Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Wedding – Sejal & Christopher

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Sejal and Christopher contacted Event Design in the fall regarding their wedding the following spring. Their situation was a little unique because they both lived in a Borough of London (Purely, Croydon). Since Sejal’s family lived near them and Christopher’s family was in Canada, they decided to get married at the Hyatt Regency in Clearwater Beach to create a destination wedding for all of their attendees. 

The planning process became a little difficult for Sejal due to the five hour time difference. Ironically, one of Event Design’s team members was actually visiting family in Italy for part of the time which made phone meetings/texting easier on both ends! Not long after, a friendship between them formed and when they officially met on the wedding day we were given a gift bag full of England’s BEST candy for the Event Design team to treat themselves too. 

With months of planning still ahead of her, Sejal decided on a deep purple and gold wedding with touches of white throughout the florals and drapery. After getting ideas from previous wedding videos, the couple knew that they wanted a purple and white drapery arch for their ceremony. The only problem was, they were getting married outside on the Sky Terrace where wind was going to be a factor. After using heavy weights to secure the archway and counting our blessings, we were able to achieve the look that they were both going for and Sejal smiled the entire time down the aisle.

With the wedding going exactly as planned, the couple decided to extend their end time to 2:00 AM to continue to keep the party going. (which is crazy thinking that the majority of their attendees traveled from England the day prior!) Immediately following the wedding, Sejal and Christopher started their honeymoon in no other place than Clearwater, Florida! This was an extremely meaningful decision for them since they would be able to spend even more time with friends and family before they all headed off to different regions of the world.

One really cool thing about this couple is that Sejal and Christopher have maintained contact with the Event Design team after their wedding was over. They’ve even gone to the extent of reaching out and offering to send us water/supplies when we were experiencing bad hurricanes. Although they moved back to their hometown in London, it’s still nice to be able to have a friendship with couples from a completely different area. Who knows, maybe if one of our Event Design team members decides to take a trip to England we will have the opportunity to reconnect again ;)

Floral, Drapery, & Decor: Event Design | Venue: Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort and Spa

3 Color Palettes that are HOT this Season

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With fall finally here, Floridians are officially in their wedding season! Even though the weather is still ridiculously hot, many couples have decided to include fall colors in their wedding scheme just to pretend that the south experiences some of the autumn weather. Through previous weddings over the past few months and upcoming ones still in progression, these three colors are the ones that we’ve seen most couples choose to incorporate into their special day!

Yellow

Venue: Sheraton Tampa Riverwalk | Photography: Celebrations of Tampa Bay

As one of Pantone’s colors of the year, brides have been eager to include a pop of yellow into their arrangements. Incorporating commonly known yellow flowers, such as sunflowers, is a great way to create a more lively tone to a very warm atmosphere. As stated in Pantone’s website, this hue creates the feeling that everything is going to continue to get brighter, which is what we all hope to achieve throughout the many years of marriage!

Muted Pink

Venue: The Orlo | Photography: Roberts Imagery

Following in the boho vibe that we’ve been seeing over the year, the soft shade of pink has appeared throughout this fall season. By incorporating a muted color and different styles of greenery, couples have been able to create arrangements with dimension while still giving off an earthy feel.

Burgundy

Venue: Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay | Photography: Jon Montis Photography

As we transition closer to the winter season, many couples have included a deep red shade into their wedding. Usually seen in winter weddings, burgundy has recently been utilized in the fall months as a transition color into the colder season.

Hilton Tampa Downtown Wedding – Whitney & Frank

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Whitney and Frank met on www.match.com and a few days later they had their first date (which ironically was St. Patrick’s Day!) After a few months of dating and endless chemistry they both knew that they had found the one. Frank decided to pop the question at one of their favorite restaurants, Armani’s, and surprised Whitney with an engagement party immediately after at her mom’s house!

