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.

Purples and Reds Make a Splash at Tampa Bay Watch

Nina and Tom
Selected photos by Jason Angelini Photography*

Sometimes a wedding is simply a culmination of emotions that range from the bride and groom's most favored colors, foods that surround their lives, and styling that defines their union. 

This describes Nina and Tom's well orchestrated celebration we had the pleasure of hosting at Tampa Bay Watch. 

Who would ever think distinct colors such as lavender, purple, hot pink, dove gray, and red could fit together? Nina and Tom had faith they would. The rest is history.

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Floral artist, Carmen Gonzalez, created a number of beautiful pieces that ranged from huge arrangements for the ceremony setting to guest table elements focusing on the pairing of lavender hydrangea and "pops" of red roses. 

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Nina, by nature, was very easy-going. But when it came to her decor, she knew EACTLY what she wanted. Months before her big day, we featured her sample guest table at one of our client-only open houses. There she was able to visualize how all of the components could be "set in motion" to create her special look.

Prior to the open house, Nina had completed a Design Questionnaire that gave her event designer (offered as part of our catering packages) a sense of hers and Tom's style. After a design meeting where Nina shared her color scheme through pictures and paint cards, we were able to show her several options for her sample table. Because she wanted a special sheer spiral overlay, we procured a sample from local rental company, Connie Duglin Linens. Then Carmen agreed to do a sample centerpiece. Below is Nina's sample table.

Below is the finished product.

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The Guy Harvey Outpost served as the host hotel for getting ready and other bridal party activities. Nina and Tom arrived separately prior to the wedding at Tampa Bay Watch with a few minutes to spare for last minute pictures.

Nina's mom and dad both escorted her to the ceremony while her brother served as their officiant.

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While family photos were being taken, guests enjoyed social hour on the upper deck area of the Tampa Bay Watch community building. The couple chose our "Taste Around Tampa" package which featured three stations and hand-passed appetizers, reflecting each.

We loved incorporating our newly acquired white sea feathers into the deep purple and gray display tables that included the sign in table, gift table and all of the food stations. While each food station was distinctly different, the color palette tied everything together nicely.

Butlered hors d'oeuvres included Tiropita, Chicken Brochettes, and Tropical Fruit Skewers.

A deep fried offering was calamari and mini crabcakes.

The main reception room was set with TBW's beautiful natural wood chairs.

Nina and Tom chose a sweetheart table for just them accented with votive candles, our in-house octagon candle holders, and loose flowers Carmen scattered around. 

The cake tables was decorated in platinum and deep purples with red rose flower balls utilized first during the ceremony along the aisle.

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A special memorial table remembered those who could not be a part of their celebration.

Elsewhere, three Taste of Tampa Stations were ready for guests to enjoy as their main meal.

First, there was the Tarpon Springs Greek station featuring hummus and flatbread, along with a unique Greek Salad display. A carving station of Roast Baron of Beef and Baby Lamb Chops rounded out the "soup to nuts" presentation.

Inside the main room, the couple's most anticipated station was the "By the Gulf" which was customized to include twin large shrimp squatty champagne glasses with a choice of three sauces such as Bloody Mary cocktail sauce and encruments of pimento stuffed olives, bread sticks, and celery. 

Deep fried corn fritters with black bean salsa made way for a raw Oyster presentation shucked by our executive chef, Bob. These delicacies were embellished with fresh horseradish and cocktail sauce. 

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The last station was Cracker Country offering comfort foods that included Smoked BBQ Ribs, cole slaw, and garlic mashed potatoes with toppings

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A very personalized part of Nina and Tom's celebration was their wedding cake display. They had a custom topper resembling them made standing atop a cupcake tower. Nina surprised Tom with a hilarious groom's cake depicting the couple's a la maters. This unique pastry combination was designed by Sweet Tweets Cakerywww.sweettweetscakery.com.

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The remainder of Nina and Tom's celebration focused on fun,dancing, and captured photos from their photo booth. 

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At the end of the night, it was all about Nina and Tom and what they brought to the table in terms of decor, food, and love.

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Planning, Decor, Coordination, and Catering by Catering By Robert / Event Concepts and Catering . FL

Photography by Jason Angelini

Fresh Flowers by Carmen's Flowers

Cake and Cupcakes by Sweet Tweets Cakery

DJ Cory

Trinity Video

Rental Linens: Connie Duglin Linen