"The Importance Of Bridal Sessions"

Being a bride has to be one of the most exciting times of a woman’s life. Dress fittings, bridal showers, and of course your engagement photos are some of the most photo-worthy bridal moments that naturally happen during your planning process. Every bride dreams of having glamorous & timeless photographs to look back on and cherish for the years to come after all the major events have taken place and you are finally wedded. In this blog post we hope to shed some light on the importance of scheduling Bridal Session.

The importance of having a bridal session gives you the chance to set a beautiful scenic set with you in your wedding dress or separate dress , hair, makeup and all the elements that really make you feel beautiful. If you are having a wedding floral designer on your vendor team, like Sweet Luxury Events, this would be a great opportunity to have a floral bouquet and even floral accent pieces designed before wedding day. Having a separate session also allows you to really get a chance to nail all those bridal poses you want comfortably and not feel rushed on wedding day because of all the timelines you have to meet to stay on schedule on your wedding day. A bridal session allows you to have fun and really enjoy being a bride. You definitely don’t want regret not capturing all your portrait moments.

This session is also a great way to become acclimated with your wedding vendors. Getting a make-up or hair trial done with your chosen make-up artist & hair stylist is a great way to see if your ideal look is going to come to life through their skill sets. One of the most important vendors you want to make sure you mesh well with is your Wedding Photographer. Set up your Bridal Session with your booked wedding photographer so you can test their photo quality and the ending product of your edited photos well before the main event. You will be surprised how many brides meet their photographers on wedding day for the very first time. This also gives you a chance to see if all the vendors personalities & skills are a match for your overall vision. If there will be a hiccup in vendors hopefully you can catch it before wedding day, because you cant do a do-over on your entire wedding day.

Hopefully we have shed some light on how important & fun it can be to schedule a separate session for bridal portraits. If your a bride to be and would like to have a set designed for your bridal session, please contact us so we can design a special session for you with some of the most talented professionals in the area. We look forward to making you feel like a Sweet Luxury Bride.

Connie & Madalyn

“The Design Duo”

Vendors:

Floral Designer: Sweet Luxury Events, Photography: Eugene Bates Photography, Creative Director: Derricius Breon Chambers, Wedding Dress Designer: Charles Andrews, Hair & Makeup: Me Salon & Make Me Up Cosmetics

“The Worst Wedding EVER” Part 2

Let’s face it, there are several roles that need to be filled in order to have a successful wedding day, Right? But is it absolutely necessary to have all these individuals being paid to be there for your big day? To be completely honest with you, when we first stepped foot into the wedding industry, we didn’t really understand the role of what a wedding planner was and quite frankly I told my sister that I felt that in the near future they may become obsolete. I could not for the life of me understand why someone needed to tell a bride how much money they needed to spend on their wedding, who they needed to hire and why, how to read clauses in contracts, just basically somebody holding their hand through the entire wedding planning process. The misconception of not needing a wedding planner came in when we were watching the wrong people plan weddings for people! Literally it was like watching the blind leading the blind.

It wasn’t until we had a complete wedding season of 2018-2019 as Wedding Designers, when we realized planners and coordinators are truly needed at all events! They are mandatory. We wouldn’t recommend executing your day without one. Truly, there are some wedding planners and coordinators that really can do it all. We’ve gained a completely different perspective and respect for this role in the wedding industry when we started to watch planners/coordinators take on just as much workload as a Wedding Designer. 

Planner/Coordinators:

Wedding planners and coordinators are pretty much the glue that holds your wedding day together, it’s just that simple. They are the liaison between all vendors and they completely organize your wedding day from months out all the way up to the day of your wedding. We would highly recommend that you hire a professional, notice I said professional wedding planner or coordinator, not your church member or your Aunt who is head of the Usher Board to run your day. The reason we are saying this is not to be funny, but because a professional wedding planner or coordinator has done this multiple times on multiple weekends, during multiple seasons and has had trial and error multiple times. They know how to head off issues before they arise. So don’t think for one minute that cutting out this particular role is going to save you money. If you do…please be prepared to have a fiasco of a wedding, just saying it just will not flow correctly. To read all of the tasks that a wedding planner coordinator does check out this article in full detail of all the tasks they are responsible for handling during your planning process. Trust me you’ll thank us later they’re pretty much superheroes!