Since they decided to have their wedding the following summer, Whitney and Frank wanted a venue that offered both their ceremony and reception indoors. Due to the large space and numerous ballrooms, The Hilton in Downtown Tampa became their number one choice. Soon after signing the contract with the venue, Whitney contacted Event Design for centerpieces, flowers, drapery, and other decor items to completely transform the space and prevent it from looking too ballroom-y.

Aside from the standard decor items, Whitney and Frank knew that they needed a large dance floor since they and their guests were very big dancers. To go with their classic color scheme, the couple decided on a matte all white style which allowed the light to bounce off perfectly for their photos!

Looking back on her wedding day, Whitney is glad she hired Event Design to take care of both her decor and florals to avoid having to communicate with numerous vendors. If she could give any piece of advice to couples it would be to provide your vendors with loads of pictures so you both are on the same page. By doing that, Whitney was able to get exactly what she envisioned and create the beautiful wedding that she had always hoped for!

Alsooo, fun fact! Whitney’s Aunt and Uncle were married at the same hotel 30 years prior so looking back at their wedding day Whitney and Frank are glad they were able to experience their first dance in the same room!

Venue: Hilton Tampa Downtown | Photography: Life’s Highlights | Decor, Floral, and Drapery: Event Design

5 Moments to Look Forward to on Your Wedding Day

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Is your wedding day right around the corner? Are you starting to feel the anxious jitters, butterflies, and every other emotion pouring out of you? Even if you still have some time until you walk down the aisle, you can probably relate to this feeling at least once or twice in your life. I mean, you’re only human, right?! So we can all take part in the excitement together, we’ve made a list of some of our favorite moments to look forward to our your special day!

Delivery of Personal Florals

Hand delivering bouquets and boutonnières is one of our favorite things! Typically, these are dropped off first thing in the morning and we love to see everyone’s faces light up once they’re seen. Another bonus to this is that it’s kind of like a sneak peak to what’s in store for the rest of the day!

Decorated Archway

Seeing the ceremony space in general is usually when the “OMG!” moment starts to kick in. Imagine walking down the aisle and seeing your significant other standing in front of the perfect archway that you both dreamed about. This is typically the time of day that your excitement pours out and tears begin to be shed!

Seeing Your Reception Space for the First Time

A lot of the times, the reception area is where couples dedicate the most attention to detail. Through numerous proposals and only mental visions, it is a whole different feeling seeing everything come together for the first time.

Finished Centerpieces

Seeing the arrangements that you once saw on Pinterest but weren’t sure would look good with your wedding colors. After countless hours going back and forth to make the perfect design it finally comes to life and is everything that you had imagined!

Small Touches That You Forgot About

There’s so much going on when you’re planning your wedding that there’s bound to be at least one thing you forgot that you splurged on. Whether it be the custom table numbers or specialty linen, seeing them on display is a nice little reminder of all of the work that you two put into your wedding day!

Okay, okay. We know there are far more than only five moments to look forward to on your wedding day. We could probably make an entire website dedicated to these occasions. After all, your wedding day is what you make of it so there’s a million things that you can be excited about!

Thanks to the awesome photographers Darin Crofton Photography, Lifelong Photography Studios, Jon Montis Photography, Sunglow Photography, & JCanelas Photography

3 Tips to Make the Most of a Bridal Show

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Photographer: K&K Photography | Venue: Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club

Wedding season is finally here which means the debut of bridal shows will be soon to follow!

Bridal shows create a great opportunity for newly engaged couples to look around and see what people in the industry have to offer. Attending these expos seem pretty easy, right? All you have to do is go to a couple to view different vendors, find the ones you like, and sign away your life’s inheritance (joking!) Although in theory these shows are designed to take make your life easier, we have a few suggestions to get the most out of your experience!

Bring your Significant Other

This is a no brainer! Since you two will be making an investment for your wedding day it is encouraged to bring your fiancé so you both can meet the venders!

