A Rehearsal Dinner Nod to the Groom

A Lowcountry Wedding Feature

We love a good theme, and Willie and Rebecca’s Mexico style rehearsal dinner certainly awakened our design senses.  It only seemed fair to incorporate Willie’s New Mexico roots with the pending Charleston style wedding for the southern bride the following day.  And we welcomed the opportunity.

Here in the lowcountry, our destination brides are here for a true southern flavor, which we also love to create, and create it quite often.  However, introducing a different style and feel for one aspect of the weekend, keeps your guests guessing and gives them an unexpected experience.  From the food to the decor and all the entertainment (of course a piñata was the main attraction), the evening was festive, to say the least and a nice refreshing break for the Loluma team.

See the full article featured on  A Lowcountry Wedding here.  Photography by Captured by Kate

Designing for Professionals

When being asked to design an event for our fellow industry professionals, thinking outside of the box and focusing on the details is a must.  When your guests are Charleston’s finest event planners and designers, you know nothing will go unnoticed.  When asked to design a luncheon to kick off the Spring Wedding Season at Runnymede Plantation, we focused on fresh, organic elements sure to inspire the creative minded guests.  Full, lush ombre fabric installed in the existing tent, finished with an ornate ceiling medallion to highlight the black beaded chandelier set the scene.  Gorgeous round and rectangular wooden tables and green midcentury style couches provided by Snyder Lounge grounded the setting perfectly.  Guests dined on the perfect spring luncheon menu provided family style by Salthouse Catering, and enjoyed gorgeous table settings full of unique details to pull it all together.  Loluma’s floral guru, Leesa Phipps, did not disappoint, providing centerpieces in rustic gold pedestal boats of wild, spring flowers and foliage in organic, neutral tones, and pops of blue to tie in Snyder’s pale blue napkins and butterfly china.  J. Lily’s stylish calligraphied menus on clear acrylic added to the light, fresh feel of the table top design.

Photography by Molly Joseph

Beautiful desserts and cake by Sweet Rhi

Invitations by Dodeline

Bar compliments of Spike by Snyder

Sneak Peak {Jenna & Joseph}

We have been waiting with bated breath for Jenna & Joseph’s spine-tingling wedding images, and, I must say, Hunter McRae did not disappoint.  Check out a few teasers of this stunner and stay tuned for more in the coming weeks.  We knew our darling Jenna would be gorgeous, but, WOW!  Congrats again to this incredibly special pair.

Offbeat Settings

For your next event, consider stepping out of the box.  Corporate Groups annually rewarding their employees with incentive trips and unique celebrations, definitely need to get creative each year to keep things fresh and exciting.  This particular group is one we work with annually, and they are consistently exciting us with a new city and a new venue each year.  This year, we travelled up the street to Myrtle Beach and created the perfect edgy setting for this event full of food, drink and incredible entertainers at the local Hard Rock Cafe.  You can see from the photos that in an ornate space such as this, it was all about the lighting.  Thank you to Absolutely Charleston for inviting us to be a part of this group’s creative experience yet again!

Photography by Gary Coleman

Engagement Season is here!

Tis the season for family, friends and celebrations.  The perfect time for the ultimate gift… a marriage proposal!  And there will be quite a few of those as always.  Here in the popular wedding destination of Charleston, that means the race is on to find the perfect date, venue and vendors, adding stress to the already stressful task of planning a wedding.

Just a few steps to get you off on the right foot…

Step 1:  Establish a general guest list.  Having a sense of the size of your wedding will help you to know which venues are appropriate and what sort of budget is possible.

Step 2:  Budget!  Not anyone’s favorite topic with regards to this spirited time, but something to be established right off the bat.  This will address expectations and have everyone on the same page before starting to book items that don’t make sense budget-wise.

Step 3:  Venues… This is everyone’s first thought when beginning to plan and getting the right venue and date can be nerve racking.  We recommend doing your homework the best you can and putting soft holds on those venues and dates that are of interest.  Most venues will keep you penciled in for a couple of weeks or until there is a strong interest in your date.  At that point you have to commit or walk away.  Placing a few holds will give you enough time for step number 4 (be sure not to forget to respectfully call back those venues you decide against to release the holds later).

Step 4:  Reach out to planners… Of course we will plug our services here, but let’s be honest, some sort of experienced planner/ coordinator on your side is a HUGE relief in ensuring you enjoy this affair you have put so much time and money into.  It is worth the investment.  Bringing in a knowledgeable planner prior to settling on a location can certainly help you choose the right spot.  Bride’s fall in love with venues and choose based on heart quite often.  There are many things to consider financially as well as logistically to ensure you start off on the right foot.  When choosing a planner, you need to first decide what level of service your budget allows.  Full service is best in order to touch on all aspects of the celebration based on a professional’s experience as well as to be introduced to options and ideas you may not have found on your own.  However, many budgets do not allow for this service, so understanding what options are out there and which is the best service for your needs is important…

Full Service – unlimited planning and design of your event from square one.  This is obviously everyone’s preferred option as all the details and legwork are left to the professional.  They merely get a good idea of your priorities, style, budget, needs and vision overall as well as in each category of planning, then get to work bringing you the best options for you to choose from.  A good full service planner will allow you to be as hands on or hands off as you need to be.  Having them by your side at every turn will ensure a perfectly thought out and executed event and allow you peace of mind the entire process.  (cost ranges from a percentage of the budget-minimums may apply, to negotiated flat rates which vary tremendously based on levels of experience)

Partial Planning – Sometimes called “Month of,” this service helps get you rolling with established venue/ vendor recommendations and then turns you loose to do the leg work your self.  Often a set number of hours of planning that typically are applied during the full month prior to the wedding.  This allows the professional to review your paper work and  familiarize themselves with all the details you have planned.  At that point they can pinpoint problems and oversights, and tighten up the timeline, layouts, budget payments, and vendor confirmations, allowing them more knowledge to successfully facilitate the celebration from ceremony rehearsal, set up to breakdown and everything in between. (costs are typically flat rates somewhere between $2,500 and $4,500 with the ability to increase hours during the process if need be).

Day of – I think everyone will agree that this is not the best service out there, but sometimes it is what is available.  It is certainly better than nothing at all.  Ensuring you have an established planner who can more quickly recognize and solve problems on the spot is important as there is less time for them to recognize any issues ahead of time.  This usually includes a few phone conversations and a meeting or two in order to go over the details you have, then being a full presence for the ceremony rehearsal and full day of set up through breakdown on the day of allowing you to enjoy your day.  (costs range as a flat rate roughly between $850 and $2,500)

Step 5:  After you find your planner, allow them to help you choose the venue.  Phew!  Then you can rest assured you have a location to celebrate that will perfectly accommodate your needs.

Step 6:  Go relax, grab a glass of wine and get ready for the fun!

Step 7:  Vendors – It is important to recognize your priorities, and establish a budget with your planner that weights more heavily to these areas.  Understanding a legitimate cost to budget for each area of the wedding is important when choosing your vendors.  If photography is most important look at an elevated cost for a photographer and decide what area(s) could stand to cut back in order to get that perfect photographer.  Once you establish the detailed budget estimates narrow your options to 2 or 3 per category, set up meetings, and get quotes from each and contract from there.

Step 8:  Enjoy!  Once you have everything booked you are far from finished, but you can relax and begin to enjoy being engaged. Details can be hashed out in the months approaching.

Congratulations to all the newly engaged couples for 2017!  We wish you the best of luck and would love to be a part of your celebration!

Enjoy a sweet proposal / private engagement dinner for two shot by the incredible Evan Laettner.