The issue of “back street” suppliers is always there when people decide to hold an event and this option can seem all the more appealing when budgets are tight and deadlines are fast approaching. The surge of events which are expected to take place this summer alongside the Olympics have highlighted the existing pressure on suppliers and how it can lead to inexperienced suppliers entering the market.

Just last month we heard of a large company in Birmingham hiring AV equipment from an un-registered supplier for a conference event for 200 people; the day of the event came and there was no sign of their equipment or deposit. The event had to be cancelled hours before it was due to start, leaving the attendees dissatisfied and the company out of pocket.

This is why at the Old Library we have an extensive list of contractors to cater for all your event wants and needs; we maintain good relationships with all our suppliers and ensure they have suitable experience and all the appropriate accreditations so you don’t have to worry.

We know our venues like the backs of our hands, so no need to out-source risk assessments; this is all part of the package. If you need microphones for a conference, a stage for an awards ceremony, a DJ for a party or even a three-course meal we can find you the right supplier at the right price. All this coupled with our professional and highly experienced team means that we can take the stress out of event management and sourcing suppliers.

Give us a call to discuss how we can help you plan your perfect event at the Old Library.

According to a report by Britain for Events it has found the UK event industry could provide a big boost to Britain’s economy over the coming years, with figures suggesting a £12 million increase in the next eight years. The increase is being linked to the countdown of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Queens Jubilee. The planning of these events is well underway and they are set to showcase to the world that events is an expertise of the UK. The reports are sending out a rippled effect within the industry with many organisations already seeing an increase in bookings, and key cities becoming highly sort after for event locations.

One of the locations on the up is Birmingham. When it comes to large events Birmingham has the upper hand due to two key factors; location – Birmingham is accessible by all major transport links and is quick, easy and cheaper than its larger rival London. Cost – Birmingham being known as the second city allows it to have the glamour of being a large city with all the facilities but with half the cost of London. These justifications have lead to a massive increase within the events industry in Birmingham and also for the Custard Factory, therefore making Birmingham an ideal location for any event, without compromising on the quality.

The Custard factory has a grand blend of architecture with its Victorian structure yet a youthful bold colour atmosphere which runs throughout all of its buildings. Its range of spaces play host to a selection of dynamic and distinctive events from weddings and product launches to fashion shows and conferences. One of the most popular spaces in the Custard Factory is the Old library, a venue engulfed in history dating back to the 1880’s. Its picturesque ceilings and breathtaking beauty gives any event a truly unique tranquil atmosphere, The Old Library has hosted major events and is now recognised internationally as a centre of excellence for the creative industries.

Big Cat has over 10 years experience winning numerous awards for events that have been organised by us the events team. The team here at Big Cat have seen the increase in demand for events; we’ve found on many occasions the venues are being booked up much quicker than in recent years. The industry has gone through many dips, however recently it has started to pick up with clients having more money to use for events. The recent influx has given Big Cat more freedom to be more creative with the events. The Big Cat Plan has proven to be an effective way of organising events with many clients praising our skill set. The Old Library is going from strength to strength and is set to reach new heights as the client base is growing larger and larger everyday. 2011 has been an incredibly busy year at The Old Library, with a string of beautiful weddings and swish corporate events being held at the venue. 2012 is shaping up to be the same with a range of considerably large events already in the pipeline.

If you want to get a head of the game there are lots of tools out there for you to start gathering inspiration. With the growing popularity of Smart Phones, it wasn’t going to be long before wedding planning came to the app store. To give you a head start on planning your big day we’ve done some research into the top 3 apps out there covering everything from dresses and the honeymoon to budgeting and the wedding registry.

Brides – Wedding Genius

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brides-wedding-genius-2-0/id426415850?mt=8

A great little app aimed brides offering inspiration on a variety of things including rings, honeymoon destinations and of course most importantly wedding dresses. The app is littered with imagery so you can really begin to visualise your big day.

Wedding Budget

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id402783750?mt=8

We all know how easy it is to get carried away shopping for that big day so this little app is perfect to keep tabs on your budget. Whether you want to know how much you’ve spent, got left or when your next payment is, this app lets you know it all.

Wedding Scan

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/weddingscan/id376445133?mt=8

If the thought of spending the rest of your life with the one you love wasn’t enough, another perk of getting married is all the presents you receive. We’ve all heard the stories where the happy couple has ended up with 5 toasters, 3 kettles and countless numbers of plates and cutlery. This fantastic little app helps you avoid those awkward situations where you have to ask people for receipts by allowing you to create your own registry list by simply scanning the barcodes of items you want.

Chosen for its ability to create an experience with a difference, the Custard Factory transformed 18 of its venues and spaces into fully branded workspaces for Vodafone’s staff and numerous competition winners as they prepare to take up the opportunity to travel across the world and work for a wide range of charities.

