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Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Draping courses


Decor and Draping courses

Many people ask us why do I need to do a draping and decor course... the answer is very simple. 

* Do you want to be the best in the industry? 
* Do you want to stand out from the rest of the people in the industry?
* Would you like to learn from the experts on how to do an excellent job?
* Staying ahead in the industry - be the first one to get notified of new trends in the industry?

That is only a few reasons why you need to do our courses!

What is a concern for me is the fact that so many new course suppliers is popping up. Just this morning I saw a new FET college in Durban that is advertising a One Day course where they will teach you how to drape from tables rights through to ceilings. 

Now anyone that is in the industry knows that it is ridiculous to even think you can learn all of the skills in one day – not a chance. Yet – people falls for that illusion and go and pay for such courses.

My mother always told me that if something looks to good – it probably IS too good. I really want to encourage prospective students to start looking at the content of what these colleges offer. Is it really all that there is in the industry – to know where to put a cable tie – or is it better to go to a more advance course where they will teach you about the ins and outs of the industry – explaining to you why you need to do something – giving you real life examples – teaching you what to do and what not to do!




I always say to my students: why must you pay the price for your mistakes – if you can learn from mine?

Thursday, 3 January 2013

Two more weeks then our new website will be up and running! Imagine... then you will be able to buy online some of our wonderfull themed props, you would be able to do some of our courses online.... So much easier! A sneak preview of our products that we are going to offer online.






Watch this space for more info!

Tuesday, 1 January 2013

Wedding courses


Special of the century

ECTA Creative Solutions have a great special in Cape Town for ALL of their courses! For the first time ever and possibly the last time …. You can do all of the 8 practical events courses in Somerset West for R5000.00!

Many people asked us but why would we even think of advertising a R25 000 course for only R5 000? Let me explain why we are having such a huge special.

NNNOOOOOO…. There is nothing wrong with our courses – because some people think there must be something wrong with the courses that we will do such a crazy thing. The biggest reason for this DEAL OF THE CENTURY is the fact that we are expanding!

As you know we have already started with courses in Nairobi – Kenya but Devine Schools Africa wants to take these courses also to Mombasa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and a few other East Africa states.

That’s not all … We are in negotiations with FCE – Foundation for Cross Cultural Education to start presenting our courses in Namibia, Malawi, Zambia and India. What a great and awesome privilege that won’t be. To be able to go to all these countries to present our courses!

That’s not all: We are also preparing for Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Belgium and USA. What more can we ask. Now you will ask me – what does this have to do with the course special? We decided that we need to train new facilitators that will help us fly all over the world and present these classes to our international students. From the 28th of January to the 22nd of February 2013 we will have 20 young people together where we will start to teach them how to present our courses.

These young people are all students that expressed a desire to do mission work in Africa and different countries. Elect will make it possible for them to go to different countries, present the courses, have a good income BUT they will also be able to do a lot of outreaches in the countries where we send them.

Because of the fact that we have to present these classes to the soon to be facilitators – we decided that we can take in 5 private students at this amazing special. Unfortunately the course price does not include any manuals, kits and extras like flowers etc.

We will ask you to take notes – and if you want to buy a manual – you are welcome. We will also ask you to bring a few things to class. When we have table setting and centre piece class – we will ask you to bring one bunch of flowers. Not too much to ask if you can get a course for such a good price?

The month long course is going to include the following courses:

Wedding planning,

Draping Foundation,

Draping Advance,

 Event Design foundation,

Event Design Advance,

Kids party planning,

Table setting and centre pieces,

Protocol and Etiquette.


These courses will take place at the Bay Christian Family Church – Gants Centre – Somerset West from the 28th of January to the 22nd of February 2013 from Monday to Saturday - 8am – 5pm.

The normal price for our courses is R25 380.00 BUT for this amazing special you will only pay R5000.00 for all 8 courses. We can only accommodate 5 students at this price.

Terms and Conditions apply for the special.

