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Joan Rivers officiated from underneath a canopy dripping with crystals. At one point during the ceremony, the comedienne quipped that Bailey was standing in her spotlight.

After Sunday's Grammy awards, the Recording Academy hosted a Bollywood-inspired after-party at the Los Angeles Convention Center. A massive covered decor piece served as a raised stage for dancers; it included a working fountain filled with flowers.

For the Grammys Special Merit Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, 15/40 Productions took its cue for the lighting from the Recording Academy's invitation. The invite had a relief of an intricate pattern, evocative of the style of an Indian henna tattoo in a deep wine color. The production company translated that look into the design and decor, including an ornate lighting pattern.

On February 6, designer Prabal Gurung and Target launched their design collaboration with an elaborate indoor carnival held at New York's Pier 57 and designed by David Stark. A glittering merry-go-round, a fortune-teller, and Whac-a-Mole were just a few of the activities available to guests.

As fashion brands put on increasingly elaborate shows and events during New York's February Fashion Week, the memorable invitations that precede them have become coveted keepsakes. To celebrate its festive “Electric Holiday” windows and Disney partnership, Barneys in New York fashioned a weighty invite with LED lights in four different colors that illuminated the double-mirrored glass to create an infinity effect.

This week, We asked industry pros to dream up Academy Awards party menus inspired by each of the movies. Rita Gutekanst of Chicago's Limelight Catering designed a "Bites of the Southern Wild" menu that included Frito pie served in repurposed chip bags.

At Svedka's recent Los Angeles promotion, photos of Luke Perry, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and other '90s icons dotted a step-and-repeat called the "love board." The Throwback Valentine's Day Bash, held at Pink Taco Sunset Strip, had a "Heart Throbs and Heart Breakers of the '90s" theme that inspired the board.

To entice Chicagoans to visit Florida this winter, Greater Fort Lauderdale hosted a warm-weather-themed pop-up promotion on Pioneer Court Plaza February 6. Called "Hello Sunny," the event allowed guests to pose behind swim trunks and bikinis frozen in blocks of ice. The quirky sculptures played off of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Tourism Bureau's "Defrost Your Swimsuit" campaign.

Servers from Hugh's Catering wore apple-shaped signage on their foreheads at the late-January event in Miami. The apples were printed by Kerry's Papery with such phrases as: "Mini Beef Sliders With Deliciousness Inside," or, simply, "Smoked Salmon Blini."

Abby Larson, the woman behind cult wedding blog Style Me Pretty, has released her first book, Style Me Pretty Weddings: Inspiration and Ideas for an Unforgettable Celebration. The book showcases wedding trends worth replicating at all types of events, including what Larson refers to as "sweet, simply styled rustic" tabletops that juxtapose homespun touches with opulent details.

The National Auto Dealers Association tried a new strategy this year at its convention and expo that wrapped up Monday at the Orange County Convention Center in Florida. The organization has long offered wellness and lifestyle activities, but this year organizers brought these activities onto the show floor. For one of the activities, local Zumba instructors provided 20-minute workouts four times a day.

Five costumed characters—including Worf and Captain James T. Kirk—mingled with guests.

At the entrance, guests walked through a constructed “scanning” passageway filled with laser lights that led to the pool deck and terrace.

The living room of a private home was turned into the Starship Enterprise Control Room.

iPads embedded in the centerpieces presented the menu and changed as new courses were served from Spiaggia chef Tony Mantuano.

Folded napkins resembled the Star Trek insignia that the ship's officers wore in the series.

In the Astro Lounge, scenes from Star Trek played on a large monitor, and orbs and spiky Mylar creations floated in the pool.

Futuristic lounge furniture set the tone for the champagne and hors d'oeuvres reception, including a silver circular bench with a truss topped with glowing orbs rising from the middle. Guests could take turns at a powerful telescope with an astronomer providing guidance.

Urban Outfitters let event-goers customize their own jeans at its fall 2012 denim collection preview in New York. With staffers’ assistance, guests could choose one of three jean styles then embellish them with studs, bleach, and more.

During Lollapalooza weekend in Chicago, Gilt City hosted a summer pool party with a custom Havaianas bar. Guests could choose from a rainbow of colors to design their own pair of flip-flops.

U.S. Open sponsor Evian hosted the Wood Racquet Cup event at the West Side Tennis Club in Queens, New York, where fans were invited to silk-screen their own tote bags.

Beauty company Birchbox set up shop at Milk Studios in New York during Fashion Week, giving attendees the chance to curate their own boxes of beauty products, which were housed in candy dispensers.

At the 21st anniversary party for Fresh at Openhouse Gallery in July, the company built a gifting bar where guests could select products that have been introduced each year since the brand's beginnings. Packages were messengered to attendees the following day.

The world-famous music festival took over Grant Park from August 3-5 this year, drawing around 90,000 guests each day. The skies stayed clear on Friday and Sunday, but the torrential downpours and heavy winds on Saturday forced concert-goers to leave the park for a few hours during the afternoon, which marked the festival's first evacuation. Organizers from C3 Presents said 60,000 guests and 3,000 staffers, artists, and vendors exited peacefully in less than 40 minutes.

The festival offered performances from 130 bands on stages with sponsor names, including the Red Bull Soundstage, the Sony stage, the Google Play stage, the BMI stage, and the PlayStation stage. Florence & the Machine played on the Bud Light stage on Sunday.

On festival grounds, the Adidas Originals Black Top let guests watch professional skateboarders in action (and, of course, Adidas gear). The activation also let guests snap photos and enter to win giveaways.

Music fans at Lollapalooza often send beach balls bouncing through the crowds during concerts. Uber took advantage of the festival hobby by doling out balls splashed with the company logo and event hashtag.

