We’re going way back on this Wedding Wednesday, to one of our biggest weddings to date. This family is near and dear to me having worked so extensively on this first event that we did for them, and then later doing the brides’ brother and future sister in law’s wedding. Being the middle of July in Charleston, the best location for this event  was at a convention center and hotel that the family owned, for 500+ people, Orthodox ceremony, kosher everything, and only 2 days to set it up. Yep, it was crazy, but we did it and I was so proud of how it turned out!

I really loved learning about the history and the traditions of an Orthodox wedding. A traditional Tisch and Bedeken were held prior to the ceremony, (learn more here) which I think is such a special piece of the event. After the veiling ceremony, the groom and bride are escorted by the family and friends in lively dancing and music playing to the chuppah ceremony.

We wanted to create a warm and sacred ambience and since traditionally the chuppah ceremony is to take place outdoors under the stars, we had to build that inside for them. And, with the guest count being over 500, to keep the flow moving and easy we placed ceremony programs on the seats before guests entered.

After the ceremony, guests enjoyed cocktail hour before heading into dinner. There were large windows in the hall where cocktails were, so we took advantage of creating an added design element by hanging all of the dinner escort cards in the windows.  And, again due to the large guest count we didn’t want to have a traditional sign in book and risk many guests not being able to get to it. So, we had individual smaller books on each dinner table for guests to write well wishes over the course of dinner.

The dining hall had to be fully draped in fabric, I can’t even remember how many production people we had to do this, but it was in the hundreds for 24 hours around the clock!  I can’t imagine not having it done though because it changed the entire feel of the space for the guests.

This amazing 6 tier cake by Jim Smeal had a real layer on bottom, but the rest is “fake” so that true kosher cake could be served properly to the guests- the slices were plated and glazed and delivered to guests at their seat, after the bride and groom cut the one traditional layer on bottom.

To dress champagne up, individual orchids were added for a pop of color; sorbet was served as a palette cleanser in between the appetizer and entree course. For the send off, rose petals were pre packaged for guests to toss at the departing couple.

For a certain part of the dance time, men and women must celebrate separately, so we divided the dance floor with a curtain decorated with red roses. Lounge seating surrounded the dance floor for those wanting to watch the festivities or take a break from all of the excitement.

Thank you to Liz Banfield for all of the photos.