Jessica and Shahid: Tradition With A Twist

Soooo sorry for my long absence. It seems I fell prey to the swine flu, or something similar, and have been in bed for nearly a week! Before that I was lucky enough to spend a few days in NYC to babysit my scrumptious niece. There's nothing like New York this time of year. It's just so darn festive and can't help but put you in the holiday spirit - swine flu or not!

I want to share a few more photos from the wedding we did in October at the Nasher Museum of Contemporary Art here in Durham. The wedding was a melting of two cultures: Indian and Chinese. Elements from each culture were infused in each part of the ceremony and reception with clothing, readings, music, colors, menu, ceremonies, and more. Rarely do I have the opportunity to be a part of a wedding where I learn so much about new cultures and traditions and I loved every minute of it. My eyes were wide open during the 10 month planning process and most especially during the wedding weekend itself. It was inspiring, educational, touching, and drop-dead gorgeous (if I do say so myself). Here's some more eye candy to feast on. I absolutely adore this couple and hope you will love looking over these photos, but also get some inspiration from their colorful, joyful, family-oriented and tradition-filled affair. Enjoy!

*All photos are by the lovely and talented Mr. Kevin Milz of Kevin Milz Photography.

Shelley & Andy's Autumn Affair

Halloween didn't stop Shelley and Andy from knowing that October 31st was their day to tie the knot! Pushing pumpkins aside, they opted instead for an elegant Autumnal Affair complete with lavish centerpieces in greens, oranges, and golds, stunning chandeliers, a decadent cake, and music from their own personal library including everything from Neil Young's "Harvest Moon" to popular hip hop that got the entire crowd on the dance floor.

Here are some beautiful images taken by David Watson of Get Lit Lighting to give you a good idea for how to do Halloween in a classy, non-themey way.

Shelley and Andy selected a long head table with the wedding party seated on both sides - 16 in total. It gave great balance to the room as well as variety, as all of the other tables were 60" rounds to seat 8 or 9 guests.The chandeliers that were hung in American Tobacco's Bay 7 space especially for Shelley and Andy added a romantic feel and along with the specially installed up-lighting, created a warm and romantic mood. The Catering Company's fabulous decor team provided the chandeliers and additional draping.
The lovely cake from Sweet Memories Bakery tasted just as good as it looked. I was lucky enough to get a piece after a long day of running around! Donna Ford's sugary goodness gave me that last push I needed to stay full of energy throughout the evening.
The cloths look pale gold in these images, but were actually a beautiful pale green with circular details and the napkins and accents were a deep rust, as you can see here. The amazing floral centerpieces were done by Ninth Street Flowers.
Here's another shot of the tables and the room. The luxurious linens and beautiful chairs (as well as all of the other rentals) came from the fabulous CE Rental in Raleigh. DJ Brian Clonaris of EE Productions did a fantastic job keeping people partying, and The Catering Company of Chapel Hill was as always on their game and produced a flawless served dinner for nearly 200 guests.

Congratulations Shelley and Andy! Thank you for choosing to share your lovely North Carolina Autumn Affair with Grace Leisure Events.

XOXO

grace

Best Wedding!

We are so proud and happy to announce that at last week's NACE Golden Whisk Awards Gala, Grace Leisure Events won the award for Best Wedding of 2009! We are so happy and excited and grateful to our peers for choosing us for this honor. Thank you!

Here is a link to images from the event, which unfortunately we had to miss due to a MUCH needed weekend in South Beach with our hubby...

http://www.trianglenace.com/gallery.php?offset=0&date=111209&dispdate=November+12,+2009

And here is a link to the fabulous wedding for which we won best wedding! Images are by Rachel Garrison of Tamara Lackey Photography. Enjoy!

http://www.tamaralackey.com/KristenBlake/

XOXO

grace

Night At The Museum

These are photos from an October 3rd wedding we did in Durham at the Nasher Museum of Contemporary Art for a fabulous couple named Jessica and Shahid. They combined Chinese and Indian cultures and families to create a wedding that was colorful, classy, and downright FUN.
Take note of the Cerise Satin linens from CE Rentals in Raleigh....SOOOO luxe!
Fresh Affairs created bold and unusual centerpieces of gold painted Monestera leaves in tall vases. The look was minimal but oh so chic and stunning against the bright pink of the table tops. Places were set with gold napkins, bright green chopsticks and custom menu cards, and the gold chairs had coordinating gold seat cushion covers.
David Watson of Get Lit Lighting did beautiful uplighting around the room as well as Chinese lanterns in the center of the space over the dance floor. He topped is all off with a Gobo light on the dance floor of the Chinese symbol for "Double Happiness". Thanks to David for all of these photos, as well.
I will post more photos later so you can see the beautiful bridesmaids in their absolutely breathtaking jewel-toned Saris! Congratulations to Jessica and Shahid on a beautiful day and what I know will be a lifelong happy marriage.

