Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay Wedding – Katie & Zach

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Katie and Zach met their senior year of high school at a scholarship weekend for Boston College. Katie’s older brother, Ben, hosted Zach during the five day program where Katie found herself spending every possible moment coming up with excuses to tag along. After an immediate connect the couple decided to make their relationship official before parting ways at the end of the event. Although they both were eager to go home and tell their loved ones their news, they knew that they were going to have a challenge due to the distance between them. Even though this hurdle could have made any other teenage couple break up, the couple decided to make the most of it by Katie flying to Boston to attend Zach’s prom and Zach meeting her ENTIRE family after only one month!

The couple continued to date all throughout college and eventually decided to tie the knot in Tampa to be closer to Katie’s parents’ home. Since guests were coming in from all across the country, Katie and Zach decided to throw a big party immediately following the rehearsal dinner the night before. This allowed the attendees an additional opportunity to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones!

Following the traditional theme of their wedding day, Katie and her bridesmaids decided to get ready at her parents’ house while Zach and his groomsmen got dressed at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay. The two traveled separately to Sacred Heart Catholic Church where they chose to see each other for the first time during an hour long Catholic Ceremony at 11:00 AM. Similar to Katie’s parents’ wedding, Event Design dressed up the church pews with white satin bows and designed Katie’s bouquet completely out of gardenias (which is what her mother had as well!)

After exchanging vows, the couple shuttled guests from Sacred Heart Catholic Church to the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay for the cocktail hour. During this time Katie and Zach were able to take photographs with each other and their families. Although they ended up missing the majority of their cocktail hour, the couple had the opportunity to be alone together and reflect on the morning’s events.

After the all of the sentimental moments, Katie and Zach were ready to party! The reception took place in the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay’s ballroom. Upon entering the space, all 400 of the couple’s guests were blown away by centerpieces in varying heights as well as the one on the couple’s head/family table that was made of only white roses. Along with the custom made arrangements, the tables were finished off with Event Design’s lace overlays, gold chargers, table numbers, and chiavari chairs!

Immediately following their meal, the couple had their first dance on a cherry rose dance floor with a GOBO projection of their initials displayed across. Eventually the day became even livelier when the wedding party did the classic New Orleans Umbrella Dance and Katie was able to throw away her complimentary toss bouquet (because how could she give up her real one?!)

Floral, Chairs, Uplighting, & Decor: Event Design | Ceremony Venue: Sacred Heart Catholic Church | Reception Venue: Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay | Photography: Your Story By Us | Videography: Life’s Highlights | Makeup: Michele Renee The Studio | Cake: Hands On Sweets | Wedding Dress: Cici’s Bridal | DJ: Eric w/ Grant Hemmond and Associates

3 Tips for a Great Best Man/Maid of Honor Toast

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Venue: Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay (Armani’s) | Photography: Jon Montis Photography

Did your best friend just ask you to be their right hand on their wedding day? Most likely you instantly said yes only to be hit with a curve ball and find out that they want you to give a speech during the reception. What?! A toast?! You didn’t know that there was going to be public speaking involved before committing to this! Before getting in a frenzy about what you should and shouldn’t say, we’ve made a list of the 3 BEST tips for a great toast!

Write it Ahead of Time

If you take some time out of your days prior to the wedding to write out the speech ahead of time you will be able to gather your thoughts and ensure that the toast is cohesive and easy to follow. This also helps prevent you from going off on tangents and being flustered day of.

Keep Personal Scenarios Private

The main goal of a successful toast is to avoid completely embarrassing the newlyweds. Subtle jokes to poke fun are acceptable (to a degree) but if you think your friend will be upset about a remark afterwards it’s better left unsaid. Additionally, skip the inside jokes (since the majority of the guests won’t understand) and absolutely do not bring up exes!

Keep it Lighthearted

The less serious the toast is the calmer you will be! Typically these speeches are supposed to make the audience laugh and relate to. Bonus Tip: you have a glass of champagne in your hand so feel free to use it if need be ;)

Bottom line, remember that this is an opportunity for you to express your excitement for your friends and their future!

3 Advantages to Hiring a Decor Company for Your Wedding Day

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Venue: Armani’s (Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay)

When it comes down to planning your wedding day the ambiance of the ceremony and reception spaces plays a major roll. Simple touches like Chiavari chairs and floral centerpieces can enhance the room and cater it towards your specific style. Instead of adding one more thing to your plate, we recommend reaching out to companies who specialize in designing weddings. Still not sure if outsourcing this role is necessary? Check out these three advantages to hiring a decor company that will definitely make you change your mind!

