Distinctive Touches Create Romance at Davis Islands Garden Club

Dianne and Michael

* Selected Photos by Mcfarquhar Photography *

So can you have too many details showcased in one wedding? Not if those are just the right details! 

Such was the case for Dianne and Michael who held their ceremony and reception at Davis Islands Garden Club on March 10th.

Dianne drew much of her inspiration from seeing wedding related signage, furnishings, and food in person. Her planner/coordinator, Vicki of Beachangels Weddings, encouraged she and Michael to attend as many of our open houses as possible. She also pointed her in the right direction of great ideas from other events at the garden club.

From there, Dianne formulated the unique design of her wedding day which you will see in this blog post. All of the signs were made by the bride.

The couple attended almost every one of our open house tastings including one we hosted at The Barn at Stark Farms where we featured a Country Inn specialty menu. They were able to bring a group "tasters" that included bridal party and family members. Photo by EVA PHOTO STUDIO.

The couple's personalization started at the very entrance to the outdoor area of the garden club. We provided our white shepherd hooks for a simple hanging sign. "Better Together." Dianne is also a high school teacher that takes her classroom decorum to heart. 

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Her sign in table with a bit of vintage, was set up on the garden club's wrought iron cart. It also held a card container and a framed seating chart where she indicated seating on individual cards for each guest table. During her design meeting with our designer, Rita, Dianne selected some of our unique containers and fillers to accent display tables. 

More personalized signage was found throughout the ceremony area.

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Vendor teamwork prevailed during the ceremony where our staff draped the gazebo and set up the rest of our white wrought iron shepherd hooks and large white lanterns to line the aisle. Bloomingdays Flower Shop provided the beautiful spray of flowers.

 

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Vicki made sure the couple enjoyed their wedding weekend by recommending some private time prior to their big day at the Marriott Waterside. There was still time to share other special moments getting ready.

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By the time Dianne arrived at Davis Islands Garden Club, she was already dressed and "chilled out."

Major doses of "cuteness" were found in the ring bearers and flower girl entrances.

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Once the ceremony began, we could tell Dianne and Michael spent a great deal of time writing their vows with Vicki, who also officiated the ceremony. There wasn't a dry eye in the 120+ guest crowd.

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Social hour was held on the patio of the garden club, while formal pictures were being taken around the grounds. The couple chose several hand-passed items they had sampled at our open houses including Pinwheel Sandwiches, Nacho Cheese with Soft Pretzels, Italian Brushetta, and Demi Glace Meatballs.

Immediately following the ceremony, we created a special hors d'oeuvres presentation for the bridal party members before they dispersed for formal pictures.

Inside, Photographer Josh, captured the untouched guest tables before guests entered the main reception area. Dianne chose three different centerpiece designs.  Bloomingdays created two custom pieces: a gold urn with white hydrangea and soft pink garden roses and manzanita branch with hanging crystals.

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A dramatic, tall centerpiece was interspersed on selected tables and featured similar flowers in a pilsner vase.

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The third centerpiece option included our in-house glass cylinders with Bloomingdays' submersed buds in two, and a hydrangea cluster in the third. Using these varied pieces, Dianne was able to save money in her flower budget.



Our variety of mirror squares and rectangles with votive candle holders created a sparkling finish to the centers of the table. Diane chose two gold satin runners on either side of a gold organza damask runner. Ivory napkins in a tri-fold were anchored by a mint favor.



The gazebo spray was transferred to the front of the sweetheart table.

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Just about an hour and a half prior to the start of the main reception, our Chef Sait, started our ever popular Paella. It was steamed and ready for dinner.

 

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The rest of the buffet was decorated in gold, ivory, and mint green.

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The menu consisted of Honey Glazed Ham, Citrus Chicken, Whipped Potatoes, Honey Glazed Carrots, and Baked Ziti. 

The wedding cake was provided by Publix.

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The perfect end to a perfect wedding day. Whisked off to their hotel in a friend's boat. 

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Design and Catering: Catering By Robert / Event Concepts . FL

www.cateringbyroberttampa.com

Planning, Coordinating and Officiating: 

Beachangels Weddings

http://beachangelsweddings.vpweb.com/

Florals: Bloomingdays Florist Shop

www.bloomingdays.com

Custom Signs by the Bride - Dianne Matias - Follow her on Instagram #DiannesDesignz

Photography: Joshua Mcfarquhar

Rentals: Outside the Box Rentals

Entertainment: DJ Ron with UM Entertainment

Wedding Cake: Publix

Creating Your Own Special Look at a Popular Venue

Courtney and Ethan
Davis Islands Garden Club
Selected Photos by Jon Montis Photography

Every wedding couple has their own "time line" for deciding how to proceed in planning their wedding. For some it is the small details they have collected on their Pinterest wedding boards. For others it is the overall design of their chosen wedding venue. But cuisine is now a much more important component for wedding celebrations now.

Courtney and her bridal party and family took this seriously in the 18 months she allotted to plan her wedding by attending as many of our client only tastings as possible.

Unlike many caterers who offer "cookie cutter" tastings for potential or booked wedding clients, we take a different approach: after making the commitment to become a client, we offer bi-monthly tastings where we rotate our regular menu items in a themed environment with added specialty cuisine that may have been requested by current brides and grooms.

Courtney's valuable input following each open house helped us create a truly unique culinary experience on hers and many other clients' wedding day.

Unexpectedly, the décor elements were easily decided as Courtney got closer to her wedding day.

We are excited to share Courtney and Ethan's very special eggplant and blush pink wedding at Davis Islands Garden Club. 

Décor translates beyond the surroundings. It is a part of food presentation as well. Above, we  took hand-passed appetizers and displayed them on a color-coordinated platter with texture with matching garnish.

After the food choices were made, everything fell right into place for the look and feel of the wedding.

 Vicki helps cue bridal party members for the ceremony which was focused in natural setting along the waterfront.

An amazing new connection was forged between Courtney's florist, Ampar, who is a traveling florist from Dallas. Her business name is Fleurs & and Events. Courtney connected with her via a family member. I was impressed with the quality of flowers Ampar was able to put together in our in-house containers, from many miles away. As a result of our connection, we collaborated on a photo shoot in Dallas for a new event venue.

Courtney was as much concerned about comfort as she was about presentation. Besides renting the in-house cushions from the club, she and her mom provided comfy purple pillows that were placed around the patio social hour space.

Our small fish bowls were available to Ampar for accent pieces in the patio area.

Guests found their seats via guest table "clothes line." The practicality of this was that if there were last table assignment changes, only a 5 x 7 card had to be reprinted. These were in visible enough that guests could take their time in pin-pointing their table location.

All guest tables were consistent with white floor length cloths, deep purple main runners with gold and white damask accents down the center. Yet every other table featured a different centerpiece look with variations in florals and containers.

Texture is a great way to pull together a color scheme yet offer some variation.

What a cake from Goldie's Goodies! 

Our Gold Medallion menu items were displayed in the front foyer. One of Courtney's past tasting favorites was our Paella. Jon Montis captured it perfectly!

Presentation is so important. Below, we featured our version of BBQ via our Smoked Pork Chop Station where guests could add crunchy onions, cole slaw, and favorite BBQ sauce to their hand-chopped smoked pork on a slider roll.

The party moved on beyond the food and because of well planned timing, Courtney and Ethan were able to have lots of dancing until the end of the event.