Marvelous McDavid

Every wedding should be about the Bride and Groom.  After all, they are the stars of the show!!  As guests experience and participate in the wedding our goal is always to point to our wedding couple and show who they are as individuals and where they are going with their life together.  It's all about their personality as a couple!!  This has never been more true than in our planning walk with the fabulous N and M!!  While some couples need help finding ways to show who they are, the beautiful N was the exact opposite!  From the start she was full of ideas on how to communicate their fun personalities through the details of the wedding!!  How rewarding to see her vision and ideas come to fruition!!  We were so blessed to team with these sweet friends on design plan, coordination, and implementation of this glorious event! 

AT THE CHURCH

The big day started with a beautiful church wedding.  The alter table was decorated with a wooden cross carved by the Father of the Bride as a wedding gift.  Such a meaningful keepsake!  The Groom's cousin used their family Bible as he officiated the ceremony.  The Alter deco was topped off with a long flower garland nestled between candles on a gathered black linen.  Beauty.   

COCKTAIL HOUR

The reception was held at the marvelous McDavid Studio in Downtown Ft. Worth.  Guests were invited to head to McDavid for a fun cocktail hour while the wedding party finished their pics at the church.  The cocktail hour was held in the fun and eclectic canteen.  Upon arrival guests were treated to N and M's signature drinks... N chose a Ciroc Vodka with white grape juice and a sugar rim, M chose a Ciroc Vodka Martini with blue cheese olives.  The drinks were displayed and served a bed of gorgeous green apples covered with glass.  For entertainment during cocktail hour, a couple of N's talented friends helped create a fabulous piano bar atmosphere by performing live and inviting the crowd to join in.  The guests loved it and it set the tone for a fun evening!!  So great!!

Bride and Groom's signature drink display

While picking up a drink at the bar, the guests were able to find their seating cards... once again displayed the color of the wedding with these beautiful green apples (you know how we love fruit!!)

The decor for the cocktail hour was challenging... we wanted to display memorable pictures of the bride and groom, but this area is already decorated with modern art and exposed pipes on the ceiling (love this industrial look!).  Our solution was to take advantage of the large windows opening to an atrium below.  We used tall hooks to hang the beautiful pictures of our Bride and Groom on all of their adventures! 

Hanging pictures in the windows of the Canteen

Stand up cocktails and seating area as a view for the piano bar show! 

THE RECEPTION

After cocktail hour guests were welcomed into the main reception room.  The door was graced with a gorgeous curly willow arch with flowers nestled in.  What a great entrance!! 

Inside view of the arch



Outside view of the arch

This fabulous reception was a seated dinner for all of the guests.  Dinner was catered by the famous Reata in Fort Worth...  N and M's favorite.  One of the best things about this wedding was getting the opportunity to introduce so many out of town guests to the sights, sounds, and tastes of Fort Worth.   Reata is definitely one of the must taste restaurants for any Fort Worth visitor... what a pleasure to work with them on this fabulous event!  Our layout was an eclectic design mixing long rectangular tables and large rounds.  The wedding party was seated at the long tables surrounding the dance floor. 

The round tables had a great mix of centerpiece heights.  All using the soft green and white hydrangeas as a theme.

Tall with hanging candles and wrought iron vase

 Low wrought iron bowls with the same hydrangea arrangement of flowers.

 Last of the three, large lanterns elevated on glass with hydrangea tucked underneath.  The Bride had a special surprise at her mother in law's table.. a picture of the Groom's late father on his wedding day!!  This meant so much to the M's mom and is another great example of the personality showing through in all the details!! 

DESIGN DETAILS

Large pictures of N and M graced the walls of the reception area.  This was a design idea of the bride and it turned out so beautifully.  Another personalized note, the table runners and curtain ties were handmade by the Mother of the Bride!!

Each place setting was dressed with fabulous stationary detailing the food and events of the night.  We love this idea!!  So often at weddings the guests are just blindly following a schedule that they have no clue about.  We have found that most wedding goers appreciate knowing whats coming and what time it will happen... the menu card is a great way to communicate the plan! 

Another FABULOUS detail....  N loves original quotes.  She loves them so much that she and M asked their guests to write a favorite quote on their response cards!!  To carry this personalized detail into the reception, we arranged to have a projector display N's favorite quotes on the wall throughout the reception!! 

