Unveiled Wedding Events Blog

In designing weddings for today, it seems the flower that was always getting snubbed or treated like a weed is actually holding its head high – the carnation!  For years, florist would say, “oh I don’t do carnations.”  Well as one of the favorite flowers of Queen Elizabeth II, we would say if it’s good enough for the Queen then why not for your wedding.

Don’t be afraid of the carnation – we say embrace it!

When brides hear carnations they instantly think of their parent’s wedding or the time period 1960-1970’s.  Some think – OMG all my flowers are going to be carnations?  This is where trusting your creative designer or florist is required, to know exactly where and when they should be used to enhance the textural beauty and stature of your wedding flowers.

First, we don’t recommend carnations for personal flowers unless you are selecting it as a main flower; clustering many blooms together in mass. We encourage the use of the carnation as grouped filler, for arrangements seen from a distance and when you need structure or pops of color.

Here are some tips on where we recommend the carnation should be used:

Entrance to the ceremony with initials on the door
Small carnation balls as aisle markers
Floral Arrangements – by the altar, high impact piece at entrance to church.
Large formal centerpiece arrangements at the reception
Cake tier dividers

Stirring Up Starters

A wonderful benefit in selecting a custom wedding celebration menu, is working with a chef who will embrace your vision; translating it through their creative talents into a designed menu. Beginning with a unique starter for your breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner is the perfect start.  As we said in part one, if you are having a salad – at least be creative. But why limit yourself to just salad when you can literally stir things up a bit?

Soup
Soup is an interesting idea, as most underestimate the level of tastes and complexity in a designed soup. It’s an item that is totally underutilized and will surprise your guests.  So here are a couple ideas to get you thinking:

In the summer, there is nothing more refreshing than a cold cucumber or asparagus soup topped off with a little crème fresh.

In the winter, a very warm broth or tomato basil soup makes the taste buds dance.  And if you want to add a little fun to the tomato basil soup, include small grill cheese sandwiches, with the crust cut off, of course, for the more formal dinner.

When serving soup, forgo the soup cup on the saucer, oh no it can’t be just basic, consider your talented wait staff to serve French Style – tableside – serving from a terrine or use a small demi cup on a saucer for people to drink!

Amuse Bouche
A small bite before the meal begins, a special greeting from the Chef de cuisine is a great way to pamper your guests and tease them all at the same time. The amuse bouche is an introduction to the amazing culinary experience about to unfold before your guests.  A one bite item, an amuse bouche can be presented in a variety of ways.  A smoked salmon with a dollop of caviar would be a great dance on the taste buds before your seafood dinner begins.  The concept of an amuse bouche, is that it’s suppose to introduce you to the upcoming menu flavors about to be served to you and your guests, not taking you down a different culinary path completely.

Cheese Course
Part of the culinary trend for foodies includes a growing appreciation for cheeses of every flavor, texture and shape.  As a starter course it’s a fun way to start the meal, but you can also offer this course as an after dinner course just before dessert.  Ending the dinner, it lets diners finish up the last of their wine, allowing them to enjoy a dessert wine or cordial with their dessert.  A cheese course as an integral part of a formal dinner has been experienced in Europe and formal dinning establishments for centuries.  It has gained it’s popularity in weddings over just the last five years as people have moved away from the basic three course menu concept for their wedding.  Taking it a step further, label each cheese and allow the guests to select their choice from the wait staff.

When the celebrating begins at a wedding the last thing a guest wants to do is take the time to recall their proper English and Grammar lessons from school.  There is so much to see, hear and experience and always difficult to focus on the guest book; especially if they are the traditional kind that has one line for people to sign.  (You know the kind, the book with the matching feather pen.) And, the line of people behind you.

Here is a solution we literally uncovered for a couple weddings we designed. How you may ask? Well, for never being short on things to say here is the idea:

The Deconstructed Guest Book
While guests arrive and you hand them a program for the ceremony, also give them a 4”x6” or 5”x7” piece of heavy cardstock and a pen inscribed with the couples name and wedding date. While marveling at the ceremony décor and serenaded by the prelude music they can write their sentiments to the couple as they wait for the wedding to begin.  Following the ceremony as the ushers allow the guests to depart from their seats the ushers can collect their sheets of paper and the guests can keep the inscribed pen as a gift. The individual sheets can be hand bound into a beautiful book or can be sized to fit perfectly into a wood photo box, where the cover can contain a copy of the program or invitation as well as photographs of your choice.

Article reprinted from Catersource.com
A Table as Beautiful as the Bride!

Making things beautiful – and different – is what The Wedding Guys in
Minneapolis love to do. So, using three chargers and a piece of acrylic,
they created table settings for a wedding that looked great and served a
purpose: displaying the menu and guiding guests to the correct seats.