Branded with Vodafone’s highly distinguished corporate colour red, the Custard Factory was transformed into an  interactive workspace which featured a large AV production, stage, set and sound, visual boards, corporate branding and numerous plasma screens.

With special host Gok Wan, the event was designed to motivate attendees on the programme and create awareness around the ‘World of Difference’ campaign.

Each guest was greeted with tea/coffee and pastries and was given a Vodafone branded bag which included a new phone and £25 phone credit. Bespoke lunches were created by the Custard Factory Spaces experienced caterers with an ‘Around the world’ theme in mind. French, Indian, Halal and Greek dishes were individually delivered to rooms where guests were grouped by which Country they would be visiting.

The Vodafone activity was a full site event which utilised The Old Library for registration, Space 2 as a conference venue and 13 rooms from within Zellig as workspaces, all of which were designed and branded to meet Vodafone’s specific needs.

Back in April of this year, The Old Library played host to the wedding of Tony and Nisha. We began working with the couple at the beginning of January and with less than three months to go, got straight into organising their big day.

Nisha gave us a brief of ‘Indian wedding without being ‘Bollywood’” which was an exciting task for The Old Library team. We worked closely with the couple on the logistics of a 150 guest ceremony, a kitsch-y vintage twist on a drinks reception in Zellig’s Nomad and a self catered Indian feast for the reception. The overall decor of the wedding reflected Nisha’s Indian heritage as well as giving a fresh Easter feel to the venue.

The day began with excited friends and family arriving at The Old Library as a nervous Nisha waited in The Study for the ceremony to begin. Tony greeted his gorgeous soon-to-be bride at the altar and after a beautiful service, emerged man and wife to the sounds of Led Zeppelin.

Steve Gerrard, a resident at The Custard Factory and a close friend of the couple, photographed the whole wedding, taking in the unique urban surroundings of The Custard Factory including The Rainbow and Digbeth’s epic railway arches. Steve says “(The) wedding was pretty relaxed and laid-back, just like the couple. The Old Library is a venue which I’ve been keen to shoot a wedding at and I was impressed how great it looks when it’s all decorated for weddings.” Steve’s photographs reflect the modern and distinctive setting of The Custard Factory and the cool and relaxed personalities of this Bride and Groom and we look forward to having him back shooting weddings this summer.

Tony and Nisha held their drinks reception in Nomad, a funky space available for hire in Zellig. Decorated by friends of the couple, the space was accentuated with bunting and the couple’s initials embedded in the faux-grass walls.

During this time, The Old Library staff transformed the main space for dinner and the guests were welcome back into a light and spring-time atmosphere. The couple went with our self-catering package and the food was incredible! The pans and vats just kept coming and the traditional Indian wedding feast was enjoyed by all. We arranged to have the curries served in small bowls, reflective of Thali dishes.

The guests went on, partying to the sounds The Dark Hearts and DJ friends Steve and Steph. The wedding was a huge success and was thoroughly enjoyed by all. The friends and Family of Tony and Nisha were wonderful guests to have with us at The Old Library and we wish the happy couple all the best in their future together.

Photographs Courtesy of Steve Gerrard Photography

The summer has begun! And it kicked off in serious style this year at The Old Library, with Diesel’s Island Disco – beginning  their ‘Diesel School of Island Life Project – a series of lessons, field trips and parties featuring inspiring industry experts from creative and cultural fields’ (Mr Hudson being one to grace the walls of The Custard Factory at a separate event in May).

The set up was a day of creative productivity which transformed The Old Library into Diesel  Island – a place for the cool kids of retail across the land of Birmingham to be immersed in the sounds of artists such as Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Mumdance as well as an array of complementary summer rum cocktails and fruit ciders.

Diesel supplied their own set and theming  (which had travelled the length of the UK for previous Island Discos) including some wonderfully handmade cardboard foliage which took over , and almost seemed to grow throughout the night, twisting up our grand archways and creeping in behind our newly refurbished bar.  Various backdrops were roped up inside and out of the venue, displaying a taste of island life and the fabulous fashions that can be seen there. And of course, what would a 2011 summer party be without a bit of bunting (or in this case… a lot of bunting!) The stage was surrounded by bamboo and cleverly placed on each side, were two projectors, flaunting the mass tweeting and huge buzz around the Diesel Island Disco’s that had been and still to come to major cities in the UK.

The party was a great success and thoroughly enjoyed by all guests, staff and crew. We are very proud to have hosted such a popular event and really look forward to seeing the Diesel Islander’s again very soon.

Here at Custard Factory Spaces, one thing we pride ourselves on is making events that can often be boring and mundane in other venues, fun, experiential, interactive and memorable. A perfect example of this would be the Mars Conference, held late last year. Mars approached us with a brief to create a full site, interactive event for 120 delegates.

