2009 Just Marry! Favorite Wedding Ideas and Vendors from A to Z, L is for Lee Forrest Design

Love Lee Forrest Design.  Wow, is all I can say about Lee.  Talented and just one of the coolest people in the industry.  I truly love hanging out with him as a friend.  I must do that more often.  Talent wise, he’s so creative and just one of a kind.  I am always so over the moon with his designs.  He makes me look so amazing when I refer him.  After all, I’m only as good as the team that I put together.

It was just last year that I was looking to Lee to assist me with really jazzing up a room when a local country club double booked the ballroom and we had to move into a much smaller room.  Lee and his staff came through with flying colors.

Here’s some samples of that wedding:

www.halwade.com

www.halwade.com

www.halwade.com

www.halwade.com

And a picture of Lee:

And here’s some amazing decor that he did for us when we partnered together for the Ritz-Carlton, Orlando Grande Lakes show.

www.damontucci.com

www.damontucci.com

www.damontucci.com

www.damontucci.com

Looking forward to sharing…

a vendor spotlight and a Just Marry! real wedding!!

It’s Saturday and I don’t have a wedding. Such a rarity. I’ve spent loads of time reading blogs and searching around on websites. Looking forward to doing the first two features on my blog. One will be a vendor feature. The first victim will be Scott Watt Photography. We worked together for the first time recently and he was amazing. Here are a few sample photos from the wedding.

Also, I’ve decided to do a proper feature of my beautiful weddings. The first will be that very same wedding that Scott shot for me. Kimberly Pugh & Jay Pounds. Such a sweet wedding which was so full of love. So, check back. I’ll be putting those up in the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading. I think I’m really finding my footing with this blogging thing!

Impress, Indulge, Inspire at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes

It was an honor for Just Marry! to participate in the Ritz-Carlton Orlando Grande Lakes most recent wedding show. This show had the top planners and decor designers in the area featured. The planners involved were Susie Weiss with Wonderful Weddings and Lisa Konecny with E Events. And truly the creme de la creme of the floral designers in Orlando, Lee Forrest Design, Greenery Productions, Lee James of Grande Lakes Floral, Raining Roses, Flourish and Botanica.

The evening began with couples networking with some of the Ritz’s preferred vendors, Damon Tucci, John Unrue, Jeffrey Stoner and nu visions. Beautiful Music played some lovely background music during this meet and greet time. We planners and floral designers were in the ballroom putting the finishing touches to the tables. Each planner was able to do at least 3 guest tables. Just Marry! chose to do 4. We have to thank Lee Forrest for providing the beautiful decor and design ideas. It was great fun working with him. He is extremely talented. BBJ Linen provided us with the beautiful linens (table linens, napkins, chair pads) and PKS Rental provided us with the mahogany, black and white chiavari chairs that helped to finish off our tables. Our fourth table was added a bit later in the game and Stephanie Rounds with nu visions in photography suggested that we use some glass sculptures from Keila Glassworks located in the City Arts Factory in downtown Orlando. This made for a clean, modern look for our final table. Once all of the table designs were complete, the doors to the ballroom were opened and the guests entered and visited the various table designs before finding their designated spot at the beautiful tables. We had an amazing meal. Following was the official menu of the evening,

Appetizer

Duo of Dumpling Squash

Ravioli with Nutmeg Froth and Bisque with Vanilla Cream

&

Gulf Coast Crab Gnocchi

Fiddlehead Ferns and Corn

Basil Foam

Salad

Layers of Baby Greens

Pumpkin and Chevre Cheese Cake

Cranberry Orange Vinaigrette

Gingerbread Tuile

&

Layers of Baby Greens

Gorgonzola Wellington, Spicy Walnuts

Strawberry Rhubarb Vinaigrette

Entrée

Grilled Filet Mignon

Potato and Celery Root Puree

Spaghetti Squash, Jumbo Asparagus

Red Wine Jus

&

Cashew Crusted Halibut “Summer Roll”

