New Year's Eve

Ok, so it wasn't a wedding but I thought I'd post a couple of pictures of how our Harbor Ballroom looked on New Year's Eve. The colors were black and silver with burgundy accents. The tablecloths were called "Black Bombay" and had a silver circular pattern on them. And, of course, black satin chair covers with silver ties.

In this pictures you get a closer look at the centerpieces, designed by my talented counterpart, Hayley. She spray painted curly willow silver and we worked tirelessly making many, many large tissue paper pom poms. It was definitely a fun-looking room!

Real Wedding - November 27, 2010

Michelle and Jarrett got married at The Abbey on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We didn't have snow at that time, but they did brave some pretty cold temps to get these beautiful outdoor shots prior to the ceremony...

All images courtesy of Alyssa Miserendino Photography.

In lieu of a traditional pillow their adorable ring bearer carried this dish down the aisle, which will be the one they put their wedding rings in when they're not wearing them. I love this idea!

(In case you can't read the words, it says "To Have & To Hold")

I told Michelle about a hundred times that their tasting was one of the most fun afternoons at work I've ever had! It was just her, Jarrett and Michelle's dad and they had me doubled over with laughter almost the whole time. Here's a picture of Michelle and her dad coming down the aisle where you can just tell how funny they both are. I love that their smiles almost match!

That's Marcia officiating Michelle and Jarrett's ceremony. I hadn't had Marcia conduct one of my ceremonies in some time and having her here that weekend made me remember why we always recommend her. She makes the ceremony completely personalized for the bride and groom and is such a calm, peaceful presence to have here on a wedding day.

After the ceremony in the Sandbar, guests went up to the Ballroom Foyer for cocktails and then into the Harbor Ballroom for dinner. There were about 130 guests, so we only used 3 sections of the ballroom and put the dance floor up near the windows.

Floral (and those trees!) provided by Renee at Frontier Flowers of Fontana.

I love these pictures from the reception. Thank you to Alyssa Miserendino for sending them over. Alyssa was so sweet to work with and I think she did a wonderful job capturing the "organic" feeling Michelle and Jarrett were going for with their wedding.

One more thing to note: As cool as I always thought Michelle was, she became even cooler on her wedding day when she told me she was donating her GORGEOUS wedding dress and shoes to an organization that provides bridal gowns to military brides. I'm not sure of the exact organization she's donating hers to, but you can read more about this cause here.

Congratulations to Michelle and Jarrett!

Real Wedding - August 14, 2010

I know I'm reeeeeeally late with this one, but it took awhile to get the pictures of Lacy and Alan's wedding from back in August. Remember this post? Well after spending several hours outside in their bathrobes, Lacy and Alan were able to get back into their rooms and fixed up for their beautiful summer wedding....

Lacy is the only bride I've had so far who's been brave enough to make her grand entrance from the 2nd floor - so dramatic! She met her father at the base of the steps and then proceeded down the aisle toward the Harbor Gazebo.

Full disclosure: Lacy did a "dry run" down the stairs in her shoes a few weeks before, just so she'd feel more confident that her entrance wouldn't be THAT dramatic!

The reception was in the Tent and she did a great job working out the colors and lighting. She did a mix of two different shades of blue for both the accent linens and the paper lanterns hung from the ceiling.

Alan, being from England, needed to have a proper traditional English wedding cake. (This was a supplement to the larger American wedding cake.) Inside, it was similar to a fruitcake, but we affectionately called this the "boozecake" because it was marinated in brandy for several weeks prior to the wedding. They also had English truffles on the dessert table, which was the first thing Alan asked me about when I saw them during the fire: "Are the truffles ok?" I thought that was so funny!

Photobooths are so fun! This one was provided by MiPhotoBooth.

All images courtesy of Dean Thorsen Photography.

Congratulations to Alan and Lacy, one of the most fun couples I've ever had the pleasure of working with!

Real Wedding - June 19, 2010

This was the kind of weekend I actually kind of wish I had more than one wedding just because the weather was PERFECTION! Ashley and Paul got married in the gazebo and then enjoyed cocktails on the Waterfront Patio on a glorious 80 degree Saturday in June.

After cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, they headed up to the Ballroom for dinner. She did a blue linen on her placecard table which really made the cards stand out, don't you think?

Ashley's colors were pink and blue (I say they were Ashley's colors because Paul just didn't seem like a "pink and blue" kinda guy) and I think they worked really well in the Harbor Ballroom. The servers all commented on how good the room looked, very light and airy for a June wedding.
This is the first wedding we've had this season that set the dance floor on the upper level near the windows. She brought in 12 lanterns to hang over the dance floor, as you can see below.

Congratulations to Ashley and Paul and best wishes for many happy years together!

Real Wedding - June 12, 2010

It was a fairly slow weekend here at The Abbey, with just one outdoor ceremony and this small luncheon wedding up in Porto.


Flowers were from Lily Pots in Lake Geneva. They used our house white linens and napkins, so this shows our standard table set.

This is a great shot from the back of Porto, showing the A-frame windows that look toward the harbor. And here's one of the A-frame on the other side looking over the front courtyard.

All photos courtesy of Mozart Photography.

This is where we normally put a dance floor but with this being a luncheon, they didn't have dancing.

We're looking forward to a beautiful sunny weekend and a wedding for approximately 100 people on the lawn. Oh, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially the ones who got married here and became dads very shortly after. I warn all my brides that in the two years I've been here, this has been VERY fertile ground on which to get married!

Real Wedding - June 5, 2010

They say it's good luck when it rains on your wedding day so the brides from this past weekend should probably play the lottery! We had to pull both of our ceremonies that were scheduled for the Harbor Gazebo inside to banquet rooms which is never fun, but it's a reality here in southeast Wisconsin. For this reason, we always block back-up space and hope and pray we don't have to use it. Most of the time we don't because ceremonies are usually just about 1/2 hour long but sometimes you just have to. This, unfortunately, was one of those weekends.

Here are some pictures of wedding that was in the Tent:


The bride provided lanterns for us - 60 of them - that our engineering staff hung throughout the room. There were 3 different sizes and they were all lit by batteries.

They rented white chair covers and you can see the runners on the tables were in soft yellow and a sage green.
Centerpieces were from Renee at Frontier Flowers of Fontana. She's one of our favorites, as I've probably mentioned before.

And the cake by Dea. Yum!

Porto

We're getting so many inquiries for small-ish weddings these days. For some it's a second wedding and for some it's just a preference for a more intimate affair. I have a personal affinity for small weddings - I had 60 people at my own wedding - and I think I convey that to all couples who are looking at The Abbey as a possible reception site.


By far my favorite room at The Abbey for small weddings is Porto. Porto is located on the upper level inside our signature A-frame.


Porto used to be a fine dining Italian restaurant but shortly before my arrival at The Abbey in April of 2008 it was closed and designated as banquet space for private events. Porto is ideal for the bride who is willing to work with the existing colors and decor because there is a lot of it that's "built-in." Most banquet rooms are a blank slate, but NOT Porto!

The above wedding took place on New Year's Eve, hence all the Christmas decor.



See the chairs? They are a dark orangey-red color. How beautiful for a fall wedding! Yes, we can (and have) brought in regular banquet chairs (with and without covers) for brides who have a definite color scheme that can't accomodate the chairs. But if you can work with the color, these Porto chairs are REALLY comfortable for guests.

Porto has an existing bar, gas fireplace, its own restroom facilities and can seat up to 64 people on the lower level. It also has a CD player wired to house sound, so most couples use that for their music. We usually set the dance floor on the second level, although we could put additional tables there, as well, to seat another 16 people.

Another great thing about Porto, is it's ideal for small indoor ceremonies. We've used it for a lot of winter weddings that can't use the gazebo. Seating is limited to 65 guests and you would have your cocktail hour downstairs in The Helm while we re-set for dinner.

Here's how a ceremony in Porto looks:

The bride enters from the second level.

The ceremony takes place under the big chandelier. Pretty, huh?

