Guest Post - Renee from Frontier Flowers of Fontana

Here is my second-ever guest post from one of our absolute FAVORITE vendors, Renee at Frontier Flowers of Fontana. Renee is a real pro; the first time I noticed was at a wedding here in 2008 when someone with her shop dropped off flowers and a few hours later she personally came by to wipe fingerprints off the vases. It was then that I knew I could recommend her to brides without a moment's hesitation.

Here's Renee's take on what to look for in a florist for your wedding:

Your flowers add one of those finishing flourishes that complete your wedding's look. There are many different directions you can take with your decor; would you like a classic look that exudes romance and timeless elegance, or something a little edgier and funkier that pushes new design concepts? Either way (or any of the multiple ways in-between) it is important that your floral designs are reflective of your tastes, personality and style.

It is necessary when selecting a florist that you find one that understands and contributes to your vision. This does become difficult when you, as a client, are unsure of what you want. Before meeting with prospective florists, take time to compile a file of images, fabrics, textures and other elements that inspire you. Even if you may not know what it is you like about these things, a good designer will use the items as keys to unlock the creative direction for your event decor.

Find someone you trust, a designer who is confident in their abilities and is experienced in wedding design will help to ease any concerns you may have regarding your flowers. Find someone with depth of skill; look for a portfolio that exhibits a broad range of design capabilities and not just the same arrangement in 15 different color combinations. Find someone who listens to you; the right designer will take your ideas and give you some options that will help elevate your wedding to the next level.

Be sure to have a budget in mind when you go to your first consultation. General rule of thumb is 8-10% of the overall cost of the wedding should be budgeted for flowers, but I've done weddings with much more and much less...it's largely a personal preference. Budget is a really critical area to consider before you go through a consulation. Not having a reasonable budgeting plan can lead to a lot of frustration and upset. As a creative person who often has some pretty big ideas and concepts in my mind, if your budget restricts some of the more elaborate ideas I may share with you we may both end up disappointed. Communication at the beginning of the consulation is key to a successful first meeting.

Thanks, Renee!

Anyone can put together a vase full of flowers to put on the middle of the the table, but Renee is a true artist and has a wealth of ideas to make your wedding the amazing event you want it to be. (Did I mention she's also an absolute HOOT to work with?)

Back soon with pictures of our February 11th wedding in the Harbor Ballroom...

Real Wedding September 4 - Part Two

I'm so incredibly excited to share these images with you from Saturday night. The Harbor Ballroom looked AMAZING and Matt Mason captured it in all it's glory just before the wedding guests entered. Thanks, Matt!

The bride had a vision of a "Roaring 20's" feel with lots of feathers and black and white. The only flowers were the girls' bouquets which sat on the head table, so the centerpieces on guest tables by Gia Bella Floral were made of either feathers or candles.

Our AV department really outdid themselves on the lights. There were 16 "uplights" all around the room and an additional 10 under the head table. They also had a GOBO on the dance floor in Courtney and Elmer's monogram.

We had white chair covers on all the chairs except for the head table, which had black covers. All the chairs had black and white ties. All guest tables had our house white table cloths but rented black napkins.

There were two square family tables at the front of the room. We created the rectangular shape using our conference tables and then special linens were rented. We chose to do those in black to really set them apart from the rest of the tables. Because there is a seam down the middle, we used a runner that matched the chair ties to hide it. These tables looked appropriate using the house white napkins.

Ah, the head table - this absolutely took my breath away! They had two tiers with seating for 8 on the riser and 10 on the floor. The linens matched the chair ties and then we had the black chair covers behind them. To really set it off, we did black draping behind the table and lit both tiers from underneath.

The crisp whiteness of the cake atop the black cloth really looked amazing, don't you think?

Real Wedding - May 15

Sorry for the delay in posting pictures from the May 15th wedding here at The Abbey. There was a technical issue and I'm not very technical, so I had to enlist help to get back up and running.



We had a gorgeous day for a wedding last weekend - nice and cool (60's) for the groomsmen! It can get hot out there at the Gazebo in August and the groomsmen get a little antsy in their tuxes sometimes.



There are a lot of different ways to walk down to the gazebo. This bride chose to leave from Building 2.







This wedding was for approximately 130 guests and they had their reception in the Harbor Ballroom. They ended up using the entire ballroom partly because they had a large stage for the band and they set their dance floor in the 2nd section of the ballroom and their tables in the last two sections farthest from the windows. They used the 1st section (the one with the windows) as a cocktail area, as we normally do.







I really like a mix of centerpieces to add interest to the room, especially if all the tables are round. These centerpieces were brought in from Pesche's Greenhouse in Lake Geneva.

All photos courtesy of Mozart Photography.

Congratulations to David and Kelly!

Real Wedding: April 10

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get a few pictures from our first spring wedding of 2010. I promise I'll be more timely in the future!

You might recall from this post that April 10 was a spectacular day in southeast Wisconsin and the bride had briefly considered holding her ceremony outside at our Harbor Gazebo. However, in the end she decided to stick with her original plan of holding the ceremony in the Wisconsin Ballroom. There, she was able to use the chivari chairs she had rented as well as some tall floral arrangements to mark the aisle. Both were re-purposed in the Harbor Ballroom for her reception.

photo courtesy of Mozart Photography

I thought the floral for this wedding was some of the best I've seen. The bride chose dark mahogany chivari chairs and had pewter pintuck linens. The neutral backdrop was so perfect for the colorful floral arrangements, don't you think? And I always love the mix of high and low centerpieces to add interest to each table.


photo courtesy of Mozart Photography

My favorite part of any wedding is the cake and this one was chocolate - it just doesn't get any better than this!photo courtesy of Mozart Photography

Congratulations to Karen and Adam on a beautiful wedding and best wishes!