Venue: The Vinoy | Photography: Salvador Robles Photography

Create Symmetrical Atmosphere

The limit does not exist when it comes to designing the style and atmosphere of a wedding (if we were tech savvy we’d insert the Mean Girls gif here). Even though you might have a specific style in mind, coming up with ways to achieve it can be a complete headache. Luckily, if you hire a reputable professional in the wedding decor industry, it is literally their job to advise you as to what works and what doesn’t. Whether you’re planning a modern reception or a rustic ceremony, they are there to tell you what elements to use to enhance the ambiance!

Venue: Tampa Yacht & Country Club

You Will Save Your Time and Money

Wedding planning takes up enough of your time as is, so why not put a trusted professional in charge of figuring out all of the decor elements? We often hear couples talk about DIYing some of their own pieces which sounds great in theory but ends up taking A LOT more time than expected. Additionally, buying individual items from different companies can end up costing more than what was originally proposed by renting them through a decor company. On top of all of that, what are you going to do with all of the purchased items once your wedding is over? Unless you plan on getting into the wedding industry, there isn’t really a reason to keep 200 partially used candle votives and glass cylinders.

Venue: CL Space | Photography: Lindsey Vander Wal Photography

Set Up and Tear Down

The last thing that you’re going to want to do on your wedding day is figure out who will be available to set up and tear down rented items. Although it’s nice if your loved ones offer, it can be hard to expect them to when they’re going to want to spend their time getting ready and celebrating with you as well. Luckily, a professional wedding designer can focus on these tasks instead so your friends and family members are able to be apart of the entire wedding day process.

Now that we’ve convinced you that you need to hire a decor company, feel free to reach out to us on our contact page so we can sit down and discuss creating the design of your wedding!

10 Things to Pack in Your Wedding Day Emergency Kit

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Photography: Your Story by Us

Did you decide to save money and forego the investment of having a planner? Or maybe you’re just an overly cautious person and want to prepare for everything in case someone else doesn’t. Here is a list of our top 10 things that we recommend packing for your wedding day emergency kit!

Sewing Kit

A travel sized sewing kit is a great way to stitch any minor tears or snags on a wedding gown or bridesmaid dress. If you don’t feel comfortable taking on the challenge yourself, more than likely someone getting ready with you will have a little bit of knowledge on sewing (shout out to all of the moms out there). If not, most small imperfections can be fixed with just a needle and thread!

Fashion Tape

Using any sort of fashion tape is a great way to keep your dress in place even when you intend on dancing your butt off! This can be found in most retail stores by the intimate section but if you’re still having issues coming across it compression tape can make for an awesome dupe!

First Aid Kit

Anything from band-aids to antiseptics are great to keep on hand in case any small accidents are to arise. It also doesn’t hurt to pack basic medicine such as Advil or Tums to nip any “under the weather” feelings in the bud!

Dental Floss

This might sound like a no brainer to pack because having food stuck in your teeth can be embarrassing for photos! We also highly encourage you to check your smile (and the people around you) often!

Breath Mints

Unfortunately, bad breath isn’t something that you can really prevent on your wedding day if you’re having someone else cater. Keeping breath mints on hand is a great way to minimize the issue but if you’re still nervous it doesn’t hurt to pack mouth wash either!

Deodorant

Reapply, reapply, reapply! You are going to be the center of attention for the entire day so having deodorant readily available is a necessity (especially later on in the night when dancing is involved)!

Lighter

If a dress starts to fray you are able to use a lighter to burn off the ends and prevent it from unraveling. It’s also great to have in case any candles are blown out or sparklers need to be lit!

Perfume

This can go hand and hand with packing deodorant because B.O. is a big OH NO on your wedding day! It can also make for a great accessary to use in your photographer’s detailed shots!

Hair Ties

Even though your hair looked great at the beginning of the day by the end of the night it is likely to fall. Having a hair tie handy is a great way to get it out of your face and off of your neck while you break a sweat from busting out your dance moves!

Tide Pen

Although Tide Pens can’t fix every stain, it can help eliminate the predominance of the little ones that may come up while you’re getting ready. This is great to use for make up smudges and crumbs from snacks that were eaten earlier on!

Some of these items might seem a little unnecessary, but it’s always better to be over prepared. Even if you end up not using them, someone else might and that makes it worth it!

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.

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