Jackie and Jasons Elegant New Years Eve Wedding

Jackie and Jason dreamed of a traditional Catholic wedding ceremony with family and friends.....and what better evening to celebrate the union of two families then on New Year's Eve!!  Can I just say how this was so much fun as a wedding planner!  I get to be with fabulous wedding friends on New Year's Eve doing a job that I absolutely adore and celebrate the new year with families of these two special people, Jackie and Jason.  It was fabulous!!!  What a night!  It begins with this magnificent gown purchased in New York City.  It was a Cinderella shape with lots and lots of "bling"!

Our make up artist is Laura Eason and she begins the day doing the make up for our Matron of Honor and Sister of the Bride.

And our bride Jackie is starting with her hair by Angie with Fringe Salon

Hair and make up complete, Jackie opens gifts from her groom to wear on their wedding day

Time to get dressed!  Mom and Sister help bride Jackie zip and button her gown

Sisters having some fun!

On the balcony of the Tutwiler Hotel, Jackie is dressed and ready to go to the church

Groom Jason is dressed and ready at St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Birmingham Alabama

Bride Jackie walks down the aisle to see her groom for the first time

Worth the wait!

Bride Jackie looking stunning

Jackie and her girls.....

The entire bridal party outside St. Paul's Cathedral

Now this sweet little angel baby girl is London, the niece of the Bride here with Bride Jackie and London's Momma and Sister of the Bride.   We were not quite sure if this sweet angel would keep her halo of flowers in hair but she was a trooper through the pictures.  Fell sound asleep for the ceremony!

We are about to lose the halo........

And that's about all baby London will take for one day...... she's out and sleeping in her Daddy's arms!

A sweet moment with her Daddy at the church

Probably one of THE most beautiful bridal bouquets I have ever seen!!  This gorgeous gathering of white roses, greenery and added touches of "bling" was created by the very talented Andy Hopper of KG Designs.  Absolutely breathtaking!

The sun is setting on this New Year's Eve night

Beautiful white roses with Christmas Berries hold this elegant wedding program

Bride Jackie with her Daddy right before they take their long walk down this Cathedral aisle.

Off they go!!

The Cathedral was already dressed in Christmas decor with 4 Christmas Trees, candles and greenery leaving very little decorating to do for the wedding ceremony!

A gorgeous view inside the church during the ceremony

Guests are greeted to the reception with this elegant guest book table with lots of "bling" for the New Year!

A look at our ballroom dressed with blue uplighting and abstracts on the ceiling, candle light and an elegant display of delightful food for dinner catered by Kathy G & Company

Right outside the ballroom, we created a lounge area for guests continuing the blue uplighting, lots of candle light and elegant throw pillows hand made by the bride creating a cozy atmosphere for a wonderful party

A table overflowing with noise makers, party hats and strands of pearls are just waiting for guests to dig in to ring in the New Year!

This beautiful and festive display was created by our floral designer Andy Hopper of KG Designs of Kathy G & Company

A fabulous ice sculpture dripping with fresh fruit of ripe red strawberries, grapes, raspberries and melons

One of three centerpiece designs by Andy Hopper of KG Designs

A simple and elegant look on some of the guest tables

A taller display adds decor to our food display table featured down the center of the ballroom

A beautiful and sparkly six layer bride's cake created by Jan O'Donnell of Cakes by Jan in Birmingham Alabama.  This gorgeous cake sits atop what our design team and Andy Hopper calls our "ghost" table made of clear glass cylinder legs, glass table top, clear glass lifts on top of the glass top with another piece of glass holding the actual cake.  A beautiful and elegant display!

A first dance for this New Year' Eve bride and groom

A dance with her Daddy

Such a fun couple, Jason "hams" it up for his bride!

It's time for this New Year's Eve party to begin!!!!

Noise makers in hand and hats on..... we are almost ready for midnight!

Bride Jackie throws her bouquet as midnight come near..

Groom Jason has a bit of a "solo" for his bride before he takes off the garter..

.....and there it goes!!!

Almost ready to count it down.....

...  Ten....Nine.....Eight......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

"Happy New Year!" shines in lights on the patio outside the ballroom

Bride Jackie and Groom Jason made their exit right after midnight with streams of sparkly ribbon and confetti

A magical evening for this happy couple!!!!  Happy New Year!!!

Many many thanks goes out to this team of wedding professionals.  I say this all the time, but the people I get to work with in this business are truly the very best because of their talents and passion for what they do and for their clients.  Thank you to Kathy Mezrano, owner of Kathy G & Company for the elaborate catering, Andy Hopper with KG Designs for all of the amazing floral designs and decor, Andy Tolar with Design Productions LLC for the fabulous lighting designs and snow display, Clay Carroll of Carroll Productions for a fabulous video production of the evening, Anita Maniscalco of In White Weddings for all of these gorgeous and amazing images, Jan O'Donnell of Cakes by Jan, Laura Eason for Make up, Angie with Fringe Salon for Hair and The Tutwiler Hotel for all the excellent accommodations!  Thank you all so much!

Jackie's vision was to have a winter fantasy-type atmosphere for her guests;  very elegant and inviting and definitely a "party" feeling to bring in the New Year.  The ballroom itself was basically a blank slate and we brought in blue up-lighting and abstract lighting to enhance the decor.  We had lots of candle light and dimmed the house lights down to create a fantasy glow through out the space.  At midnight, we had a snow machine blowing snow through out the ballroom to bring in the New Year as guests cheered.  

A fabulous way to bring in the New Year!!  

Blessings!

