It took me a good week to feel like I could write this post and sum up everything that I felt and loved.
I'm always absolutely amazed by the sheer man (woman) power it takes to pull this beast off. I mean hundreds of volunteers that help to transform our Gathering Area at Rochester Assembly into the hottest restaurant in town for two nights! So, let me start from the top...
1st; The first step is Prayer, it's the middle, end, and last step. Prayer is all over this event. We believe that God wants to speak to His daughters, and show them His love and we don't want anything to distract from that. In comes the effervescent, endlessly energetic and creative Christy Cass. She and I pray and dream about themes, speakers, food, decor, prayer etc. She is the fountain of fab ideas, she is a HUGE supporter to me, she loves and inspires me a ton. I am so thankful for her. I love the picture of her emceeing below... This basically launched her public speaking gig.... ;) jk.
2nd; We have amazon send us some color powder, call up whatever girlfriends are free on a moment's notice in August, and call up our beautiful friend Carissa Christine photography to come down and shoot our promo photography. Sigh... She just gets us. She is talented, generous, and professional. We love her. She goes on to design all of our promo material.
3rd; We drum up a DREAM TEAM!!! Every good idea needs a dream team. I am great at a lot of areas, and terrible at more. Because of that I need good friends that are good at things I'm not, passionate about the cause, fun, and powerful women that get stuff done.
Heidi Stehr was on the top of my list to help me from the top view looking down into all the tiny details. She is the perfect blend of kind, emotionally mature, and very organized. She held it all together. I love you Heids!
In a separate category of dreaminess is Kristin Flessland, Lorelle Benetti, and Nicole Holmquist. They are my busy beavers who love lists, know every formula on Xcel, and get a thrill from highlighters, folders, maps etc. I'd trust these ladies with my life!! They get more than they bargain for always with interesting requests, changes, and more. Thank you for dealing with it all with grace and love!
Katelyn Cordie and Danielle Timm knocked the Decor out of the park this year. That stage tho, the giant lightbrite display, the lightbulb chandelier!!!!! Also, I loved the pins they made as favors! I would totally buy one if I saw it in a store! They worked so hard and it really paid off!!
Christy Cass and Erleen Hartleip headed up our hospitality portion of the event, and our volunteers. We had so many amazing volunteers with smiles on their faces ready to greet, usher, serve, clean, etc. Plus we had a volunteer lounge stocked with food, coffee, and water for all our volunteers. Christy also hand painted beautiful watercolor pictures to hang in our bathrooms, as well as all our chalkboards. Erleen and Kim Prigge were the brains behind the flavored water and iced coffee this year. I could drink down a solid gallon of that iced coffee, and I know some of you felt the same. Thanks you ladies!!
Sarah stinking Maas knocked the Table Hostess coordination out of the park this year. We had 92 table hostesses during both nights, our biggest yet!! She had a great plan for training the new ones, getting information to them, and had some great volunteers in place to help hostesses the night of with any questions they had! It was awesome!! Thank you Sarah! And, thank you to Megan Stoyles for helping with the table hostess folders!
Cheryl Nold brought her years of catering expertise to the table this year with the food and beverage portion! The food was so great this year! She partnered with Catering By Design for an awesome year of food. The bussing stations were great and everything ran smoothly. Thank you Cheryl! It was so nice to know that our dinner was in good hands this year!
Isiah Lecea is like a brother to me. He was an awesome Program coordinator, he made an awesome playlist for background music that really brought energy and the right vibe, he helped coordinate our awesome sound, lights, and video team (the illustrious Tomas Flessland, Steve Golish, and Eric Rudquist). He was our liaison to Dara Maclean and her guest Michael Phelps, as well as William Weigel our dinner music. He's professional and goes above and beyond!!!
4; The nights of the actual event were absolutely electric... dare I say Vibrant? It was so fun! I loved the addition of the table talk cards last year, and we brought them again this year. I just love how they open up conversation with everyone and it can go beyond weather, or what department people work at at the Mayo Clinic.
William Weigel! You were so amazing yet again as our dinner music! Set the perfect tone, we always hear nothing but rave reviews about you. Thank you!!!
Dara Maclean and Michael Phelps you were such a joy! You got the heart of the event, you were fun and got everyone moving, and you brought it!! Dara you are so stinking talented, it was so special! You stayed after the event for so long and talked to everyone who wanted to talk to you! Class Act! Thank you!!! We love you friends!! Please add her music to your library! It's the best.
All of our hostesses did such a great job setting beautiful tables (I think this year's tables were some of my favorites!), and making the ladies attending the event feel loved and pampered!!! We love you, we know how much work it is!!!
All of our Gentleman ushers, Teen Challenge guys, photographers, teens, set up guys...
Man! There are so many others who helped at our work nights, who greeted, cleaned etc. Phew!!! Thank you all!!! It is so FUN to be in this community of friends who all come together using their gifts for such an awesome cause. I love all of my Rochester Assembly Family!!
For anyone, that would like some more information about how to grow in their faith we are having a luncheon after our 11 service at Rochester Assembly on March 20th. We'd love for you to attend, and you must email me to rsvp at katid@rochesterag.com. We also have a lot of great Women's small groups and Bible studies that we'd love to have you at. Every Tuesday morning there are 3 that meet at Rochester Assembly, and this Thursday March 3rd we are meeting at the Loop at 8:30 pm for our sushi+heels group. We'd love to have you join our awesome life-giving church community at Rochester Assembly!
At the end of the day, 735 women attended the event and 48 women decided to start the journey of accepting Christ in their life! Every woman hopefully left feeling loved, pampered, excited and refreshed!!! We are already excited about next year and have started to nail down our theme and speaker! We will keep you posted! Thank you for coming and Live VIBRANT!
Love,
Kati Dean
