For our reception, we chose Galvez Restaurant, right at the heart of the French Quarter overlooking the Mississippi river. The reception décor: a plethora of candles and candelabras, baby’s breath filled in various vessels, and kumquats to add a special touch. We worked with Ambiance Florals right out of Mandeville, Louisiana. The room was glowing, literally, as were the bride and groom! For a personal touch, the couple chose to toast with Sekt Champagne (the bride and her family’s favorite) specially imported from Germany for the wedding.

We decided to showcase the wedding cake and groom’s cake (I love that southern tradition) on a lovely dessert display made up of some of our favorite Crate and Barrel items. We even used the Crate and Barrel DuBois Mirror as the wedding cake platter. The groom’s cake was made by Courtney Schmidig, the couple’s friend and head pastry chef at the French Laundry in Napa. As for the wedding cake, it was made by local sweet shop and bakery, Sucré.  Needless to say, the dessert station was one not to be missed.

After a decadent family style dinner, our guests were invited into the lounge.   We tried to stay true to the room and our surroundings, and chose these gorgeous metallic pillows and Raj Candleholders  all from our friends at Crate and Barrel and CB2.   We had much fun looking through the many beautiful items from Crate and Barrel and figuring out what we would like to use for the wedding, I might compare it to being a little kid in a candy shop.

The various elements of this wedding truly came together magically. And now for the “thank yous”, as a wedding never is a solo project; it takes a truly stellar team to put a wedding together and we were quite privileged. A big thank you goes out to the lovely and talented Laura Kleinhenz from Docuvitae, for capturing the wedding so beautifully through her photos. Thank you to the amazing team at Crate and Barrel who have been great to work with and who supplied us with wonderful décor items.  A huge thanks to Stefanie Cove and Ashley Sharf on my team who execute everything flawlessly and worked tirelessly. Another thank you is owed to the wonderful staff at the Galvez Restaurant and the energetic Taboo Band who kept the guests dancing throughout the night. And lastly, a special thank you to the city and incredibly friendly residents of New Orleans who made this a most fantastic experience for all of us. 

Congratulations to sweet Stephanie and Michael….  And as they say in NoLa, laissez les bontemps ruler.

The invitations, designed by Julie Gibson at Studio Grace, have been mailed out and guests are beginning to RSVP.  Stephanie and Michael have also chosen a photographer–a major decision and very important part of any wedding day. They have secured the services of Laura Kleinhenz at Docuvitae, a renowned photographer with a knack for capturing the story of the big day. Since photos are the way you’ll remember the day forever, spending time to find the right photographer is crucial, and after researching Laura’s work, the couple knew they’d be able to relax and enjoy their celebration knowing every moment would be captured beautifully.

Music is another element that plays a big role as it sets the emotional tone of both the ceremony and reception. And there are so many choices–big brass, piano man, church organ, rock and roll band…don’t want to say which, but we’ve chosen a couple of really great bands that will really bring the party to life.

As far as the ceremony location, it too has been finalized. Stephanie and Michael will be married in the quaint and historic St. Mark’s Methodist Church of the Vieux Carré (French Quarter).

While most people spend time talking about the dress, the groom’s attire can make a bold statement as well. Michael has chosen a classic and elegant, yet hip and stylish tux from J. Crew. The two of them will be stunning for sure!

We’re still working hard on finalizing the décor–including, of course, choosing our fabulous items from Crate and Barrel! Other items still on the agenda include: welcome gifts for the guests, cake flavors, and more paper items like menus, escort cards and programs. We will keep you updated as all the final pieces fall into place.

Yifat

Although the ceremony site is still TBD, we’ve nailed down a site for the reception dinner in the Galvez Restaurant. We’re already planning some NoLa style surprises, and a reception feast of family style Spanish cuisine for this fantastic foodie couple.  After indulging with a tasting of Manchego stuffed croquettes, sole with crawfish sauce, rack of lamb, and seafood paella (over a dozen dishes overall!) Stephanie and Michael felt the simple, honest food was going to make for a delicious reception.

As a finale, Sucre of Joel’s Catering will be doing the wedding cake.  With the plethora of flavors still tickling our taste buds, (vanilla with almond, chocolate with strawberry, hazelnut with orange, and chocolate with salted caramel) the bride and groom needed a little more time to decide on just one, or two, or three.

Another big find was waiting downtown for us at the local Vera Wang boutique Mimi. Without giving too much away I will tell you that it is an exquisite gown that Stephanie wears well, though after meeting Stephanie, I can tell you she would wear a sack of potatoes well. Now we just need to find a great pair of orange heels!

