Boho Oceanside 20th Anniversary Vow Renewal
Karen & Ricardo
August 4, 2018
Marco Island, FL
As a wedding industry pro, Karen of Kakes by Karen called on her friends to help create a thoughtful and memorable 20th anniversary vow renewal for her and her husband. With a bohemian flair, the familiar terrace at the Marco Beach Ocean Resort was transformed into a garden with crocheted chandeliers, tables overflowing with garland made of greenery, floral trellises, custom napkins and a chandelier cake!
A note from the planner:
I met Karen when I had just started my business back in 2007, and she was building hers. It has been such a pleasure to have her do so many personal cakes for us, as well as some masterpieces for our clients! After all of these years doing so much for us, I literally jumped at the chance to help her create such a special memory!
Karen & Ricardo wanted to really celebrate life and enjoy a great party with their friends and family for their 20th Vow Renewal! They had a very formal Wedding in Puerto Rico, and wanted to have some fun with the Bohemian flair for the Renewal. It was not the style I thought she would pick – but was so excited to run with it! Vow Renewals are becoming more popular, and we do about 2-3 a year now. I feel like couples hosting a renewal are open to more “outside the box” designs and surprises which is very fulfilling for all of us in the creative world of design! It is always fun to sit down with a pen and a piece of paper (or iPad) and let your imagination let loose a little!
It was such a pleasure for all of her Wedding Industry friends to come together to make it one for the books! Of course, we wanted it to be jam-packed with uniques touches so we designed and built 7 custom pieces for the Vow Renewal. The guests were treated to a Bohemian paradise of wooden trellises, macrame chandeliers, greenery garland, olive oil favors, beaded votives and more! We had a leaf pattern laser-cut piece created for the escort cards… and then had real florals woven through the wood piece, holding paper “leaf” escort cards in place. For the ceremony, instead of having a traditional aisle, guests were seated on either side so they could see the expression on Karen and Ricardo’s face. Matt Darling (my husband and Workshop manager) built a 4-post trellis that Botanicals on the Gulf Florist suspended dozens and dozens of hanging flowers over their heads for a lovely effect. We placed short wooden planks, draped with greenery garland and lanterns on either side of the section of chairs to add some definition to the seating area. We did have to face some weather and lightning that day, but it finally let up long enough for us to guide all the guests out the beach and have everything as we envisioned it!
One thing Karen wanted to include was the touch of lavender and rosemary on the napkins! It ended up being a very inviting touch (both sense of smell and of course visually stunning) and worked well in combination with the custom monogram cloth napkins.
Since Karen bakes and designs the most amazing Wedding cakes, we had to ensure that the cake stood on it’s own – literally! There was no way we were going to use a traditional table to house her cake, and when she said she wanted to do a “hanging” cake, the concept of a freestanding frame lined with greenery seemed to be the perfect fit! We added some pillar candles to the bottom, along with a little side table for the cutting knife. It was truly the centerpiece of the party!
The vendor that was most important to Ricardo, was that they had wanted Clint Wiley’s None Other band to play the event! They actually changed to original date of the renewal just to have them there. They ROCKED the house as usual!
Vendors
Venue: Marco Ocean Beach Resort
Planning/Coordination: Carrie Darling Events
Photography: Set Free Photography
Floral: Botanicals on the Gulf
Cake: Kakes by Karen
Invitations: The Paper Merchant
Escort Cards: DM Paper Designs
Rentals: Unearthed Rentals
Entertainment: None Other Band (Wiley Entertainment)
Beauty: Duality Artistry