We hope you enjoy our tips on putting together your wedding weekend welcome guest bags. For the full episode please head over to our YouTube channel to see more.
photos by Corbin Gurkin
Today we are sharing some of our tried and true tips and tricks. Even though we design our weddings and events totally around our clients’ personalities and tastes, there are a few secrets that we provide or encourage our clients to embrace across the board based on what we’ve seen work so well. One that I feel quite strongly about is having square top or rectangle tables. I can fit more people in a smaller space by using them, and they encourage better conversation for all seated at them, versus trying to talk across a big round.
photo by Liz Banfield
We always have multiple boutonierres on hand for our grooms. After the initial ceremony, if it’s hot, or there have been several congratulatory hugs, they can get damaged or wilted. So, to make sure they stay picture perfect we can switch them out in a flash.
photos by Liz Banfield
Since I still do all of my bride’s bouquets by hand, there are times that I get certain flowers in that are so lovely I can’t decide which would be best. I’ve done two different bouquet versions, an all white or a mixed colored for the bride to choose from.
left photo by Liz Banfield; right photo by Corbin Gurkin
There are so many venues out there that may have certain fixtures or items in place that we can’t move or have to work around. For a fountain in the middle of cocktail hour at one venue, we made custom cushions to place around for guests to sit and enjoy the view. An old swing set on the lawn at a classic Lowcountry yacht club was less than attractive, so we covered it in greenery garlands to dress it up a bit.
photos by Liz Banfield
For a wedding at a client’s home with many hundreds of guests, coming up with ways to serve the food throughout the evening can be challenging so we love coming up with creative ways… we fashioned a store bought garden fountain into the seafood station.
photos by Liz Banfield
There are many traditions that seem to reign at Southern weddings so matter how modern they are. One tends to be that they can welcome many many guests, a lot of brides like to get married at their family homes, and the “guest book” is still incorporated somehow. Sometimes when you planning the space and flow of the evening, these things may not always work well together. For this wedding, we placed bags with a timeline of the evening’s events and blank cards along with pens for guests to write notes to the couple to be placed in a keepsake box after the ceremony… It was great for capturing an audience during the downtime of waiting for the ceremony to start.
photos by Liz Banfield
For another large outdoor reception, we often have to build out restrooms (which of course we love to make them not look like restrooms!)… We put a flip flop and pashmina station, making it easy for ladies to grab on their way in and out of the restroom. And, covered some dead space!
photo on left by Corbin Gurkin; photos on right by Liz Banfield
Lastly, we always have fun with our escort card set ups- and sometimes we even make this a surprise for our clients! This is a great place to have some fun and get creative. For a bride with peach in its color palette, fresh peaches with floral cards made a lovely display. For a bride with a butterfly theme, paper butterflies rested on a moss covered log. Another bride loved chandeliers and they were a large part of our decor, so die cut chandelier cards hung from chandeliers were a great way to incorporate them into the decor.
I thought it would be fun and helpful as we head into a new year of brides’ planning their big day, to talk to some of our past brides about their planning experiences and what they would do differently if given the chance. Our first bride married her husband on a beachside ceremony on Kiawah Island. The ceremony and cocktails overlooked the ocean, followed by a lovely candlelit dinner, and a beachside tented dance party! A big thank you to Lisa Reed Roy for sharing her thoughts with us, and to Liz Banfield for the wedding shots.
What was your favorite part of planning your wedding?
My most favorite part about the planning process was taking all of my wedding pipe dreams, blog bookmarks, inspiration + pinterest boards and visions of grandeur, handing them to Tara + her design team and then seeing the magic happen! I had so many, many ideas and wish list items but had a hard time imagining my vision seamlessly strung together. The coolest bit about this was that each week and month, as the planning went on, i was able to see the details come to fruition. So satisfying!
What was the biggest challenge during the planning process?
The biggest challenge was, simply put, the decision making!—-when there are endless opinions handed to you from all directions, between your husband, mother and the planners, bottom line— its hard to make up your mind! I wanted to please everyone but had to remember that it was OUR wedding and Mike and I, and our intentions for the day, mattered most.
What do you miss the most now that it is over?
You know, your wedding kind of becomes this dream boat passion project. For me, it not only took up so much of my time but it was such a fun and creative outlet. I miss the late night brainstorming, the “meeting of the minds” with Tara and Kate and Erin at Soiree + the girls at Lettered Olive and as a child of 4, i have to admit that I miss the special attention a wee bit, too.
What is the moment that when you think back on your wedding you remember the most?
Something about our first dance is a pinpoint in my mind…It was the first time I really gasped in this astounding joy that oh my goodness, Mike, my person, was now my husband and this was our WEDDING day and these were all of our most favorite and cherished people in one room and damn, this song is good!
Is there anything you would do over and what? Would you wear the same dress?
My only regret, and it pains me to say this aloud, but I’d wear a different dress. The hunt for the perfect dress was exhaustive and unending and there was a time when I just lost steam in the process. I wish I’d worked a little bit harder to find a dress that better suited my personality and fashion sense and all-around aesthetic. Rather, i settled for something kind of generic.
Can you please give a brief description of your engagement?
Our engagement was very ‘us’ and i treasure the fact that Mike didn’t try to do anything out of the ordinary or wildly spectacular and kept it really intimate and personal and true to our relationship. He proposed at sunset on our upstairs balcony at our home on the Wando River. It was happy hour. We were enjoying a glass of wine and i was casually seated upon the arm of an old adirondack. We had Al Green playing which in hindsight, is so very awesome but cliche and i should have seen it coming. It was an out of body experience. I, literally, couldn’t believe myself. I’d been waiting so long for this but the shock overtook me. I barely got out a ‘yes’. It took me a minute but shortly thereafter, i had a moment and a dance and i was on cloud nine!
What was your wedding date and where did you get married?
September 1st of 2012. We were married on the green at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island.
Recognized as one of the nation’s leading tastemakers, Tara Guérard has earned a widespread reputation for her ability to create spectacular settings celebrating life’s most anticipated occasions. As the visionary and founder of Tara Guérard Soirée, she is best known for her distinct style that honors the storied traditions of Southern hospitality paired with a modern aesthetic and flair for the unexpected.
