Cakes and Goodies From The Zen Grand Opening

I promised some more pictures and Holly at Holly's Cakes was good enough to send me these pictures of the beautiful desserts she provided for the Zen grand opening. My mouth is still watering!

Zen and The Hyatt Regency in Downtown Greenville, SC

Last night, Richard and I were lucky enough to be invited to two great events. Both were just wonderful and I thought you might enjoy seeing some pictures. Hopefully I will have some better ones later to share.

The first was the grand opening of Zen, the new event space in downtown Greenville. Here are some pictures we took with my camera phone, they’re not the best, but at least they will give you an idea of how beautiful the space was. There were cocktails in the Lotus Lounge, live music in the zen garden and a wedding reception setup in the studio area. It was really quite spectacular. We have a wedding there next weekend. I can't hardly wait.

The florals and decor in these pictures were done by Renee Burroughs

After leaving Zen we went to the Hyatt Regency in Greenville where we had been invited to eat at the Chef’s Table. We did this last year and it was so good, we were thrilled to be invited again. Chef Dominick Vaccaro did not disappoint. He served gazpacho, chilled tomatoes, bell peppers and garden vegetables, then a baby lettuce martini with duck and goat cheese, and fresh baked flat bread. This was followed by tatki flat iron steak with miso glazed sea bass served with buckwheat noodles in soy ginger broth topped with pea green salad. Dessert was chocolate-vanilla-raspberry mousse napoleon. It was all delicious.

Here's a picture of the chef’s table setup, done by Colleen Wheeler of Wedding Festivals and the aqua martini we started everything off with. Thanks so much to Ericka, Nikki and Megan for having us.

Who is Going to Run My Wedding?

Under the title, More Reasons You Need to Hire A Planner, ….I was meeting this week with an event center, doing the final walk through before the wedding. The event planner was happily telling the bride how she didn’t need to worry about a thing. They would make sure everything ran perfectly. I spoke up and asked, “So that means you will actually be here for her entire event?” Guess what the answer was, “Well no, not actually, I may check in on you when you first arrive, but then someone else on the catering crew will take over. I’ll send you their name.”

I feel so sorry for brides that do not have a planner and think that the event coordinator who they have been talking to is going to run things just like they planned on the wedding day. Out of all the weddings we do, we see the event coordinator at the actual event 5 out of 10 times. The ones that actually stay for even just the majority of the event is maybe 2 out of 10. They may be there in the morning for a little bit of set up, or maybe check in the afternoon, but I can think of only one that we have ever worked with that was there till the end of the evening (and they didn’t come until a half hour before the event started.)

So if you don’t have a planner, ask the question point blank, “who will be running my wedding, what time will they arrive and what time will they leave?” Another good question is “Will they be running just my event, or do they have more than one to run on that date?” When you find out who your contact person will be on the day of your event, make sure you meet this person and make sure they are aware of anything special you have planned.

Picking Your Wedding Date

We’ve discussed it before, but it bears repeating. Before you get your heart set on a specific wedding date, do your homework. Check to see what else is happening on that date. If you’re planning to marry downtown, check for festivals, ballgames, anything that can hamper traffic, parking or hotel rooms. Is it the date of the Super Bowl, major college games (think Clemson/Carolina)? I hate to tell you this and I know you think your wedding is the most important happening around, but to sports freaks your wedding does not trump a major event. Heck, we’ve even had to have a television at a reception so the father of the bride could sneak away and keep up with the game.

Also, if you are planning an outdoor event at a park or garden, make sure there are no plans to work on that garden before your wedding day. Check to make sure that there will be no reseeding, redesigning, aerating, etc in the week before your wedding. Also, be sure no heavy watering is going to take place the day before your wedding. Nothing is worse than soaking wet ground on chairs and high heels.

Getting Those Important Pictures After The Ceremony

Sorry I have been away from the blog far awhile. We’ve just been so busy with brides and weddings and on top of that I have been sick. Finally, I’m well and caught up just a tad so I thought I would take a moment to post.

I had a mother of the bride ask me an interesting question this past week. “What can we do to speed up and make as painless as possible the picture taking after the ceremony?”

After the ceremony, remember you should take no longer than 30 minutes to get your pictures done. If it takes longer than that your guests are getting restless waiting on you to arrive. Not to mention these same guests are drinking their way through your bar tab and having probably eaten all the hors d’oeuvres, they are getting drunk and antsy.

Getting pictures done and out of the way is a high priority. So what should you do.

First thing to do is make sure as the wedding party comes back down the aisle during the recessional they are secured away from wedding guests in another room. This way guests can be quickly moved out of the church and on to the reception once the service is over. After all the guests are gone, the wedding party returns for pictures. If the guests can see or talk to the wedding party, you will never get away to get your pictures made.

Once pictures actually start the best way to make it run quickly and stress free is to have someone that knows the family there with a copy of the list of pictures you want (the same list you have discussed with the photographer earlier). They need to have all the people for the next shot, in line and ready to be placed. In other words, they need to be one step ahead of the photographer. Their job is to make sure that if Grandma is in the next picture, she is in line and waiting, not in the restroom or off talking to Cousin Jane. This person needs to be a take charge kind of person and one that knows they need to stay till the pictures are over. It is not a job for the timid.



When planning your list, remember each picture takes anywhere from one to five minutes to set up and you are trying to fit pictures in a thirty minute timeframe. You can not have a long list and expect to get them done in time.

Here is a list of the most common shots done after the ceremony.

