the Carolina Wedding Design Blog

We are THRILLED to announce some super exciting news….we just grew!

This is something that we said we’d probably never do ~ but the person was perfect, and so was the timing so please join us in welcoming….

ERIN HUNTER-WATTERS to the CWD team!

Erin brings years of experience and creativity to our team, along with amazing energy as well as a keen eye for executing wedding details.  She will be handling our 30 day out packages {The Mend the End Package} and will also be assisting with any partial planning {The Mentor Package}. This expansion allows us to go beyond booking our typical 20 full service clients a year.  There are so many couples out there who have planned their wedding on their own, but still really need a professional to come in that last month and tie up loose ends and facilitate wedding weekend.  Any professional will tell you, a friend or family member is NOT the route you should go for relying on setting up, running the rehearsal and ceremony, and laying out the reception details – leave that to a pro!

We hope our excitement is contagious!  For those of you that know Erin, you can’t help but love her…and for those that are about to meet her, she’s just the sweetest thing ever.  Her small frame and ever-beaming smile look delicate; however, this gal is not afraid of a challenge and knows how to get things d.o.n.e.

Erin, we are SO happy to have you as a part of our CWD family ~ xoxo Heather & Cortenay

A little bit about Erin:

Ten years ago, my love of travel, parties, and all things glamorous led me to the luxury hospitality industry. With my history stemming from multiple high end venues, I have had the pleasure of overseeing and executing hundreds of weddings and events. I’m honored to have won several hospitality awards that required good leadership, thoughtful business decisions, and a savvy eye for details. I have the experience to understand that weddings and events are a carousel of vendors, timing, logistics, personalities, unexpected surprises, and tireless hours of hard work. I commit myself to each client, to make them feel as though they are my only client. Weddings don’t have to be a burden to plan. I genuinely enjoy hearing clients comment on how I’m able to provide stress relief, allowing them to focus on the ‘fun’ wedding aspects. Through my charismatic attention to detail, I relish seeing a client’s face light up on their wedding day, knowing that I played pivotal role in making their day even more spectacular than imagined.

When I’m not working, I enjoy traveling, watching ACC basketball with my husband Pete, tickling our adorable son Jameson, and playing fetch with our 2 precious pooches Bella & Gigi.

 We were recently asked to head up Carolina Bride’s spring issue editorial shoot.  Each publication has an inspiration shoot, where some of Charlotte’s most creative vendors are asked to think outside the box and inspire real brides.  We were stoked to hear that the shoot was chosen for the Spring Issue Cover!

This issues’ theme was ‘Rock n’ Roll Glam’.  Cristina and the other gals at the magazine let us run with the vision and overall vibe for the shoot.  Red, black, and gold screamed R&R to us and we then implemented elements such as snakeskin, lace, chains (but not in a 50 shades of Grey kinda way), studs, and all sorts of other metal nuances to complete the vision.  This shoot was put together extremely quickly and it wouldn’t have happened without our amazing team of vendors. These guys really listened to what we were going after and executed our vision to perfection.

For a complete listing, please visit the Carolina Bride page here.

Enjoy!

Deb at Olive Paper wowed everyone with her custom boxed invitation. The actual lace gave it so much dimension.

 The place setting gave pops of color atop the black wooden dinner table, via the charger, menu card, and the custom colored stemware. Gold flatware was also incorporated to mesh with the overall color scheme.

 Chains were suspended over the dinner table in order to create a bigger wow factor for guests during dinner. Be creative with your decor and know that you don’t only have to use florals on your tables for design/decor.  Karen (Lily Greenthumbs) was awesome to work with. Love her.  Classic Party Rentals set the tone with some amazing white croc chameleon chairs and custom black wood table.

Liquid nitrogen was used with food elements to really wow the guests. This totally eatable effect makes food appear to smoke.

Standard guest books get boring – we decided to use records for guests to sign that the couple could later hang in their home.

These cakes (Cakes by Jill) really created depth to a table that is sometimes boring. Your cake is a perfect place to pop color and surprise your guests with something unique. BE CREATIVE!  Your wedding cake doesn’t have to be white!

Our gal pal LRT (Be Pretty) rocked the hair/makeup/wardrobe styling

Loved Best Impression’s sushi presentation…

Thanks to Sterling by Design for the detailed backdrop. This is meant to emulate a late night lounge area for your guests during the after-party.

