Lighting your look...

We LOVE lighting!!! It is one of the things at a wedding that should not be over looked because of budget reasons. Lighting makes all the difference in a room full of crazy wall colors or carpet you need to draw attention from. When we walk into a bare ballroom with a bride it is typically very hard for the bride and MOB to visualize the room with tables, flowers, lighting etc. It makes it so much more difficult when the walls are an awful shade of pink and the carpet is an overwhelming floral pattern....something you look at and think, "Why on earth would someone pick that for a room? Much less a BALLROOM!!" Lighting is the band-aide for an ugly ballroom. It assists in making the floral and tables pop and the guests eyes are drawn to the beautiful table tops. We also love to "wash" the walls with uplighting. This means you can make the walls any color you like! There is also an option to have a lighting technician onsite during your event to change the wall color throughout your party. We've had parties that start with a white wall wash and change to pinks as the night goes on. Changing the lighting changes the atmosphere, which is always a plus! It is fun to keep the guests wondering what will happen next. Gobos on the dance floor are also a fun addition to your wedding. If you have a monogram you want to use or some type of motif you've carried throughout your wedding, the dance floor is a perfect place to display it. Lighting companies can do just about anything!! Lighting makes drab florals look fabulous. Spend less money on florals and put some money into your lighting budget. You won't regret it!!

Some of our favorite Dallas lighting companies are Absolute Lighting and Lite Dallas. They both do a wonderful job and are so great to work with! Absolute Lighting created the look above and washed the room in a gorgeous pink color. Let me tell you, the room above wasn't anywhere close to a pink color but you wouldn't know that thanks to the magic of lighting. :)

Happy Lighting!!!

Inspiration from SMP... (think SJP but for the wedding world)

We’ve been blogging about things that inspire us and thought it was only right to give inspirational credit to one of our favorite wedding websites. (drums please….) Stylemepretty.com is a brides dream website! You can go on the site to look for ideas, places to buy things, things to buy for bridesmaids gifts (or any other type of gift), local vendors and the list goes on… I could spend hours looking at the site and getting inspired. In fact, I do… quite a bit! If Style Me Pretty had been around when I was planning my wedding, the bank account would have been empty…quick!



Sine we are a featured vendor on the site (they have to ask you… you can’t solicit them) they sent us the cute little Style Me Pretty logo to display on our website and blog. We are OFFICIAL now!! AK Event Design is happy to be a Little Black Book member and a part of one of the greatest wedding websites. SMP loves weddings as much as we do!!

Visit Style Me Pretty and be inspired!!!

Lovely Dresses!!!

When you see a beautiful dress, you stop in your tracks and try to come up with an excuse to buy it. I found a lovely dress today that I should have purchased. It was inexpensive and simply... stunning. I honestly think there is nothing better than finding something you love and then when you look at the price tag, you gasp because it is totally affordable. Most of the "less expensive" wedding dresses I see aren't made with great fabric and they just look... CHEAP. Nothing is worse than a cheap looking wedding dress. 

Every bride knows that when it comes to their wedding dress, they will pay about anything if they find the dress of their dreams. However, the dress is one of the most important aspects of a wedding. When our clients meet with florists, one of the first things they ask is, "Have you found your wedding dress?" The reason is because it helps the designer understand more about the style of the bride, which in turn helps them style the wedding of the bride's dreams. We had a bride last weekend that wore a gorgeous Lela Rose dress. It was simple, elegant and had a little bit of a vintage look to it. You can probably imagine from her dress what the wedding was like... it was in a garden setting with candles hanging from the trees. Her favors were carmel dipped apples and her floral was very simple with a vintage twist. Just from seeing her dress, I knew exactly the feel she wanted for her wedding.

The dress tells a lot about the woman in it, which is why we LOVE WEDDING DRESSES!!! I've always been a fan of J.Crew and they've recently come out with some beautiful wedding gowns. They are on the affordable side and are simple, elegant and state the design of the bride nicely. If you saw one of the dresses walking down the street, you would know exactly what type of wedding it was walking to.

Happy Dressing!!

AK Event Design featured in Grace Ormonde Wedding Magazine...

When AK Event Design was created 4 1/2 years ago we only dreamed of being featured in a national publication.  Now, our dream has come true. :)  We were asked by the editors of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine, which is one of the most gorgeous wedding magazines, to create a tabletop based on our inspiration of a painting by Alfred Gockel.  The painting was titled "Romance in Red." (see above picture)  It is a beautiful painting with so much movement we knew the floral needed to have that same aspect.  We collaborated with Bella Flora of Dallas to create a table that caught the eye of all the other designers at the shoot.  Cesar at Bella Flora sat down with us and started sketching out our ideas for the floral, linens and how it was all going to move together.   Once we had the main concept on paper, our team went on the hunt for gorgeous china.  We found beautiful china with hints of gold at Stephanie Anne Home.  One of the challenges we had with our painting and actual floral design was the height of it all.  We knew it HAD to be grand or it just wouldn't go over with the editors the way we envisioned.  In order to bring the height down a little we used onyx crystals that hung from the floral down to the oversized wine glasses.  The wine glasses we also found at Stephanie Anne Home and they were perfect!!  They make you want to pour a glass of wine and curl up with a book by the fire.  They are stunning and really were the connecting item of our china and floral.  The emperor chairs were from a rental company in Dallas.  They were a great option for the picture but not as practical for an event.  

