A Middle-Eastern Destination Wedding

Melissa contacted me in November in need of some help planning her upcoming wedding in April. The only thing she had booked was the Grand Plaza hotel on St. Pete Beach, and she also had a theme - middle eastern to respresent her groom's background. Because she and her fiance, Kent, lived out of state, they needed someone who knew the area and could basically plan the entire wedding for them since they would not be here until the wedding day.

From there we selected some awesome vendors to help pull this concept together: Event Design provided the gold chivari chairs, gold chargers, and gold cake stand; Custom Linens provided the bright red and orange satin tablecloths. We chose this color scheme because it complimented the sunset that the guest viewed during the reception through the beautiful windows of the Presidential Ballroom, and it also went with our middle eastern theme. We had accents of deep blue and fuschia as well throughout the room. Melissa's favorite flowers are roses so this made up the majority of the centerpieces and awesome escort card tree created by Dana Dineen. She also decorated the hotel's bamboo arch with gorgeous organza fabric and roses. Before the wedding, the bride and her bridal party were given fabulous hairstyles from the amazing Cari of Kyle Lynn Weddings. Their custom ceremony was created and performed by John Melchinger of a Perfect Witness, which was accompanied by the beautiful music of Bella Musica.
For the cakes, Melissa wanted to do something very special and grand so we had a 5 tiered middle-easten inspired cake in bold colors with an intricate design. As a surprise to the groom, Laurie from A Piece of Cake also made the pillow cake which featured the couple's two cats on top and their monogram. It was so adorable!
The reception music and jewel-toned room lighting was done by Cory Barron of Grant Hemond dj's, and he's one of my favorites to work with. He is so professional and talented and the dance floor was packed all night. Later, Melissa changed into a sexy strapless dress so she could really break it down. Guests also enjoyed a slideshow video of the couple and a candy buffet. All of these amazing moments were captured on video by Randy of Celebrations and Jason Angelini Photography. It has been awhile since we worked with Jason and it was great to see him again - I was so excited when they posted all of these amazing photos on their blog. Melissa and Kent, thank you for trusting me to plan your special day from afar, may you have a beautiful life together!