Purple Thai Rice, Enoki Mushrooms

Preserved Ginger and Green Tea Broth

Dessert

Chef to Prepare

Chocolate Tart with Burnt Marshmallow

Flambéed Bananas, Espresso Ice Cream

&

Chef to Prepare

Lemon Curd Crepes

Grand Marnier Strawberries

Coconut Sorbet

All I can say is yummy! I’m such a foodie and this was so delicious. I especially loved the fiddlehead ferns. The dinner courses were also paired with some wonderful wines. Starting with one of Susan’s and my favorite wines, Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. It really was a treat for anybody invited to the show as Arthur Murray Dance Studio performed to the wonderful stylings of the Ricky Sylvia with the Buzzcatz. This band is truly one of the best around! The evening ended with the couples being able to chat with the various A-1 vendors in attendance and enjoy some delectable desserts and after dinner drinks. It is always a pleasure to do a wedding at the Ritz-Carlton. Truly one of my favorite venues in the city! Following please see our table top displays, provided by our amazing sponsors. Thank you again to Lee Forrest! A true artistic talent. The following images were provided by Damon Tucci where noted and nu visions in photography. Thanks guys for the beautiful images.

Heidrich and Hebbeler Wedding on March 15th 2008

I had the greatest time working with this couple and the bride’s family. They all have so much personality and passion. It really was fun. It was a very smooth planning process and I hoped the same for the wedding day. Especially since they were such wonderful people. The wedding day started out as normal as most and then at 1:00pm on the wedding day, I received a call from the catering manager at the country club that the ballroom had been double booked. They wanted me to come and see the alternate location. Well, after I was able to shake the shock and awe over the whole situation, I called the father of the bride and told him the situation. He and I both headed straight to the club. We were told by the GM when we arrived that the event has been double booked, only to find out later that the catering manager had entered in the wrong year when booking the event. We were shown the new location which was the Member Grill at the club and we decided that we had to make it work. It was now just about 2:00pm on the wedding day. We just didn’t have any other options. The bride was upset, which always makes me so sad. You really want it to be a perfect day for her. And now she was having drama. We all got to work making the best out of a bad situation. The country club, Lee Forrest Design and American Audio Visual. It truly was a great team effort. The room in the end looked very pretty. Thank goodness for the beautiful linens and chairs that were ordered from Panache and BBJ Linen, the cake from Bake me a Cake, the florals from Lee Forrest Designs and the lighting from American Audio Visual. Each of those important components helped to make a much smaller room beautiful. In the end, it was a very pretty wedding. But, of course not the one that the bride truly wanted. The family is still in negotiation with the club for compensation. We will hope for a positive outcome on this situation.

Still, I was so excited to work with an old wedding friend of mine, Hal Wade. I met Hal back when I first started with Just Marry! and it was so great to spend some time with him again. He provided the photos seen here. And he’s just the sweetest! Also, thank you to Alex with Voila Creative for making the trek over from Tampa for another wedding. He’s very talented and so wonderful to work with!

So, in the end, alls well that ends well. Kearce and Alex danced their last dance to “Little Red Corvette” and then departed into a little red corvette through a line of sparkler wielding family and friends.

Star Tower Event

What a fun venue and what a view! Beautiful views of the downtown skyline. It was great to be included and get to see this wonderful venue. My friend, Tracy Marini of Eventfully Yours put this great event together. It was held on the rooftop of the new Star Tower. The food was catered by Graze, The Beacon and Fifi’s. And was quite delicious. There was a fun group of people there and some of my good friends. J. Michael with A Spectacular Event, Susie Weiss with Wonderful Weddings, Lee Forrest, Tommy Murphy with Greenery Productions, Janine Boylan with the Grand Bohemian Orlando, Jessica Lodispoto with the Winter Park Racquet Club, Bonnie Garfield with the Portofino Bay Hotel, Stephanie Rounds with nu visions in photography and of course Lisa Konecny with E Events. Never without my posse it would seem. We enjoyed the event and even took the time to tour one of the corner condos. It had floor to ceiling windows. That was quite something. Brian Adams took the photographs for the evening.

After the event ended, we just weren’t finished. We rarely are. So a few of us went to The Beacon to have some more food and drinks.