So if you're having a small wedding - no matter the season - please as us to show you Porto when you're visiting The Abbey. (It's also a great place for rehearsal dinners and gift-opening brunches!)

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!

Decor Options: Chairs

Pouring over wedding magazines and blogs can be a daunting task. When it comes to decor, the number of options can make your head spin! I'll be breaking down some of those options in this post when it comes to chairs, and then tackle linens, centerpieces, etc. later. If I tried to cover everying in one post, it would be so record-breakingly long the hotel's server would probably crash!

Ceremony:





Harbor Gazebo


Covered in the cost of a ceremony here at The Abbey is the set-up of these white folding chairs for your guests. They have a slight padding on the seat and are very basic. I have never had anyone use any chairs other than these for their ceremony, but I guess you could rent chivaris if you liked the look of those better (more on those later). You can see in the above picture this bride opted to have white tulle bows tied on the chairs closest to the aisle.

Reception:

Let's start with the standard option here, which is our banquet chair.


Banquet chairs in the Harbor Ballroom

In case you can't tell in the pictures, the color of our banquet chairs is a muted rosey-brown. One of the advantages of these chairs is that they are the most comfortable option for your guests.


The most economical option if you don't want the standard banquet chairs is to rent the same white folding chairs that were used for your ceremony to be moved into the dinner room. There is a $3.00 charge per chair.





Notice the boat centerpieces in the above picture. We've seen a few nautical themes in the Tent over the years and the white folding chairs enhance the effect.


We mostly see these chairs used in the Tent, but there have been a few brides who utilized them in the Ballrooms over the years, too, incorporating them in their color scheme or in the "feel" they were looking to create.



Pink and white in the Harbor Ballroom

Harbor Ballroom - this bride was going for a "martini lounge" effect, as you can see from the linens and centerpieces.


The next step up is chair covers. There are a million different colors to choose from (only slight exaggeration) and we have books in our office for brides to flip through. I will go into more on the actual linen choices in a later post, but here are some pictures to show you how chair covers transform the look of the room:




Chair covers, West Shore Pavillion

Chair covers, Harbor Ballroom



The cost of a chair cover is typically right around $5. You can get them for less if you forego the bow and the installation and I've seen it done, but am not sure I like it.



I had a bride a couple years ago who brought in white chair covers herself because she had a relative in the rental business so she got them for a great deal or maybe free, I don't know. We had the room set-up the night before so she brought in all the groomsmen and had them throw a cover on each chair with no bow/tie. They were then responsible for taking them away at the end of the night. For her, the covers were there to mask the color of the banquet chairs. I wouldn't say it was the most "polished" look but she accomplished her goal.



For couples who are on a budget and don't think they can afford chair covers for the entire room, I encourage them to think about getting covers for just the head table. If you have a traditional head table either on a riser or on the floor, this will set it apart from the rest of the guests and attract their attention as they enter the room.


And now for everyone's favorite: chivari chairs. These are the most "high-end" option for most weddings. They come in several different colors including silver, gold, white, black, natural wood and mahogany. There are now slip covers for the pads, too, so you can completely coordinate the look. You can see in the pictures below why chivaris are at the top of so many brides' wish lists:


Mahogany chivaris in Harbor Ballroom

Black chivaris in the West Shore PavillionGold chivaris in Harbor Ballroom


Pricing on chivaris runs close to $9.00 per chair once you add in the delivery and set-up charges. Unfortunately, I don't think you could get away with doing these at just the head table. If you want chivaris, you pretty much have to do the whole room. That's why we more often see these at the 50 person weddings and not the 250 person ones.


I was watching a show about JFK not long ago with footage of he and Jackie sitting at an elegant, formal dinner during his presidency and I immediately noticed they had chivari chairs. That's testament to the classic nature of these chairs. Every so often I'll hear someone (usually the father of the bride/keeper of the budget) complain they aren't very comfortable. Well all the more reason to get up and dance, right? Once a bride gets her heart set on these chairs, she almost always seems to find a way to get them.


There are a lot of ways to "enhance" the chivaris, but I will save that for my post about linen options. Come to think of it, that might be two posts. Decisions, decisions.....