3 Ways to Incorporate Your Children Into Your Wedding

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Venue: Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort and Spa | Photography: Alexis Kline Photography

Inviting children to a wedding has been a big debate throughout the past few years. We’ve heard from numerous couples expressing both positive and negative feelings towards this idea. While some believe that the more the merrier, others fear that they might cause a distraction during significant parts of the day. But what happens if the child happens to be your own? Whether it’s with your significant other or from a previous relationship, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re going to want to include them. Although the standard idea of incorporating them as flower girls or ring bearers might seem like the easiest route to go, here’s three of our favorite ways to include them that can be appropriate for any age!

Customized Mocktail

Even if you don’t plan on having a bar at your wedding, coming up with an original drink that your little one loves is a great way to remind your guests that they are a part of the day! This could be a fun concoction that you both create and test out in advance or one that’s already known but with a fun twist (shout out to the Shirley Temples with not one but TWO cherries). Bonus Points: Make sure you name the drink after your child so everyone at the wedding knows who inspired it!

DIY Crafts

As you get closer to your wedding day your mind might be running a mile a minute thinking about all of the finishing touches that you still have to do. How much easier would it be if you had another pair of hands to help you make the welcome baskets and hand-written place cards? Asking your little one to help out is a great way to get the tasks done more efficiently as well as create memories.

Family Cake Topper

Just because it’s going on your wedding cake doesn’t mean it only has to be the two of you! Having a cake topper that includes your entire family reassures your little ones that this day should be just as special for them!

Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Wedding – Rebecca & Jason

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Rebecca’s best friend (who later became her Maid of Honor) met Jason during basic training for the army. She immediately realized the similarities between the two and formally introduced them after graduation. After many years of dating, Jason decided to pop the question in the most intimate setting he could imagine – on their patio while listening to their favorite song WITH his grandmother’s ring!

While planning their wedding the couple decided that the surrounding scenery was one of the most significant parts of their day. They decided to get married at the Hyatt Regency on Clearwater Beach so that they could have views of the water during their entire celebration. Praying for good weather (and thank goodness it was perfect!), the couple decided to hold their ceremony on the hotel’s outdoor terrace. To not take away from the beautiful view, Event Design provided a drapery archway as well as chair florals to make the space appear more wedding like.

After exchanging vows and taking pictures, the couple moved their celebration to the Hyatt Regency’s indoor ballroom to hold the reception. Rebecca and Jason wanted to create a very timeless and romantic atmosphere through the use of chiavari chairs, specialty linen, and meaningful centerpieces. Before their delicious meals were served, Rebecca decided to switch into a comfy white jumpsuit so she was able to bust out her favorite dance moves later on!

Rebecca and Jason’s most cherished memory of their wedding day was being able to celebrate it with their family and friends. The couple were originally planning on getting married in April of 2020 but due to COVID they had to go through two postponements.

Following their wedding, Rebecca says that her favorite reason as to why she hired Event Design was because of how easy we were to work with. She said that we were able to “read her mind” when it came to the decor and everything turned out exactly how she envisioned. If she could give one piece of advice to any couple planning their wedding she would recommend not sweating about the little things and enjoying yourself because it goes by quickly!

Floral, Chairs, & Decor: Event Design | Venue: Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa | Photography: Alexis Kline Photography

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 Things to Know Before Your Hair & Makeup Trial

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Venue: Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa

Okay, you are only a few months away from your wedding day. You have a gorgeous venue, the perfect dress, and all of the other venders sorted out. You think you’re ahead of the game, but you’re starting to second guess yourself. Is there something, even the smallest thing, that you’re missing?

Well, have you scheduled a trial run for both your hair and makeup? But wait, why would you add an “unnecessary” expense to your wedding budget? It sounds silly, I know, but think of the peace of mind you’ll have if you’re able to see how everything looks ahead of time! So scheduling an appointment for a test run sounds easy enough, right? Well yes, but sometimes brides aren’t sure what is necessary to bring/do for their consultations. Here are our top three tips of things to know for both during and leading up to your trials!

Have Your Accessories Ready

Plan on wearing a veil during your ceremony? Maybe reusing a timeless head band that your mother wore during hers? Make sure you bring these items to all of your trials, that way the stylists know exactly how to incorporate them into your hair designs. This will even give you a full perspective of exactly how everything will look as opposed to just assuming.

Bring Inspirational Photographs

Although these stylists know how to work their magic, they are not mind readers. There are hundreds of different designs you can do with both your hair and makeup and having a clear idea of what you envision ahead of time will avoid stress on the both of you.

Have Clean Hair and With No Products

Some people might assume that if you’re spending money for someone to do your hair the least that they could do is wash it, right? True. BUT we like to encourage brides to wash their hair the night before so it has the opportunity to regain some of its natural oils which will work in your favor! Additionally, put as little products on your face as possible (ideally none at all) since makeup tends to stick better that way.

Remember, these are only trials so if they do something that you don’t love be sure to be vocal about it! One of the worst things you can do is settle on something just because it looks “fine”. These are pictures and memories that are going to last a lifetime so make sure that you’re completely comfortable with how everything looks so there are no regrets later on down the road!