XOXO

grace

My Team

I just received this beautiful photo from the fabulous Rachel Garrison of Tamara Lackey Photographers, taken on September 26th at the wedding of Caitlin and Kevin King at the Washington Duke Inn (images to follow!).

This photo is of me and my two wonderful assistants, Alex and Katherine. I could not do it without them! They help keep me sane and are incredibly helpful with coordinating the "day of" details such as making sure that the transportation runs on time, that the escort cards are organized perfectly, and that the bridesmaids are well taken care of. They help do a lot of the behind the scenes things that I simply can't do sometimes because I am off doing other things...or really, managing all of the myriad details that go into creating a wedding weekend.

My Alex and Katherine are a reminder that it takes many to accomplish any wedding. No florist, photographer, band leader, catering director, lighting/decor designer or cake baker works alone. You know how they say that behind every good man is a good woman? Well, behind every wedding professional is a team. I can tell you that first hand. I am ever so grateful for their consistent, diligent, detailed and hard work and want you to know that it does indeed take a village to make these things go off without a hitch. I'm so lucky to have such a fabulous team and so of course, I think my clients are lucky to have them, too!

We're off for another big wedding weekend, this time on the gorgeous Figure Eight Island. We'll post some photos of this fall's weddings just as soon as we get copies. They have been many and diverse and I am really proud of all of our hard work. Thanks for checking in to see what we've been up to!

XOXO

grace

A Tradition Is What You Make It

I hope you all are enjoying October and the fall thus far! This month always makes me incredibly, painfully nostalgic for college at Kenyon; the very, very special spot in central Ohio where I spent four years, met my husband, sang my heart out (oh yes, a capella group style...) and learned how to throw parties with the best of them. Seriously, some of the best soirees I've ever been to were during those four years at Kenyon College.

People were so creative, it was ridiculous! Must have been something in the corn-filled air or in the food at the dining hall or in the beer in the keg...I don't know. But I do know that some of the most outrageous ideas I've ever seen came straight from The Hill, as we fondly call it. For example: The "Shock Your Mama" party - where you might just see someone dressed in Saran Wrap. Or the "Redhead Party" - where everyone arrived with red hair - real and fake - and feasted on red food and Killian's Red. Or, my personal favorite, the "Luge Party" - where we built a luge from a 500 pound block of ice IN our bathroom and served a delectable array of juices and potions that you would drink in tandem from one of the two handmade trails down the ice. Sounds like fun, right? I'd be up for one of these parties tonight - if only they didn't start about 3 hours past my current bed time. :)

There are so many ways that you can take inspiration from college or another special part of your life and incorporate it into your wedding or special event. For instance, we had an event at Kenyon called "Freshman Sing" where all of the Freshmen would stand on a set of stairs outside and sing all of the dozens of school songs while the rest of the school would cheer (or jeer) us on. We would then do this again as Seniors - an emotional and nostalgic nod to our time as naive first year students.

Why not have a sing along at your event? This does not only need to be reserved for holiday parties. One of *the best* wedding ideas I heard lately was from a producer in LA who I worked with last winter who told me that she handed out sheet music to her guests and had everyone since a rousing rendition together of "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life". How cute is that? Now that's a wedding moment people will not forget any time soon.

Traditions come in many shapes and sizes. At Kenyon, it seemed there was a tradition for just about everything. My family was always full of traditions so this felt natural to me, but at the same time definitely pushed me to maintain and create traditions in my own life and family - things that can be carried on for years to come. You may create a tradition at your wedding or event that you decide to do every year on that day. A tradition is what you make it. If it means something to you and is relevant to a special moment in time, there's no reason why you can't carry it on, give it a name, and make sure that it lasts a lifetime. Now off to buy a block of ice...

XOXO

grace

September Bliss

Hi All!

I apologize for my delay in posting photos from this fall's weddings. I've been very busy planning and coordinating and not taking time out for this little blog of mine. Alas, here are some gorgeous photos taken by David Watson of Get Lit Lighting of the lovely and elegant wedding of Kristen & Blake that took place on September 19th.

The wedding ceremony was at St. Mary's Chapel in Raleigh and the reception (see photos) at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary. A beautiful wedding for a wonderful couple who could not have been sweeter or more gracious - I miss them already! Enjoy and hopefully I'll have more to come soon of the bride in her stunning gown and of more of the day and details.

Special thanks for a fabulous wedding to Sondra Johnstone at Prestonwood, JW Walton and The Catering Company decor team, David Watson for lighting, Party Tables, CE Rental and Classic Party Rentals for linens and rentals, Fresh Affairs for spectacular flowers, and my helpers Katherine and Alex for their amazing work.

XOXO

grace