Showing posts with label wedding designer. Show all posts

Gold Rush

Gold is glamorous. Gold is regal. Gold is, well, just golden! Considered a neutral by many, gold is a great color that can be matched with just about anything. So if you're looking for a place to start, check out these golden hues for some inspiration.All the details of your wedding, big or small, can be sprinkled with gold. Start with items your guests will take home with them.

Fashion is no exception. Check out the glam!

And what better place to use this luxurious color than with some sweet treats.
Credits: Hudson Photography; John Labbe Photography; Jen Kroll Photography; Joni Lyn Photography; The Knot; In-Vision Studio; Millie Holloman Photography; Brian Dorsey Photography (bridesmaids); Chelsea Elizabeth Photography; Stephanie Lairson Weddings; Martha Stewart Weddings (gold cupcakes and pink/gold cake); The Knot

Color Of The Moment

Some would say that a color referred to as Honeysuckle would be a white/yellow hue. Instead, the color that is hitting the fashion streets and the wedding design world is a rich pink. It is flirtatious and pairs beautifully with neutrals or navy to keep a sophistication. I think the best way of showing the bright beauty is to use many varying shades when pairing it. It is said that this color evokes "happiness". What could be more appropriate for your wedding day? There will be many ways to incorporate this color into your wedding. It will be produced in 2011 in home textiles as well as fashion. Choose how you give your palette a pop of color. Happy Planning!

Southern Sophistication

Fashion Forward

Sweet Treats For the Hand and Eye

How Things Change

It's been over a year since Keoni Keur shot our Premier W.E.D. "photo shoot". I LOVE the classic shots of the girls and his picture of me in my office will remain a favorite. It is fitting of my every day work (minus the ruffled dress of course! ) and even though I warmly embrace change, it will be hard to replace those photos. However, when Christy Bryan with Waldorf Photographic Art (www.waldorfphotographicart.com) offered to do a shoot for the girls and I, I jumped at the chance!

If you know me at all, then you know I am all about staying current and fresh with out compromising who I am at the heart of design. Christy was not feeling well, traveling in last minute from Memphis from a trip with her husband, she stepped up to the plate to spend a few hours with us downtown. I know she must have been exhausted and she still walked all over with us finding just the right place she thought was great for us to get some good pictures. I am a southern girl at heart, but I have this "funky/urban" part of me that creeps out and I had to explore.

Christy's parent company, Waldorf Photographic Art is out of Knoxville and Bill saw Christy's great talent and asked her to branch out to the Nashville market. The crazy thing is....I met Christy when she photographed a client's wedding (Barbara/Cal's wedding) and while she was shooting that one at the Hutton Hotel, I also had a wedding in Leiper's Fork the same day (Brittney/Austin's wedding) and Bill was shooting it! First time to work with this company at all and I just happen to get both entities! Christy is employed full time with a large Magazine company here in Nashville so she has a great eye for the print. I think she did an amazing job of capturing the fun, relaxed side of my company as well as a little sassiness that has brought me to today! Thank you so much Christy for all your hard work, and patience with four women who were freezing and particular. You are the best! I know that when people turn to our website to find out more about Premier W.E.D. and who is behind the work, your pictures will give them a great sense of fun to come! June, Joanne, Brittany and I are grateful for your expertise. The website will be updated any day with our new head-shots. Thank you!

A big THANK YOU to Sonja Sevin who did our makeup for the photo shoot. She is a great makeup artist who has relocated from FL to the Nashville area and specializes in airbrush application. She also deserves an applause for patience and fast work! We were having to rush just a bit because we all forgot the time change that day and that pushed sunset almost a full hour earlier than expected.

