific Pride Foundation. Merryl Brown Events leveraged our extensive relationships in the event production industry for this event, allowing us to produce an epic event at a fraction of the real cost. Royal butlers served cocktails and delectable canapés on silver trays, while beautiful dancers, extreme stilt and acrobatic performance artists and DJ Mike Bryant kept the crowd mesmerized and dancing until 1:00am. The Royal Ball brought together gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and straight supporters to share a memorable evening of wild fun in support of Pacific Pride Foundation and it was truly the event of 2013.

"When a writer cannot find sufficient superlatives to describe an event or occasion, they've either lost their imagination or simply attended the Royal Ball. I thank you (as do my guests) for a flawless evening and a lifetime memory."
—L. Redd, Santa Barbara, CA

"Last night's benefit for Pacific Pride, the Royal Ball, was SO over the top that words and photos cannot describe it properly. Only Merryl Brown could create an event like this."
—Amie Parrish, Santa Barbara, CA

In the Press:

Photography by Isaac Hernandez & JP Montalvo

Elegant Corporate Holiday Party for Seven Hundred

Our team produced a weekend of events that began with an elegant copper draped dinner party for seven hundred guests adorned with stunning copper details and dramatic lighting elements, creating a warm and intimate space within a large ballroom. After dinner, guests entered a tented dance party with white and crystal decor, white branches strung with 2400 icicles, magnificent chandeliers, Rrivre Works cocktail tables filled with giant crystal ice sculptures accented with the glow of candlelight. Outside of the tent was an impressive faux snowstorm that lasted five hours and blanketed the grass, flocked oak trees, and everything in its reach with snowy white beauty. Each detail was perfectly uplit and very dramatic. Along the dance floor was a 30ft LED screen showing images of ice, snow, and winter scenes that enhanced the feeling of the ice palace decor. Dancing the with the guests throughout the evening was a costumed Cirque du Soleil extreme stilt performer in a custom-designed white and crystal Jack Frost costume.

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"I am in awe of your artistic talent and strengths. The event lifted everyone's spirits up and sent them soaring. I myself have never experienced a better time. You did it with imagination, fun and beauty. Thank you Merryl."
—Kate Blake, Community Relations Manager, lynda.com

In the Press:

Photography by Isaac Hernandez & Z Studios

Corporate Holiday Party at the Bacara Resort and Spa

Merryl Brown Events produced a fabulous two-day holiday party for five hundred featuring dinner, dancing and raucous gaming, followed by a bountiful brunch at Bacara’s Miro Restaurant the following day.

"Merryl Brown has been the event planner for all of our corporate events for several years. We produce numerous internal events, with lots of moving parts, and we have thrown her many last-minute changes and direction shifts. She rolls with each change, and makes it look effortless. She has raised the bar on our events with her great ideas, amazing team, and flawless execution. She is simply the best there is! Her love for her work shines through, and her passion and talent is unsurpassed."
—Lynda Weinman, Co-Founder, lynda.com

Photography by Z Studios Photography

Pacific Pride Foundation's Royal Ball

The glamorous oceanfront Coral Casino at the Four Seasons Biltmore in Montecito, California was the scene of Pacific Pride Foundation's Royal Ball, an opulent evening of entertainment, design, and dancing. Guests came from as far as New York to enjoy the company of queens and kings, dining on fine canapés from a menu created by celebrity Iron chef Cat Cora and served up by exotic butlers adorned in professional custom body paint and tight black pants. Cora served as Honorary Co-Chair along with actors Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka.

Combining camp with decadence, we set the scene with a series of boutique designer showcase Royal Boxes, where honored guests and major sponsors were invited to lounge in luxury. Several designers from the west coast were invited to make their mark, with results that included eye candy for a wide range of tastes. Event sponsors were carefully matched with these designers that included S.R. Hogue, Camilla Svensson Burns, Percy Sales, Marc Normand Gelinas, NLC Productions and John Daly in opulent booths as patrons of the royal court, and they were treated to the private service of their own costumed, personal butler throughout the evening.

This event merged with a designer showcase allowed the nonprofit Pacific Pride Foundation to afford the highest quality of design and diversity for the event while allowing designers to present their latest concepts to a captive community of over 400 guests. This event has quickly earned the reputation as "The event of the year" in Santa Barbara!

