As if this year couldn’t get any better, we were nominated for an Event Solutions Spotlight Award in the Event Planner of the Year (East Coast) category. After reviewing thousands of Spotlight Award Profiles, a group of event professionals selected seven finalists. Guess who made the cut?? WE DID! Not only will we be featured as a finalist in the November edition of Event Solutions magazine, but we will also be announced at the 2009 Spotlight Awards Event in Las Vegas. Our fingers are crossed that we will be announced as the winner!! The choice is now turned over to online voting. We will need everyone’s support because we have some brilliant competition, but we are confident Table 6 Productions stands out… aren’t you? Voting will open November 15, 2008 and run through January 26, 2009.  So, for all of our faithful readers and friends… stay tuned for directions on casting your vote.

 

 

What do you do when you have 450 guests and can’t decide on a menu? You offer them all of course! We created four “mini meal” food stations. We combined the newlywed’s favorite foods in small tents connected to the corners of the main 8,000 sf tent. Instead of the typical station set up where like foods are grouped together, each station offered a “tapas style” menu on salad size plates. Station #1 offered short ribs accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and green beans ala dente, while station #2 served pecan crusted salmon over a spring mix.  Station #3 featured savory lamb chops with asparagus and potato fennel. Lastly, Station #4 had guests feasting on blackened chicken with a mango salsa served over yellow rice, Caesar salad, and Cuban bread. As guests danced the night away, late night snacks of mini peppermint ice cream cones and strips of grilled cheese sandwiches were butler passed throughout the tent. As one of our largest events to date, we successfully conquered the common complaints of food stations… long lines, irritated guests and slow service

 

Well its the day we have all been waiting for…the date one our Florida west coast weddings will air on the WE’s Platinum Wedding.  The air date is February 22, 2009 and will we definatly throw a shindig, table 6 style, to celebrate this larger-than-life debut!  Mark your calenders my friends and stay tunned…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well we finally had our grand opening for our Florida, Tampa Bay area Wedding Planning office located on central avenue in the heart of St. Petersburg Florida.  We are very fortunate enough to share the space with www.Paper-presence.com who customized fabulous wedding invitations and ensembles.  Its been a work in progress, needless to say, but the store front is open and ready for clients.  We decided to do a very feminine, cottage-style, shabby-sheek theme with lots of ivorys a  nd soft colors.

Our grand opening was last month and we had a blast!  Cafe Dolce catered the open house style soiree while Paul Skye Music played live acustic guitar all night and the mayor of st. petersburg helped us cut the famous red ribbon.  Phillip Lloyd from www.PhillipLloydPhotography.com captured our event and a few great shots of the store, before the party got started.  Botanica did the flowers for our window display and table scape.  Many of our good friends came by to congratulate us, like www.vhvideo.com, www.conceptbait.com, www.ginaleighphotography.com, and many more!  We want to thank everyone for thier support in this exciting time and hope you will come again. Cheers!

If our schedules aren’t full enough we have added another type of party to plan…baby showers!  And no, we aren’t talking silly games, sitting around in circles, and drinking tea and eating crumpets…we are talking baby showers, Table 6 STYLE!!!!!  We, along with our good friend Aymee Sutterby from Brides.com and Brides of Florida, decided to co-host a baby shower for a dear friend and fabulous photographer, Phillip Lloyd with www.philliplloydphotography.com.  When Tamika and Phillip found out they were having a boy, they jumped for joy and we decided to throw a cocktail style party and shower the couple with gifts.  Now you probably know us by now and know that this was not any ordinary shower…it was boasting with a cool blue palette that included royal blue, pacific blue, and khaki.  We chose the crown with the baby’s monogram as the motif for the shower as we personalized the invitations, cocktail napkins, even the cake was in the shape of a crown.  We cocktailed the night away, as we offered “bubbling blue” champagne libations and passed comfort foods such as mini cheese burgers, Asian fried rice in mini Chinese take-out boxes, sweet potato French fries, mini chicken fingers, and to top it all off we offered the invited guests a pickles and ice cream bar!  All of our good friends in the industry attended such as our pals at Limelight Photography, Voila Cinematic, Paper Presence, The dressing Room and many more as we toasted to the new addition to Phillip and Tamika’s family.  Many thanks to; Zoe from Botanica florist (www.botanicaflorist.com)for providing the fabulous florals, Josh Walther from inspiredj.com for entertaining us, and Notfromabox.com for the fabulous invitations and other printed products.  WE LOVE OUR VENDORS!!!

Well if teaching at a top university a Professional Wedding Planning course, being nominated for Event Solution’s “Event Planner of the Year” award, having a wedding featured upcoming on the WE’s Platinum Weddings, and Voted Best Event Planner by the Colorado Division of the Knot Magazine isn’t enough to fill a chastity belt, we have just added one more thing.  Now you can ‘ask the experts’ - US!  We just appeared on Get Married, a show on the lifetime channel that airs every morning at 7:30 a.m. EST, last Monday.  This time we were interviewed by the well-known David Tutera, as he asked us our “expert” advice and several important planning tips.  How about that for notch on our belt?!?  If you go to the www.getmarried.com site you can search for episode 51 or you can catch the re-run on August 30th!

