Dawn Sandomeno and Elizabeth Mascali of Party Bluprints.
One of my absolute favorite blogs is Party Bluprints Blog, and I’ve had the pleasure to get to know the party planning masterminds Dawn Sandomeno and Elizabeth Mascali behind the blog and the party planning company. They give classy, stylish, yet easy enough party planning ideas for everyone (and on the top of it all: with a reasonable budget).
Interview with Elizabeth Mascali, author of Plan to Party
How did you and Dawn meet and start working together? Elizabeth Mascali: We met in 1997 as proud new homeowners who had just started families. Our only children at the time were 1 and 2 years old. As our friendship grew over the years, so did our families, as did our respect, trust and loyalty to each other. We’ve shared many of life’s joys and weathered some of its most challenging times together. After 10 years, an opportunity presented itself for us to work together. Our solid relationship, our complementary set of skills, and the “yin and yang” nature of our relationship made it a strong fit and Party Bluprints Inc. was born in 2007. And now your first book just came out and it looks amazing – how long did it take to make this book? Elizabeth Mascali: Content was three years in the making, refining content and design took Summer 2010. It is an incredibly hard but rewarding experience. Our book, Plan to Party, is unique in that it is visually beautiful, like a cocktail table book, but it’s filled with complete, detailed and easy to follow information that will serve as a timeless resource for entertaining. It truly is an easy plan to enrich your lifestyle by bringing friends and family and great joy into your home. Speaking of family – I hear your family members were part of making this book – can you tell us more how your families were involved? Elizabeth Mascali: Our families (Mascalis & Sandomenos) have always supported our company, Party Bluprints Inc., from the day of its incorporation. They are always looking, listening and brainstorming ideas (from the youngest, age 9, on up to the 15 year old). My daughter, Ally, is a talented young photographer with an excellent “eye”. As we were preparing food, parties or tables she would always be on hand to lend her talent. Early on, I had my hands full preparing a dish and she picked up the camera to have some fun shooting a dish we had set up on the table. Shooting food is not an easy task, but when I looked at the pictures, I saw she had the eye for it. She approached it from a fresh angle and captured the food beautifully. From that day on (when she was available) we worked together crafting the shoots – while I was preparing and styling the food, she was shooting it. It was an opportunity that presented itself magically and I’m so proud of her and excited for her (we had a lot of fun working together and I can’t wait to do it again!) My husband, Arnie, was intimately involved in “the book” – there were many a late night or early morning where I would consult with him (he is the best writer I know) and he never failed to guide me in the direction I needed in order to move forward with the progress of the book. During the endless days of editing and proofing, when my eyes were bleeding, he supported and encouraged me and double proofed for me and kept everything else going and thriving! My son, Jack – 11, never failed to enter the room in the morning or come through the door during the day or evening and enthusiastically ask, “How’s the book going, Mom?” or just a simple “I love you, Mom”. Publishing a book is a huge undertaking and I’m so thankful to my family for their endless support and love during the process – we all lived “the book”, Plan to Party, the summer of 2010!