N and M decided on a live band for the reception entertainment.  We were so blessed to book one of the truly great bands in the metroplex, Trey and the Tritones.  They rocked the reception!!  What a fabulous choice!! 

THE CAKES

The cakes were the centerpiece of the main reception room.  This is evident because they have ended up in so many of the pictures!  They were both fabulous to look at and delicious.  N's cake was tall the the favorite hydrangea on top.  The bling and detailing on the sides of the cake are truly representative of who N is... fabulous and sparkly!  She knew what she wanted, was specific with the baker and it turned out so wonderfully!! 

 Toward the end of the night, the Bride and Groom selected some true classics for the guests to enjoy as a late night snack.  We paired delicious blue cheese sliders from Reata with every one's favorite, McDonald's fries!!  They were a hit...  and so delicious after several hours of dancing!  

The Bride and Groom were led to their car by the band!!  So great!! 

Congratulations to my sweet friends!  What fun to work with you and see everything come together!!! 

A HUGE thanks to Kassie Moore Photography for so many of the pictures in this event story!!!  If you are looking for a wonderful photographer, look no further!!  You can visit Kassie's website by clicking HERE.

Remarkable Red

RED!!  Considering the fiery hair of our lovely Bride, what could be a more appropriate wedding color choice than bright red?  We had so much fun putting this remarkable affair together!  Since the Bride, J, lives across the country we had the pleasure of working with her mother, T, on all of the lovely details.  Our challenge was to create a one of a kind event without breaking the budget!  As always, we love a challenge and were happy to work with T to create an environment that her precious daughter and future son in law would love. 

We wanted to bring in some unique elements, so we started by putting this fun lounge area together.  We love the idea of a circular sofa, but since we couldn't seem to locate such a sofa in our storage area... or in our rental budget, we decided to get creative.  Love Love Love the results!!!  Disclaimer: We can't be held responsible for any guest fights that might ensue over who gets to sit in our fabulous loungy area.....

Lamp light was a major component in the reception.  Together with the candle light, it created a warm, romantic, atmosphere.  So many receptions use floral decorations to create a soft beautiful look.  Candles and lamps are a great way to create the same fuzzy feeling when large flower arrangements aren't in the budget. 

Since the wedding was a family friendly event (many dancing kiddos!), the bride opted for a large dance floor using the black, white, and red color scheme.  The dance floor was capped by the dessert table which consisted of cake balls in varying flavors.  Cake Balls are the sort of wedding trend that we can really get on board with... everyone seems to love them.  And why wouldn't they??  So delicious!!!

Since we couldn't fit all 300 guests into our adorable lounge area, we obviously needed some guest tables.  No problem!!  Gracie's was happy to bring our black linens to cover the guest tables.  As with all receptions it's a good idea to mix varying heights of centerpieces.  It's obviously more interesting to have some variety, but it also carries the guests eye throughout the room.  Note to all planning a wedding: be sure to vary your centerpieces!!  We went with four different types of centerpieces, although 2 were variations of the same premise.  We started with these hanging lanterns. The hanger to the right holds one large lantern, elevated on a piece of 12" glass and surrounded by handmade paper flowers.  The wedding party made all of the flowers.  To view a tutorial on creating paper flowers click  HERE. 

  

Our other lantern centerpiece consisted of three smaller hanging lanterns with the same paper flowers.  Aren't the hanging lantern votives beautiful with the backdrop of twinkle lights in the tree??

For our second centerpeice we were looking to get a lot of bang for the buck with our flower purchase.  We opted for these sunken flower arrangements.  These are great because they take a small amount of flowers, but have a unique and different look to them.  The tall vases were topped off with a floating candle to add to our atmosphere.   

Lastly we went with an elevated candle arrangement....  LOVE THE CANDLES!!!

For food goodies, the guests were treated to a buffet of chips, various dips, and handrolled chimichangas.  If you've read very many of our event stories, than you have undoubtedly seen our favorite buffet table configurations.  All we can say is that when something works, it works.  We love the 3 round table triangle... this time the same food was featured on each table.  Repeating the same food on each table enables the guests to move through the line and get their food quickly.  We love fast service time!! 

Guest book table.... more lanterns!!!

Beautiful wedding day for a beautiful couple!!  Congratulations J and B!!!  So excited about your new life together!!!