After the Ceremony Pictures:
Bride and Groom
Bride, groom, bride’s mother and father
Bride, groom, bride’s mother and father and siblings
Bride, groom, groom’s mother and father
Bride, groom, groom’s mother and father and siblings
Bride, groom and both sets of parents
Bride, groom, wedding party
Bride, groom, grandparents
Bride, groom, each set of grandparents
Bride, groom, maid of honor and best man
Bride, groom, flower girl, ring bearer

Ribbon Chandeliers

I was reading through my favorite blogs and saw this wonderful idea on Mindy Weiss' Blog. If you don't know who Mindy Weiss is, she is one of the wedding planner rockstars. Anyway, instead of expensive chandeliers they tied strings of ribbon onto a grid and hung that from the ceiling. Each ribbon had a crystal tied to the end that moved and reflected throughout the night. What a great idea. I love it.

Cocky and The Tiger Joined The Reception

Since the groom had graduated from Clemson and the bride from Carolina, nothing would do but that we have both mascots attend the reception. They were announced in to their fight songs and challenged each other to a dance off. The crowd loved it. Later they danced with the wedding party and posed for tons of pictures. It was a lot of fun.

The Casino Part of The Reception

Here are some more pictures from our Rockin' Reception. These are all from the casino part of the reception. Tomorrow we'll look at the dance party.
The ice sculpture was just amazing. It was cards and dice as a part of the huge fruit and cheese display.

The bride and groom didn't want a traditional cake, so we went with cupcakes in three flavors, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. They were iced in silver with a black "K" on top of each one. We had the runner made with their initial.

The casino was packed all night. The guests couldn't get enough. We had black jack tables, roulette and dice.

Our centerpieces for this reception were so cool. They were vases with deep purple orchids that were lite from the bottom with led lights, lights were submerged in the water and there were led's under the shade pointing both down and up. This was set up on crushed silver overlays and set off with black chavari chairs. It was a very glamorous, old Hollywood casino feel.

More of This Weekend's Wedding

As I promised, here are more pictures from this weekend's wedding. Remember these are pictures we took, so they don't do the wedding justice. I can't wait to see the photographer's pictures.

The ceremony took place at St. Anthony's Catholic Church here in Greenville, SC.

The handsome groom getting ready for pictures.

The bride and groom saw each other before the actual wedding. We placed the groom in the church with his back turned and the bride walked in and called his name to turn around. It was such a sweet and touching moment. Only the photographer was allowed in with them until after they had a few moments alone, then the wedding party joined them and pictures started. It was a great way to get all the pictures out of the way before the reception. Our bride and groom wanted as much party time as possible.

Bride and the groom's mother posing for pictures.

Don't you just love these bridesmaids' dresses. The back of the dress was so elegant.


It was a simple and beautiful ceremony from beginning to end.

Next the reception.

One Rockin' Reception

This past weekend we had the wedding of Jessica and John. When Jessica and John first came to me, the thing they stressed was that they wanted their reception to be different and to be a party with a capital “P”. All I can say is, boy did they get what they wanted.

The wedding had a simplistic elegant tone. It took place at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, in Greenville, SC. The bride looked beautiful in a taffeta, beaded mermaid style dress. The bridesmaids wore elegant black dresses. The men were all in black tuxes. Flowers by Memories by McMillan were calla lilies in deepest burgundy and white.

After the wedding, guests went to the Sawmill for the party of a lifetime. The Sawmill had been transformed into an elegant glamorous casino. Guest tables were dressed in silver overlays with black chivari chairs. The center piece for the tables was a beautiful vase lamp with deep purple orchids inside. These vases were lit from the bottom, top and even had lights in the water. There were candles on the fireplace with vases of calla lilies and votives in all the windows. Huge palm trees and ferns had been brought in to soften the edges and give that old Hollywood glamorous dinner club/casino feeling.

Guests were greeted at the door with $35,000 in chips and a casino in full swing. The casino tables of blackjack, roulette and dice were run by the Sertoma Club with all the proceeds going to charity. Guests played for chips that were exchanged for tickets that were used for a prize drawing at the end of the night. Music provided by Life of the Party was giving that “rat pack” feel to the casino. Specialty drinks (apple martinis, Firefly vodka ice tea and margaritas) were being butlered to the guests along with hot hors d’oeuvres. A huge ice sculpture of playing cards and dice top the fruit and cheese display and two bars were up and running serving wine and beer.

Once the bride and groom were announced in the carving station of beef tenderloin was open, along with the mashed potato bar served in martini glasses and the every popular chicken strips were added with chips and dip.

The casino ran until 9:00 when all the guests were moved into the dance area for the formal dances and then some surprise guests were introduced. First up was Cocky, the Gamecock mascot since the bride was a Carolina graduate, but have no fear Clemson fans, next up was the Tiger. They danced with the wedding party, posed for pictures and had a great time.

During this same time the sushi bar was opened on the back patio under a tent. Sushi was rolled, by experienced sushi chefs, as the guests taking a break from the dancing watched. Following the sushi bar, the tent was transformed into a cigar bar, complete with a large selection of cigars from a beautiful humidor.

Guests danced and ate and smoked into the night. I don’t think this was a reception anyone will forget for a long time to come.

Here are just a few of the pictures we took. I can’t wait to see the professional pictures by Nill Silver. He promises to send them and I will share them when I get them. Stay tuned the rest of the week and I will share more of our pictures.

Vendors:

Planner: Willrich Bridal and Special Events

Cupcake and Cake – Couture Cakes of Greenville

Photography – Nill Silver

Video – Siahgphx Wedding Films

Music – Strings For Things

Venue – Sawmill

Catering – The Catering Cru (For the Sawmill)

DJ - Life of the Party DJ

Casino – Sertoma Club of Greer