Lovely Virginia Wedding

I know I promised to post more photos last month but between planning clients' weddings, and my own last weekend, time got away from me.  I do want to catch up with a lovely Virginia wedding I planned and designed over the Summer in Old Town Alexandria.  

I must say I fell in love with Alexandria.  The old town is absolutely charming and the food was spectacular.  In that regard I have to give a special shout out to Virtue Feed & Grain, the site of the rehearsal dinner.  They were spot on with the food and service for the rehearsal and definitely became a favorite of mine in Alexandria.  I will say that they will be my first dinner stop when I am back in the area.

The wedding itself was set at the Lorien Hotel and Spa, a beautiful hotel with a variety of settings that proved to be perfect for this wedding.  

We were fortunate to have a beautiful day for this outdoor wedding on the rooftop terrace of the Lorien.  Since the Bride and Groom were engaged in Tuscany, they wanted to used this setting as the theme for their wedding.  True to the Tuscan theme of the wedding the Bride carried a bouquet of roses, scabiosa, lavender and rosemary.  

Given that we were on the rooftop, guests were provided with simple paper parasols to help shield them from the sun.  I must also say that if you are looking for photos, the hotel and the area offer countless charming locations as you can see from the photos I am sharing here.

Following a simple, touching ceremony guests were escorted to the other side of the rooftop for a cocktail reception.  I used roses, lavender, rosemary and olive branches in cut glass containers to create cocktail arrangements continuing the theme.  As you will see in later photos, I used linens that matched the invitations, menus and escort cards.  The design is the Schylar pattern from my stationery collection.

The views over old town Alexandria were stunning.  It was perfect for this reception.

Following cocktails guests were welcomed to the lower level ballroom which continued the elegant Tuscan theme.  As guests arrived to the ballroom they first saw the escort card table.  As you can see, the escort cards themselves had the same pattern as the cocktail linens so as to carry the look through the entire wedding.

As the centerpiece for the table I created a beautiful arrangement using the same combination of roses, scabiosa, rosemary and lavender but added hydrangea to create a lush centerpiece and accented it with lemons keeping with the theme.  I then added silver mercury glass pillar candle holders and votives to add a romantic glow.  

Once guests entered the room I continued the look using the same flower combinations on the dinner tables.  Each in a rustic stone urn, and accented by a table number that again utilized the design from all of the collateral materials, I created a truly romantic look in the room.

And I love it when everything coordinates as you can see with the menus that again, carry through the theme.

Once dinner was complete it was time to move on to the next room for dancing and dessert. 

The dance floor was perfectly located next to a wonderful terrace so guests could have a blast dancing to DJ Ben and then relax in the courtyard where I added a variety of lanterns and candles to give a romantic glow.  It was a perfect end to a wonderful evening.

I would like to give a special shout out to East Coast Entertainment and DJ Ben Felton for providing great music and dancing, Somerset cakes for a beautiful cake and sweet treats, and Stevie T Photography for all of the great images I have shared here on the blog.

Finally, a special congratulations to a wonderful couple, Susan and Jack.  Here's to a lifetime of happiness!

Cheers!

Back in the Finger Lakes

I just realized it has been over a month since my last post.  With wedding season in full swing I guess time just got away from me!

Right now I am kind of in a Finger Lakes frame of mind as I recently designed and produced a winery inspired wedding at Zugibe Vineyards with stunning views of Seneca Lake that was followed by a Tuscan themed wedding at the Lorien Inn and Spa in charming Alexandria, Virginia.  It has been a busy June!

With the Finger Lakes in mind I want to share images of a stunning wedding I produced last year at Bristol Harbour Resort on Canandaigua Lake.  I love the setting at Bristol Harbour and working with Sara is such a delight that I always look forward to planning weddings here.  So, when a long term client called me to plan his daughter's wedding in the Finger Lakes area, I immediately thought of Bristol Harbour as the perfect setting.  The Bride and Groom agreed and I moved forward planning their environmentally friendly wedding.

The natural beauty of the outdoor ceremony area was the perfect setting for this couple who wanted their wedding to be environmentally friendly.

The ceremony area was kept very simple and, to accent the aisle I used ball jars that were wrapped in twine and filled with gypsophila.  It was the perfect accent for this setting.