Anita

AK Brides - Wedding Planning Services

A Beautiful Summer Outdoor Wedding for Marina and Carl

One of the hottest days of the year in June of 2008 and it was a beautiful wedding day for Bride Marina and her groom Carl.  This bride is from Birmingham Alabama and lives in New York City New York where she met her groom Carl who is a Broadway Actor by trade.  Marina chose bold colors of reds and jewel tones for her wedding and with a little TLC, they all held up fabulous in the Alabama heat.

Wine bottle corks tied together with ribbon made for great guest place cards

Our bride is dressed and gets some finishing touches on her make up from our make up artist Laura Eason

Bride Marina is in place and ready to see her groom Carl

Groom Carl makes his walk to see his bride for the first time on their wedding day

Such a sweet first look for our bride and groom

Bridesmaids in black dresses with jewel tones necklaces carrying bouquets of beautiful red daisies and roses

With the heat index of over 110 degrees, we had to keep the pew markers inside the cool house for as long as possible.  We had pails of hydrangea and other flowers already secured to the chairs and kept them cool inside before bringing them outside right before guests began to arrive

A beautiful brides bouquet of fluffy white flowers for bride Marina by Carol Riley of Lillies

A handsome and beautiful bridal party ready for the ceremony to begin

Carl was true to his bride's theme with these cool red socks!

Such a sweet moment for this bride and groom 

Pretty red roses surround this guest book table for guests to sign 

A sweet little ring bearer is ready to get the ceremony started and make his walk down the aisle

And this little flower girl had the most adorable dress......and those shoes were so cute!

Bride Marina is escorted down the aisle by her Father

It was the hottest afternoon of the entire year but it didn't stop this beautiful couple from saying "I Do"

....and the new Mr. and Mrs. Cofield are ready to start their party

Marina envisioned an outdoor wedding reception with a family style Mediterranean dinner for her guests.  We had seating on both sides of these very long 8 foot tables, however our challenge was that a regular 8 foot table was not wide enough to have seating on both sides for guests to be seated, have centerpieces down the center of the tables and also hold all the dinnerware, flatware, glassware AND all the food that was about to delight our guests.  We actually had these long tables made a little bit wider than the average 8 foot table to accommodate the width needed.  This plan worked to perfection and gave us plenty of room.

In addition to this family style seated and plated dinner about to be served, we needed lighting out on this beautiful lawn, not only for necessity but also for decor.  Design Productions' Andy Tolar designed this gorgeous display we now call "the tent of lights" over our dining area.  Three rows of truss was constructed overnight (thank you Andy for once again, working throughout the entire night for me) holding string lights making this beautiful canopy of lights

Each table was dressed with full place settings for each guest, a red box of truffles tied with a blue ribbon red and white wine bottles using all the red wine bottles for the table numbers, tall iron candles on top of a blue gingham runner.

One of the most important elements to Marina and Carl was a delicious menu of fresh mediterranean foods, fresh salads and big chunks of hearty breads accented with lots of Rosemary and fresh herbs

With the incredible team of Kathy G & Company and owner Kathy Mezrano, we created a hearty and delicious menu including these grilled lamb chops which were grilled on site and came to the tables hot and ready

Grilled chicken quarters seasoned to perfection with fresh herbs and spices came out on platters garnished with fresh lemon wedges and basil

A toast at the table as everyone is seated begins this incredible meal

Side dishes included wonderful roasted new potatoes with rosemary

Guests dig in to this scrumptious meal of chunky, hearty foods

Marina and Carl enjoy time with their guests at their dinner table under the lights just beginning to illuminate as the sun falls

The lights are all aglow as guests enjoy time together for the joyous occasion celebrating Marina and Carl's marriage

The last course for the evening were these plates of fresh fruits and cheeses served with delicious pastry of shortbread cookies and baklava all perfectly prepared by Kathy G & Company

An overhead view of our tent of lights over this family style dining reception at the The Sonnet House in Leeds Alabama.  A beautiful location for any event or wedding

A first dance for this beautiful couple

All guests join in  with this celebration

A shower of red rose petals for the bride and groom gives them a final farewell for the evening

A happy couple on a happy day!

What I remember about this beautiful Summer day in June was, aside from the very extreme heat, how many elements it took for this wedding to come together and as always, I am always saying how very grateful I am to work with such wonderful wedding professionals.  We added fans to deal with the heat and believe it or not, it moved around the hot air but it was actually quite pleasant!  I think for the vendors and those of us who were setting up, the heat became an issue but we kept hydrated and at one point our photographer, Barry Altmark, had a wet towel around his neck to stay cool.  We all did what we had to do and everyone did their job so wonderfully.  The tent of lights were in place but none of the tables were in place until after the ceremony concluded.  This is what we call a "flip" reception in where we flip the same space from ceremony to reception.  In this case, we were right next to the ceremony site and Marina wanted to keep an element of surprise for her guests when they came back out to the reception. 

Our team moved tables in place, dropped linens, placed centerpieces and set each place setting all in a matter of approximately 30 minutes time while guests enjoyed cocktails inside this beautiful house.  When guests came outside again, they were definitely surprised at the transformation and the welcoming family environment.  

Many many thank you's go out to Jarod and Cory of The Sonnet House, Carol Riley of Lillies, a fabulous lighting designer Andy Tolar of Design Productions LLC who produced this spectacular tent of lights and worked through the night to make sure this was complete in time, our fabulous caterer and owner Kathy Mezrano of Kathy G & Company and their entire staff who helped to flip this entire space, set all the tables, served over 200 guests to a wonderful seated outdoor meal including grilling and keeping everything fresh and wonderful, Make up artist Laura Eason, and of course our fabulous photographer who allows me to share all of these wonderful images Barry Altmark of Barry Altmark Photography.   Another fabulous event made possible by a fabulous team of wedding professionals!

Blessings to all,

Anita

AK Brides - Wedding Planning Services