Designer Diva Does Budget Wedding- Jennifer Neal Milam Guest Blogger

I asked my sweet friend, Jennifer Neal Milam- Wedding Designer and owner of Reveal Event Style, to share with you about her wedding experience. I have so many clients feeling the pressure of budgeting and cut backs on their dream wedding and I thought this might make those of you feel a little more normal! I was sad to not help her with her dream wedding, but she was adamant that I attend a wedding finally and NOT plan one! I enjoyed myself thoroughly and her music was my favorite part of the entire wedding! This is a two part series and she will share her experience in keeping a designer look but on a defined budget. Thank you for sharing Jennifer!

As a wedding professional the first question everyone asks is “did you plan your own wedding? “ to which I responded emphatically, “No”! I did have input but I shocked myself to let go of many of the decisions and let my dear talented friends in the industry take the reins that day. And more importantly, I was able to let go of expectations of others, having produced events for Colin Cowie along with many other career achievements the bar was set high. Then the pressure mounted as well as the reality that I was working with a REAL budget.
I dealt with all the same issues as any bride; what to wear, who to invite and how to convey our personal style and entertain our friends as they celebrate our marriage. Deciding what is most important to you is a great way to begin the process.
Taking my own advice I made a list of what was most important to me for each event and what experience I hoped for during each festivity.
Below are my suggestions for creative and cost effective ideas:

THE ATTIRE- Who are you wearing?
I had the most wonderful experience with The White Room in Lebanon. They have gowns in a wide spectrum of ranges and styles which made this so much fun. After a few frustrating moments tangled in tulle I called them, told them my budget, style and size. When I arrived there were two racks full of dresses! Most of which reflected the look I was going for and then one that was definitely not but as irony would have it, was THE ONE! And it was the least expensive but the most couture. It was by Allure, a special edition gown that was so unique it had never been photographed! And just a note, not one person was interested in “who” I was wearing. If it looks good on you does it matter the price or who made it? After the accessories and alterations it was just at $1000.

The bridesmaids I wanted to be sure were comfortable, appropriate and fashionable. I chose a two piece ensemble; the ruffled top was a J. Knight from Macy’s and a citrus green skirt from (gasp!) David’s Bridal. The shoes were gold strappy sequined pump. They will truly be able to wear them both again! Ha-ha!
I did want TJ to have something to keep from his attire since he chose not to have a tuxedo made, we did have a custom tie made by Otis James from Street Tuxedo. We also had ties made for our dads and my cousin the Officiant. We had them inscribed with our wedding date and served as a gift as well as a sentimental notion. $40 each.

LOCATION – Find Free Locations
For a couple who has lived everywhere from Brentwood to Beverly Hills, it was an interesting choice to decide on my hometown of Dyersburg, Tennessee to establish our marriage. 2 words FREE VENUES, done and done! The venue was unconventional, historic and perfect! No one had ever used it and I could not have been more thrilled! Built on the downtown square gave it an immediate nostalgia. We would be under the stars and not too much finesse was needed. I knew I wanted two things, an enormous butterfly and roses over the dance floor! We also converted the planters along both sides (200’) into seating by making cushions in 8’ lengths wrapped in white fabric. It was much less than renting which would actually be a custom item for the size we needed.

INVITATIONS- DIY
The invitation being a prelude to your wedding and all the exciting happenings to follow, I decided that our wedding would be all about personal touches. I shopped Office Depot and found a clean package with interesting envelop folds and at Michaels I found a collection of stamps. Our leit motif being butterflies we spent hours stamping each invite, a labor of love that saved us hundreds of dollars. We did however send special invites in boxes to our wedding party designed by Stephanie Kimes of OneNine Designs in Los Angeles because we had enough money left over in this budget to do so.

WELCOME
Each guest was presented with a welcome box full of treats which were family recipes along with a homespun item from my MeMaw. A list of things to do was also included for guest to tour the town where I grew up.

