Catering By Robert . Event Concepts : Cinderella Inspired Wedding

Our 18-month courtship with Nicki and Bill, began in the summer of 2010. They decided to book our all inclusive Treasure Chest package to relieve some of the stress they anticipated in planning their wedding.

Their first choice for their wedding was a private waterfront home in the Longboat Key/Sarasota area. But when vacation rental home owner started putting restrictions on their celebration, they decided to hold it at the South Florida Museum near their home in Bradenton.

From scheduling first meetings with our participating vendors to attending client only open houses, Bill and Nicki made certain they took advantage of all the networking and tasting options available to them. Bill became the "point person" on their end and kept frequently in touch mostly via email and in the last few months, via phone.

Their guest table was featured during our February 2011 open house:

Photo by Lester Molina Photography

The couple's initial concept was based on Nicki's infatuation with the Cinderella princess theme. I cannot explain the look on Event Designer Kent Billiter's face when they presented him with a small glass slipper during their inital design meeting. Even though the slipper (proposed favor idea) was never really used in the table concept, it represented the enchanting feel the couple wanted overall for their reception.
Bling and crystals became a focal point along with THREE different shades of pink, chocolate brown and touch of gold. Instead of opting for standard chairs with covers, the couple decided to spend extra money on Kent's recommendation for mahogany brown folding chairs. These started out in the ceremony area on the promenade and were placed around the guest tables during social hour.

Their simple criss cross runners featured at the open house evolved into a multi-layered table starting with a white floor length cloth, followed by a pinned up chocolate brown satin overlay, topped with the pink champagne or rose lamour runner configuration - the ends delicately gathered with pink-wired crystals.
At first Bill and Nicki were set on a cocktail style format for the food, but then decided to formalize the tables with alternating rose and pink champagne napkins.Gold chargers were always considered because of their contrast.

Many clients are under the impression that event designers work with only one linen vendor. Not the case with Catering By Robert / Event Concepts . FL. Our event designers' knowledge of linen company inventories is a big plus for our clients. In the case of Bill and Nicki, their pink shades were so specialized we found only one source for the two colors of pink: BBJ Linens.

Although we like to "bundle" rental items whenever possible, we ended up renting from both BBJ and Panache Party Rentals. Panache (Classic Party Rental), is the only vendor on the West Coast of Florida that carries the mahogany brown wood folding chairs.
After the open house featuring their table look, Bill and Nicki sought some alternatives to having wedding florist Carmen, arrange their tall fresh floral guest table centerpieces. They loved her bouquet and personal flower options, but they needed to find some ways to cut back on extra decor costs.

We made a suggestion: have Carmen provide "processed" stems of hot pink hydrangea and pink roses in our in-house tall 20" glass cylinder vases. Our design team would just drop these in provided containers in order to save pre-arranging fees. This savings created more of a budget for the upgraded folding chairs.

Bill and Nicki went a step further and added tall brown sticks they found on the internet along with hot pink submersible LED lights in OUR crystal rocks, and 4" dark pink floating candles for our four shorter cylinders surrounding the tall one. Kent and Event Coordinator Bradley Dempsey, added some of the client-provided crystal strands to the inside for more BLING.

Each table was named after some aspect of "princess-dom" and small glass crystals were scattered around the perimeter. All in all it took our staff three solid hours to complete the table decor.

Thanks to our event colleagues, we were able to meet strict set-up deadlines. These included Christy Monaco of Southern Occasions who coordinated the ceremony; Eladio of DeLite Entertainment for ceremony and reception music; and of course, Elizabeth of Elle Creative Photography who skillfully captured so many of personalized images in this blog.

Christy did a well-rehearsed run-through the afternoon prior. This included escorting the younger wedding party members through their cues.

Eladio of DeLite Entertainment arrive early to make certain proper sound was set in place for ceremony, social hour, and main reception.

The museum staff is extremely helpful when it comes to making certain the "back of the house" is a well-oiled machine. Because events are subject to strict rental time period acquisition, rental vendors have to charge higher rates to deliver and pick up (that night). Still the facility is awesome and does have options for "under cover" celebration areas in case of bad weather. All tables and chairs must be rented.

The ceremony was held along the Promenade, a covered elevated corridor to one side of the Museum plaza. As part of their Treasure Chest package, we provided a wrought iron Chuppah with a table for their candlelighting ceremony.

After the ceremony, guests mingled in the bar area with some high top cocktail tables. This gave our staff time to place ceremony chairs around guest tables.