Wedding Designers/Decorator: 

He has popped the big question and your Pinterest board is finally about to come to life! Finally getting to pick the perfect ambiance, colors, flowers and setting for your wedding day seems to be the most exciting part aside from finding the perfect dress. Of course, brides are fascinated with decor nowadays, But it can become overwhelming very fast. DIY projects can become a nightmare, so why not just hire the right professional to design your wedding for you. Notice I said the right professional, “Decorating” weddings and events has become quite popular and you definitely want to be able to tell the difference between someone who is decorating as a hobby for quick cash, and someone who is completely passionate about all of the elements of event design and does it for a living. It’s quite simple to do actually, all you have to do is completely dissect the pictures they are advertising to you as their work. Check out the of the execution/crispness of the designs that you see in front of you. Ask yourself while browsing “Would you be satisfied with this if this was your wedding design?” Designers have a way of paying attention to all the details while developing your decor and you want to make sure you are paying attention to all the details when picking your wedding designer as well. No one wants sloppy table linens, or poorly executed proportions on a tablescape. Your designer should be solely focused on aesthetics and making sure your vision comes to life.

They construct layouts, focus on lighting designs, and florals, and making sure you have that “Wow” factor. Just a tidbit, be completely honest about your decor/floral budget when communicating with your designer. Sometimes having a certain expectation of how something is going to look and how it really turns out can be two different things and you have to be confident in the professional you choose to execute this task. Be realistic and don’t expect them to do a magic trick if you don’t give them a proper budget. If someone tells you yes to everything, and it seems too good to be true 9 times out of 10 it probably is! The tried and true way to pick the right designer is to simply speak with them and review their work and decide if their work is comparable to your style and vision. 

DJ/Entertainment: 

Everyone loves to party and can’t wait to enjoy their wedding night. But DJs can be more than just the source for music. In this day and time several DJs offer lighting, photo booths, dancing on the clouds, special effects and can also be the emcee/host for the day. Now there is a difference between an amateur DJ and a professional DJ. Most DJs are obsessed with their equipment and the quality of the sound experience at most weddings and events. You want to find a DJ who takes pride in not only the sound, but also the presentation of their services at your event and also the entertainment experience. I cannot tell you how many times we have seen DJs show up to weddings with no tablecloths or scrims to mask cords, show up late with no microphones, or if they do have a microphone it magically stops working during the ceremony during the vows because they didn’t do a sound check properly. Or how about the DJ who screws up the music list that you’ve planned out for months now to be played when you and your bridal squad are about to make that big entrance you’ve been practicing. A professional DJ will have a proper timeline for the entire ceremony and be able to run your reception without noticeable awkward moments. Be vocal about what you expect for your entertainment experience, if you have specific music you want played, voice it. Don’t skip over your budget for entertainment, a cheap DJ is not always the best route. So do your research thoroughly.

We hope this helps you avoid having the “Worst Wedding EVER” and that these tips help you have the best experience during your wedding planning and on your wedding day. Sometimes honesty is the best policy, and sometimes hearing previous horror stories can head off problems before they occur. Take your time and have the right professionals to help execute your event. Do the research and reap the benefits!

Signed,

“The Concerned Designers”

“The Worst Wedding EVER” Part 1

Every girl dreams of the perfect wedding day! Finding the perfect wedding dress to look gorgeous in for her husband-to-be to lock his eyes on her coming down the aisle or even picking the color palette for her wedding decor. While finding the perfect attire is an easy task for most Brides, finding the perfect team to run the wedding day can be one of the most difficult parts of planning a wedding. Finding a vendor team that you can trust with not only one of the most important days of your life, but also a significant financial investment that most couples families or possibly themselves save up for years. 

The average Alabama wedding cost about $19,000-$30,000. That’s a lot of money to most people. How would you feel if you invested that money with a scam artist? We all have seen it happen before, where a bride & groom invest their money, only to find out that they have been ripped off and sold promises that “so-called” wedding professionals can’t keep. “BAMBOOZLED”. It will probably be one of the most gut-wrenching experiences EVER, to show up on your wedding day, that only happens once by the way, to find nothing but a fiasco! I’m sure you would be crushed and “highly pissed” as us Southerners would say.

Well, at this point I’m pretty sure you’re asking yourself, What can I do to avoid having the “Worst Wedding Ever”? Here are a few tips that you can take along with you to plan “The Best Wedding Ever”. You didn’t think I was going to let you leave without giving you the goods right? 

Photographers:

When picking your wedding photographer be sure to ask them for their portfolio of weddings they’ve done. There is a distinctive difference between a lifestyle photographer and a wedding photographer. Most photographers can do both, as well as detail shots of your room, but there are some that specifically specialize in wedding photography. It will be such a bummer getting your photos back from your wedding day and the photos are over edited or not retouched at all. Ask your photographer if they are familiar with shooting in dimly lit areas. Don’t hire your “Uncle” just because he has a new camera he bought over the holidays.

Talk to your photographer and get to know them, dont let your wedding day actually be the first time you meet with them. Don’t be afraid to ask for a meeting, expressing your action plan for your wedding day shots and timeline flow is imperative because you want to get the most coverage possible. Also making sure that your style aligns with the photographers shooting style. Cheap photographers are always a no-no! Never sell yourself short on your wedding photography because you have to look back at these photos for years to come. 