We also secured accommodations for their guests, which was a feat in itself. Halloween weekend is second only to Mardi Gras with the amount of activity and visitors taking over the city. The Voodoo Music Fest takes place the same weekend, making hotel reservations, particularly for large groups, scarce. We were able to secure blocks at the Omni Royal and Omni Royal Crescent (amazing 360 degree view of the New Orleans skyline and a really great pool and rooftop bar) as well as the Marriott Springhill Suites (who offered us a military discount for the amount of military families in their party, how perfectly lovely.) These will offer guests great choices, both in the French Quarter or just a short walk away, keeping everyone close to the activity.

Now that a lot of the major components are in place, we get to focus on the fun intricacies that will make this an unforgettable weekend for Stephanie, Michael and their friends and family. Stay tuned for more updates as we formulate design and ideas.  The fun has just begun.

As they say in New Orleans, Laissez les bon temps rouler….

Yifat

Yifat Oren: When would you like to have your wedding? Do you have a particular date in mind?

Stephanie and Michael: Dates are not as important to us as the venue. We’d love a New Year’s Eve wedding, or anything from November through February.

 YO: What location do you have in mind?

SM: We’re debating between a destination wedding in Hawaii or California. Hawaii is our first choice, but we’re concerned about the expense for our guests on relatively short notice. Michael is from the .Bay Area and we love the idea of a big city San Francisco wedding too.  We both have family ties in the South so a blowout in the Big Easy sounds great as well.

YO: What are some of your favorite foods?

S: Michael is a stereotypical Bay Area guy: Hold the salt! Is this local? Is this sustainable? Did Alice Waters approve? Just kidding, he isn’t that bad.

M: Stephanie went to culinary school and loves discovering new flavor combinations. She grew up in Germany and is living in Beijing now so our palette preferences are quite adventurous.

S: Michael and I have talked about our wedding meal – we want it to be unexpected and delicious. We would like to show our guests a real Chinese meal in San Francisco or Polynesian-Asia meal if in Hawaii. I’d love the opportunity to introduce a different kind of wedding meal to our guests. So far living in China some of my favorite dishes are Peking Duck with all its accoutrements, seasoned prawns, pickled cucumbers, dumplings, cold noodles with sesame sauce, Szechuan pepper fish, crunchy green beans, stuffed Japanese eggplant, lotus root chips.

YO:  Yum, you are all my kind of eaters!

YO: What kind of music do you guys listen to?

SM: We love all different kinds of music. Isn’t that typical to say? But, it’s true. We have a time and a place for Classic Rock, Alternative, New Age, Spanish guitar, Hip Hop, Dance, Oldies… In the end, the music will be influenced by the venue and the tune of our wedding. More than anything, we want the whole experience to be memorable and everyone have a great time.

More details soon…  I love these guys!

Yifat

As for the finalists, your stories were touching, engaging, and memorable (which is a feat in and of itself given how many entries we received). I wish you each the best on your journey through marriage and beyond.

And to my dear winners, Stephanie and Michael, let’s just say I will now think twice before wearing my orange flats out on the town (I am married after all). But in all sincerity, I am thrilled to be orchestrating the wedding of your dreams. Your love story is uniquely different and I intend to make your wedding so as well! Here’s to the winning couple, and most importantly, here’s to love!

Check out the winning couple’s love story, click here:  http://www.ultimateweddingcontest.com/entry/148809

Happy Tuesday.

Y

The votes are in and 100 couples have been chosen. Congratulations to the top 100! I’m looking forward to the next phase of the contest and along with Crate and Barrel representatives, we will select a winner.

To help you understand the judging criteria and next steps Crate and Barrel uses to help choose a winner, I wanted to give quick reminder of the key criteria below. Keep in mind that your votes count for 20% of the final decision!

• Originality of Entrant’s love story (0-20 points);

             Oh and there are some original ones…that’s for sure!

• Originality and creativity of Entrant’s dream wedding day (0-20 points);

             There are some real dreamers out there.

• How well Entrant’s description of dream home reflects a Crate and Barrel-inspired lifestyle (0-20 points);

             Is there any other way?

• How well the uploaded photos reflect the Entrant’s three responses (0-20 points);

             Pictures do tell a thousand words

Thank you to all who entered and voted. Throughout the next month we will be hard at work going through each and every love story.  Look out for the big announcement of our winning couple in June. Once the lucky couple has been chosen, let the planning begin. Can’t wait to meet you!

It’s been amazing reading all of your stories and entries, and it’s going to be a tough decision for myself and the other judges. With all the fantastic entries coming in, I thought I’d do a little sharing myself —some my favorite and not so favorite things.  After all, we should get to know each other. I may be planning your wedding!

