Top 16: Clients!

February 5, 2016 Business.Blueprints.Brides

Welcome back to our series "Top 16 in 2016"! Today I want to speak about our clients! We LOVE our clients over here! For many of them, by the end of the planning process, we have become quite good friends. This year is no exception! We have some pretty awesome clients that are throwing some spectacular events this year! Let me list the top 3 reasons we love them!

1. They are so creative - Our brides have such great style! I am digging all the looks we have going on this year from clean and crisp to moody and bohemian. I love it when you first start talking design with a clients and you hone in on their vision and you can see it in their eyes when you have nailed it! You know at that point you are speaking the same language and the end product is going to be incredible but most of all you know they are going to love it on the day!

2. Quality over quantity - We have been seeing this great shift over here both at the Bradford and with C and D clients toward smaller weddings. Let me tell you how much I LOVE this trend. Not only does it make clients think about who is really important to them and who they really want to witness their wedding but it allows for so much room in the budget for amazing food and over the top details. As a planner of details this makes me so excited!

3. Guest focused - Our clients this year are super focused on their guests! While the day IS about the Bride and Groom - we have noticed how grateful our clients are for their friends and families making the trip to celebrate with them on their wedding day. This translates into great welcome bags, shuttles to and from hotels, creative favors, and personal Thank you speeches that make guests feel special and honored at the wedding. We love a thoughtful client!

While there are many more reasons we love our clients - we thought we would just share the top 3 with you and maybe give a few ideas for your own events! Have a great weekend, Courtney

Matthew and Ashley

January 21, 2016 Business.Blueprints.Brides

Becca and I met Ashley over coffee at Starbucks. There was an instant ease when we started chatting. She was extremely organized and I could tell right off the the bat that we were going to be a great fit. She was one of those clients that you don't mind meeting with, love the phone conferences because they are so productive, and a client that affirms you rock at your job. I loved every second of this wedding. She had hired us for a Day of Service plus Design, but it ended up being a little more planning as there were so many logistics to pulling this day off!

Ashley and Matthew decided to get married in his parents front lawn. When she took me out to the property, I could see exactly why she wanted it there! It was beautiful! The house was a gorgeous back drop and the fields in the distance made this "southern elegance" wedding perfect.

She was a no fuss bride and that translated into her design. She loved simplicity, white, and metals. Nothing too glitzy, a simple, understated, elegance with a hint of southern hospitality mixed in. I loved it! I loved her vision and the design came so naturally.

We picked Mitchell's mostly because of their ability to handle a 200+ crowd and of course their awesome food! She wanted it to be more a cocktail party, so we had 4 different stations that guests could try. The plan was to have it spilling outside of the tent some, but this was the first Saturday in a string of Saturdays that fall that it just plain rained every.single.wedding. She took it in stride and we executed our very thought out rain plain beautifully.

The night was perfect. The couple was gorgeous! Seriously Ashley should be a model! She was just glowing and so calm the entire night. Matthew was so sweet and you could tell that he just thought the world of Ashley. It was a sweet ceremony and I loved seeing the two of them just grin at each other the entire time.

The tent was gorgeous with a full liner and crystal chandeliers The linens were stunning, and the flowers were just the cherry on top. I loved the bouquet Courtney created and LOVED the centerpieces with our new mercury glass candlesticks. The band crushed it. Seriously. They were awesome! The bride requested some good 'ol classic late 90's early 2000 songs so they did a mashup of Backstreet, N'sync, Britney, and Spice Girls. It was so much fun!

It was sad to put this folder in my "past brides" section! I am so thrilled to show you some of my favorite images from an amazing night!

The Awesome Vendors:

Venue: Groom's Family Land

Ceremony Venue: First Baptist Church

Officiant: Pastor Colbert

Ceremony arrangements at the church: Smithfield City Florist

Coordination and Planning: Dana with C and D Events

Florist: Bushel and Peck Designs

Photography: Jon Black Photography

Hair Stylist: Jenn Berkey

Catering: Mitchell's

Cake: Emily Strickland

Bar Service: On the Rocks Bartending

Bathrooms: Royal Restrooms

Band: Spare Change Music

Tent and Rentals: Grand Rental station

Linen Rental: CE Rental

Top 16: NACE

January 11, 2016 Business.Blueprints.Brides

Hello all! We are continuing on with our top 16 things we are excited about in 2016 and today it is NACE. NACE stands for The National Association for Catering and Events and is a professional organization dedicated to all aspects of the event industry. We have been wanting to join a professional organization for quite some time but have not either a) had the time to devote to it b) felt like one fit our personality. After trying out a few and attending meetings here and there - we think NACE is the place for us!

Apparently you are inducted by trial - as we were asked to plan the upcoming meeting in little more than a weeks time! The theme is "molecular gastronomy" The science of food - which, little known fact, Dana and I both have degrees in Science (chemistry and Biology respectively) so the theme really jives with us! We have been able to pull in a florist (Thank you Tre Bella), Live musicians (Amaree), calligrapher (the Oblique Pen), desserts and favors (por favor Sweet Traditions) in about 3 days! Dana is feverishly working on paper product and details to make it a memorable night! We are so excited to be apart of the larger event community in this capacity and honored that they asked us to coordinate the upcoming event!

A little peek into some of our inspiration for the meeting:

Flowers in lab glassware on ring stands!

Element table Names

Science Fair inspired menu cards.

Look for more details on our social media accounts Tuesday night!

Kelsey and Stephen - Bradford Christmas Wedding

January 7, 2016 Business.Blueprints.Brides

I am actually about a year late blogging about this wedding - but it seems appropriate this week with the 20 degree weather and ominous winter clouds outside! Kelsey and her family came to us about 2 months before the wedding and asked if we could plan, design, and coordinate her wedding of 30 people in just two months - we loved the challenge and the creative freedom! I loved planning with Kelsey because she really trusted our vision - gave us colors, guest count, and a little food direction and left the rest to us.

She wanted a brunch wedding with navy and silver as the prevailing colors. It was held 3 days before Christmas so she was fine incorporating Christmas elements in the design - we had a fun black Friday at Michaels that year....We decided to do 1 big family table with an elaborate centerpiece for the reception portion. We held the wedding in the dining room of the Bradford and Kelsey made her grand entrance down our stairs!

I LOVED the event - I loved how cozy and intimate it was. I felt like it was a wedding from the past (Like maybe Dickens or Bronte would make an appearance)- a celebration but not TOO crazy, surrounded by just the people who are most important to you! Kelsey and Stephen were so happy and you could tell that it was more about their marriage than the wedding that day.