What do Diana Ross’s 75th birthday party, Kim Kardashian’s CBD-themed baby shower, and even the recent Celebration of Life memorial service for Nipsey Hussle have in common? Though very different occasions, all were planned by Mindy Weiss, the go-to celebrity-event planner extraordinaire.
There’s another commonality shared by the aforementioned soirées and many more of the Instagram-worthy events Weiss has planned as of late: All were decorated in bright, vibrant color schemes. “People are stepping out of the box and experimenting with color,” she tells AD of the growing trend. “I was doing lots of parties in gray, white, taupe, and cream in the past.”
“Antique dishes are hot right now,” says Weiss.
Photo: Dennis KwanThe furniture rental companies she often uses (Ark, Found Rentals, and Revelry Events are a few of her go-to vendors) have hopped on board, now offering a trendy new palette of “that good mustard, gray-blue, or green,” she says. And Weiss has had to take matters into her own hands to make the trendy flowers of the moment (what she calls “freeway flowers—things you would find on the side of the freeway”) even more vibrant. “We added another step where we started spray painting these wildflowers, so they take on a fabulous muted blue and muted pink and muted yellow. And not to the point where you’ll ever in a million years think it was spray painted, because there is nothing worse than that. But obviously I can’t always find that type of flower or organic look with the color they want.”
Weiss’s biggest tip for a successful bash? “Please save money for a great photographer,” she says.
Photo: Amy and StuartJust like in home design, what Weiss calls “that good mustard” color is especially having a moment in the party world. “I just sold that [color] to a bride,” says an excited Weiss. “We are doing a whole lounge area in a turmeric, mustard-yellow. The flowers are green, hot pink, you know a lot of amaryllis. I don’t know if you’d really want to live like that permanently, but it makes a cool lounge for an event.”
Weiss sees herself as a decorator when working on a party, but the temporary nature of events means that she’s able to create much more exaggerated spaces than your typical interior designer. “As an event planner, you have to go into [the clients’] homes and see how they live, and then you elevate it just a bit because it is temporary, so they don’t feel trapped,” she explains. That much is evident from some of her most notable events. For example, we know Kylie Jenner’s Martyn Lawrence Bullard–designed home is full of colorful, sparkly pop art, and for Jenner’s daughter’s first birthday, she enlisted Weiss to create Stormiworld, an absolutely over-the-top amusement park-themed bash which Weiss calls “the most fun party I think of my dreams and fantasy.”
Stormiworld is just one of many events she’s planned for the Kardashian-Jenner clan (Kris Jenner is a longtime pal), and she cites one of Kanye West’s birthday parties as another favorite—and another example of a party being an exaggerated version of a client’s preferred home decor. West and his wife, Kim Kardashian, live in an extremely minimalistic Axel Vervoordt–designed mansion, and the bash in question featured simple decor of “cement tables and Spanish moss,” says Weiss.
When creating an event space from the ground up for design enthusiast Ellen DeGeneres’s birthday, it was all about getting the furniture right. “It was a speakeasy with a lot of heavy red drapes,” says Weiss. “She loves to be surrounded by furniture— [she wanted] no tables and chairs at all.” Instead, Weiss brought in a large vintage bar and a variety of leather couches. “It was a great challenge because when someone has really good taste and they decorate themselves, you know, I’m always challenged to step it up a notch.”
Whether working with celebrities or noncelebrities, Weiss says there’s one thing almost all of her clients have in common. “I think the greatest trend is that no one says to me, ‘Just do it.’ They are all very vocal and they tell me, ‘Look, this is the style I want, this is the color.’ They are all on Pinterest.”