Create a Wedding Email

This is a great way to keep all of the contacts to your wedding vendors in one place. The last thing that you want is to accidentally delete an email from your favorite company because it was mixed in with all of the spam promotions from stores that you’ve purchased from in the past.

Bring Labels

Many companies offer promotions and contests during the exhibit. Having pre-made labels with your name, wedding date, and email/phone number is an easy way to enter them stress free! This also provides something to hand off to your favorite vendors so they can contact you after the show to set up a more in depth meeting!

Remember, bridal shows are supposed to show off different companies but not every provider in your area attends them. If you aren’t crazy about any of the vendors that you’ve seen, continue to do some research! The worst thing that a couple could do is sign a contract with a company who they don’t feel 100% comfortable with. Don’t forget, this is your special day and everything should go the way the you’ve hoped for!

Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay Wedding – Kimber & Nick

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Kimber and Nick met at a bar in their hometown of Chicago, Illinois. They began dating and eventually took their first vacation at the Grand Hyatt in Tampa Bay. They immediately fell in love with the hotel and after Nick gave a heartfelt proposal a few years later they knew that they had to come back to Tampa, Florida to exchange their vows.

After much discussion Kimber and Nick decided that they wanted to go with a modern theme that included blue and white hues. They decided to focus a portion of their attention to the ceremony space by including drapery and hanging blue delphinium flowers from the top. They also had two large arrangements on either side of the aisle that accented the sweetheart table when it was placed between them after the ceremony was over.

For the remainder of the reception space, the couple decided to include soft touches such as uplights, lilies, and blue table runners. Looking back on her day, Kimber says she is happy she put so much attention to the details and was able to get exactly what she envisioned. Though she claims that marrying Nick was the best part of her wedding, we think that our help with executing the decor came in a close second ;)

If Kimber could give any piece of advice to couples who are planning their wedding she would recommend finding vendors who stay in contact with you throughout the whole process. With planning a destination wedding, she was extremely comfortable with the constant communication between everyone on the Event Design team. Kimber is thankful that we took the time to discuss her entire vision and provide a variety of different options in order to achieve her dream decor. “(Event Design) helped us create the most beautiful set up and make our design dream a reality! (They) handled everything and communicated with our other vendors to make the day go flawless!!”

Venue: Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay | Photographer: Carrie Wildes

I’m Engaged! Which Vendors do I Hire First?

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Ceremony Venue: Bell Shoals Baptist Church | Reception Venue: The Regent

You just became engaged and can finally start the planning process for one of your most memorable days! Once a set budget is in mind, you might ask yourself where to start and which vendors should you reach out to first? While every single one of them is important in making a smooth and painless wedding day, there are a few that we recommend going to immediately to ensure availability!

Venue

We highly encourage couples to decide on a wedding location before they even pursue other venders. Once a date is chosen, you will be able to get a better idea on availability of other venders and if the facility is within their area of travel. Additionally, certain venues only allow the use of their preferred venders which could limit the ones to choose from.

Planner/Coordinator

Planners and coordinators are under utilized gems inside the wedding industry! It might not seem like it at first, but planning everything out and sticking to a schedule is a full time job! Having someone there to map out every detail and create a timeline can alleviate unnecessary stress and make everything run much more smoothly.

Photographer

There’s an art to taking the perfect photograph so if you’re in love with someone’s work don’t hesitate to reach out to see their availability! Photographers (especially well known ones) can fill up fast and chances are if you found the best one on Instagram, other couples have too!

Decor/Floral

The possibilities are endless when it comes to the decor and floral aspect of a wedding! We encourage speaking with a company early on to see how much it would cost to recreate absolutely everything that you envision. Once that’s figured out, you will then have the opportunity to decide on what you really want/need as well as get a better idea on how much money you’ll have to spend on other things.

Planning your wedding may seem overwhelming at first, (trust us, we know) but once you have your core vendors figured out everything else will come together more easily. Remember, it’s never too early to reach out to these individuals, especially the ones that you have your heart set on!