To enhance the ceremony we hired the wonderful Angelicus String Quartet to play through the ceremony and cocktail hour.

For all of the floral the Bride wanted a very natural look.  Her bouquet was done in an open, garden style with roses, veronica, scabiosa and lisianthus.  For the Groom's boutonniere I simply used veronica with twine wrapped around the base instead of ribbon.

As I mentioned, the Bride and Groom really wanted the wedding to be environmentally friendly. Therefore, instead of cut flowers I created the escort card centerpiece using a variety of potted herbs.  The only cut flower was gypsophila which can easily be dried and saved.  I then accented each of the escort cards with a sprig of rosemary.

For the dinner tables I carried on the same look as the escort table with the gypsophila and potted herbs.  At the end of the evening guests were welcome to take home the herbs as their 

Favor.

Even the cake carried through the elegant simplicity of this wedding.  Designed by Sweets by Marie, the tiered carrot cake was the perfect finish for a great meal.  I have to give special credit here to Bristol Harbour, and especially Sara, for going above and beyond in creating an exceptional vegetarian menu that left all of the guests raving.  

In addition to the great vendors I have already mentioned I would like to thank Sean at Redstone Studios for the photography featured here along with Ellco Entertainment and the band Up2Somethin for keeping guests on the dance floor throughout the evening.   In all this was another wonderful wedding in the Finger Lakes.  It is always such a pleasure to plan weddings in this area.  I look forward to sharing many more with you.

Until next time...

Cheers

More Destination wedding tips

I know I just posted an article last week with tips for planning a destination wedding.  I did not know that another article was about to be published on BudgetTravel.com where I give some of my own tips for eloping and/or planning a destination wedding.  You can check out the article using the link below.

BudgetTravel.com

Until next time...

Cheers!

Destination wedding tips

I love planning destination weddings.  While they can be a challenge, I find it very rewarding to plan what is really a wedding "experience" that brings together family and friends.  

That said, I recently read an article on Buzzfeed with tips for couples planning a destination wedding that I found to be very on target.  The only point I question is number 14, a "Trash the dress" ceremony.  I am really not a fan of this whole idea so it would not be one of my recommendations.  The rest of the article has great tips for planning your destination wedding.  

Tips for planning a destination wedding

Until next time...

Cheers!

What a Welcome

A couple of months ago I told you about a wedding I designed and produced in Spain.  It was an amazing weekend and each element was designed in a way to give guests a unique taste of the Rioja Wine Region.

While every aspect of this wedding was special, the welcome dinner that I produced at the Ysios Winery in Laguardia Spain was really spectacular yet touching in that it was the first gathering of a very special circle of family and friends who had made the long journey to celebrate this union.

Designed by Santiago Calatrava, the main building of the Ysios Winery is truly amazing.  It is hard to believe that in this remote region of Spain there are two awe inspiring structures by renown architects within eyeshot of each other.  The other is the Hotel Marques de Riscal designed by Frank Gehry.

Since wedding guests had just traveled a long distance to reach El Ciego, we arranged transportation for everyone to get from the host hotel, the Hotel Marques de Riscal, to Ysios.  This allowed everyone to have a carefree evening and really enjoy the amazing for a scenery.  The winery has a very dramatic entrance pathway through the vineyard that I thought would be great for guests to experience so we took advantage of this and dropped guests off at the end of the path so they could experience the walk to the main building.

When guests reached the winery they were invited for cocktails into the dramatic wine room.  Surrounded by countless barrels of wine in an amazing setting it was a truly wonderful way to begin the dinner.

  

Also upon entering, guests were treated to some tremendous food provided by Marisol Arriaga Catering of Logrono, Spain.  Marisol also has a restaurant in Logrono and, if you ever happen to be in the area, you have to stop for lunch or dinner.  The food is wonderful!

After cocktails guests were escorted upstairs to another beautiful room with massive windows overlooking the winery on one side and the barrel room on the other.  Due to the intimate nature of this gathering, all guests were seated at one long table.  Another benefit of the long table is that none of the guests had their back to the windows so everyone could take advantage of the view.

To decorate the room I wanted something very natural and simple.  I used white glass containers filled with olive branches to create a look that was perfect for the simple beauty of this room.  The best part is that the client had no idea what to expect and they loved it.

