January 8, 2017

Meet Carole Grogan

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carole Grogan.

Carole, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
It has been a bit of a winding path that took me straight to my current passion and business of event planning and design.

I studied art and installation in College in both Ohio and California, eventually moving into consulting for the fashion industry in Los Angeles for a good 15 years.

Somewhere in that span, I went to culinary school, trained to be a chef and worked at some of the most famous restaurants in the country. From there I opened my own catering company in Pasadena, and feeling this is not quite the right avenue for me–I really enjoyed the planning and design end more– I sold my business and moved into event planning.

I spent several years planning hundreds of large events for a very old and busy upscale restaurant in Topanga. Here I really cut my teeth. I learned how to manage everything and anything that could ever go wrong in an event…. nothing fazes me now!

This mash-up of skills sent me on the path of creating Bright Blue Events nine years ago. My company allows me to use all of my talents I have accumulated along the way….installation, fashion and art, practical knowledge of what a kitchen needs to perform and how to run & create large off-site events, and a sensibility that I can make any situation work while assisting my clients having and creating a truly amazing experience.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has actually been a really smooth road! But it was only made this way with the help of my fantastic team. They are a passionate bunch of hard working wonderful people.

Please tell us about Bright Blue Events.
My aesthetic is very clean, minimal and simple….but I love a client that wants to do something super over the top and dramatic.

We specialize in putting together events in spaces that, either have never held an event or that we need to bring everything in to create the celebration.

I have a strong knowledge of catering, rentals and people management, and know what we are capable of doing and what the pitfalls may be.

So we love when clients bring us an empty warehouse or field and say “Let’s do something really fantastic here!”

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I am very happy with my path, so I can’t say I would change a thing!

Pricing:

We offer Month of Event Coordination in the range of $1200 to $3000 based on guest count.
Our Full Planning and Design Offerings start at $5000 based on event complexity and guest count

Contact Info: