Sarah Davidson

Vendors We Love: Hampton Inn + Suites Madison Downtown

March 24, 2021 By Sarah Davidson

Last week I partnered with Destination Madison to take part in one of their Madison Minications. This campaign was launched as a way for locals to explore and take advantage of the great hotels our area has to offer and is currently running through April 12, 2021. With Lila turning four this month, we had been searching for an idea to celebrate that got us out of the house but felt safe, and this overnight hotel stay was the perfect blend of both!

While there are many Minication options, The Hampton Inn + Suites Downtown Madison was ideal for us for a few reasons:

We wanted something easy and family friendly. Just having a pool and Lila getting her own bed on the pullout couch would’ve been enough to celebrate, but the downtown parking, hot breakfast, and location ready for exploration really made this for us. Throw in the $30 Food Fight Restaurant gift card and bingo scavenger hunt included as a part of the Minication package and we had an action packed 24 hours!
I refer sooooooo many couples to this hotel for their wedding room blocks! I’ve always been comfortable doing so because of its good reputation and feedback from my couples on their positive experience. However, it makes me feel 1000% percent more excited about it now that I’ve personally gone through a stay there and can speak to my own experience.

Our arrival and check-in process was extremely easy, from parking the car to a smooth and safe check-in at the front desk. As soon as you stepped foot on the property you could tell that they embraced their Madison location and proximity to campus, with tons of local-focused artwork and accents around, including one of the Buckys on Parade (Pucky)! Izzy and Luis at the front desk were extremely kind and even had special birthday treats ready for Lila, which she loved!

We stayed in a King Studio Suite, which included a microwave, mini-fridge, and pullout sofa, on the seventh floor with views of campus. The Hampton has several room options available depending on your needs, and we were extremely happy with how clean and cozy our space was. As you can see below, Lila claimed her space pretty quick! For weddings, the different options and price points would make things easy for anyone on your guest list to find something that works for them.

After unpacking it was time to head to the pool! We were having so much fun I wasn’t able to get great pictures, but this area is perfect for both kids and adults alike. The hot tub has a beautiful waterfall feature and the pool is large with plenty of space for splashing around. The temperature was perfect and we were able to burn a bunch of energy before heading out to dinner.

The Minication package came with a $30 gift card to any Food Fight Restaurant. We opted to spend this on breakfast for dinner at Bassett Street Brunch Club, directly connected to the hotel. While mom and dad enjoyed a bloody mary and spiked horchata (respectively) to toast four years of parenthood, Lila went for the kids menu french toast with a HUGE chocolate milk. Needless to say, we were all pretty satisfied with our choices.

When we returned to the hotel, Luis from the front desk kindly obliged when I asked if they wouldn’t mind showing me their meeting space, which is easily accessible off the lobby. I could tell this would be the perfect space for a wedding party to rent for a hair/makeup getting ready room. That’s a biggie that I didn’t know was an option for this trip, but will now certainly be sharing with everyone!

We ended the night relaxing in our room with a good movie and some snacks. It was the earliest I went to bed all week and felt so good! #momlife

I’m a hot breakfast type of person, which is ALWAYS what gets me excited to stay at a Hampton. They offer FREE hot breakfast to all their guests! When we woke up the next morning I immediately hit up the coffee station upon entering the breakfast area and then we staked out a table to start the morning off right. There was something for everyone, with eggs, sausage, and bagels for mom and dad and Lucky Charms and chocolate muffins for the birthday girl. When we wrapped I sent the other two up to the room to prep for another swim session while I took a minute of peace near the fireplace with my coffee. For breakfast I could tell they had several team members assigned to make sure everything stayed safe and clean, from team members serving instead of self-serve, to regularly wiping down common area touchpoints.

After getting in one last swim, the final thing that we did was the Bingo Scavenger hunt included as a part of the Madison Minication. This was such a fun family activity to complete, sending us all around the hotel to make sure we didn’t miss any unique detail of this place. Definitely don’t miss this part of the Minication package because major prizes are at stake!

I want to thank Destination Madison for the opportunity to take this trip and The Hampton Inn + Suites Madison Downtown for such wonderful hospitality. If you’re a couple hosting your wedding in downtown Madison, we at HUE by Sarah Davidson highly endorse this property as a safe, modern, and comfortable location to host your guests. If you’re into the idea of a Madison Minication and want to figure out which one is right for you, check out this post.

Until next time!
Sarah

Chief Strategist and Creative Director of HUE by Sarah Davidson, Sarah is a sought after event industry consultant, planner, and strategist based in Madison, WI. Follow her work on Instagram at @huebysd.

Advice for Entrepreneurs: Seeing the Bigger Picture

March 3, 2021 By Sarah Davidson

Today, I’m just jumping right in friends!

After a full year of getting kicked around by Covid, what could possibly give me the right to say “Just relax guys! Don’t get stuck in the day-to-day! See the bigger picture!”

Well, nothing really. Except for the fact that it’s probably something many small-business owners (especially those in the hospitality industry) need to be reminded of right now. I know I did.

“The combination of hard work and smart work is efficient work.” – Robert Half

A business exists to serve you as the owner, the owner does not exist to serve the business. You should always remember this. Why did you start your business? Probably not because you loved answering emails and phone calls all day.

I didn’t just want to be a wedding planner, I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Growing up I was inspired to watch my father trailblaze his own career path instead of climbing a pre-structured ladder. I loved the idea of building a business that encompassed specifically who I was as a person, including my strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes. And honestly, I wanted to take a vacation whenever I wanted!

So what are some steps you can take to separate yourself from the day-to-day, continue to love your work, and hopefully scale your business along the way? Here’s a few to start with:

Define the Vision

So what is your answer to why you started your business? When you think about your why and who you are as an owner and a person, do your current services and methods of operating your business line up?

If they don’t, that’s okay! It just means you’re now being presented with an opportunity to reevaluate. I personally started working with a business coach about a year ago, and in our time together I’ve done a lot of reflection realizing that for my first few years of my business I was just going through a lot of motions. I would just sit in front of my email each day and wait for business and tasks to come to me, then address them as they came up. I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do next, but figured that if I always just did a good job at whatever came my way good things would happen right?

Some good things happened, yes. I’m very proud of the work I accomplished during that time, and frankly continually proud of having the guts to just start the business. But since about a year ago, when I did actually define and write down real goals of where I want to be in the future.. Wow have things happened.

I build my weekly to do list around my goals, and I work very hard to prioritize those over day to day operations. The day to day still gets done though. It’s amazing how efficient you can be when there is a true purpose of what you’re working towards.

Think Ahead

“You’re on time if you’re five minutes early. You’re late if you’re on time.”

While I can’t say I’m in love with this Drumline quote, it’s accurate and applicable here. It’s also been in my head since the January NACE Evolve conference I attended.

As a planner it’s my job to continuously be looking forward to what’s happening next, soon, and later. If the first dance is supposed to start at 8pm and I don’t think about it until 8pm, it’s not happening on time.

So where are there opportunities in your business to be building processes and thinking ahead? Take marketing for example. Many people don’t worry about marketing until business is slow. However if they just kept up their marketing efforts when they were busy, they wouldn’t have to worry about ever being slow.

Set those goals and have touchpoints along the way to make sure your work is continuously driving those goals.

Stay the Course

Entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint. If it was a sprint, we’d all be extremely bored trying to come up with new things to do, since we have no desire to go back to the day-to-day of corporate life.

If you’re still wondering how am I going to make it both personally and professionally through the pandemic, reflect back on what you’ve accomplished. It’s been nearly a year, way longer than anyone thought it would be, and you’re still here. You’re someone who cares enough about his or her business to read this blog and hopefully have some takeaways. That is the attitude that is going to take you somewhere.

Remember who you are and why you started this business. Did you do something today or this week that put you closer to those goals? Then you’re doing great.

Chief Strategist and Creative Director of HUE by Sarah Davidson, Sarah is a sought-after event industry consultant, planner, and strategist based in Madison, WI. Follow her work on Instagram at @huebysd.

Real HUE Events: HUE Brand Relaunch Party

February 17, 2021 By Sarah Davidson

Today we’re going back to a MUCH simpler time. It was just over a year ago, and we were young, naïve, and gathering in large groups (with buffet food – my stars!) It was our rebrand launch and five-year anniversary party!

From the day they opened, I knew that I would someday host a personal event at DLUX. If you haven’t been able to tell from our identical websites, they’re quite on-brand for me and I will always be in favor of a boozy brunch. As soon as I had a celebration opportunity they were the first call, along with my request for Egg Innovations event sponsorship (thanks Dad!) Rounded out with DJ Geoffrey from Celebrations Entertainment and Paul Gero’s talent behind the lens, I couldn’t have asked for a better morning.

I’ll always look back at this day as a career highlight, being able to gather all my friends who are with me in the business of gathering. As we drank champagne from my custom HUE flutes provided by ProAdSpec, we all got to enjoy being the guest for once, instead of the help. I looked at the room and felt extremely lucky about all the relationships I’ve been able to build through my work and how far things had come since I planned my very first wedding back in 2014.

Oh what a year it’s been!

Top 3 Things to Keep in Mind When Planning Your 2021 Wedding

February 3, 2021 By Sarah Davidson

It’s 2021 everyone! For those of you who booked a wedding in 2020, then put a pause on things as Covid played out, the time has come for you to start making some decisions.

So what are the top three things you need to consider when planning for your 2021 wedding, amidst a never-ending pandemic and unclear guidelines as to what could or could not be allowed on your date? Here are the big three!

Vendor communication is critical

Remember that all your vendors are going through this right alongside you. Odds are that we’re already aware of everything that you may be weighing and thinking about related to your wedding this year, and we want to be a resource. Please use to talk through what your day could potentially look like, what changes might need to be made, and precautions we are taking to keep everyone safe.

