outdoor wedding

Michael + Lucie: Backyard Wedding – Milwaukee, WI

August 4, 2021 By Sarah Davidson

Whenever a couple tells me that they plan to host their wedding at their own home, I always like to kindly ask them if they are sure about that 🙂 For all the reasons listed in our blog post about backyard weddings, it can be a huge undertaking that may or may not be worth the payoff in the end.

But when it’s done right, it can really be something magical. And let me tell you, Michael + Lucie did it RIGHT.

As the couple dressed for their special day, so too did they dress their home for the occasion. From table settings to food displays to lighting – attention to all the details added up into something perfect.

Introducing structure with different areas to encourage mingling added to the transformation. Thinking outside the box, literally, including outdoor lounges brought about multiple layers of comfort and style.

Congratulations Michael + Lucie!

The Dream Team:
Wedding Coordination: HUE by Sarah Davidson
Photography: DJDAHL Photo
Catering: Hidden Kitchen MKE
Dessert: Miss Molly’s Cafe and Pastry Shop
Floral: Avenue Bloom
Vintage Rentals: Relics Rentals
Band: Professor Pinkerton and the Magnificents
Hair/Makeup: Beauty by Michelle Senuor

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.

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

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.

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

Joe + Steph: Wisconsin Summer Camp Wedding

March 26, 2020 By Sarah Davidson

What do you get when you cross an American, a Brit, and a whole group of guests ready for a good time? The ultimate summer camp wedding of course!

During our initial phone call, the first thing I asked Joe and Steph to share with me was their unique love story. It at all started a few years back when Steph (who is originally from the Madison area) took a vacation to Spain, where Joe happened to also be vacationing at the time. They met at a bar and hit it off, which led them to becoming pen pals for the following year (yes, that’s still a thing!) while living across the ocean from one another. Then Joe chose to make the journey to NYC to visit some friends, and came to see Steph again in the same trip, pretty much to “seal the deal” of turning their pen pal friendship into something serious. From there Steph moved to London, and as they say, the rest is history.

When discussing where their wedding was going to be held, Steph and Joe loved the idea of providing as much American novelty as possible to the British side of their guest list, who have all seen The Parent Trap, but never gotten to ride on a big yellow school bus 🙂 As they looked at venues they stumbled upon Holiday Home Camp, a real operational summer camp in South Central Wisconsin and decided it was the perfect setting for this great adventure.

This certainly wasn’t the easiest event to pull off logistically, but the couple had a great deal of experience on their own right with large-scale production and we at HUE were more than ready to team up with them in the task of creating a memorable weekend. A key vendor that was brought in alongside us all to carry things out was Chance Productions, who provided a majority of the lighting and rentals needed in this very raw space to pull off an event for many guests on-site at one time.

And you know what? The weekend was beautiful. Everyone gathered, pitched in when needed, jumped in the lake, did yoga, cheered, danced, and was merry. In the end, this wonderful couple got exactly the wedding they wanted, and we feel extremely lucky to have been a part of it.

Congrats Steph and Joe!

The Dream Team:
Wedding Coordination: HUE By Sarah Davidson
Photography: Anda Marie Photography
Venue: Holiday Home Camp
Catering: Underground Food Collective
Bar Service: Bartender 608, Pre Cooler
Lighting and Rentals: Chance Productions
Floral: Jessie-Rae of HUE By Sarah Davidson
Band: Bluegrassify
DJ: Cage and Aquarium
Bridal Hair: Jordan Lynn Beauty
Additional Catering: El Grito, Crescendo Coffee, Buddy’s Special Events
Transportation: Dousman Transport Co., Browns Golf Carts
Restrooms: Crown Rentals

(PS: Want to see what this wedding looked like behind the scenes? Check out our HUE Planning + Coordination Film to follow my journey working together with this couple before and on their wedding day.)

The Truth About Backyard Weddings

April 11, 2018 By Sarah Davidson

You’ve said yes! Or popped the question! Or both! You and your betrothed have shared the news with everyone and already gotten way too much marriage advice. You’ve found the perfect wedding planner that just gets you (hint, hint) and the next decision to make is a big one – where is this all happening?

“That’s easy!” you say. “My parents have a big, beautiful yard and would be honored to host. We’ll just get a tent and do it there. It’s sure to save us a ton of money too!”

Don’t worry, we’re here for you.

A well done backyard wedding can be absolutely beautiful. It is the perfect unique venue that has both flexibility and sentiment. You have the opportunity to take photos among the apple orchard you used to climb around and many guests already know their way there. You don’t have to comply by any complicated venue rules and the party can last as long as you want. You also have the built in house itself, either used during the day or at least for emergencies.

Now the tough stuff. It’s a TON of work, a fair amount of stress, and probably won’t be much cheaper than a traditional venue.

Think of how you might clean your house to look nice for a simple dinner party. Now think of that effort multiplied by the fact that this is the biggest dinner party of your life. And you probably don’t actually want people coming in the house that much, so what you really want to look good is the yard. The acres and acres of yard. Are people going to go in that area or do this activity? They might! I want to give them the option! The amount of prep work to be done sometimes seems endless, and typically falls on the location host.

As far as cost goes, the rentals that need to be brought in usually add up to roughly the cost of an average venue. These can include but not be limited to – tent, tables, chairs, restrooms, heaters, fans, and flooring. If you think about it, to plan for weather and keep guests comfortable you essentially need build your own DIY venue.

And don’t forget the logistics. We’re talking about where the ice for the bar comes from, how to prevent bugs, where everyone will park, and how to avoid neighbor noise complaints. These are all things a venue would have covered, but without experience or a manager can sometimes be easily forgotten.

A backyard wedding can be exactly the right fit for you, and please don’t let us talk you out of it. Just consider everything that goes into it as you are making your decision, and don’t hesitate to ask for all the help you need. Happy planning!