Real Events By HUE

Alexandria + Nathan: Caribou Bay Retreat – Coloma, WI

April 28, 2021 By Sarah Davidson

A blog 3.5 years in the making, Alexandria and Nathan, I am SO excited to finally share the details of your beautiful Wisconsin Northwoods wedding!!

Alexandria and I first met back in 2017 at a different wedding where I was the coordinator and she was the photographer. At that wedding, when all the vendors were hanging out and eating dinner together she asked for my card, so she could reach out when she started to make her own wedding plans. And then low and behold, she actually did! I was ecstatic!

Although the weather was touch and go — it was literally about to rain the entire day — everything was able to go on as planned! And oh there were several fabulous things planned for their big day. Their dog, Kida, was a stunning ring bearer with a gorgeous floral collar and Nathan’s mom expertly sewed Alexandria’s dress herself.

After the ceremony, celebrations commenced and the party truly started. No one went hungry between great Wisconsin fare from Moose Inn Supper Club and pie for dessert, provided Nathan’s Grandma Carol.

By the way, these two are trained ballroom dancers, so for their first dance they pulled out all the stops — wardrobe change, dance moves, and all. It was crazy fun to watch!

Congrats Alexandria and Nathan!

The Dream Team:
Wedding Coordination: HUE by Sarah Davidson
Photography: Brooke Alania
Videography: Bella Hill
Venue: Caribou Bay Retreat
Catering: Moose Inn Supper Club
DJ: You Had Me at I Do
Beauty: Kasha Rodig
Rentals: Wautoma Rentals

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.

Featured HUE Event: “It’s Showtime” – A Fresh Look at Events with NACE

April 14, 2021 By Sarah Davidson

While I don’t want to jinx us by saying “We’re back!” just yet in the world of events, things have certainly been taking an optimistic turn lately here in Madison. Last week NACE Capital Area of Wisconsin hosted its first in-person event in over a year and it felt SOOO good to see the real live faces of my friendors!

Guidelines are still fairly tight here, and masks and distancing will likely still be in place for some time, so our group of creative professionals took the opportunity to be industry leaders, showcasing how events can still feel comfortable and elegant while working within public health boundaries.

Event Essentials partnered with our host venue, The Madison Concourse Hotel + Governor’s Club, to set the stage for the event. With the use of lounges, strategic dinner seating, and beautiful decor, it just didn’t feel sterile and restrictive as one might fear, even though everything was set for distancing. Conversations and merriment commenced quite easily.

Food Fight Restaurant Group and Monona Catering took the reins with an enlightening food and beverage presentation, tackling the part of events that may make people the most nervous. Sure it’s all well and good when you walk in with your mask on, but what happens when you need to eat? Lisa and Marcia offered some great suggestions from signage to packaging, to service when it comes to keeping both event guests, as well as staff working, comfortable.

And finally, what about those who are not quite ready to be in-person yet? Enter the world of hybrid events, with Celebrations Entertainment leading the charge as experts in this area. Not only did Geoffrey present on the topic, but the entire meeting was set up as a hybrid event, with a number of guests attending virtually as well. This is certainly an option that I see sticking around long into the future, post-Covid.

This event was a test run, both for those of us who planned it, as well as many of the attendees. There were moments that felt natural and then there were certainly others that were filled with some uncertainty. I believe it will continue to feel that way for a long time, but at this point, there is nowhere else to go but forward. I get emotional thinking about this opportunity that we’ve finally been given to prove ourselves, especially after sharing the state of our industry just three months ago.

Thank you to my friends Tim Fitch for photos and Paul Gero for videography. Events like these are never possible without collaboration from our vendor community and a passion for celebrating each other’s work. Can’t wait until the next one!

Thank you to Channel 3000 and The Cap Times for your coverage of our event!

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!

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

Italian Inspired Styled Shoot: Harvest Moon Pond – Poynette, WI

October 5, 2020 By Sarah Davidson

I love creating impactful moments and bringing people together soooooo much. Like, SO much.

Well, when Covid-19 hit the USA in March of 2020 it temporarily put a damper on things like that. Personally, I went through a rough few months (as did many in the hospitality industry), stuck in this mindset that I just wasn’t going to be doing any events for a very, very long time. There was nothing that could be done, that we all just had to live through this, and also try to figure out how to survive until it was over.

By the time summer rolled around though and we realized this wasn’t ending anytime soon, I needed to shake myself out of it. It took a lot of watching and being inspired by industry friends seizing the moment, a lot of conversations with my business coach, and a lot of holding up the mirror to get through my head trash that nothing could be done. But finally I was able to get to a point like:

Loving this 2020 release from Ale Asylum

Right around that time is when I received my first message from Stephanie, one of the new owners of Harvest Moon Pond, a gorgeous venue in Poynette with a beautiful history. Somehow I had yet to have been to her space so she invited me out for a tour, along with Jason, Owner of Chance Productions, to get a lay of the land and brainstorm on ways that we could all work together. In this meeting we hatched the plan to collaborate on a styled shoot, meant to inspire in the current times, while showcasing parts of the venue that haven’t gotten as much love as the should. And voilà! Here we are.

While I enjoy a big, glamorous wedding as much as the next planner, I equally love creating a low-key yet personalized celebration. This sentiment served as the overall goal for this shoot, that a wedding doesn’t have to be cheapened by adding the term “casual” in front of it. Instead it offers an opportunity to define a very specific experience that a couple wants their guests to have.

To pull this together, I would only (as I always do) trust the best. With the venue and rentals already on board, the next key members were those who could capture the entire project’s ambiance and the creative work of all vendors flawlessly. Enter Tim Fitch (photographer) and Paul Gero (videographer), who I trust over and over again to capture the essence of HUE – our approach, our style, and the end result we want. And they deliver every. single. time.

Once the vision is set, it’s time to talk details. My approach in this is to leave the finer things to the experts, giving each vendor a general scope what what I want the end result to feel like and then letting them run with it. As per usual with this particular dream team, they ran hard and took things to a level far beyond what was asked of them. For instance, can we just soak in these daffodil*parker florals for a minute?

When I asked Kayla from DP to participate, she said “We’ve done so much with whites and greens, it would be awesome to incorporate more color into the palette! I’ve personally been really into rust, taupe, cream, beige, brown and pops of color that lean late summer.” With the shoot occurring in August, that was more than okay with me. We understand that casual couples prefer to lean into their surroundings, embracing the moment and everything that comes along with it, so floral and colors natural to the season in Wisconsin made perfect sense.

Delicate and personalized details have been the heart and soul of A LA CRATE Rentals for many years now, and there is no way the look could’ve pulled together as seamlessly as it did without key pieces from their collection. To some, the addition of something simple like a rug or vintage plates might not seem like that big of a deal. However it’s taken me years to learn that in the world of creating memorable experiences, these touches are everything.

These touches also include paper goods, which set the stage and put your guests in the proper mindset before they’ve even arrived. Kathy, Owner of Sugar Pear Design had a lot of fun for me on this one, designing an invitation suite poking fun at the time of Covid and leaning heavily into our Italian inspiration. You know, I love being a little extra now and then!

Geoffrey, the Owner of Celebrations Entertainment is another friendor of mine that feeds my “being extra” habit, which you can see from this particular shoot with the inclusion of his silent disco setup. Hosting an outdoor event and want to rock to the wee hours? Make sure to check these out for maximum party potential with minimum risk of noise complaints!

And finally, we could not have done this all without our amazing models! Carrie and Noah. From our first connection, to their trip to Moments to Cherish to be outfitted with Arlene, to being present on shoot day, they understood our vibe and were totally willing to go with the flow, enjoying these moments we had all created and helping our whole team forget about the pandemic for a little bit.