“We were going for a shadowbox image,” says Bruce Vassar, half of The
Wedding Guys (Matthew Trettel is the other half). “It’s a triple-charger
place setting and the top piece is acrylic.”

From the top down, the “layers” of this table setting were:

• A piece of acrylic, each printed with the name of one guest.
• The menu, printed on paper decorated with polka dots. “The polka dot pattern actually came from a painting in the lobby of the venue (the Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis) that was a picture of a bird’s feathers.”
• A first square white plate, in which the menu lay.
• A black napkin.
• A second, larger square white charger.
• A third, even larger square white charger.
• Flatware in a couple of patterns. “We always arrange the silverware so it’s not just the standard setting.”

Vassar says the presentation was actually easy to put together—the only
challenge was getting the guests’ names to the printer in time to have them
printed on the acrylic. “It looks great, but it’s not that expensive, which
is really nice,” he says.

Gone is the traditional garden or Caesar salad. Couples are asking for new variations of this menu staple. Consider a Mango and Goat Cheese Salad with Black Olives Elderflower Nectar Cordial Dressing – now we are talking. Still set on the traditional salad? Consider a deconstructed version where each ingredient is artistically presented on the plate.

There are so many variations on two traditional salad themes for a wedding.  When it comes to selecting a salad for your starter such as the standard Garden Fresh Salad or Caesar Salad we would like to help you step it up!  Just a tip, we really like height and stacking!  And, we also like plating just before it goes out so for caterers reading this you may want to plan accordingly with your ops department.

We really enjoy working with Frisee lettuce; it gives a lot of character to the plate.  A Frisee Salad a beautiful, light and airy fresh salad with balsamic vinaigrette, can be contained in a log cabin stack of asparagus.  A slight variation on this could be sliced grilled rounds of zucchini topped with the Frisee lettuce.  You could even layer the zucchini alternating with the Frisee (lasagna like) and topping it off with Frisee and shaved garden veggies like carrots or beets.  This is a very nice tall looking presentation.

The traditional Caesar Salad is normally premixed in a bowl and placed on the plate, Boring!  Let’s try two versions on the Caesar Salad but let’s try serving an extremely ice-cold plate.

In the center of the plate make a pancake of Caesar Salad dressing, on top of that place the romaine lettuce topped with fresh broiled croutons and then topped with curls of parmesan cheese.  Using a parmesan bowl as a great decorative element, place the romaine lettuce in the bowl and drizzle with Caesar Dressing. Top with grated parmesan cheese and black olives.

Or, if you want to be even more unique, skip the salads all together and add a cheese course or even soup.  Stay tuned for Part 2 – starter courses!

There is nothing more relaxing and yet exciting as having your hair and makeup done on site for your wedding; just as if you are on the set of a movie. But this day is not about a screenplay, it’s one of the most important days of your life and looking like you (and not someone else) should be the plan. As much as makeup can accent your look it should never be relied upon completely for the Bridal Glow. During the busy time of planning your wedding be sure to take care of yourself, it is amazing how eating properly really helps taking care of your skin.

Just how do you get the famous “Bridal Glow”? Some ideas to think about are to open your eyes with the use of specific eye shadows and eyeliner. A soft look would incorporate brown eyeliner, and pink tones. A more glamorous Hollywood look would include dark eyeliner and more red tones in the blush and lips. For a trendy mysterious look, a smoky eye is perfect in hues of grey and browns with a nude or mauve lip color. Keep in mind a bad reaction to new makeup or a disappointing hair color is the last thing you need before the wedding so as we said ‘plan ahead’. We’ve seen it happen so don’t set yourself up for unnecessary stress. A slightly enhanced version of your natural beauty is all that is necessary for achieving the legendary “bridal glow”.

In order to find the perfect hairstyle to complement your flawless skin, many elements factor in: the shape of your face, your height, and the style of your veil. If you don’t know where to start, look first to your wedding gown. If it is highly formal, it may call for a classic upsweep, or sleek and chic, topped off perfectly by a chignon. With the help of a professional, almost any style, whether it’s a sophisticated bun, a chignon set off by tiny flowers, or a French twist, it can be altered to fit the formality of the occasion and the style of your gown and veil. There is one thing to keep in mind if you have hair extensions. Because of the tracks put in place to secure the hair, you may not be able to have your hair in an up-do. Check with your stylist because if that is what you want, you may have to forgo the extensions or have them put in special for the day.

When you visit the stylist, bring as much of the ensemble as you can: veil, jewelry, a photo of your gown, and any other photos of styles you prefer. Schedule a trial session a few weeks before the wedding; having it done in advance will test your love for the style and its durability throughout the day. A trial session will also give you a sense of the amount of time you’ll spend in the stylist’s chair. Be straightforward with them about the result; if it’s not quite right, you can always come back for another session. Please know in advance the trial sessions are not free.