Rock candy for guest favors

We were feeling colorful today and wanted to flashback to a modern 2012 wedding we did for Jessica & Kevin.  This couple loved Chevron (which is still such a hot pattern this year)…and loved orange.  The orange stemmed from their love of their collegiate teams!

This Ritz Carlton Urban garden ceremony was definitely one of my favorites.  I decided to change up the seating a bit and have it more of a runway style for this super chill couple. The guests loved it, and so did we.  The black and white chevron floor runner was a fun detail and a nice accent to accompany the lines of white tulips that appeared to be ‘growing’ down the aisle.

We kept the reception super clean with the black, white and orange color patterns in chunks throughout.  Several pods of lounge seating accompanied the dancing area and was a great prop area next to the Pop A Shot basketball games we rented.  {surprise for the Groom….his guys loved it}

For the whole wedding story and list of vendors, click here.

Special thanks as always to Cheyenne and Geoff Schultz {The Schultzes} for their mad photog talents.

Courtney wore a gorgeous BLUSH Christos gown that pictures seriously don’t do it justice.  She knew how important it was to have the mix of textures and linens to fill up the beautiful blank canvas at the Mint Museum Uptown and you’ll see this justified in the photos.  Her style was clean, modern, elegant….well, of course Rich’s style too

Photographer :: The Schultzes

Ceremony + Reception Venue :: The Mint Museum Uptown

Caterer :: Best Impressions Caterers

Dessert Station :: Cake Lady Jill

Linen/Draping/ Ceiling Shades/ Lampshades/ Pillows :: Party Tables (the superb Sanders and team)

Chiavari Chairs :: Classic Party Rentals

Lounge Furniture :: AFR Events

Ceremony Musicians :: Carolina Chamber Players

DJ :: Split Second Sound (Vinny) (packed, packed dance floor!!)

Flowers :: The Place for Flowers

Videographer :: David Whitlow

Officiant :: Pastor Jim Lytle

Suits :: New York Bride

Wedding Gown :: Nitsa’s

Hair and Make-up :: Who’s the Fairest

Bride/Bridesmaid’s jewelry :: Murphy Jewelry

Uplighting :: Carolina Wedding Design

Here’s a flashback to a super special wedding from 2012.  We love hybrid weddings where we get to blend cultures, traditions, elements, and religions into one big cohesive event.   This one was special because the bride Amber and I truly became great friends…we just had a close and simple connection right from the start.  The wedding weekend itself was extra special because I had actually just gotten pregnant, yet no one knew!  Definitely a wedding I’ll never forget.

Incorporating the Indian vibe, you’ll find a plethora of color all over this wedding.  The tables were set with clusters of glass lanterns and the henna light pattern was a great backdrop for the dance floor.  There ceremony actually took place over a water fountain.

Amber & Sumon, I miss you guys! xoxo Heather….& baby Kiser  

THANK YOU to the following vendors!

Venue ::  Founder’s Hall

Caterer & Dessert Bar ::  Aria

Photography :: Smitten and Hooked

Videography :: Crown Alley Films

Florals :: Charlotte Floral Company

Cake :: Cheesecake Etc

Sitar Player for ceremony :: Tony Karasek

DJ :: Split Second Sound {Jonah}

Photobooth :: Shutterbooth

Wedding Gown :: Hayden Olivia Bridal

Beauty :: Who’s the Fairest

Rentals :: Classic Party Rentals

Decor/draping/lighting :: Us!

This girl’s heart is just as beautiful as her face…a true gem…she has no idea how gorgeous she truly is….

this henna took (if memory serves) approx 9 hours to perfect!

we were ALL in tears watching this first look

True to the Indian vibe, we had a sitar as our ceremony musician…peacock feathers accented the mandap surrounded by crystals and hanging votives

Amber’s custom dyed couture reception gown from Hayden Olivia – it turned out to be the perfect shade of deep red….

We chose 9 different colored shimmery linens, all muted tones to really set the stage for an eclectic Indian reception…blues, greens, burgundy, rust, gold….loved the color.  The votives were all hand designed with different textured paints and fabrics.  The glow in the room from the tables that evening truly reflected India, as if you had been transferred to a party there, or so we were told.

Cookies and milk were the perfect late night snack – and the cake was INSANE!! Gail of Cheesecake Etc blew our minds with it….COMPLETELY amazed at her talent.

They wowed the guests with a surprise choreographed dance to Smooth Criminal – Sumon has moves like Michael {not Jagger} to say the least….he broke.it.down!