(page 1 of 3)
Every year, engaged couples in the Twin Cities’ area can get a sneak peek of the area’s hottest new trends through Trend Wedding,™ a collaboration of The Wedding Guys,® Matthew Trettel and Bruce Vassar, and Twin City Bridal Association. Not only do local couples (and media) take notice of the elaborate affair, engaged couples from around the world pay attention. The Wedding Guys’ design won international acclaim for “Best Wedding” by the International Special Event Society.
Through Trend Wedding—their signature event—The Wedding Guys partner with the Twin Cities most celebrated wedding experts to design a gorgeous, memorable, over-the-top wedding experience. This event gives future brides and grooms creative ideas and innovative concepts that can be incorporated into their own special day. It’s the perfect way to learn about popular trends in décor, color, fashion, food, stationery, and just about anything wedding-related.
What makes Trend Wedding especially exciting is that one lucky couple wins the wedding, valued at nearly $150,000. Plans start evolving almost a year in advance, long before the bride and groom are selected in a live drawing at The Engagement Party, produced by Twin City Bridal Association each November. The Wedding Guys host this talk show-style event, featuring the latest in wedding trends. The highlight for many attendees is when one lucky couple is drawn as the Trend Wedding winner.
Thousands of couples entered their names in the 2009 drawing, but it was Katie Ebert and Mike Ivey who were drawn as the lucky couple by KS95’s Staci Matthews, host of the Moon and Staci Show. By this point, The Wedding Guys had already decided that the Chambers Art Hotel would be the perfect setting for a mod reception. Chambers features several unique spaces that would accommodate the varied experiences The Wedding Guys had envisioned. The guests would experience transitions throughout the evening with events unfolding throughout the hotel.
Titled “It’s An Art,” Trend Wedding 2009 featured a world-class culinary experience (with a twist), an outdoor dance party, and a lounge-inspired afterglow. The Wedding Guys envisioned the event as an orchestrated movement, smoothly transitioning between each unique element of the ceremony and reception. This would be no “ordinary” wedding. This would be an unforgettable and extraordinary affair.
The once-in-a-lifetime experience began at The Wedding Shoppe in St. Paul. The popular bridal salon on Grand Avenue closed the salon so that Katie and her bridal party could have a private appointment, and provided champagne for the entourage. She selected her gown from the exclusive Kleinfeld Kollection, whose gowns are featured in the popular TLC program, “Say Yes to the Dress.” It was a stunning empire gown with vertical draping, beautiful embroidery, and crystal beading.
Her bridesmaids also had a chance to try on gowns from an amazing selection at The Wedding Shoppe. The Wedding Guys emphasized the new trend toward muted colors and the clean look of a monochromatic wedding party. The final selection was a striking full-length ivory chiffon gown with a gathered sash in a shade of “barely mint.”
With the gowns on order, the next task for The Wedding Guys was creating the invitation ensemble. They enlisted the help of talented designer Sarah Glad of A Milestone Paper Co. to create a suite of stationery personalized for Katie and Mike’s big day. They took inspiration from the trend-forward colors carried throughout the wedding, as well as the Chambers Hotel lobby bar painting “Seabird” by Gary Hume—an enlarged image of a bird where only the colored pixels are apparent (the pixels and patterns are painted on metal panels). This almost polka-dot effect would be used in the stationery and the wedding décor.
The invitation was a work of art, featuring four layers—paper, acrylic, paper, and metal. The first layer, on ivory paper stock, announced the wedding and mimicked the texture of the bridesmaids’ gowns. It featured a custom-monogrammed laser-cut K and M, a new wedding invitation technique. The second layer, on clear acrylic, was titled “Celebration Continues” and outlined the details of the reception. The third layer, “Getting There,” was printed on muted green cotton paper and informed the guests where the celebration would be. The final layer was a stainless steel “Be Inspired” bookmark with a quote from Mae West, “Love isn’t an emotion or an instinct—it’s an art.” Sarah at A Milestone Paper Co. found the perfect metal clam-style box to incorporate these invitation elements into a sleek and modern package.
 |
 |
 |
|
Copyright 2010 Greenspring Media Group Inc - 600 US Trust Building - 730 2nd Avenue South - Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402
