A Candlelit Event

Yet another fabulous installation from the very creative ladies at Branching Out. This time they transformed a formal vintage ballroom in an historic hotel into a hip lounge. Because of the size of the guest list (480) a sit down dinner was out of the question. Instead the ballroom, lobby and veranda were turned into one massive cocktail space with tables and banquets. The guests were served seven courses as passed hors deouvers and danced the night away to two different bands.

In all, over 500 candle were used to create an amazing ambiance. Beginning with luminaries outside the church and ending with candle lit stairways for the getaway, the entire evening was a-flicker.

Can’t we all agree that everyone looks better in candlelight?

Edited to add:

One of the reasons I started this blog is to show the real world behind the beautiful events in life. Well I got to thinking that this is one of those times. The photo and the description above is indeed what the bride and her guests experienced. This is what they didn’t see:

This was the day of the possessed candles. From the beginning they refused to behave. It started at the church. We had 4 candelabrums, 2 3’ tall and 2 4’ tall with mechanical candles all from the rental company. The taller ones were fitted with bowls in the center to hold flower arrangements of freesia, stocks, hydrangea, Casablanca lilies and vendala roses. Unfortunately the candles were 13” and they should have been 15” or more, so the tip of the candles nestled perfectly in the middle of the floral arrangement. Great; flowers were trimmed or removed to prevent forest fires. That however was the least of our worries. The damn things fit funny and kept leaping out of the candle holders. Not falling mind you, LEAPING! Each time with a resounding CRASH as these metal monsters hit our glass table tops. Again, great. That doesn’t account for the one that seemed more possessed than the others; something was wrong with the locking mechanism that keeps the sleeve on the holder. At random times and for no apparent reason the lock would fail sending the spring loaded cover flying like a demented missile. This was the scene as we tried to finish the rest of the décor: place a flower, catch a candle, leave message for the rental company, duck to avoid missile. This was repeated quite a few times. Eventually 3 rolls of florist tape, a lick and a prayer later and the décor was finished. Yet another save the day moment. We still haven’t heard from the rental company.

On to the reception venue and the votive candles from hell. First off any time you are planning on using over 500 candles on an event you know what you are up against. At this particular venue there is a ledge surrounding the entry stair. The ledge is marble and there is an ever so slight downward angle to it. Because of its location it can only be reached by hanging over the edge of the railing above to place the candles. We have done this many times and knew it was a big job but didn’t foresee any problems. Silly us, we should have known better.

We placed all 150 candles on the ledge and the minute we turned our back they turned on us. As I said we have done this many times before, but never in January. Something about the winds outside and the air pressure was causing them to move each time the doors would open sending random glass votice holders crashing anywhere from 4’ to 10’ to the marble floor below. Well holy leaping flames Batman!!! You can’t have guests arriving at a 5 Diamond hotel being pelted with flaming hot wax and shattering glass. Off come the candles. Ya think? We distributed then around the venue and began the tedious task of lighting all these things.

That is until we told the event planner. She was not about to loose the lovely detail of a candlelit entrance. Say what? Hon you can’t really expect us to bomb the guests like invaders storming the walls of a citadel. Apparently she did.

By now we had started the task of lighting all 500 plus candles at the hotel when the call comes in saying that the hotel had been contacted and they would indeed have to allow us to put the damn things back on the ledge. Quick blow out the candles you have lit so the wax will harden and they can be moved—back to the ledge. Still possessing some semblance of sanity we insisted that we would only place them on the very nearest 1/3 of the ledge, the section farthest from the draft.

That’s when the event planner called from the church…

“The church lady won’t let us light the candles”

“Why Not”

“She says they will drip on the altar”

“No they won’t, they are mechanical candles.”

“She doesn’t care. She won’t let us light them until you get back here and wrap the altar in saran wrap”

“Do what?”

“You heard me. She is demanding that you wrap the altar in saran wrap or we can’t light the candles”

“Oh sure why not I have absolutely NOTHING better to do.”

Off half the team went to custom wrap an altar across town.

Of course it turned out to be the beautiful event you see above, but never believe that it didn’t have its trails.

It’s all just in a days work.

Winter Candle Centerpieces

I had a great time this weekend with the fab girls over at Branching Out Event Florists.

Vicki and here design team did it again; another gorgeous look that was anything but mainstream.

There was a lot of thinking outside the box on this wedding, not just in terms of the décor. It was held at Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The ceremony was held in the lower lobby and the

dinner in the balcony level lobby. We then flipped the ceremony site and turned it into the setting for a rocking dessert/after party. The lucky guests had 3 different settings and looks but never had to brave the cold night air. What’s more, because it was on a Sunday they had the entire place to themselves. Think outside the box when you consider locations.