The show Pop-Up Video returned to VH1 earlier this week. To promote it, the brand hosted an activation on festival grounds. Using augmented reality developed for VH1 by Awestruck Marketing, the activation let guests see themselves on a big screen in the park virtually interacting with Lollapalooza artists such as the Black Keys and Fun. Guests could instantly post photos from the activation to social media sites.

The Toyota Prius Family Playground was filled with games, including a human-powered prize wheel that had guests run to win gifts from the automaker.

The Toyota Prius activation also had a model vehicle that served as a gadget charging station. As many as five guests could climb in and plug in mobile devices to give them some juice on festival grounds.

The most talked-about aspect of the Toyota Prius activation was the "Whac-a-Hipster" game, which let guests use a soft mallet to smack little pop-up heads with stylized mustaches and glasses.

Behind the Red Bull Soundstage, PlayStation hosted a V.I.P. area that had plush seating, games, and a Magnolia photo booth. There were also open bars.

At CamelBak Filling Stations, guests could refill their bottles with free filtered water, which came in handy on the 90-plus-degree days.

New this year, LollaShop was a pop-up store across the street from the park that was open to the public as well as ticket holders throughout the weekend. The shop offered official festival merchandise including the official Gap T-shirt sold inside festival grounds.

The pop-up shop also sold merchandise from retail partners such as Sony, Baggu, Goorin Bros., Rad & Refined, JammyPack, and Threadless.

Merchandise included local goods, including items from the local jewelry line Jules. In addition to selling merchandise, the space hosted artist signings, V.I.P. parties and performances, and morning yoga classes. Each day at the store, a LollaShop lottery offered guests the chance to win tickets to the festival.

The BMF Media Group produced the "It's So Miami Oasis" at the Hard Rock Hotel. Open throughout the weekend, the grass-covered area offered a Disaronno bar with mixology cocktails, a tattoo parlor, DJ sets from the likes of Ana Calderon and Mike Nouveau, product samples from Guess Eyewear, and more. The activation was billed as a "V.I.P. and artist retreat."

The "It's So Miami" Oasis was presented by the Miami Greater Convention & Visitors Bureau, Guess, Clearasil, Motorola Mobility, and Disaronno. Clearasil hosted a "Rock Your Skin" suite where guests could pick up product samples, pose for photos that printed out and posted to Facebook, and sample kiwi and strawberry smoothies.

In anther suite, guests could check out products from Nico Lives watches.

The BMF Media Group also produced the CK One Music Lounge, which was open on the Hard Rock Hotel's second floor throughout the weekend. Along with bars doling out Vita Coco Coconut Water and Belvedere vodka cocktails, the space offered live performances, manicures, and makeup applications from CK One artists.

Guests played ping-pong in the CK One Music Lounge, which also had seating on white bean bag chairs. On all three nights of festival weekend, BMF Media Group produced "Rock the Vote Nights" at the hotel. The events offered live performances and open bars.

Rolling Stone hosted the Rock Room at the Paris Club on Friday and Saturday. The daytime event served brunch and offered live performances, and had a guest list of media, band managers, label reps, and guests of the performing bands.

The Rolling Stone event took over the upper-level Studio Paris, where guests lounged and flipped through copies of the magazine. The publication's integrated marketing director Artie Athas said that the happening "was the perfect opportunity for our advertisers to showcase product, provide interactive displays, and get their brand in front of key festival influencers."

Garnier Fructis had an interactive display where guests could style their hair. There were also buckets of Sun Chips and stations where guests could listen to Lollapalooza acts on Sony headphones. Other brands that had a presence included StubHub, Sanuk, Volkswagen, and Rock & Revival.

The bar offered free-flowing Blue Moon beer and Belvedere vodka cocktails. Specialty drinks included bloody Marys and the "High Tea Mash-Up."

The "Women Who Rock" showcase offered performances from the two finalists in the magazine's "Women Who Rock" competition. One of the finalists was Karmin.

Rita Ora was the other performer in the "Women Who Rock" showcase. The winner, selected by readers' online votes, will appear on the cover of the September issue of Rolling Stone.

Delta Spirit played during the Friday brunch, which offered fare from sushi to passed milk and cookies.

Gilt City hosted a party at EnV on Saturday afternoon. The event—which took place on a searingly hot day—let guests take a dip in a pool filled with Gilt City beach balls and a floatation device shaped like a giant Haviana flip-flop.

The Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men, which also played at Lollapalooza, played an intimate set at the rooftop party.

Pinkberry's station doled out frozen yogurt with topping such as strawberries and granola.

At a custom Havianas bar, guests could design their own pair of flip-flops for $25.

Guests left with swag bags filled with goods from sponsors including Benefit cosmetics, Grey Goose vodka, Pop Chips, Red Bull, and more.

The brands hosted a lunch at the W Chicago City Center on Saturday. When festival grounds were evacuated, artists such as B.o.B. took shelter at the event, which offered Zico coconut water, Pucker vodka cocktails, a peek at the fall collection from Guess, and product displays from Monster Cable headphones.

Guests at the lunch could interact with new products from Samsung.

In partnership with the BMF Media Group, Soul Electronics hosted "Soul Sounds Chicago" Thursday evening at the Hard Rock Hotel. The kickoff event for Lollapalooza offered UV Vodka cocktails, Ashai beer, and performances from Cee Lo Green (pictured) and Miguel. Vibe magazine was the official media partner.

Guess also hosted a Lollapalooza kickoff event on Thursday. The in-store happening promoted Guess Eyewear and introduced guests to the "Shades of Summer Playlist." Musical guest the Knocks spun, and a photo booth let guests pose in the brand's sunglasses. To promote the event, models doled out 3-D invitations along Michigan Avenue.

Guests who scored high in skeeball could win prizes from Louis of Boston.