Kapok Special Events Wedding – Dior & Bobby

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Dior and Bobby approached Event Design in the summer with a dream of a Beauty and the Beast styled wedding for the following year. Since they were already planning on having their ceremony at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, they decided to hold their reception somewhere close to the Tarpon Springs area which led them straight to the Kapok Special Events Center. If you’re new to the Clearwater area, this venue has a pretty long history (being once considered a top restaurant in the Tampa Bay area as well as an Inn), but in present day is commonly known for having a Kapok Tree located directly in front of the building. Having floor to ceiling windows exposing a lush and well maintained garden, the couple decided that this would be a great place to hold an outdoorsy themed wedding which is commonly seen in the Beauty and the Beast movie.

With both a ceremony and a reception venue decided on, Dior and Bobby were ready to bring their theme to life. Similar to the famous film, the wedding colors were going to be navy blue, gold, red, and touches of greenery (ivy in particular). With family members, including the band itself, flying in from Greece, the couple’s original 350 guest count wedding grew to 422 in a matter of months. With that being said, the two felt the pressure of making an even bigger impression on their attendees and did not want to skimp on the details to make the wedding even more memorable. Including their already contracted decor elements of gold chiavari chairs, navy and red linen, chargers, and lush centerpieces, Dior and Bobby immediately decided to include a monogrammed GOBO of their initials to be projected onto the dance floor.

Of everything that Dior and Bobby wanted included in their wedding day, the two most significant things were the sweetheart table and the bridal bouquet. To achieve a classic Beauty and the Beast styled wedding, Event Design used candelabras on their table, as well as the iconic single rose inside a dome vase. For the bridal bouquet, we decided on an all rose arrangement and accented each stem with diamond pins to bring out the red hue even more.

The day of the wedding Event Design received a call from Bobby’s mother saying that as a surprise to the couple she wanted to extend the wedding an additional hour and a half. The wedding that was once supposed to end at 1:30 AM had now been extended to 3:00 AM (at the earliest) and from the pictures that we received from their photographer the wedding extension did not go unappreciated!

Ceremony Venue: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral | Reception Venue: Kapok Special Events Center | Photography: K&K Photography | Decor & Floral: Event Design | Cake: Hands on Sweets

Venue 650 Wedding – Caitlin & Brandon

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Caitlin came to Event Design with a dream of getting married outside of the Tampa/St. Petersburg area and instead moving closer to Orlando. After much discussion with her (then) fiancé, Brandon, they decided on renting out an old newspaper printing house in Winter Haven. Venue 650 gave them the industrial vibe that they both were envisioning while still allowing plenty of opportunity to dress up the space with drapery and candle lights!

As soon as they confirmed their date, they decided to reach out to Event Design to get the decor details sorted out. Both Caitlin and Brandon had a vision of a natural theme with greenery, white flowers, and gold accents. Being extremely organized, Caitlin already had prepared HUNDREDS of photographs and inspirational boards of exactly what she wanted. With being over a year out, everything seemed to be going according to plan but then… COVID hit.

Everything seemed to have come crashing down and while still dreaming of having a spring wedding, Caitlin and Brandon decided to privately tie the knot anyway and celebrate with their friends and family later on in the summer at Venue 650.

This wedding was extremely special to Event Design because we had the opportunity to not only help design the space, but to coordinate the big day as well! Venue 650 is every couple and decor company’s dream space while providing a blank slate to work from but still including timeless pieces such as exposed beams and white brick walls. Event Design’s elegant touches such as drapery and custom made farm sweetheart table helped enhance the atmosphere even more. All of the other decor aspects were finished off by including specialty linen, florals, centerpieces, chargers, and furniture to create a memorable atmosphere that the guests (including Caitlin and Brandon) are still talking about!

Venue: Venue 650 | Photography: J Canelas Photography | Videography: J&S Media | Decor/Furniture/Floral: Us! | Hair & Makeup: Femme Akoi