Overall it was a wonderful evening with the Grooms and their guests raving about the beautiful setting and amazing food.  It truly was the perfect way to begin this magical weekend.

Of course I have to thank all of the people in Spain who helped me make this happen.  Special thanks to Sylvia and the staff of Ysios Winery, Marisol Arriaga for the catering, everyone at Eventus in Logrono who put together all of the floral and decor and Ana Pedrero from the Hotel Marques de Riscal who was our communication expert in coordinating all elements of the weekend.  And I cannot forget Charles and Jennifer of Maring Visuals out of New York and their brilliant photography.

Until next time....

Cheers

Architects of Air Luminarium

Back in June I promised to share photos of the destination wedding I had just produced in Spain.  Now that my Summer break is officially over, I am back to work full force and want to devote some time to sharing information about the incredible experience I had planning this wedding.  I want to start with the Architects of  Air Luminarium that we brought to Spain from the UK.

It was about this time last year that we began planning the destination wedding in El Ciego, Spain.  About a month into the planning process our client sent us a photo of a colorful football field sized structure with a note that the couple wanted to "make this happen" for their wedding guests.  I was a bit stunned but immediately contacted Architects of Air, who designed and produced the Luminarium, to see how this could happen.  I promptly received a response from Mado, who proved to be a great help with this project and who advised that we could certainly make the Luminarium happen in El Ciego.

The one question we both had was, where are we going to put this huge structure?  While I am good at making things happen for my clients, certain logistics in the Rioja region of Spain made this a major task.  If you have ever been to the area you know that there are a lot of rolling hills but very few flat, empty, football sized areas such as what we needed for the Luminarium.  So, when I went to Spain last November for my first site visit, one of my priorities was finding a location for the Luminarium.

This is where Ana Pedrero, our main contact at the Hotel Marques de Riscal came in to save the day.  I do know that when we first mentioned the possibility of bringing the Luminarium to Ana she thought we were out of our minds, however, she sprung into action and was instrumental in bringing the structure to life.  This was especially true when she found the perfect location, right across the street from the Hotel!  Ana was also key to our interaction with the town and obtaining all of the necessary permits.

  
Now we had the site, next we had to get the structure from Nottingham, England to El Ciego, Spain, erect it, secure it and staff it.  We were fortunate to have the amazing Flor Guerin and her crew on hand to pull everything together.  Flor was instrumental in securing the equipment needed such as generators and air conditioning which had to be brought in from Madrid and Barcelona as well as the crew that came in from all regions of Spain.  

Bringing the structure to life was no small undertaking.  The site had to be leveled, a protective layer had to be laid and all of the mechanical elements put in place.  

When I was posting pictures from Spain on Facebook a lot of people were asking, What is it?  Well, one thing I must say is that to appreciate the Luminarium you really have to experience it.  It is an interactive combination of light and sound that you experience as you walk through the various chambers.  As the sun moves throughout the day, the reflections and experience inside of the Luminarium changes so we would have guests just sit and experience how the light moves throughout the day.  Architects of Air does have a structure touring the US so if you see it coming to your area I highly recommend a visit.

While it was a lot of work that took months of planning, the end result was a spectacular installation that wowed not only our clients and their guests, but also people throughout the Rioja region as we opened the Luminarium to the public and donated all ticket proceeds to Unicef.  I really owe a big thank you to Ana, Rosa, Flor, Mado and all of the staff who worked so hard to make the Luminarium a reality for everyone.

There is much more to come about this beautiful destination wedding and the Rioja region of Spain.

Until next time,

Cheers!

Classic New York Wedding

We've had some really fantastic weddings over the last few months here at Shawn Rabideau Events & Design and I can't wait to share them with you over the course of the next few blogs...Stay tuned for the wedding we just planned and designed in Spain!

A couple of months ago I had the privilege of planning and designing a wedding at Bridgewaters in the Historic South Street Seaport area of New York.  The wedding was a bit of a challenge in that while most guests were from the New York area, I was working with the Bride who lives in London and her mom who lives in Denver.  Many e-mails, many google docs, and many fabulous phone calls later, the collaboration resulted in a beautiful wedding that featured many personal details of the Bride and Groom which really made this celebration special.

