Melanie & Jordan were hands down THE MOST non-complicated wedding couple ever at Celebrations Catering!  When I asked Melanie, just a few days before her wedding, what the topper for the wedding cake was, she wasn’t even sure if she remembered what she had selected.  I commented in reply to her then, this is not normal for brides, they plan this stuff for years in advance, and know EXACTLY the details about everything, with pictures and notebooks of details!   This lack of micromanagement of her wedding made Melanie all the more attractive and fun to work with, no bridezilla here and a playful, easygoing groom helped too!  She and Jordan pretty much put everything in our hands and didn’t ask too many questions or demand too many answers.  Some of this trust rested in the fact that Celebrations had catered Melanie’s sister’s wedding a year earlier!   I have to say, however, that when brides and grooms let us “do our thing” they usually get a lot more from us in the way of creativity and FREE STUFF!

UF’s Touchdown Terrace is right on the GATOR football field, an opportunity to show Gator pride, a sure fire way to get great wedding photos, and an attractive location where an ORANGE wedding reception doesn’t seem at all odd.  We softened the affair with a little champagne and beige tinted linens, some ambient orange & gold lighting, and our florist Gay Boros made us some earthy centerpieces that had NO BLUE in them.  And, since this room at TD Terrace is so HUGE and the chairs are all GATOR BLUE, some real talent from the planning department here at Celebrations was necessary to give this wedding reception a warm, family appeal.   Sometimes it’s quite a challenge to get a Gator-Themed Football Party Room turned into a romantic wedding venue, keeping the “tailgate” feel far at bay!    Mission accomplished!

Thanks for the help with this reception goes to…Kate Harte and Bryan Flood at UAA for allowing us early set up times, Rodney from Jay’s Entertainment, Angel & Greg, owners of Photography 35, and to Publix for a delicious Wedding Cake (with add- ons of ribbon and flowers, gems and cake plateau by Celebrations Catering) and of course a big thanks to our amazing kitchen staff, our head chef Mike Shimansky, our very competent design staff, our dutiful and exuberant wait staff, our attentive bartenders, and our  fabulous wedding planner for this reception… Jessica Slane!  What a great team and what a perfect wedding party… i got to go home early!  Leah

Click Here to see Photography 35’s BLOG about the Wedding!

In June 2009 I got a phone call from Margaret’s father, Charles Wood, regarding his daughter’s upcoming wedding reception at the Florida Museum of Natural History.  Margaret and Tony live in Cincinnati, so mother Maureen and father Charles would be helping a lot more than is customary with the planning process.  During the last nine months, I did meet with the bride and groom, but most of our conversations were Internet messages back and forth, and through Margaret’s patient parents.  It’s nice to have a group effort when pulling together friends, family and lots of long distance details! 

In December, all of us met at the Museum of Natural History, to review a floor plan and discuss menu details.  Christmas time is convenient for traveling family members, so arranging a site consultation during the holidays was necessary if we were going to all get together in person, before the wedding date.  I was pleased and elated working with this very lovely family!  Tony Stefater, the groom, was getting a great deal of love marrying into the Wood family!  This makes my work easier when true love and family respect are unquestionably sincere. 

Inspiration for this wedding… Cincinatti!  Margaret and Tony took pictures of all of their favorite locations… their first date, their favorite restaurants, etc. and suddenly we had a theme!  We emailed pictures back and forth of linen colors and before long, a brown/gold/silver color combination evolved as Margaret’s favorites.  She made things so pleasantly easy, as she mostly trusted our instinct here at Celebrations, trusting me to pick her linen without actually seeing the fabrics/colors in person… This is a real big deal for brides!

Together with Joan Prang’s beautiful flowers, and her help with hanging all those paper lanterns, Jay’s Entertainment handling the music, Kathy at KB’s Kakes, and TJ Morriseytaking all the photos, this whole big party fell into place promptly by 6:30 pm last night!  In spite of the unusually cold weather conditions this week that causing some guests’ travel plans to alter… and  causing the butterfly rain forest portion of our reception to get cancelled… the five hours of reception could not have been more perfect or more beautiful.  The Museum Gallery was warm and glowing and  made a happy location for this reception.