I know many of you have been scouring the aisles of Crate and Barrel checking out the fantastic selections and adding them to your registry. What you may not realize is that there are many treasures in the store of items you may utilize for the wedding itself.  I find inspiration each and every time I walk through the store.  I will share some of my current favorites, and feel free to write and tell me about some of yours and how you would incorporate them.

The gallon or two gallon jars are perfect for a refreshing pre-ceremony drink stand at an outdoor summer wedding. I do love to float some fresh berries or herbs (think blueberries or lemon verbena).   The small ceramic milk bottles are so sweet a few on each table with herbs and wildflowers are the perfect combination of rustic and modern and come at a great price point.  What more, your guests can easily take a little memento home with them.  I am madly loving the bronze terrarium, filled with maiden hair ferns it is the perfect centerpiece for an escort card table.  The globe garden stakes will line any pathway or aisle way beautifully and may be embellished with greenery or florals of your choice.  A plethora of hurricane candles for every wedding style imaginable makes Crate & Barrel your go to store for decorating your wedding uniquely and tastefully.

Details, details, details… what takes a wedding from lovely to all around outstanding are the details.  Personal touches that only you can dream up. Music that pulls at your heartstrings or makes you just plain happy. For destination weddings, I love custom turndown service including a note from the couple or a favorite poem (for my own wedding we used an e.e. cummings poem). For weddings with valet service, I usually hang a note from the rear view mirror, which is a nice final surprise on the way home. Look to your own favorite things for inspiration and find a way to include them; it’s the personal touches that will make your wedding unforgettable for you and your guests.

What don’t I like?  Hmm… almost anything that’s aesthetically pleasing works in the right context. One thing that I almost never do (forgive me Emily Post), and though it’s not super proper, is to set the table with bread and butter plates. With everything else set on the guest tables, it’s just a bit too cluttered for my taste.

I’m getting more and more excited about planning this dream wedding for the lucky couple. Who will it be? No matter the couple, my ultimate goal is always the same — I want my client to have an effortless experience. I love when my Type A brides tell me, “I feel so relaxed. Isn’t there anything else for me to do?” (Imagine this on the week of their wedding!) There is very little we don’t handle for our clients, the least of which is putting out the fires they will never know about on their wedding day. I also work very hard at creating an environment at the wedding that is fitting for the couple. The goal is to create an ambiance that they would create for themselves, had they the time and experience. With this contest, not only is your wedding paid for by Crate and Barrel, but you will get effortless experience of having a top notch wedding planner take care of the rest!

I can’t wait to meet the lucky couple.

Stefanie,

Saying thanks is not enough.

You and Amy were a seamless constant of perfection.

When you feel nothing is ever going wrong,

That’s when you know those in charge are making it appear that way.

Your ability to, let it be, and never get rattled was a calming beauty

 to an incredible week of wedding fun and beauty.

Your work is like the island ambiance itself.

Thank you for that wonderful week at Harbor Island.

Rex Deans

G-REX

FOB

Set on an outdoor wedding? There are so many things to consider beyond the venue you choose. First off, think about the weather. Even though it’s Spring, rain and chilly evenings can put a damper on any celebration if you’re not prepared for it. Think about a tent if there’s a chance of rain, and heat lamps and a basket of shawls for your guests if the evening forecast is chilly. Basically, be sure to have a weather back up plan.  Alternatively, if it’s a hot, sunny day, there’s nothing worse than the mid-day sun beating down on you and your guests during your ceremony or reception. Consider market umbrellas for shade, or even brightly colored parasols for your guests — which make for great photo ops!

Spring florals are another bonus for any spring wedding. There are so many great flowers in bloom that you can have your choice of colors and style. Consult with your wedding planner and florist to put together a cohesive look for your tables, bouquets and decor. It’s helpful if you sift through wedding magazines to find images that inspire you to show your team. Looking to go in a different direction? Try plants or succulents for your tables that guests can take home and plant afterwards, offering an eco-friendly and beautiful alternative to cut flowers.

What would a wedding reception be without some great food and drinks, right? Think about ways you can incorporate Spring into your menu. Serve your guests a specialty drink like nectarine basil lemonade or blood orange mojitos as they arrive. For your menu, scout local farmers markets to see what’s in season and ask your caterer for seasonal recommendations.   Seasonal items always taste best!

So get busy designing your spring celebration, and if you’ve been procrastinating send in your entry for the Crate and Barrel Ultimate Wedding Contest ASAP! There’s only one month left to enter for a chance to have the wedding of your dreams!

Yifat