The day began in our 1850’s Old Library venue, most popular for conferences with it’s beautiful vaulted ceiling, sweeping archways, gothic windows and bespoke made electrical blinds. Mars brought along interesting pop ups and branding, product stations and cut out characters (including a very realistic moving Mr T!). Their fantastic branding was further enhanced with our theming and design which included a bespoke stage set with focus lighting and multi coloured table linens (reflective of M&Ms). We also provided handmade table centres – Fish bowls internally decorated with sweet wrappers, and lit from the inside. Overall, a very inviting (and rather delicious) looking space was created. And just when you thought they couldn’t indulge any more, our in house catering supplied bespoke cupcakes, handmade with Malteasers, Mars Bars, M&M’s and Milky ways. Guest speakers at the event included Mary Portas (BBC’S Mary Queen of Shops) who gave her take on the future of vending machines, and the Managing Director of Mars who gave motivating speeches on branding.

The delegates were later taken on to the other interactive elements of the event, situated in Zellig, The Custard Factory’s latest renovation which hosts a fantastic flow of natural light and modern art. One room, set up for a theatre style seminar, and another in the style of a retro corner shop where products were placed on point of sale pods to create the experience of childhood sweet shopping. A third breakout space was held in The Custard Factory’s old cinema where product advertising was shown. Here, the delegates were treated again, this time to a fair ground style pop corn machine and little bags placed on every seat for each well behaved boy or girl to fill up, and munch to their heart’s content!

At the end of the day, everyone delighted in a complimentary goodie bag containing the mars product cup cake, a variation of mars produce, mars product information and a book from a popular author.

All elements of this event were incredibly successful. These kind of themes go hand in hand with the vibes of The Custard Factory and are still looking to prove popular in 2012 in conferences, weddings and private functions. And let’s face it, we all love a bit of free chocolate!

It was an early start for members of The Old Library team, arriving at the venue at 6am to transform the space from a still, blank canvas to a black and white themed VIP heaven. The set consisted of a very swish black matt stage with a modest catwalk sneaking into to the seating area. The guests were to be seated at elegantly decorated tables of 12, each one representing a different salon in The West Midlands. Mid-morning saw the arrival of a string of gorgeous models, ready to get some serious hair done. The Study was a hive of hair extensions, straighteners, hairsprays and teasing combs and we were lucky enough to catch a sneaky peek of the catwalk show before the start of the event.

The guests were greeted with a glass of sparkling wine and directed to their corresponding table. The event was not only due to host various prestigious awards for the outstanding stylists throughout the company, but they had also opened up a mood board competition for all guests to participate in. These were displayed in the bar area where the guests could walk by and judge other’s artistic skills.  Before the awards even began, the guests were treated to a delicious hot buffet, followed by a rather large selection of lovely home- made cakes.

The awards went down very well with all guests and the winners seemed very well deserved. The event ended with some afternoon tipsy-ness and general satisfaction from all parties.

Physical space matters and wherever you go it is far more positive in my opinion to surround yourself in a creative environment that provides colour, space and inspiration. This not only applies to the office but applies to all spaces that one would use such as home, recreation and leisure and sets the scene for the attitude that you will apply to the day ahead.

With the revolution of communication some can drop a permanent work space and opt to isolate themselves in the middle of nowhere or move around different spaces for new daily inspiration. In the events industry a specialist area at Big Cat we understand that it is important to find an inspiring venue to create an event to remember, alternatively when using a blank canvas it can be transformed into an inspiring space with the correct combination of lighting, furniture and colour.

Today many conferences are repeatedly booked into hotels with poor light, bad carpets and dull décor that result in the need for well over 10 coffees an hour to keep delegates awake. Surely if a space makes it hard to stay awake during the day it is having a negative effect on the brain and is completely uninspiring? What you need out of a space is comfort, satisfaction, motivation, clarity and happiness. Can an inspiring space encourage these and influence our connection with the world? I really think it can and hope that more people make the effort to make this happen. Please find below some of the office spaces that I think would inspire anyone!

Organised on behalf of leading fast fit retailer HiQ, Connect PR asked The Old Library events team to organise an awards ceremony for some of Britain’s most deserving community heroes. The events team were asked to keep the event professional yet family friendly as many of the attendees would be there to support the finalists.

The event was held under a stunning vaulted ceiling and sky lights, with seating set out for 100 guests. The room was decorated in white, blue and black, HiQ’s branded colours. Lighting and pop ups were also strategically placed around the venue to enhance the mood of the event.

Food was prepared by the Old Library’s in house caterer who served a selection of tantalising canapés. The music for the evening was also tailored to the theming of the event with all of the tracks relating to ‘heroes’ in some way.