A Delightful Day - Event Planning - Blog

Hometown Favorites: Nashville Wedding Venue

We are always on the lookout for new and fun venues to present our brides and one company has several options to provide depending on your style, budget, and needs. I had the privilege of a one on one tour with developer of the new Houston Station now open for tours and bookings. If you're looking for a blank space, hard wood floors, exposed beams, and an open floor plan, Houston Station is your space. This space rents for $3,200 and allows you to bring in your own licensed caterer and bartender, as well as alcohol. They do require valet, as the location is limited on parking, but supplies competitive valet rates. Being the open floor plan that it is, you have the ability with a small guest count to have both your ceremony and reception in one location. See here for more details and to schedule a tour with Jeff!

One of their other locales that they offer is the Ambrose House. I haven't had the privlege of an event in this location yet, but is perfectly ideal for smaller guest counts and rehearsal dinners, seated for up to 60 and standing for up to 85. This beautifully resorted old Victorian home in located off of South 12th Street. See photos here from Ambrose House events and their terms and pricing information. 

Happy Planning!

~ Mary Alice, Nashville Wedding Planner

A Delightful Day

Outdoor Weddings- Pros and Cons

It's that time of year where brides are in the process of planning their spring and summer weddings. So many brides have that fantasy of an outdoor wedding, under the stars, with a tent draped in fabric and beautiful light, dancing the night away. The Wedding Report has estimated that 2.3 million weddings are going to be planned for outside this year alone.

However, there are many things to consider when planning an outdoor wedding. Sometimes that fantasy becomes rainy, with a muddy ground, and unhappy guests with dirty shoes. I don't at all want to discourage a beautiful outdoor wedding, but definitely take all issues into account, and always, always, always, have a Plan B! Here are some things to consider when looking at the outdoor wedding option:

• Being outside you have such a natural backdrop for your event. Decor should be minimal to play up what is around you. Choosing an outdoor location with beautiful surroundings will be decor enough. Having a focal point for your ceremony, such as a large oak tree, or a natural arch created by trees is going to provide the natural beauty that outdoor brides are looking for.
• Check the weather! This isn't something that you can predict, especially months ahead of time as most brides are planning. But take into account the times of year that you have the best luck for great weather. Take into account the area that you live in and how your region's climate changes each season. The Weather Channel's online wedding planner can help when considering weather in areas all over the world you aren't familiar with; www.weather.com/activities/events/weddings.

• Survey the area that you're going to be holding your event in. Does it have the potential for bugs? Is it near water? Do your guests suffer from allergies that are going to inhibit their enjoyment? Does the area have shade in case of the hot sun, or do you need to provide parasols or umbrellas? Does the area have an even ground to prevent any twisted ankles during dancing or lopsided tables? Are their noise disturbances in the area like water, an airport, or a high traffic area? These are questions to ask yourself to determine if this area is going to be the best, or if you need to be doing some other searching.
• Do you need professional help? Hiring a wedding planner will truly relieve the headaches and the questions behind an outdoor wedding. They will have resources that you will need and have dealt with these types of issues before, so you really want to consider hiring someone who'll handle all the details on the day of so that you can enjoy your beautiful wedding day! While you're getting dressed, you don't want to be making decisions about an uneven dance floor, making sure all your vendors have electricity, etc.
• Get ready to spend! There are a lot of items to think of as you're starting with a blank slate. First think about the size tent you're going to need for the number of people you're going to have. You want your guests to be comfortable and free to move about and have plenty of dancing room. Also flooring, air conditioning for heat, heaters for a chilly evening, embellishments like draping and lighting, on top of all your other rentals such as tables, chairs, linens, china, glassware, flatware, etc. Your budget is really going to guide you as to how elaborate you can get.  
• Put your guests first! Think of their needs and as the host, you want them to feel comfortable and enjoy your big day! If it's a warm and sunny venue, think about sunscreen being provided. If it's a beach, have a shoe check in and provide your guests with flip flops. If it's a fall wedding, provide space heaters to keep your guests cozy. Make sure to let you guests know it is an outdoor wedding with information on your personal website or on the invitation. Also, think about your vendors and provide them seating and water if it is a hot day and they will be setting up for an extensive period.