As our weddings continue to make their way into National press and media, we are honored to have a couple of our weddings featured on the SWS blog www.swsmag.net/blog .  This blog is one of the most fabulous blogs we have come across in a long time.  We are inspired by many of the weddings they feature and we love to see a good mix of styles, colors, and oh so many fabulous details!!  Check out part 1 of Amy and Ryan, one of our favorite weddings, and one that will be featured on the show Platinum Weddings sometime early fall. 

http://www.swsmag.net/blog/2008/7/8/real-wedding-amy-ryan-part-i.html

Also check out this fabulous wedding! We had one of our favorite “detail” weddings featured on the SWSblog as well.  This couple shared a love of Jazz and the Art Deco era, especially since the groom is a professional trobonist as well as an affinity for yellow, black and orange (due to the bride’s love of THE WIZARD OF OZ), and they weren’t afraid to step out of the box to wow their guests with their attention to detail.  With the bride as a Chef and the Groom as a Professional Trombonist, there were sure to be lots of fun things to incorporate into this affair. It is one of our fave use of colors and unique details…check it out on our gallery it will be added very soon!

http://www.swsmag.net/blog/2008/6/5/details-amanda-adam.html

Check back for more featured weddings in the future!

Introductions are the first time you get a chance to show off you and your hubby’s favorite friends, the bridal party attendants, and give your guests a taste of what is come at your fabulous reception!  As evolving as the music industry is, so are the popular “picks” for introduction songs.  From the theme songs from Mission Impossible and the A-Team, to rap songs such as “let’s get it started” and “sexy back”, the sky is the limit on what you can choose.  For some of our brides, that just wasn’t enough…they wanted something more clever and more unique.  So instead of using the same song for introducing the parents, bridal party, and bride and groom, some couples opt to create custom mixes for each pair (a bridesmaid and a groomsman).  So for your laid back pair that you frequented the local beach bars with back in the day, you may want to do a Jimmy Buffett or Bob Marley song, however for your single, bar hopping, club-doer pairs you can cut the oh-so famous song, “In da Club” by 50cent.  If you really want your pal-pairs to get into it, before the wedding day inform the pair of your song selection and ask them to choreograph an entrance dance that will knock the guests’ socks off.  Think…”Glamorous, Shorty Swing my Way, and Low” just imagine “Maneater” playing while one of your bridesmaids is dragging a groomsman down across the dance floor by his tuxedo tie.  This can be one of the most entertaining events of the evening and will leave your guests surprised and talking about it for years to come!  Thank you RJ Vida with www.advancingentertainment.com for all the custom mixes you have done for us!

 FOR THE FIRST TIME, MR. & MRS….. 

Now for the bride and groom, we have a little different concept for your “introduction”.  We have told you all the cool, fun, love songs, and we are sure you have thought about choreographing a “dancing with the stars” song, and watched celebrity impersonators or even celebrities, sing the first dance song.  But what if you hired an entertainer, dancer, or circ de sole performer to arouse the guests and heighten the anticipation of the entrance of new bride and groom?  Just think if you were having an Italian style wedding, you could have an Italian opera singer work the room by singing a love song in Italian and as he hit the final note, the bride and groom made their grand entrance into the room.  Or, if you want to add a bit of the Spanish culture, you could hire some flamenco dancers/singers to stomp and shake around the room to a powerful tune and get the guests ready for your grandiose entrance.  Or you could do a short slide show or music video by renting an AV system and custom create your own introduction prior to your wedding.  After the emcee announces the best man and MOH, the lights go down and this 2 minute video show appears on the big screen.  After the video is over, the lights go on, and as the crowd serves a standing ovation, while the bride and groom enter the room and go right into the first dance.  You can really get creative with this and customize your own personal introduction that people will always remember!

Well if our resume wasn’t full enough…we just embarked on a whole new venture…TEACHING!!! We had the opportunity to co-teach a University of South Florida elective credit course: ‘Professional Wedding Planning’, with a good friend, Judy, from www.thedroom.com. This course was an elective courses you can take in addition to the required core courses in order to receive The Meeting and Event Planning Certificate issued by USF. This was an experience of a lifetime for us and to see 24 eager students in tuned to every word we spoke was one of the most rewarding feelings we have had. After hours and hours of preparation, we created an power point presentation to guide us through this self-written course, following a shorter power point presentation talking about the changing trends, then we ended with a slide show of a few of my favorite fabulous weddings. Now if any of you girls attending are reading this blog, I apologize for not sharing more of our fabulous weddings including themes, details, and decor. Next year we promise to show you more pictures ~ before and after, share more organization tools, and offer more knowledge about this ever so changing industry. For more information about this certification from USF, please check out their site www.outreach.usf.edu/conted/meeting

Who says your reception has to end at the end?  Why dont you keep the night going with an after party serving late night martinis, carb-filled delectable, and a starbucks coffee station?  We are always sad to see the night end but more, it’s the bride and groom - who are doing away with grand exits and dancing until we have to turn the lights on.  So we got to thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to convert a separate room in the venue to a late night after party or if space is limited convert your cocktail hour spot into this loungy night club?  Just think, white dance floor, white leather couches, colored mood lighting around the room, an awesome dj to spin your favorite club mixes, and let’s not forget the food and cocktails!!!  Serve some cocktails with “energy”, such as espresso martini’s, red bull martini’s, and mountain dew martini’s and renting an approval starbucks coffee station…then you can hand pass or station your favorite late night foods that sobered you up in old days like miniature cheese burgers, french fries in a cone, mini tacos / burritos, or if we are talking wee hours in the morning you could do more breakfast type confections like mini bagels with cream cheese, miniature cinnamon buns, or park a krispy kreme doughnut truck right outside of the party!  With 3 different events(cocktail hour, reception, and after party) in 1 night that reflects different colors, style, and moods, your guests will feel they have experienced a night they just cant forget.