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Photo Courtesy of Christopher Ong
Photo courtesy of Christopher Ong
The holidays are fast approaching. I can’t believe that Christmas decor started showing up in late August! There is something inherently wrong with that. But that’s not the point here. The point is, the holiday season will be here before you know it. And if you haven’t started thinking about that company party, Christmas party, Winter Solstice bash, well now is the time to start. Not only do we do fab weddings, but we can do a pretty fab Christmas party too!
 “Wow” is probably the best word to describe Kelly and Steven’s wedding at the Witte Museum. With 600 guests expected, we had to make sure they were cool, comfortable and entertained. We did not disappoint. Port-A-Coolers dotted the outside perimeter of the tent, where bars, food stations and cocktail tables greeted guests as they arrived through the Frost Gate. An air conditioned, 40×50 tent was placed in the middle of the courtyard to provide guests an oasis from the heat. It also housed a magnificent buffet made completely of ice! Once inside the museum, guests found a myriad of delicacies, including sushi prepared by “iron chefs.” After sampling the numerous buffets, guests boogied down to the tunes of SKYROCKET! It was a night many will never forget.
Thank you Kelly and Steven for letting me be part of your special day. Here are the other vendors who made this wedding an immense success!
Church: Alamo Heights United Methodist Church
Reception Venue: Witte Museum
Photography: David Sixt
Videography: Our Wedding Video
Caterer: Fresh Horizons Creative Catering
Florist: Trinity Flowers
Tent: Marquee Event Group
Lighting: Ilios Lighting
Entertainment: SKYROCKET!
Guitarist: George Gaytan
LED Furniture: Southwest Party Productions
Witte Museum Prassel Ballroom “Before”
The Witte Museum Prassel Ballroom “After.” Some transformation huh?
  You can find more photos in the Photo Gallery under “Kelly and Steven.”
This couple was so gracious, so full of joy and love for each other, that it was hard for me to say goodbye. They absolutely glowed on their beautiful wedding day. The Little Church at La Villita was the backdrop for the ceremony, with a short ride on a river taxi to Rio Plaza for the reception. Stunning gold linens complimented the dining area perfectly, with accents of purple and white on the tables. After dining on sumptuous steak from The Columbia Culinary Team, guests made their way downstairs to the bar for dancing until midnight. The guests even danced long after the bride and groom departed. Now that’s a partying crowd! It was a fun night for a most deserving couple. Here are a few shots courtesy of Alamo Photographic. They captured the mood perfectly.
Thank you to all the vendors who made this wedding such a success:
Florals: HEB Floral
Last Saturday marked the end of torrential rainfall and flooding here in San Antonio. This huge system set the rain plan in motion for this outdoor wedding reception. As I poured over the forecasts that week, I constantly questioned: Would it let up in time? Would it push through before her big day? As the week wore on, the answer was becoming more and more clear. No. The rain was going to pose a problem.
On Thursday, all of the vendors started talking and working on the rain plan. At this point, the chance of rain was so great that it would be easier to plan for rain, and then move it outside if some miracle of nature occured and it cleared up. But no miracle occured. I knew it wouldn’t.
Drawings were created and timelines revised to reflect the new plan. Swimming pool centerpieces were re-worked to adorn areas of the beautiful dining room. Deliveries and arrival times were re-scheduled to accomodate the new plan. Hours of extra planning time went into this.
On Saturday, everyone worked like ants to pull this wedding off. The sun peeped out briefly, teasing all of us with the hopeful possiblity of clearing skies. Yet just as the sun would appear, it would quickly dissapear and rain would start falling. It rained during set up. At that very moment, this wedding was saved. Had we continued on with the outdoor plan, her reception would have been ruined before it had even began.
The extraordinary thing that happened during this set up was the amazing bond that developed between the on-site vendors. We all had the same goal- to pull this wedding off, and make the inside just as beautiful as the outside would have been. Catering made a special trip back to their shop to get some linens for the permanent tables in the basement. Over two dozen candles, vases and votives were pulled from my own inventory to add an element of romance down there as well. The florist left a number of beautiful stems that we used to embelish areas. Everyone chipped in. There were no complaints. No one said that it wasn’t in their contract. Everyone had a can-do attitude and that was absolutely essential on this day.
And where was the bride through all of this, you may ask? She was downtown getting ready. Enjoying time with her family and closest friends. Cherishing every moment of this special day and anticipating walking down the aisle to meet her soul mate. She knew nothing of the extra materials and hard work that went into creating a beautiful environment that would make her happy. All she had to do was show up at the reception. Everything was done for her. As it should be.
At approximately 7:30PM, smack dab in the middle of dinner service, the skies opened up and down came the biggest thunderstorm we had seen all afternoon. Loud cheers and applause exploded in the dining room. Everyone knew that the right call had been made.
This is why you plan for rain.
This is why you choose professionals for your wedding.
This is why you hire a wedding planner.