• Choose a menu that is going to work for the setting. Talk with your caterer about the setting and what types of foods would be a do and a don't for being outside. Also, your cake and it's frosting is going to be a huge factor with wind and heat. Also, definitely pay attention to the weather and the foods you choose. For warm weather, choose fun, cool foods that people are going to want to eat. They're already hot, so they won't necessarily want hot foods. Same for cooler weather, choose warm comforting foods.
• In choosing your blossoms, make sure you coordinate with your florist on flowers that won't wilt with warm or cold weather. Always make sure that your florist will have spare flowers on hand in case of drooping flowers. Some suggestions per Mark Held from Mark's Garden says that roses and small cala lillies hold well in warm weather. As well as green hydrangea, but more risky choices would be tulips and lily of the valley. Flowers on the cake most definitely will wilt in warm weather, so if florals are a must, go with sugar flowers created by your cake designer.

• One last note, always, always, always have a Plan B, C, and D! There are a lot of things that can occur, so hire a planner than can carry out as many plans as needed to have the most wonderful event for you and your new husband!

~ Mary Alice

Venue Spotlight: Merchant's

One of the many fun events that take place within the months or weeks of your wedding is your bridesmaids luncheon. A great venue for your bridesmaids luncheon is Merchants. Amber and I went to check out this historic building for a bridesmaid's luncheon and there are several different rooms that can accommodate any size event, from 10 people to 100. The beautiful hardwood interiors, fireplaces, and 180 degrees of windows creates a warm atmosphere for your girlfriends to mingle and reminisce about your past joys, sorrows, and triumphs. Here many palettes can be brought to life in a neutral atmosphere! Here are several photos from our visit of the only private room, while the rest are open to the setting.

 

Check out Merchants website above or visit http://www.merchantsrestaurant.com/eventlunch.cfm to view the event luncheon menu. 

Venue Focus: City Hall

Brides are always looking for a fun and interesting venue to host their wedding reception. Looking for just that venue can be quite a tedious process. A Delightful Day hosted a wedding reception at City Hall back in December and we wanted to share this incredible event space with you and introduce you to it's new sister site, Aerial. Aerial being so new we haven't had an event there yet, but look forward to the possibility this year. Check out the website on the link above.

City Hall is a truly unique venue that is used for wedding receptions, but concerts being its main purpose. This warehouse space has large windows looking out onto the 12th Avenue nightlife and also to its other space, BarTwenty3 which is rented out many times in conjunction with City Hall for a cocktail hour prior to the reception. Elissa, the event coordinator at City Hall, Aerial, and BarTwenty3, strives to fulfill brides dreams and create a elegant reception space. City Hall has a great rental price with the ability to bring in your own caterer and bartending staff is available on site. City Hall has some rentals available as well, but Liberty Party Rentals is their preferred rental company for all other needs. This being located on 12th Avenue in the Gulch, valeting parking is needed which can be provided by Elissa as well.  Here are several pictures from City Hall for the event that we did there back in December:

This is a preparation photo to show you a daylight look at the space, exposed brick, wood rafters, and a blank canvas for you to come in and create wedding magic!

Contact Elissa at City Hall for a site tour! Tell her A Delightful Day sent you! It's a hidden treasure!

West End Church of Christ

There are so many beautiful churches in Nashville, which is something that brides are searching for. So many know about the Scarritt Bennett center with it's beautiful architecture and less is more need for decor. However, there are several other churches in the Nashville area who are allowing brides, non-member, to come in and have a ceremony there. Many are allowing you to bring in your own minister as well. One that the Delightful Team just loves is West End Church of Christ. It has a beautiful Southern charm to it, simplicity at its best, and simple decor opportunities for brides. The Church provides a room for both the groom and his party and the bride and her party party for them to get dressed, hang out, and relax during all preparation. So, makeup and hair can come to you if needed. The staff is incredibly helpful and make this as easy an experience as possible. I wanted to share some photos that were taken by Amber to showcase to you in case you're searching for a santuary to host your wedding ceremony.

This is a candlelit picture of the beautiful pews and the center aisle! Brides love a church with a center aisle and not many churches in Nashville have a center aisle!

Beautiful aisle shot! The aisle runner was ordered from Original Aisle Runner and was handpainted to match the monogram that was on the invitation. 

The beautiful candleabras were rentals, as well as the pew markers, from Fabu Party Rental. They have an incredible selection of unique decor items.

Please contact Erin Jones, the coordinator for West End, via email at westendweddings@yahoo.com to find out about date availability and pricing.