If you are at all considering changing your date, reaching out to make your vendors aware of this as soon as possible is crucial. Our industry has been flipped upside down for the past 11 months, with even more moving pieces than normal, so the best thing that can get us all through this is clear and regular communication with our clients. We want to do everything we can to still try to make this as smooth of as possible for you.

That being said, do not expect date changes to be as easy in 2021 as they were in 2020. In 2020 no one had any idea what we were getting into and what to expect. But now, nearly a year later, Covid and the policies around it are no longer a surprise. In order to keep their doors open both to you and their other clients, vendors are more often finding themselves in the tough situation of needing to fall back on their contracts. We are seeing stricter enforcement on date change and cancellation policies and believe we will continue to do so as this year goes on.

Think about what your covid-friendly wedding looks like

We all hope that things will be “back to normal” by the time your wedding date comes. However, depending on how local ordinances are being handled in your venue’s location, there is still a great deal of uncertainty of when that will happen.

For this reason, we recommend that you plan ahead and already start thinking about what your wedding would like with covid policies in place. Can your venue accommodate a socially distanced setup? Can your photographer find a system to work in a few safe, non-masked, photos? Are there decor or experience elements that can be creatively adjusted? Can you save money anywhere?

If you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re always going to hear from us that planning ahead is crucial to a great experience. This year, we believe you will have a better experience if you plan for a covid-friendly wedding (even just in the back of your mind) with the potential to be pleasantly surprised than to plan for no restrictions and have to begrudgingly change things at the last minute. If this is still all a big fat no though, see the section above about vendor communication.

Manage guest expectations and communication

Probably the biggest headache though is thinking through your guest list. It’s hard to know what everyone’s various comfort levels could be, not to mention who would make the cut on your ABCD list. When should be your final deadline to send invitations, and what if restrictions change just weeks or even days before your date?

If you haven’t gotten on board the wedding website train yet, there’s no time like the present! Let your guests know that is where all the most up to date information will be and save yourself from responding to the calls, emails, and texts. In addition to basic information, your website should include a list of what safety precautions will be in place, as well as any expectations you have of your guests who attend. If they will be required to wear a mask it will be much easier on everyone if that is known ahead of time, instead of a potential day of surprise. Spelling this all out also aids your guest in making their own decisions if they feel safe attending or not.

And on that note, be understanding of those who decide not to attend because they do not feel safe. We are all human, and it can hurt a lol to have someone close to you miss your wedding. But it can hurt even more to permanently damage a relationship over it, and sadly we’ve already seen this happen a few times now. There are any options today for hybrid events, virtual events, and postponed celebrations that the “all or nothing” approach is a thing of the past.

Anything else we missed that should be considered? Drop a line below to let us know!

Chief Strategist and Creative Director of HUE by Sarah Davidson, Sarah is a sought after event industry consultant, planner, and strategist based in Madison, WI. Follow her work on Instagram at @huebysd.

Bianca + Jeffrey: The Lageret – Stoughton, WI

January 20, 2021 By Sarah Davidson

Looking back now and knowing that destiny was only going to let me coordinate one wedding in all of 2020, I AM so lucky I had the chance for it to be Bianca and Jeffrey’s!

Scheduled for a Leap Day wedding, this adorable couple had their own set of wedding planning challenges they had to work through, even before Covid rocked our world. They were victims of the closure of Noah’s Event Venue in early 2020 and were left without a venue just three weeks before their wedding. Never fear though, as our event community is fierce when it comes to supporting our couples, and with a big thanks to Dana from Wedding Planner + Guide, they were able to secure The Lageret as a beautiful backup location. With the location change, I was honored to step in to make sure no other surprises ensued, so these two could finally relax, enjoy, and celebrate.

If there aren’t photos and videos to prove it – did it really happen? Good thing East Elm Photography as well as Sotography Productions were there capturing the memories created during my favorite wedding this past year.

The happy couple’s reception was professionally prepared and displayed by Upstairs Downstairs. Decadent desserts including a three-tiered wedding cake and assorted cupcakes were baked and designed by Mia Stav Cakes.

Rich, warm hues were an ode to this former tobacco warehouse with event decor provided by Event Essentials, highlighting the historical Stoughton venue.

Saving the best for last, since what truly makes weddings magical is the community involved to create lasting memories. Bianca and Jeffrey’s family and friends came together to provide their ceremony coordination, grazing table, floral arrangements, and table decor.

Congrats Bianca and Jeffrey!

The Dream Team:

Wedding Coordination: HUE by Sarah Davidson
Photography: East Elm Photography
Videography: Sotography Productions
Venue: The Lageret
Catering: Upstairs Downstairs
Desserts: Mia Stav Cakes
Rentals: Event Essentials
Ceremony Coordination, Grazing Table, + Floral/Table Decor: Bianca & Jeffrey’s Community
Special Shout Out: Dana from Wedding Planner + Guide