Once the hard work was completed and the pictures were taken.... we just had to wait, for months, to see if our table would be one of the "chosen ones."  We received word in July that our table was going to be featured in the magazine.  We feel so honored to "grace" the pages of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style.  

Happy Viewing!!!

... On The Catwalk

Girls love fashion. Girls love fashion shows….so what a better way to spend a Thursday night than attending a Vera Wang fashion show in a tent under the stars. The event was hosted by Modern Luxury and Warren Barron , a couture bridal gown shop in HPV. We had a wonderful time chatting with other people in the wedding industry, while admiring the beauty of many gowns on the runway. Of course, we all had our personal favorites and it is fun to listen to everyone’s comments around you as the models strut down the catwalk in gorgeous gowns. “Only someone her size could wear that.” “I love the back of that dress!” “Why don’t model’s smile?” It was a fabulous event and one we hope they have again. In addition to just having a fun night out with the girls (including the Strictlyweddings.com beauties in the picture above), we also ran into one of Vera Wang’s assistants that tours the nation with all of Vera’s wedding gowns. We had met her a few years back when she worked for Junko Yoshioka. It was fun to see her and catch up!!

…all in a days work!!

Inspired by.... Beautiful Invitations

Photos. Top Row, Left to Right: Bella Figura, Ceci New York, Hello Lucky!, Bella Figura; Center: Bella Figura; Bottom Row, Left to Right: Ceci New York, Bella Figura, Hello Lucky!

We love things that inspire our team!!! Beautiful things…handbags, dresses, fabric, letter pressed cards….the list could go on. We are starting a new series of “Things that inspire us” when we are planning one-of-a-kind weddings.

Our first inspiration has to be BEAUTIFUL INVITATIONS. We adore invitations that are stunning. Invitations set the tone for ‘what is to come.’ When guests receive their invitations it begins to tell the story of what the wedding will be like. One of the greatest comments I received once (…one I will never forget) was from an interior designer of an NBA player. He stopped me in the lobby during the wedding weekend and said, “I knew this was going to be a fabulous event when I felt the weight of the invitation. They are the most beautiful paper products I have ever seen.” He was correct, everything from the save the date to the wedding invitation to the luggage tags we sent the guests prior to their arrival at the hotel, everything was beautiful and told a story of what was to come. Lisa Hoffman of CECI New York was the artistic hand behind the work of the invitations. Please click here to see how brilliantly everything came together. You can also check out a past article in D Weddings to see some editorial work we have done with Lisa.

We also LOVE Alyssa Reeves of Paradise Design Co. She is based in Dallas and has an eye for amazing designs. She is very talented!!! When we have a bride who shares a love for beautiful invitations with us…. Our first call is to Alyssa. Currently we are working with her to create a beautiful one of a kind invitation that is made up of creams and golds. It is stunning and the invitation set is made up of embossing, letter pressing, flat printing, shiny and matte metallics, everything…. And it is STUNNING. The bride made a comment the other day that even men were commenting on how beautiful the save the dates were….THAT is when you know you’ve done a good job!!!

Invitations set the mood and make brides happy. It brings the element of design into the event that so many brides miss out on. It doesn’t have to be over the top expensive but it will take a larger chunk of the budget than most probably expect. I would say, based on an invitation list of 100, a custom designer would start around $2500 and go up from there. If your budget doesn’t allow for this, I would gather ideas and find a paper source to get heavy cardstock to print your invitations on…then find a local printer. Remember, your invitation sets the tone for your fabulous event!!! They are worth the splurge. ☺

Happy Designing!!!!

To pillow or not to pillow...

Are you looking for a unique ring bearer pillow? One day while visiting the Style Me Pretty website I found a post about these adorable pillows. Recently we have seen less of our brides using traditional pillows, for many reasons, but mostly because the precious little boy who is acting as ring bearer is not actually given the rings, so they don’t feel the need to give him an empty pillow. Not only are there ring bearer pillows on this site, but also great decorative pillows for any room in your newlywed house. Designer Anna Whitford's creations are all made by hand and have a delicate touch. So even if you aren’t looking for a ring bearer pillow, you might be able to find something fun for your new home with your future husband.

Happy Pillow Shopping!