Having smooth, perfect nails will be the finishing touch to your wedding look; don’t forget your hands will figure prominently in photographs. Manicures and pedicures are also wonderful stress-fighters. If you are wearing a shorter gown for the reception perhaps you can select a fun color for the toes, perfect for those flashy peep shoes!

I few weeks ago we had the opportunity to speak to a group of wedding professionals in Raleigh, NC about wedding trends. We were hosted by our colleagues Dom and Laura DiGirolamo who founded the Triangle Bridal Association in 2002. As always we love any opportunity to talk about trends, and this engagement gave us an inside look at what is happening regionally within our industry.

Since this event was specifically geared toward the wedding professional, we also wanted to take the opportunity to share our vision of new trends with local couples planning weddings. We scheduled radio and television appearances during our visit and have included a segment from My Carolina Today where we talk about décor and fashion trends.

Ok, so we gave you all of the fun parts of an at-home wedding in PART 1. Now let’s make sure that you’ve got your bases covered. First things first, what is your contingency plan if you have poor weather and no plan to tent?

In the unfortunate event of a sudden downpour, you will need to accommodate your guests inside the house. Have these plans drawn up way in advance of the wedding day and make sure everything is set, just in case. Think of it as planning two weddings. One if the weather is behaving, the other if it refusing to hold it’s peace.

If you have a nice garage, we would highly recommend emptying it out, power cleaning it and erecting a marquee tent between the house and the garage as a pass through for people to utilize both areas.  In the garage we would give a nod of approval in draping the ceiling and draping or at least freshening up the walls by re-painting.  If you are striving for a contemporary look, utilize a flat panel draping. This is an inexpensive way to transform this large (and usually unsightly area).

If not utilizing the garage for any part of the social functions, consider this a great staging kitchen for your caterer. Once cleaned, it will give them a great space that they can use in preparing and plating your dinner.

With plans for bad weather in place, dream of what you want to do if your weather is terrific. Consider using the driveway as the ceremony aisle and the front of the garage or your home as the chapel.  This is very common in the South.  At the conclusion of the ceremony, you can enter the house or the garage for your cocktail or refreshment reception.  Utilize these areas for a relaxing lounge area as you accept congratulations from your guests in a receiving line as they are greeted with butler passed sparkling water or champagne.

Next transition to the backyard, which has been set for your reception dinner. Following the ceremony as guests enter the relaxation lounge strike the ceremony seating in the front of the yard and install a croquet set or other fun outdoor activity.

Remember lawn gardens are beautiful and so are a great pair of heals, but if the lawn in soft you are going to have a problem so constructing a temporary floor may be in order.  This is definitely a consideration if you are having a tented reception. Take a close look at the surfaces guests will be standing on and inform them of the
appropriate shoes for the occasion, if necessary.

Although clear top tents are beautiful at night you may want to consider how warm they will be if it’s very sunny and warm. An air conditioning unit and generator or ample power may also be in order.  The other source of power you don’t want to forget about that will deliver great atmospheric drama will be in up-lighting for the trees.  This is a great idea for a reception that will be going into the wee hours of the night. Your caterer will also likely need additional power, so consider all of the needs for the event before ordering a generator.

Almost last, but not least consider how many guests will be attending. This will be a major consideration in determining what to do about rest room facilities. With a small wedding you may be able to just use the bathrooms in your house. If you are planning a large wedding consider portable rest rooms.

The final piece that usually causes complications is parking. Determine if your home and surrounding neighborhood can comfortably handle the large number of cars that will arrive at your event. How convenient will it be for your guests to arrive? Do you need to provide valet parking?

Considering all of these elements will help ensure you have a perfect at-home wedding!

We thought it would be fun to bring you backstage to see what it takes to produce the TrendSpot Fashion Show at the Unveiled Wedding Event. Each show takes almost 6 months of preparation and lasts a mere 30 minutes! We wanted to give you a first hand look at the hustle and bustle of what happens in producing this fashion runway event.

So it really all begins with the fashions, and for the recent Unveiled Event in Atlanta, GA, we started with selecting the designers that would be best suited for the show. Of course our friend Monique Lhuillier came to mind; as well as Kleinfeld’s, who we have worked closely with in the past. To this we wanted to sprinkle up-and-coming superstars like Karen Hendrix and Kimberly Pixton. With this team of designers supplying exquisite fashions, we knew we had to have our favorite models that have worked with us in New York for Couture Bridal Market. And, lucky for us they were available to fly into Atlanta for the April show. So the front end of production includes the section of the gowns, music and video components, which is what takes the most time. We spend the months leading up to the show to make sure everything is flawless (no small task when dress and models are coming from around the country!