WEDDING CEREMONY
I wanted to make certain that guests talked about the ceremony as much as the reception. It was important to us that it was meaningful and not just a part of the process to get to the party!
The music, processional and our vows were the focus. I dictated the design for my bouquet but all else I left up to my dear friends, A Village of Flowers. The ceremony included modern music selections arranged and performed by Dr. Jordan Tang, the conductor of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra , his daughter and the choir of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Selections included, Agnus Dei, Por Ti Volar, In My Life, I Saw a Face and All I Want is You.
Decoratively I wanted all eyes on the altar. With the performances on stage as well as our 14 member wedding did not leave much space as it were . I had one feature design, a thick garland of FAUX white roses, rented for $250 as apposed to $3500 it would cost to make it fresh. No one knew the difference nor did I disclose (until now hee, hee) Instead of a unity candle we signed our family bible which was significant and touching.
I wanted the features to also be the people involved. In the programs which I had custom designed by Nicco & LaLa . For each of our wedding party members we mentioned a note of why they are important to us. The cost effective portion of this project was that we paid for the rights to reprint and printed them at Kinkos and enlisted my cousins to tie them together what I called a “Bonding” experienceJ.
The processional included my honorary bridesmaids acting as the grand marshall’s of sorts. This was a little theatrics that added to the significance of our ceremony.

Check out part II on Friday!

One Of My Favorite Nashville Weddings

Heather Kennel and Dr. Jim Massie were married a couple of years ago and are expecting their first child. Even as time has past and fabulous weddings have occured, their wedding stays in my mind as one of my favorites. It helps that Heather's tastes are very similar to my own, but that usually doesn't matter for me to love a wedding. Here are the top reasons I think I fell in love with this particular wedding:

Heather was a very calm and collected Bride.

Her color pallete was modern,fresh and crisp. (Chocolate, Mocha,Green and slight hints of soft pink in the bridesmaids bouquets)

A Village of Flowers recreated the most beautiful triangle mirrored trays that Heather had picked out of a book in my office. I asked Melissa Seykora to remake them for Heather and we have rented them several times since! The trays can be used in so many ways and the sparkle of the mirrors is beautiful on the table tops! The flowers filling those trays were lime green and had a modern earthy feel. We used cymbidum orchids, wheat grass, and button mums.

The location was perfect for their size wedding. (Owen's Chapel and The Governor's Club) I arranged a "Pre-Gathering" on the lawn of Owen's Chapel before the wedding started. There were cocktail tables and lounge seating for guests and a lemonade stand to cool off.

Her budget was 1/4 of some I have planned and yet it was just as elegant. It goes to show that design is key is that process. Thank you Heather and Jim for allowing us to be with you that day! Parenthood is the best!

Wedding Planning vs. Wedding Directing

It can be overwhelming to start the wedding process and even more overwhelming to meet all the many vendors that could be involved. So many people (even wedding industry people) have no clue what the difference is between a wedding planner, a wedding designer, a wedding director, etc.

Here is a simple explanation of the difference between the different roles:

Wedding Director: Usually comes in towards the final part of the planning process to insure that your "day of" is organized and flows easily. A director is in charge of making sure the set up schedules for ceremony and reception are followed. This is with out a doubt the BEST money you could spend on your wedding. So many times I have heard the words..."I should have hired you!" As much as I love to hear those words, it doesn't serve me or the Bride for them to realize that after the wedding. Hire a director so you can attend your own wedding!

Wedding Planner: This is someone who is organized, creative and budget minded. They help you in the months of your engagement with everything you could imagine. A huge part of the reason a Bride should hire a planner is their connection with fabulous vendors and their ability to get discounts in the industry. A great wedding planner knows how to assist you without smothering you.

Wedding Designer: This is a fairly new field that is usually separate from planning/directing. Most have floral design backgrounds or interior design backgrounds and help you with the decor of your wedding. Managing budgets, vendors, or schedules is also done by a Wedding Designer, but with a wider scope of bringing all the creative energy and ideas to play in the process.

Premier W.E.D. offers all three services! We try to caterer to as much or as little as you might need. I believe that it is imperative that the Bride still have control of her day but have that helping hand any time she needs it. It is our pleasure and honor to serve our Brides!