Contact us for more info. www.electtrainingacademy.co.za or look at our video that explains our courses: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LWlkIz5E7Q&feature=plcp

Graduation in Nairobi - 2013


Graduation 2013 – Nairobi - Kenya

We’ve got good news! This year the annual graduation ceremony from Devine Schools – Africa will take place at the Panari Hotel in Nairobi – Kenya on the 26th of January 2013

ECTA Creative solutions (Elect) was invited to be part of this great event. I will be flying to Kenya on the 20th of January to attend this wonderful event. The event is always a high profile event – with many old students and high profile people attending this event. Previous years we had Miss Kenya – Natasha Metto and Mrs. Ida Odinga(Kenya's first Prime Ministers wife) attending the function.




What is awesome for us is the fact that part of the graduation ceremony is going to be 12 of our first Draping Combo Course students. History is going to be made in Kenya! Not only will they get their certificates at the event, they are also going to be in charge of the décor for the event. Wow girls – you will have to show them what you can do!!

South Africa students – watch this space…. I will report back on the event in February!

The Palm Atrium where the ceremony will be held.
More detail on the graduation event! 
Come and meet Event planners and service providers in the industry at our Mini Exhibition. 

This mini exhibition will take place at the Panari Sky on the 25th from 9am to 6pm and the 26th from 9am to 2pm ENTRANCE FREE!!!
The Events Planners dinner at the Panari Hotel on the 26th will be from 8pm. Entrance 1,500 per person and you automatically enter into a raffle prize draw to win GREAT PRIZES!Tickets can be purchased at:
1. Divine Weddings or Divine Schools offices at Chester House, 1st floor Koinange street. Contact Person Eva Muriuki: 0787 353 432
2. Panari Sky Offices on Mombasa road. Contact Person Eva Ngovi:0722 819 310
3. MPESA Number: 0723 207 540 (Susan Ngatia)
ALL TICKETS CAN BE COLLECTED AT: Divine Schools and Divine Weddings offices at Chester House, 1st floor, Koinange street or at Panari Sky Offices on Mombasa Road.

Hats Themed Decor


When DTM Nissan in the Strand contacted me and asked that they want us to do their yearend function again – but the theme they chose is HATS… my immediate thought was: How on earth! That thought lasted only for a few minutes.

Then I started thinking about all the possibilities and my head started to spin. So much you can do with hats – but so little space in a venue. You have to remember that the one golden rule on event décor is that old cliché…. Less is more! I don’t have to like it always but it stays true.

Can you imagine if planned the décor and just add random hats of all shapes and colours into the mix. Place them randomly in the venue without a specific purpose…. It will look like a mixture between a badly organized kid’s party and a Halloween freak show. First of all I decided I would like to bring in a colour scheme, a little bit of a theme just to link all the décor to each other – and knowing the client for years – I knew that a sexy Moulin rouge theme mixed with the hats theme will just do the trick.

Now to decide what to do with the hats so that I can have a look and feel of Moulin Rouge. This is where teamwork and brainstorming is so important! I got my team together and we started throwing ideas around.

·         What is available on the internet – that is always a good starting point
·         What hats do we have in our store room
·         What hats is available for us to buy at our wholesalers
·         How can we use ordinary hats and display it in interesting – out of the box – ways.


First we got our intern – Suandri to start researching the possibilities on the internet and we’ve put a mood board together for the client. From there the ideas started to flow instantaneously. What about using the sexy Moulin rouge legs to display hats on, What about we use the silver wire balls that we’ve got in the store to display the sexy hats in….. And so we went on!

The result: One outrageously, sexy, Moulin rouge themed HATS party for DTM Nissan in STRAND. Well done Imagine Events!

Photo’s for the initial mood board from the following sites:
trendytree.com; http://pinterest.com/pin/67061481922763925/; foreverthehostess.blogspot.com; http://pinterest.com/pin/142426406936626675/; http://blog.hwtm.com/2012/04/monopoly-birthday-party-ideas/; http://www.celebrationideasonline.com/hat-decorating.html; http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Mini-Hat-Police-Cap-Costume-Theme-Party-/160849537767#ht_1009wt_906; http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/inspiration-hats-as-decor-91019; http://pinterest.com/lesley_anne/michigan-living/; http://pinterest.com/cherilynfhv/decorating/; http://keep.com/santa-hat-christmas-glass-decorations/k/130305/

Photo’s for the Hats Themed Design Board from Imagine Events: www.imagineevents.co.za