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HUE By Sarah Davidson

Madison, Milwaukee Wedding Planner

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Real Events By HUE

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!

Filed Under: Real Events By HUE, Sincerely Sarah, Vendors We Love

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

Filed Under: Real Events By HUE Tagged With: ceremony, dinner, event planning, events, flowers, madison wedding, madison weddings, planning, Reception, rentals, vendor, wedding, wedding decor, wedding design, wedding planning, weddings, wisconsin, wisconsin wedding, wisconsin weddings

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.

  • Sal’s Tomato Pies.. enough said.

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?

  • Carnations are back people!

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.

Thank you to all involved! Until next time!

The Dream Team:
Design, Planning + Coordination: HUE by Sarah Davidson
Venue: Harvest Moon Pond
Photography: Tim Fitch Photography
Videography: Gero Pictures
Arch + Rentals: Chance Productions
Vintage Rentals: A LA CRATE Rentals
Floral: daffodil*parker
Stationery: Sugar Pear Design
Catering: Salvatore’s Tomato Pies
Silent Disco: Celebrations Entertainment
Attire: Moments to Cherish Bridals
Models: Carrie Brick + Noah Hockett

Filed Under: Real Events By HUE, Vendors We Love Tagged With: backyard wedding, casual wedding, italian, microwedding, outdoor wedding, pizza, silent disco, weddings, wisconsin wedding, wisconsin weddings

Rural Wisconsin Styled Shoot: Blanchard Hall

July 29, 2020 By Sarah Davidson

What is my number one favorite part about being in the events industry? Vendor Collaboration! When I work with a couple planning their wedding, it brings me great joy to be able to pair them with a full roster of creatives who are ready to fulfill their exact dreams. And it equally brings me just as much joy to build strong relationships with those vendors far past just working one event together. I am constantly inspired by the amount of talent and opportunity there is my industry and how it is constantly evolving year after year.

The shoot below was the product of such a collaboration, especially meant to highlight that beautiful events can occur outside the Madison city-limits in locations you might not think to look. I had never been to Blanchardville, WI before I met Paul, the owner of historic Blanchard Hall, at a Summer 2019 networking event. However when he graciously offered for me to tour his venue I was excited to take an adventure outside of Dane County.

As I toured the venue I was immediately inspired by how comfortable I felt. If I were to host something in this space it could almost feel like I was hosting within my own home or backyard, and that’s what I chose to run with when pulling together the design. I wanted to lean into details that felt attainable, yet elegant, and that you didn’t need to search further than our own region to find (hello New Glarus and Wollersheim)

For our main lounge, I wanted a space that was attractive for guests to sit back and reminisce for an evening with old friends. My favorite touch to this was the afghans provided by Velvet Rentals, layered on top of the venue’s own furniture.

Photo: Tim Fitch Photography

Our sweetheart table was all about the Classic Wisconsin Supper Club. When I asked Brandi of Weddings by Blooms to help me dress this up she over-delivered, with bud vases so delicate and perfect I wanted to snag all of them home with me at the end of the night. I also would be remiss to not mention my intern Maggie when talking about this table, who put together the most beautiful charcuterie tray with goodies from The General Store.

Designing for weddings and events involves a lot of finger crossing that the final product and photos will turn out exactly as you envisioned them in your head. And even if you take every single necessary step to ensure that they do, you just never know!

BUT I can say with 100% certainty that this ceremony set is exactly what I had envisioned it would be, and I cannot thank Tim Fitch enough for that. He hung with me to get the lighting and angles just right for our most out-of-the-box setup of the evening. The venue had these amazing curtains that I just HAD to figure out how to incorporate, and I’ve been in “love” (ha) with neon signs for awhile so… Voilà!

We chose to end the evening on the adorable outdoor patio. Similar to the lounge, I envisioned what I would want when hosting my nearest and dearest in my own backyard. Great food, cold drinks, pretty blooms, and ambiance. Don’t forget to catch the cute little wooden six-pack carrier from Revel!

  • Photo: Tim Fitch Photography

By the way, how amazing does Taylor look in this gown from Moments to Cherish Bridals and styling through Styled by Melaney?

We were extremely lucky to have Caleb Jahr on-site with us, capturing and showcasing everyone’s hard work from a totally different perspective. If you’re unsure about hiring videography for your wedding, DO IT.

Thank you to our entire team that pulled this together. We can’t wait to do something again soon!

Sincerely,
Sarah

The Dream Team:
Design, Planning + Coordination: HUE by Sarah Davidson
Photography: Tim Fitch Photography
Videography: Jahr Wedding Films
Venue: Blanchard Hall
Floral: Blooms by Brandi
Rentals: Velvet Rentals
Catering: The General Store
Bridal Gown + Mensware: Moments to Cherish Bridals
Bride Styling: Styled by Melaney
Wooden Beer Carrier: Revel
Bridal Model: Taylor Boelkes

Filed Under: Real Events By HUE, Sincerely Sarah Tagged With: events, lgbt, lgbt wedding, rural, unique, wedding design, weddings, wisconsin

Joanie + Brandon: Memorial Union Wedding

July 2, 2020 By Sarah Davidson

I’m a sucker for a warm summer day. Even better if it’s one spent at the Wisconsin Union Terrace. Joanie and Brandon may or may not feel the same way, which likely had an influence on their June wedding at the historic Memorial Union.

This was our first wedding that we had the honor of working together with Caynay Photo, and WOW did she just nail it! Her work showed beautiful consistency starting with the delicate details, through the tradition of the venue, and of course incorporating those bright summer colors. What a way to relive things!

Speaking of those delicate details, we loved how Generations Wedding Flowers reminded us all how small pieces can have a big impact. Though the Great Hall may be grand, their table design lended to an elegant and intimate atmosphere, which was exactly what the couple wanted in the end.

Congrats Joanie and Brandon!

The Dream Team:
Wedding Coordination: HUE by Sarah Davidson
Photography: Caynay Photo
Venue, Catering + Bar: The Wisconsin Union – Memorial Union
Floral: Generations Wedding Flowers
Band: Bluewater Kings Band
Photo Booth: Phun Photo Booths
Hair + Makeup: Alan Koa

Filed Under: Real Events By HUE Tagged With: madison weddings, memorial union wedding, university wedding, wisconsin wedding

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