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* This photo was taken during the ceremony. I'm on the left, Erika is in the middle and the one in purple is our friend and student Geralyn.
We wanted to make the launch party as special as possible, but without spending too much money. Once again, my passion for fitness and my passion for budget living meet. The party was scheduled from 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm so we opted for wine and hors d'ouevres. We weren't sure how many people to expect, but thought we would have about 60. Happily, we ended up with 80 guests.
Our friend Rob who is a wine connoisseur and helped us pick a red and a white wine for our under $15 per bottle budget. The majority of the wines he purchased were $10.80 including six bottles of Diablita which was delicious. Rob is a member of a wine club so he received a 10% discount on the wine. We went through about 1/2 of it. The other 1/2 will be returned.
We purchased six bottles of Chandon Blanc de Noir champagne for the toast. We only opened three of the bottles so the other three will also go back. For the record, the champagne was delicious too.
For food, we purchased items at Costco to make turkey and cranberry tea sandwiches, turkey and provolone tea sandwich and chicken and curry tea sandwiches. We purchased broccoli, carrots, peppers and cucumbers and made our own veggie trays. We purchased several pre-made dips at Costco after calculating that it was cheaper to buy them premade instead of making them ourselves. The hit of the afternoon was the chocolate covered strawberries that were purchased naked at Costco and dipped by Erika.
To add a touch of elegance to the afternoon, our friend Scott volunteered to bartend for us and our friends Nicky and Daniel served hors d'ouevres.
At 5:00 pm, Erika and I gave a presentation celebrating some of the success stories of our current students, including Scott, father of two, who lost 70 pounds in 9 months as well as 50 year old Helen, mother of two, who finally hit her fitness goals and went on to run a full marathon in October. After the success stories we showed off the new site, made a toast and enjoyed the rest of the party with our friends and students.
Although we started getting ready for the 3:00 pm party at 9:30 am and had a detailed list of what needed to be done, we didn't give ourselves enough time. Our friends Kathy and Budget Savvy's managing editor Kevin came in and saved us by finishing the final prep on the food. We also had a lot of volunteers who stayed behind and helped us clean up.
The party itself as well as the feedback we received from those who attended was beyond our expectations. It is now five days later and Erika and I are still buzzing from the day.