"One of the most creative, colorful and fun parties I've been to in five years of covering events in our rarefied enclave. Merryl Brown Events made Fellini look positively mundane!"
—Richard Mineards, Montecito Journal columnist

In the Press:

Photography by Isaac Hernandez

The Community Environmental Council's Green Gala

Guests entered the Community Environmental Council's 2012 Green Gala to the sound of rhythmic music as gorgeous, wildly airbrushed, costumed Green Greeters beckoned them into a stunning space filled with trees, hung with moss and leaves, awash in dramatic light. Professional extreme stilt walkers, dressed as towering trees, entertained as guests explored the venue and all of the gorgeous vignettes tucked in between the trees. During our fabulous evening long cocktail party, we served an inspired menu of locally-sourced cuisine by Full of Life Flatbread, paired with Lieff Wines, 123 Tequila and artisanal cocktails, followed by the most gorgeous dessert table ever seen! Throughout the night, acclaimed Los Angeles DJ Derek Montiero played a great mix of dance music for guests in the Rhythm Cave™—a "room" created out of LED screens that surrounded the dance floor with amazing images from nature, taking guests from the middle of a forest, to underwater kelp beds, to a windswept mountain top. It was a multi-sensory experience not to be believed! This was truly an uplifting and transformative evening for one of the brightest, most energetic, and hard working organizations in Santa Barbara!

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"Last night was so unbelievable I can't put it into words...the work you do for this community is so inspiring. The CEC is so blessed to have you and your amazing team. You are a creative genius, and the most fabulous Event Planner in the world!"
—Carrie Riley, Santa Barbara, CA

In the Press:

Photography by Erin Feinblatt

The CEC's Gypsy Caravan Celebration

The 2011 Green Gala was another Merryl Brown Events masterpiece, replete with a custom gypsy caravan made from vintage and recycled elements, dozens of beautiful gypsies, gorgeous decor, and stunning lighting design finishing the look. The food from Full of Life Flatbread was truly inspired, as was the Celebrating the Sweetness of Life® dessert table which was devoured in record time. This event has won both an ISES Esprit Award and an AWC Clarion Award for the 2nd year in a row! With the latest Green Gala underway, we will be working hard to earn these awards for our 2012 event as well. Stay tuned!

The party that you created was by far the most gorgeous event I have ever been to!!! What an experience; thank you!
—Daniel Randall, Co-Founder and Roastmaster, Green Star Coffee

In the Press:

Photography by Erin Feinblatt

The CEC's Enchanted Fairy Forest

Merryl Brown Events has produced the award-winning Green Gala for several years for the Community Environmental Council of Santa Barbara. A large outdoor rotunda was filled with fairies, pixies, wood nymphs, and satyrs as guests entered a twinkling, enchanted forest glen. Over 400 trees of all sizes abounded, dripping with vines that hung down over statues, flower-filled fountains, moss-covered statuary and giant mushrooms. Guests encountered incredible, elaborately costumed creatures of the woodlands as they enjoyed organic wines and green-hued cocktails, accompanied by canapés inspired by the forested landscape. Just as guests were seated, a unicorn carrying the fairy queen was led into the dining room by her royal servant. In keeping with the client's wishes, the event was sustainable, with a spectacular 97% diversion rate (meaning that 97% of the waste produced by the event was diverted from the landfill to recycling or to a food waste composting facility.) Merryl Brown Events was a finalist in four major, highly-competitive event design competitions for this gala and was the winner of two of these coveted awards.

"What a wonderful evening. You blew everyone away and what an expression of creativity that people rarely, if ever get to experience. From the entry welcome to the luscious desserts, and of course the fantasy world you created, what a treat."
—Cord Pereira, MD Brandentertain

In the Press:

Photography by Erin Feinblatt

Breast Cancer Resource Center Presents: Think Pink!

Merryl Brown Events was brought in to create a branded fundraiser for The Breast Cancer Resource Center of Santa Barbara. We chose the theme "Think Pink" and produced an incredible, all-pink affair. It was replete with branded elements throughout the event, an amazing Celebrating the Sweetness of Life® dessert table, gorgeous pink flowers and linens, pink signature drinks and a pink champagne bar. Several corporate donors sponsored various elements of the event, and we provided them numerous corporate branding opportunities throughout. This sold-out event had more patron sponsors than any year prior and was fun and memorable as promised.

"The evening was a masterpiece of elegance and opulence! Merryl delivers seamlessly and flawlessly. Her attention to detail is astounding and her passion for perfection is unparalleled. I can't wait to attend another event by Merryl Brown Events."
—Andrew Antone, Santa Barbara

In the Press:

Photography by Amore Dolce Photography