Sincerely Sarah

Rural Wisconsin Styled Shoot: Blanchard Hall

July 29, 2020 By Sarah Davidson 2 Comments

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.

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!

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

Why HUE?

April 3, 2020 By Sarah Davidson Leave a Comment

We know that there are a million wedding planners out there that you could work with, so why choose us?

No wedding we do looks the same

We’ve planned weddings indoors, outdoors, at theaters, summer camps, museums, backyards, hotels, barns, and probably almost anywhere else you can think of. Every wedding is a personalized experience for our clients from start to finish, and our services will fit exactly what you envisioned it to be.

But if you are looking for a specialty.. We tend to lean a little bold and edgy

We can’t help it, we want everyone’s wedding to stand out against the rest! Whether it’s through design, entertainment, or traditions, we like to dare our clients to be different and not just follow the norm of what they’ve seen at every other wedding they’ve attended.

We live for logistics

It takes a lot of effort to make something look effortless, and that’s the kind of stuff we live for. We focus on all the steps that need to be taken to provide a smooth and beautiful end result so that when the wow moment comes, all you need to do is take it in.

We enjoy people, and people enjoy us

Check out our reviews and ask your other vendors their opinion of us. Personal relationships are the single most important thing to us in the world and we take every measure to maintain those to the fullest. We aim to make planning a wedding a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all involved, and one of our favorite parts of the job is connecting clients with their vendor dream team.

We are experienced

Our team has held a variety of positions in their careers including as planners, coordinators, venue managers, caterers, and florists. We’ve all been working in the wedding industry for nearly a decade. The only real way to gain true experience and knowledge in events is by being a part of them. Ask us about past situations we’ve transformed from big deal to no problem in a matter of minutes. From tornado warnings to forgetting the rings, we’ve seen it all.

Ready to work together? Contact us today to get started!

Vote for HUE! – Wisconsin Bride Awards

March 4, 2020 By Sarah Davidson

It’s that time of year again! Every year, Wisconsin Bride Magazine wrangles the best wedding vendors in the area based on reputation and popular vote and bestows upon them the title of “Best Of”. It’s something that we at H UE by Sarah Davidson have strived for since day one!

We’ve been SO lucky to have been making our wedding couples happy since 2015.

Would you be willing to take five minutes to vote for us in the Wedding Planner and Top of the Tiara category? (Write-in vote) Here’s how:

Link to vote for Wisconsin Bride Magazine Best of 2020 Awards

4 Simple Rules

One entry allowed per email address; each ballot must include a first and last name and contact information.
Voting Ends May 4, 2020.
Voters must vote in at least 10 categories to have their ballot counted. (Let us know if you need recommendations for who else to vote for!)
Write-in “HUE by Sarah Davidson” for Best Wedding Planner and Top of the Tiara Categories.

Thank you for all your love and support!

Sincerely,
Sarah and the HUE Team

Featured Photo: The Still Life Photography

Welcome To A New Era: Introducing HUE Business Coaching & Consulting

February 18, 2020 By Sarah Davidson Leave a Comment

You all have been so supportive of this new era in my business life lately and I cannot thank you enough, but once again, thank you.

And with this post, I’m excited to introduce a service that now aides in supporting the other side of my audience, small creative business owners and vendors in the event industry! This has been a long time coming and we’re excited the day is finally here.

Introducing: Business Coaching & Consulting by HUE

The launch of our business consulting branch is the brainchild of nearly a decade of experience in the event industry, as well as the following facts about myself:

I enjoy working with vendors just as much as clients
I’m pretty good at effectively pushing creative ideas forward
I love my life as an entrepreneur, and want to share the love with others who are also following their passion

From there it was a pretty simple question. What can I offer that encapsulates it all?

So who is this service for? I’m looking for creative entrepreneurs and event based business owners who:

Have business ideas that they want to develop but need help or don’t have the time
Need help organizing their systems and processes to stay on track with business goals
Need someone to brainstorm with, bounce thoughts and ideas off of, and provide accountability on a regular basis
Have general business administrative tasks they’d like to hire someone for, but they don’t want to have employees
Are looking to break into or grow further within the wedding market

Do you fit one of these criteria? If so, take a peak for more info here.

And let’s all work together to keep moving Wisconsin Events Forward.

Featured Photo: Tim Fitch Photography

Welcome to a New Era: Introducing Our New Website

February 16, 2020 By Sarah Davidson Leave a Comment

Friends, welcome to HUE by Sarah Davidson.

Yesterday I shared the story of our decision to launch our new brand, and the love and thought that went into it. Today, I want to tell you all about this new, beautiful website you currently have found yourself on.

Five years ago when HUE started, I asked a friend and co-worker to design my logo, and brother-in-law to build my website. I am eternally grateful for what they did to launch our presence into the world and these elements have gotten us quite far. Thank you Amy and Erik!

When the time came however for a refreshed look, I was excited to lean on some colleagues I met within the industry a few years back, with tried and true success in marketing and design within our world. This was important to me because let’s face it.. weddings can be just a BIT over the top 🙂

Enter Chad and Jodi Everts, the dream team behind Everts Marketing. Jodi and I had sat on the Board of Directors together for our local chapter of NACE where we built a friendship, and I continued to follow their work from there. I couldn’t be happier hiring these two to build my new “storefront” and first impression of our new venture to the rest of the world.

As I mentioned in the story of our new brand, two adjectives I’ve always liked are “bold” and “edgy”. I know that they might not be the first two that come to mind when you think of weddings, but that fact in itself got me excited. Throughout this process I continually leaned on asking myself “How can I look as different as possible?”. While it’s nerve wracking to share the final product, I’m ecstatic with how it turned out.

The other main thing I knew I wanted was lots of engaging, and specifically video heavy, content. As I said before, we can be a bit over the top in the wedding industry, and I feel the best representation of how we as planners can really have an effect on things is through seeing final results. And while photography is important, video just takes things to a whole new level. It conveys event mood and vibe to the watcher, along other experiential details such as voices and body language.

I met Paul Gero about a year ago, also through NACE, and we got along great right away. While he has quite an impressive resume as a photographer, he’s more recently been building his reputation as a videographer as well, and one who’s skills I wanted to take advantage of. I’ll never be able to thank him enough for following me around for 10+ hours at Joe and Steph’s wedding or working together on a marathon interview session. You can see for yourself the results sprinkled throughout this site, and I hope you’re just as happy as I am.

Aside from the overall aesthetic and design, the other major change with our new website is the addition of this very blog, and FINALLY combining it as a part of our all encompassing outward presence, and not something out separate in the infinite digital world. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years but just needed the time.

There are many practical business and SEO related reasons to have everything in one spot, but for me, it’s all about the ease of use for everyone coming to visit us here. To be able to offer our clients and potential clients a vast library of knowledge right at their fingertips for free is a service that we’re proud to provide. It also allows us a platform to share accomplishments and celebrations, as well as the beautiful work we’re honored to be a part of. We could go on and on 🙂

While you’re here, don’t forget to check out our updated “Meet Us” and “Weddings” pages to learn more on what we’re all about, as well as the newly minted “Business Coaching & Consulting”, a fresh service I’m excited to delve more into in the coming days. Big things happening all around!

So thank you once again for being here and entering into this new era with us. It’s going to be a good one.

Sincerely,

Featured Image: xo azuree