Monday, October 11, 2010

Real Wedding Inspiration: Planner Bree Jones Ups the Style Anty

One of our largest weddings this year (275 guests), also made one of the biggest style statements thanks to the added touches by event planner, Bree Jones of JSG Management. She was a pleasure to work with and thanks to her industry contacts, she was able to help this couple create a luxurious, upscale event design at a huge savings to them. Our packages include all the basics you will need for your dream wedding, though Ms. Jones took it one step further and helped make this bride's glamorous fantasy wedding a reality.

The reception table was complete with chic decor elements, a framed photo of the couple to be signed by guests, as well as attendants to help direct guests to their seats.
Insider tip: It is always a good idea to have at least one attendant to make sure your guest book is signed and that guests aren't held up at the reception table having trouble finding their escort card or table number. If you can't afford to hire an extra staff member from your planner, recruit younger family members such as cousins. They will be happy to be able to be involved and help out with the wedding and will make sure the entrance into your reception room runs smoothly.

These were the cute escort card holders shaped like thrones, perfect for this royal affair. The escort cards were also personally printed by a calligrapher. A very classy touch.

I always think it's clever when couples choose names of something meaningful to them instead of using the traditional table numbers. The table names Ms. Jones helped this couple come up with were named after movies the couple love as well as wedding themed movies like this "Just Married" table.

The color scheme for the wedding was rich purples, dusty rose, and reds to give a dramatic, royal look to the room. I liked the choice of the light lavender linen overlay with dark purple napkins to add a bit more color and contrast to the tables.

Another interesting element, Ms. Jones decided to rent oval shaped tables to not only add more seating in our 300 person capacity room, but it also created a more appealing layout with various shape and size tables scattered around the room. The couple also splurged for renting silver chiavari chairs to go with the elegant style of the rest of the wedding's decor.
Insider tip: oval tables can seat up to 12 guests, whereas the traditional 60" round tables normally seat 8 to 10 guests. You can get 80" round tables to seat 12 guests, but they take up a larger area than an oval table, so if you are trying to fit more people in, go for the oval ones.

The sweet heart table was all dressed up, full of different height floral arrangements, tall, modern candelabras, and had the opposite linen combination as the rest of the tables to make it stand out. Ms. Jones also placed a mirror under glass chargers for the Bride & Groom's settings to make it extra special.
A quick snap shot of the bouquets, all of white or lavender roses. Simple, but elegant. The flower arrangements for this wedding were all expertly designed by Mark's Garden.

The room looked stunning with the varied heights of centerpieces. The glass vases Mark's Flowers used for the tall centerpieces where a good choice because guests could see straight through them.
Insider tip: The number one rule for centerpieces is to make sure they do not obstruct your guest's view across the table. So make sure your arrangements are low, or thin and tall, or clear enough for everyone to be able to see through and carry on a conversation.
At this wedding, we had our stellar banquet captain, Chris, looking over the room and making sure everything is perfect. We always have a banquet captain on duty, aside from either myself or Julie there to coordinate the set up of the wedding and ceremony so that it all runs seamlessly.

The menus were printed and framed in glamorous white as well as black frosted glass frames. Menus are always a nice touch so your guests know what to expect to be served and can prepare any questions for our servers about the menu before their meal is brought out.

The dance floor, which is usually placed in the middle of the Pine Hurst room was moved into the Homestead room so the couple's guests could be seated as close to them as possible. With different size parties we can create new room layout schematics that would best suit your guest count and desired setup in our two spacious, adjoining banquet rooms.

In this case we also moved the cake table from its usual corner spot and placed it in the area which our DJ is usually set up in since the DJ for this party was in the Homestead room by the dance floor. Having the cake in this position made it more of a focal point and also got it out of the way to leave more space on the floor for additional tables for this large party.

The cake by one of Ms. Jone's favorite bakeries, Nancy Kay Confections, was so perfect, I thought it was fake! But Ms. Jones assured me it was a real cake. All the details were so exquisite, from the perfectly formed white roses to the diamond studs adding a bit of bling. Also, by placing a mirror behind the cake, Ms. Jones made it possible for everyone to get a 360 degree view of the cake. This is a well thought out detail because with all the work that goes into your wedding cake, you should make sure everyone can see every inch of it.
                                                                                                                                                     
A walk down the aisle, in our beautiful outdoor ceremony location is made even more special with a ribbon at the end making sure the bridal party are the only ones that walk down the aisle. I always like to have guests fill in from the sides, but a simple ribbon at the end ensures that no one sneaks past and walks down the aisle before your wedding party does!

Crystals hanging from the arbor twinkled in the light. Also they matched our chandeliers inside perfectly.

These floral arrangements along the aisles were a beautiful accent to the ceremony setup. The arbor was full of flowers making for a dramatic spot for the couple to say "I do". And I do think that it was the perfect wedding, don't you?
Congrats to the new couple and especially to Ms. Jones for a job well done. (Also, I have to give a nod to our staff who is always on point and delivered another flawless event even with such a huge guest list.) This wedding goes to show how detailed planning, a lot of organization, good connections, and a ton of talent can go a long way to make your wedding day a success. You may not need an event planner at our club because we handle all the details and can give you your dream wedding at a very reasonable cost, but if you have the extra money it is a worthwhile investment if you want to go that extra step and add in a lot of personal design touches like this couple did with their awesome planner, Ms. Bree Jones. Kudos to Bree for this stylish wedding design!

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