A Fairy Tale for Fall

Having a reception room filled with fragrant flowers was always something Michelle dreamed of for her wedding day. Michelle and groom, Jake, met while working at the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Pete, so lighting and a hint of the surreal also played a big part in the total look of their reception which was held two days before Halloween.

While this kind of fairy tale look is not always in everyone's budget, Michelle and Jake, were very fortunate to have some "fairy godmothers and godfathers" to help them achieve their decorating goals.

To begin with, the couple chose an inexpensive reception site - the Treasure Island Community Center. Everyone shared their vision to transform the somewhat ugly room into something more. And with Michelle's aunt being a florist, they were able to turn a plain "pumpkin" into a beautiful, "well-appointed carriage."

The savings on the hall gave this "Cinderella" and her "Prince Charming" more money to install white high curtains along the walls with amber uplighting. The creative use of long feasting tables (included in the hall rental), and our huge inventory in-house glass cylinders, helped created a splendid fall look that uniquely belonged to Michelle and Jake.

Graceful large black vases surrounded by gold pumpkins adorned two corners of the room. Natural light flowed in from uncovered floor to ceiling windows early in the evening. Then as darkness fell, the room took on a completely different ballroom look.

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere. With it being late October, the combination of dark red, orange, and yellow colors popped in tabletop decor provided by Michelle's aunt for specialty tables such as the gift and sign in.

The pumpkin theme carried over to the couple's place cards, each attached to a small gord and doubled as a favor for their 200+ guests. This was a huge undertaking that Michelle's family was more than happy to assist with weeks before the wedding.


The small main entry area of the hall had some "unsightly" vending machines and a coat rack which we disguised with gold and burgundy fabrics. These made the perfect backdrop for the sign-in table. Catering By Robert / Event Concepts.FL comes prepared to address these extra decorating needs.

With the ceremony held at a nearby church in Madiera Beach, Michelle and Jake got their first glimpse of the reception only when they entered during formal introductions.

Because the couple were able to see their guest table design created by Catering By Robert event designer Ashley Allred Davis during the month prior's open house (above), they were confident in the outcome. The only change Michelle made was the elimination of the burgundy chair ties . . . in favor of the neutral ones included in our package. As you can see from the pictures below, that decision focused even more attention on the stunning tables themselves.

Along the centers of the long tables were a set of two gold satin runners and one burgundy poly runner. Her aunt filled the centers with spellbinding assortments of submersed yellow and orange calla lilies in our assorted heights of clear glass cylinders. These were interspersed with shorter cylinders of orange baby roses, vibrant lilies, and smaller bowls holding sprigs of simple greens or more roses.

The most amazing thing about the decor was the short time everyone had to set up . . . less than three hours. This included the wall drapings and lighting by Xydex Productions. Considering there were a total of 28 people among three staffs working on different projects at the same time, this was somewhat of a royal fete.

Our gold chargers completed the look of the tables with a triangular folded napkin atop each. Another personalized favor, a box of fall colored M & M's, was placed at every setting.

 

 

The social hour was held in a separate garden room and featured the bar along with two separate hors d'oeuvres displays with our signature smokey cheddar spread in the shape of a heart.

 

The five-tiered wedding cake from Olympia Bakery had two looks during the reception. The first was the daylight backdrop of the outdoor lawn. The second was a gleaming sparkle from the large urn of lighted natural sticks after dark.  

Flower arrangements used to decorate the ceremony were brought over from the church and added to the buffet. Also, the bride's and attendant bouquets were set in fall colored vases along the front of the sweetheart table.

Catering By Robert / Event Concepts.FL provided over 124 - 14." 10," and "7" glass cylinders for Michelle and Jake's reception at no extra charge. The cylinders have a variety of uses especially for floating candles. This is just one of our commitments to save our clients money through our in-house decor inventory

A special thank you to Raquel Sergio who contibuted many of the beautiful pictures you see above.

KUDOS

Event planning, design and catering:
Catering By Robert / Event Concepts . FL -
Ashley Allred Davis, designer

Photography: Raquel Sergio Photography

Flowers: Hamilton's Florist

Wedding Cake: Olympia Bakery

Room Drapes and Uplighting: Xydex Event Services

Venue: Treasure Island Community Center