A huge thank you to all of the vendors that helped make this a wonderfully successful wedding:
Baker: Cakes by Cathy Young
Okay I love this photographer. This wedding was the first time I have had the pleasure of working with Brandi Sutherland, and her photos blew me away (along with the high winds that day!) And the best part is she is fast. Hello, the wedding was just this past weekend!
It was such a happy and bright day, and the bride and groom glowed. Greens upon greens decorated Leeper Auditorium. This is just a sneak peak of what is to come.
Thank you to all who made it a huge success:
Okay, I normally don’t blog about food, but OMG I have to share this recipe with you. My mother made it and brought it to my house this weekend and I literally ate the entire batch in two days. I ate it with everything- potatoes, raw veggies, salad, you name it. It has officially replaced my old dressing staple. Sorry, Ranch. I’m moving on to greener pastures.
This recipe is called Basil Green Goddess Dressing and it is from the ever wonderful Barefoot Contessa. You can find this recipe and others at http://www.foodnetwork.com/. But here it is for you impatient ones:
Ingredients
1 cup good mayonnaise
1 cup chopped scallions, white and green parts (6 to 7 scallions)
1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
2 teaspoons chopped garlic (2 cloves)
2 teaspoons anchovy paste
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup sour cream
Place the mayonnaise, scallions, basil, lemon juice, garlic, anchovy paste, salt and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the sour cream and process just until blended. (If not using immediately, refrigerate the dressing until ready to serve.)
You’re Welcome! : )
I’m sure many of you caught The Bachelor’s wedding of Molly Malaney and Jason Mesnik last night. I’ll be honest, I’m more than a little embarrased that I have been sucked into this creepy series. Nevertheless, I am willing to come out of the closet to chat a bit about the trainwreck that ensued during their ceremony. Let this be a lesson to you ladies: While you can’t change the weather, you can change the outcome. This is why you need a plan. And a plan for that plan. Things will go wrong at your wedding. This is why you need a planner who can make it right, despite any circumstances.
As my brides know, I am militant about a rain plan. While the chances of rain are slim most of the time, if it does occur, it can ruin your wedding day. And your makeup. And your dress. And your flowers. And the comfort of your guests. You get the idea.
Their planner failed them big time. I would be hiding my head in the sand if I were her. I suspect, however, that ABC probably had her over a barrel and would not let her plan for the rain. You know, ratings and all… If that were the case, I would have bowed out of the entire process. I would never damage my credibility and professionalism for 15 minutes of fame.
So what would I have done, you may ask?
After checking the weather report and seeing a high probability of rain, I would have contracted with a tent company to be on standby at the site, hours before the ceremony to erect a beautiful and elegant tent. The guests would have been dry, the bride and groom would not have looked like drowned rats, and I would have been able to place and light candles in the very large vases that ended up being over-priced rain catchers.
If the forecast looked clear, but the rain came on suddenly, I would have had a pre-determined location inside to move to. With the staff available for that wedding day, it could have been accomplished in less than an hour.
At the very least, I would have handed the poor, sopping wet bride and groom an umbrella under which to say their vows. There’s nothing more distracting than burning mascara running into your eyes during the most romantic moment of your life. So not only did they get soaked, but they had to spend the entire reception in clingy wet clothes, with limp, stringy hair. Those are going to be some great pictures!
Don’t let this happen to you ladies and gentlemen! Plan for rain. Envision your wedding day in a torrential downpour. Accept plan B and be at peace with it. Then put it out of your mind. If it rains, you have already accepted this possibility and you won’t be dissapointed. If it does not rain, your wedding day will be exactly how you imagined it to be. Let your planner worry about the details of getting everyone and everything out of the rain. Let her do her job, and you will have a wedding that you will fondly remember and cherish for the rest of your life.
Happy planning!
Nothing like having a great time for a good cause. Randy Beamer was among the local celebrities that came out for the American Heart Association’s annual Heart Ball. I thoroughly enjoyed working with this client to create a toe-tapping, booty shaking, Brazilian night.
Here are a couple of photos from the night, courtesy of Goen South Photography.
San Antonio, Tx -January 19,2010 WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced Panache Event Group has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for Wedding planning!
The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.
Panache Event Group is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.
“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”
We are happy to announce that Panache Event Group is among the very best wedding planner within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™.
For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/panache-event-group-san-antonio/47f9610ab2460741.html
I had so much fun with this bride. I am always sad when I have to say good bye to my brides. I become so close to them that they feel like friends by the time the wedding gets here.
This bride chose black and white as her main theme, with sprinkles of fall shades thrown in. I have to tell you, I was a little skeptical of black and white in the Southwest Craft Center. But I was proven wrong. It looked absolutely beautiful in the chapel. Cheers to all the wonderful vendors who helped pull it off!
Catering: Anne Marie’s Catering
Florals and lighting: Events By Reese
Music: Monte Vista Strings
Photography: Amy DeYoung Photography
Cake: Cakes By Cathy Young
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