When creating the design there were certain cues that I received from the Bride and her mother.  First, they wanted a clean elegant look yet they wanted the design to be more eclectic and non-traditional.  The chosen color palette was orange and silver (I LOVE this combo) which worked well with the room and setting.  Finally, the Bride and Groom love New York and London I wanted to incorporate these details into their wedding. 

I set the stage so that off the bat guests walking in were treated to a unique escort table display created with willow branches, accents of orchids and silver grey succulents, all of which were designed in a lucite trough.  

The escort cards were designed by The Paper Guppy out of Denver, CO and it was here that we started conveying the theme of the wedding to guests.  Each table was not just numbered, but it also featured the image of a famous landmark from either London or New York.  The image was first introduced on the escort card, then was carried over to the table numbers and event the candles used in the decor!

The vibrant orange floral and use of succulents was also carried through to the bouquets with the Bride carrying a white bouquet that was accented with succulents and the bridemaids carried orange bouquets, also with succulents.

I was even able to carry the orange floral and use of succulents into the boutonnieres which coordinated beautifully with the bouquets.

After moving from the escort card table guests proceeded to the ceremony area where I used curly willow to create a canopy for the Bride, Groom and their officiate.  Framing the canopy were lush displays of orange floral in stainless steel pedestals on top of orange lit lucite columns.  Finishing the look I used orange orchids which dripped from the curly willow creating a magical setting as the couple exchanged their vows.

Typically we remove the ceremony structure when the room is turned over for the reception, however, at the last minute, I loved the structure so much I decided it would be the perfect location for the wedding cake.  Sometimes those last minute decisions are the best ones!

As guests made their way into the main dining room it was clear that the theme was continuing with the use of sleek silver linens, vibrant orange flowers and candles wrapped to match the table numbers!

You can see in the photo above that the image on the escort card was then used in the table number and the candles we used with each centerpiece.  

The end result was an incredible wedding that was beautiful and thoroughly enjoyed by family and guests. Our best to the Bride and Groom.  

We also want to give special thanks for all of the terrific vendors who made the evening possible.  These include, Once Upon a Bride who, as always, did an impeccable job with hair and make-up; Silver Star Limousine who was responsible for guest transportation, Jen Huang Photography who handled day of photography, Fifth Avenue Digital who took all of the amazing decor shots featured on this blog; NYC Swing for their great entertainment and of course Bridgewaters, who provided an amazing setting, great food and wonderful service.

Until the next great event.

Cheers!

The key to successful event planning, have confidence in yourself!

Over the course of the past ten months I have had the pleasure of planning a gay destination wedding in Spain which just took place over the Memorial Day weekend.  The hardest part of planning the wedding wasn't the distance or the language barrier; but rather the client was insistent they just wanted to show up.  Their feeling was if they are hiring me to be the wedding expert, then I should be able to guide them on how their wedding should be with little to no input from them.

For some that would be a dream, and for others it would be a nightmare...for me, it was both.

I loved the fact they gave me carte blanch, but I was terrified that I hardly knew them.  What if I got their taste wrong? What if I didn't give them what they wanted? What if I gave too little or too much?  For the past 10 months as the expert I questioned myself...everyday!

Literally, the client showed up two days before the wedding with not a care in the world and on the day of the wedding they told me and I quote "this is a dream come true, everything is perfect".

This taught me several lessons that I can apply (and so can you) to any event I plan.

First, there was no need for me to agonize for 10 months on whether I was doing the right thing.  I should have been a bit more confident that I was on point with their thoughts.

Second, listen because it will help you trust your gut.  In the first several meetings I asked a TON and I mean ton of questions about the couple, what they like, what they didn't like, what their favorite colors were.  Did they drink, if so what.  Where were they from, how did they meet.  The questions were endless and through those questions they gave me all the answers I needed to know.  I just had to listen and keep going back to their answers to know whether I was on the right track.

Third, know deep down inside you're good.  I think all too often we second guess ourselves into thinking we aren't good enough.  The couple was right, I am good at what I do and that is why they hired me.  If for an instant they didn't think that then I would have never gotten the job.

There are plenty of more lessons to be learned, but I can tell you this taught me the biggest one of all, be confident in yourself because if you're not, then no one else will be.

Until next time - cheers!