Cake/Catering: 

No one wants the Leaning Tower of Pisa for a wedding cake let’s just be clear about that! Be sure that the person you pick to do your wedding cake is familiar with transporting cakes in different climates. Especially the Alabama heat! How awesome is that cake you picked from Pinterest, only to show up on your wedding day with no dowels in the tiers to support the cake structure. Or how about the gorgeously decorated cake that taste like no sugar was spared! Do a cake tasting PLEASE! If the person refuses to give you a tasting RUNNN!! That goes with your catering options as well. Do a thorough testing of the dinner that you will be serving yourselves and your wedding guests. Presentation is everything as well, proper catering tools like chafer dishes instead of aluminum pans on the table would look much more pleasing to the eyes! Just saying. 

Stay Tuned For Part II….It’s Going To Get Juicy!!

Planner/Coordinators

Wedding Designers/Decorator

DJ/Entertainment 

Picking The Right Venue

Written By: Madalyn Sankey

"She Designed A Life She Loved"

This dynamic sister duo with a keen eye for all things glam, started out catering events with luxury dessert buffets and owning the bridal consignment shop Chic and Sleek Consignment Boutique, eventually evolving their business to include designer décor, furniture rentals, florals, and more for events all over the southeast. Stinson said the key to a successful Sweet Luxury event is the connection she and Sankey make with the bride in their first meetings. Many brides come to Sweet Luxury Events with an overall idea, but without a clear vision of exactly what they want their day to look like. “It is so important to us to sit down with the bride and really get a feel for her vision of what she wants her to day to be,” Stinson said.

Constance Stinson, Floral & Event Designer

Sankey added, “We are the perfect fit for the bride who knows where she wants to get married, knows what she wants to wear, and knows what she wants her overall theme to be, but doesn’t know how to pull that all together. We work with our brides to take their overall concept and create the aesthetics in the room that bring that vision to life. ”The sisters say their parents have been their biggest supporters, and the differences that make the two opposites is also what allows them to work so well together. Sankey handles the logistics and technology parts of the event, while both of them handle the floral and the design elements to each event. “We use our individual strengths together like ying and yang,” Stinson said. Stinson and Sankey listen to their brides and pull inspiration from pictures they provide, all while staying in constant contact throughout the process. For the ladies at Sweet Luxury Events, earning their bride’s trust is their number one objective.

Madalyn Sankey, Floral & Event Designer

While emergency situations sometimes arise, Stinson and Sankey are blessed with the ability to stay calm under pressure. “We’ve had to redesign the entire space on the fly when centerpieces didn’t arrive or lighting isn’t right. We never let the pressure show because the last thing we want to do is worry our bride. Instead, we stay calm, and simply work with what we have to make the room beautiful. In our business, it’s all about adapting and overcoming adversity while still making the room flawless,” Stinson said. Sweet Luxury Events uses their own inventory of chic & classic furniture, linens, and décor to pass savings on to the bride who would otherwise pay a premium for using an array of outside vendors to create the design only Sankey and Stinson can provide in a one stop design shop. The ladies of Sweet Luxury Events said, “It is so special for us to be able to create the perfect ambiance on the most important day of their life. The look of happiness when they see the room all put together is the most rewarding part for us. Trusting in God and embracing obstacles that come from new adventures is what keeps our designs fresh and trendy, and we make sure that if a bride dreams it, we can make it happen.”

2020 Vision

We are so excited to start our Wedding & Event Season for 2020. Checkout our promo video and get to know your Design Duo sisters Connie Stinson & Madalyn Sankey.

We want to take time and introduce ourselves as the Floral & Event Designers of Sweet Luxury Events.

What Inspires Us To Do Event & Floral Design?

We are inspired by seeing our clients reactions to their visions coming to life through our creativity. We love the way florals impact the overall room design and the design experience.

What do we admire about each other as Designers?

Madalyn’s favorite thing about her sister Connie is how well balanced her symmetry is in event design. She can finesse a tablescape with such ease because of her god given gift. I also admired how stern she is as a business women and she is always making sure we are operating our business at its highest ability. 

Connie admires Madalyn’s ability to always want to try new and innovative things and push their skill set to the next level of event design by learning new techniques and mechanics in logistics and continuing to have such positive energy in wanting to excel to the next level of floral design.

What would be your ideal client for Sweet Luxury Events?

We enjoy working with clients who are optimistic and have a vivid imagination. Understanding the quality in having an event tailored made to your style has always been a top priority for our brand. We want to ensure we capture your personal taste and personality throughout your special life celebrations. We enjoy working with clients who also can allow us to be artist and someone who loves the element of being surprised to see the final design revealed!

www.sweetluxuryevents.com Montgomery Alabama Wedding Designer #weddingdesign #weddingrentals #weddingdecor #weddingplanner