You know how I feel about my brides…I want to give them the sun, the moon, and stars on their wedding day. I want to take their theme and put the Tutera Touch on it, making it even more glamorous and incredible than they could ever dream of! When I initially met Amber, she wanted an “Ace”/”Winter Wonderland”/”Indonesian Flair” type of wedding…I can do a lot with unique wedding themes but three completely different ideas? That’s a lot going on!
When I wrote about Shelby’s Passport wedding a few weeks back, I talked about how easy it is for weddings to run amuck and how it’s necessary to narrow in on a cohesive, streamlined theme for your wedding. It seems like the struggle between choosing a theme is a common trend in wedding planning so Amber, her fiancé, and I had to figure out how to rein in these three completely unrelated ideas and go in one general direction.
The idea of Aces came from her husband-to-be’s last name and the Indonesian element was because of her heritage. But it was the Winter Wonderland direction that I really felt strongest about. Plus – when we filmed in December, it was 80 degrees in Los Angeles! Don’t Southern Californians deserve a little bit of winter during the holiday season?
Well, it snowed in LA on Amber’s wedding day. On December 11th, the Winter Wonderland theme couldn’t have been more prominent. Amber had ice sculptures as part of every single centerpiece at her reception, there was snow during her ceremony, baby’s breath floral accents…it was magical.
What really helped was the space itself that we chose to move Amber’s wedding to. UCLA’s Town and Gown Ballroom was the location of her wedding and I have to tell you – the space contributed greatly to the final set-up of the room. The chandeliers in the reception area completely embraced the Winter Wonderland theme and were a wonderful addition. And to think – they were already in the ballroom! Not to mention, the ceremony outside in warm, sunny LA was an amazing contrast to the “winter” season we created that afternoon.
Be mindful of your wedding venue. Sometimes, a certain type of carpeting, wood paneling on the walls, the smallest of details can add quite a visual impact to your theme.
I always enjoy making revisions to these weddings but I never want to take a bride’s theme and change it entirely. I knew how important Amber’s heritage was to her so I made sure that there were subtle Indonesian patterns in the printed materials as well as accents on the cake. Finally, for her Ace theme, I used wine vendor JAQK Cellars’ chardonnay with an Ace card on the label. Subtle enough but her must-have’s were certainly incorporated into her wedding.
A trio of themes for a wedding is a tough rut to get through but if you focus on one inspiration and let the others come into the theme naturally and organically, you can make any theme work!