Beautiful bride, beautiful location and beautiful décor. What more could you ask for?

Finding Inspiration III

I thought that I would leave you with some inspiration for the long holiday weekend. The images above are all from my favorite floral designer, Vicki Sanders. She and her team at Branching Out are quickly becoming the most innovative and sought after event designers/florist in the South. Yes that is her on the bottom row.

A while back I clued you in on a wonderful rental company that I always seek out when I am in need of inspiration, Fabu. I also gave Sarah a whack of the pencil for not having a great website so I didn’t have to fight the traffic to get to her shop. Well great news, Sarah’s website now has an extensive catalog of fabulous thing that you can peruse to your hearts content. Not only that, but she has opened a new show room for the event rental side of her business to make viewing easier. Incidentally, if you like Sarah’s taste as much as I do you should check out her gift shop. With the holidays just around the corner I know I’ll be there at least a few times to find the perfect little gifts for everyone on my list.

Escort Cards

Maybe one of the hardest tasks you can take on in getting ready for your wedding is planning the seating arrangement. You know what I mean, where are you going to put weird old Uncle Lou that he won’t offend your guests and where are you going to seat the boy’s frat brother that has dated and jilted almost every woman at the wedding? The last thing you want is bloodshed after all.

Since you have gone to all that work don’t you think that the escort card table deserves to be just a little special? I love it when the escort card table is the talk of the cocktail hour, it becomes the centerpiece of the room and gives your guests an excuse to meet and mingle while they seek out their card. So…let’s give them something to talk about.

Here are some galleries that have some interesting ideas.

The Knot

Flickr

Martha Stewart Weddings

Think outside the box. So often I see beautifully lettered very formal escort cards just set up on a table. Yawn. How about tying a very simple card to a small favor box, or pinning them to a board or a “bouquet’ of branches, if its Christmas hang escort card ornaments on a tree. Use your imagination and have fun.

A Most Elegant Reception

I love this head table; if you are going to have one you might as well do it all the way. All told, this table seated 30 and visually dominated the room with the other tables dancing around it. Centrally located in the enormous ballroom of theLoew’s Vanderbilt Plaza it edged up to the dance floor.

Since I was there for the floral, I have added some pictures of a few of the different centerpieces we used. I think that large glass cylinder is absolutely gorgeous.It is filled with dendrobium orchids and ivory rose petals

Reception décor by Alice Hendry, wedding coordinator, Branching Out event floral and design and T & M Event Rental
All images David Wright Photography

Rehearsal Dinner Details


This weekend’s wedding was all about the details; the small touches that add up to big impact. Notice the orchid on the place setting at the rehearsal dinner.
The plate of desserts was served with coffee after the plated dessert for the guests to nibble on during the toasts and photo montage. Tomorrow I will post some images from the reception.

Photos courtesy of David Wright

Wedding Shadowbox

I was cruising through my blogroll this morning and stumbled on an interesting post by Mrs. Bell Pepper over at Wedding Bee. If you are not familiar, Wedding Bee is a great blog written by a large variety of brides to be and recent brides. The Bee’s take you through every gory little detail of their planning and post wedding tasks. It can be a bit of a task to keep up with because there are SO many posts but I always find something interesting and a lot of good DIY ideas.

Today I found a post about Wedding Shadowboxes. It is a great idea to preserve the memorabilia of your wedding. I spent some time searching for some other examples and came to a conclusion. If you want a brilliant shadowbox you have to plan in advance.

The more I looked the more boring shadowboxes I found. What is great about the one Mrs. Bell Pepper did is the scope of objects she included.

If you like the idea of preserving and showing off the memories of all the hard work you have put in on planning your wedding you should start from the very beginning.

Keep a box and a note pad with your wedding planning stuff. Toss into the box any bits and bobs that you think might provoke memories. Not just the pretty things either. How about that hole punch that nearly drove you to insanity at 4 in the morning as you tried to finish your escort cards? This is as much about memories as it is about pretty.

Use the pad to write down things you want to remember to set aside from the day itself. For instance you may want someone to get a great shot of the signature cocktail you created or a label from the wine you chose, maybe the cork from the bottle of champagne you toasted with. It’s the little things that will bring back memories in years to come.

Have fun creating an heirloom that you can enjoy for all the years to come.

Easy Candle Centerpieces

Last week I posted about DIY Centerpieces and I found some great ideas for candlescapes that really show what I was talking about. Great candle centerpieces are a cinch to pull off if you think outside the box and think quantity over quality. Bet you never thought you would here me say that, did you?

I found these on the Better Homes and Gardens Website. Just another example of looking outside the box for unique wedding ideas.

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