The next part of the process begins on site at the show. First we work with production to create the fashion show theatre space. The atmosphere has to be just right to create a runway experience worthy of NYC’s fashion week. Once we have the runway completed we send a driver to pick up the group of models from the airport. They come in a day or two early to go through the fitting process. Believe it or not each dress is fitted to the models to ensure the gowns look perfect. We have a team of seamstresses and in the case of the Atlanta show, Karen Hendrix came in just to ensure that her dresses we a perfect fit.

Once we have the dresses fitted we go through a rehearsal, where models walk the runway to get a feel for each segment and for us to finalize any timing. There is really no room for error.

All this and we aren’t even to show day!

So the morning of the show, everyone is up early and on site by 7:30AM! It’s time for hair and makeup and it’s a flurry of activity getting the look just right. This process takes several hours to finish with all of the models. In the meantime we are handling last minute issues with production and getting ready for the doors to open.

On to Back Stage: It’s monitored chaos when a model has about two minutes to change into their next gown and be back up on the runway! The fashion show is all programmed so once the button is pushed to start the show; there is no time to stop the show. As we tell the models if you miss your cue go back and get changed for the next gown.  The models are extremely talented and smart, I am amazed at what they do in such a short period of time and they actually help others in distress.

We have worked back stage with other staff members and it’s always funny to laugh at the stress level.  Well it’s funny for some of us to laugh – it breaks up the tension.  The models literally unzip the dress, step out of it right into the next gown, pull it up, zip and back in the lineup they go.  If it were all that easy it would be great.  The reality is, here is what it really sounds like:

Back stage you would think you were at a horseracing track or a relay race.  As soon as the models exit the runway the fun begins.  You will hear someone say, “Here they come,” as they are running with their gown pulled up in the front just like Julia Roberts in Runaway Bride.  Then you will hear, “ok slow down be careful don’t fall, as they maneuver around the sound and light cables backstage.  “Take your time, we are doing fine, dang zipper, ugh can you just hold this together so I can zip it.”  “There, now straighten the bodice, tie the sash and fluff the train, your good – Go!”  And they are off!  Some people working back stage get so nervous they get a stomachache but I have to say we have all been there in the beginning.  I think it’s funny when we all look with terror on our face when we can’t get something on, or we are stressed with the next change and we just stand there with wide opened eyes not saying a word.

The stress comes when that zipper gets caught on a thread or it will not go up or come down and the last thing you want to do is zip up skin…OUCH!  The down is the worst, as you will probably end up ripping out the zipper if stuck so they can change in time for the next gown.  With stress comes nerves and with nerves come sweaty hands and fingertips so grabbing hold of those small zippers can be difficult.  Sometimes you put so much pressure on your fingers that they scratch or develop burns.  Oh the glamour side of fashion.  All the while on the runway it looks so beautiful, calm and collected.

Once they step into the gown and on their way to the runway entrance it’s time to hang up the gown and get the next one ready.  While dressers are taking care of the garments, the hair and makeup people are backstage just a few feet from the runway entrance for last minute hair and makeup touch ups.  Re-spraying the hair, touching up the lips, powder on the forehead…oh the fun of it all.  And in 30-35 minutes it’s all over.  Now it’s time to straighten up backstage for the next show!

Replacing the traditional spring pastel colors of yesterday, we are ushering in the new trendy citrus and melon colors this year.  The wonderful thing about these colors is that you can actually incorporate them into the floral scheme and utilize them for many different aspects of the weddings.

Here we focused on the colors as well as the scent given off by the grapefruit.  What is fun about this is the simplicity of these items, which still gave the look of a completed table.  For years we have seen the utilization of the apples, pears, lemons and limes as well as pineapples.  They have traditionally been used in the entire form but today we are seeing much more adaptation to the entire atmosphere in general.

Here in these images, who would have ever thought that cutting a citrus fruit in half and placing it on a table would add not just the smell and visual aspect but also create forms of conversation at the table.

So where are some areas you can incorporate citrus and melon into your wedding?

Citrus and Melon is not just for Spring or Summer, include them in your abundant harvest time weddings in the fall.  They give a great punch to the reds of autumn

Place votive candles in balanced and hollowed out limes and lemons at each place setting

Pin stephanotis or hyacinth in the center of the grapefruit

With some greens perhaps using the fruit as part of the pew markers along with ribbon or tulle

Utilize a lemon or lime slice in finger bowls

Paint gold leaf on citrus fruit to give an aged look with texture

Place cards are a great way to utilize fruit by attaching to the stem

Using lemons and limes in cylinder vases with votives on top, perhaps even taking it a step further by adding branches and suspending cut citrus elements, blossoms and votives from ribbon.

Don’t forget your bridal bouquet, small lemons or limes make for a great focal point.