Tara and Brent’s glamorous black and white wedding was planned by Scheme Events and captured by Adam Trujillo, and is most definitely one for the books! Traveling to Las Vegas to celebrate in style, this Pittsburgh couple incorporated their favorite hometown team- the Steelers- in the classiest and most gorgeous way. Tara is here with us today sharing all about her planning experience, so sit back, enjoy, and take in all of the beauty and insight!
What (or who) helped you most in your planning process and/or on your wedding day?
My wedding planner/designer helped me every step of the way. I hired Las Vegas based Scheme Events early in the planning process and my lead planner was Tara Federico. I truly don’t know what I would have done without Tara and the ladies of Scheme Events. I also had a ton of help and support from my family and my bridesmaids. I am very fortunate to have so many great people in my life!
What was the most important thing to you when deciding who to work with for your wedding?
The most important thing was to have vendors with experience and credibility. We planned a destination wedding in Las Vegas from across the country in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania so it was important to have people that I could trust to plan and coordinate our vision for our wedding day. I relied on preferred vendor lists from various venues in Las Vegas that we checked out prior to hiring Scheme. Scheme was on every preferred vendor list along with the other vendors we ended up using including our bakery (Gimme Some Sugar), photographer/cinema (Adam Trujillo Photography), florist (Layers of Lovely) and DJ Mike Fox. I also relied on many online reviews from different wedding websites. After Tara and I started working together, I also looked to her for vendor recommendations including the first and most important decision being our wedding venue. We chose The Westin Lake Las Vegas for the beauty, great wedding reputation and delicious food. The Westin is located about 30 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip. Having the wedding here took our guests away from all of the distractions of the Strip and to the beauty of a lake, mountains and palm trees in the middle of the desert.
What was your inspiration for your wedding details and/or design?
I always knew I wanted a glamorous and classy feel to my wedding and I also knew I wanted my wedding colors to be black and white. The color gold also added that touch of class I was looking for. Black, white and gold would not only achieve the glamorous and classy look but it perfectly incorporated our Pittsburgh pride…we are huge Pittsburgh Steelers fans. I especially wanted to do this because we were having a destination wedding so bringing touches of home with us to Vegas was a great way to incorporate it all.
The design portion was a lot of planning and working with Tara on floral, linens, place settings, favors and all of the other small details. I used websites like Pinterest as inspiration. I love sparkle, feathers and pearls. Tara was able to design this look with black sequin linens, gold sparkly candles and huge centerpieces with draping pearls and feathers. We incorporated each color at different times during the wedding day. The ceremony was all white, the cocktail hour was gold and the reception was where it all came together and the color black was introduced along with accents of white and gold.
What was your favorite thing about your wedding?
My favorite thing was having our family and friends all in Vegas at the same time and celebrating our special day with them. My other favorite things I have to say were our wedding favors. First, we had custom Terrible Towels made with my new last name, wedding date and location. Each guest waved their towel during our grand entrance with our wedding party. This was another way we brought a little bit of Pittsburgh to Vegas. Second, we had caricature drawings of each guest as a place card. They were adorable! The best part of this was that the guests had no idea we were doing this. I pulled most of the pictures from social media or used photos I already had and submitted them to the caricature artist (Girl Who Drew You). It was so much fun to see the guests surprised reaction!
And a glimpse of their day in action…
Tara + Brent | Wedding Highlight Film | Westin Lake Las Vegas from Adam Trujillo on Vimeo.
What is your best piece of advice for other brides?
A couple of things:
1. Consider a wedding planner. If you can include a wedding planner in your budget, my advice is to absolutely hire someone with experience. Wedding planners aren’t just for celebrities or wealthy couples like I originally thought. They are for everyone. I am very organized and detail oriented so I thought I could handle it all myself but it does get overwhelming at times especially when planning such a huge life event. I had a lot of stress taken off my shoulders by having Tara by my side so I highly recommend at least contacting a few planners for a consultation. Another option to consider is to have a “day of” planner only. This may fit more into a budget and still ensures your wedding day will run smoothly.
2. Invest in a good photographer and videographer. A wedding day is the most important day of your life so you need every important moment captured in a beautiful way. I am beyond pleased with our wedding photos. Also, we debated on whether or not to include cinema (video) in our budget and we ended up doing it. I will say it is definitely worth it…you can’t go back and re-make those special moments.
3. Really think about entertainment. Our DJ was awesome! Our guests are still talking about him 5 months after the wedding. This is something your guests will remember so consider investing in some great entertainment.
4. Last but not least…enjoy the day! Everyone tells you to enjoy it because it goes fast and it truly does! I took that advice and on my wedding day, I enjoyed each moment. I actually ate my dinner, tried our wedding cake (because you hear so many brides and grooms don’t have time to), enjoyed cocktails and I was on the dance floor all night long. Most of all, I had a blast with my groom, family and friends. Every bride should do this at their wedding. Trust your vendors and let them handle everything else while you are having some fun!
Oh my goodness, Tara’s advice is absolutely perfect! And I just love the details of her wedding and how they were all so personal- everything from the design inspiration to the special placecards, they are all truly amazing!
Tara and Brent weren’t afraid to be inspired by their hometown team when it came to their wedding, and they did it gorgeously with the help of their team of professionals! So tell me- do you and your future spouse have a favorite team that you would want to draw your inspiration from?
Vendors who made it all happen…
Lauren
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Wow! That dress is really gorgeous!