Planning a wedding for a bride who always wanted to be a popstar? Celebrity wedding planner David Tutera did just that recently on his television show, “My Fair Wedding.”

The bride and her fiance had met in Motown, Detroit, Michigan. They loved Motown music and wanted to feel like pop star royalty on their wedding day (think Diana Ross and Michael Jackson).

Tip – Selecting a theme that has a meaningful connection to the bride and groom is a great way to personalize a wedding.

The bride had gathered a mix of gold, silver, and pink items and a Michael Jackson silver-sequined glove to use as decorations at her wedding.

Tip – Stay away from party store items when carrying out any theme. 

As usual, David took over, replacing not only the dresses of the bride and bridesmaids but also the venue and decor.

He changed the venue to the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the site of the very first Academy Awards celebration. The ceremony was held in the lobby of the hotel.

Tip – Think creatively and don’t forget to check spaces in the hotel besides the traditional ballrooms. However, if you do select a public area, make sure it can be made private for the wedding.

He chose gold, platinum, and white as the colors for the wedding.

Rows of gold chairs alternated with chairs covered with platinum chair-back covers. In keeping with the color scheme, the stage was covered with white fabric.

The flowers were white with gold and platinum accents. 

Different designs alternated throughout the tables.

All designs followed the gold, platinum, and white color scheme.

Tip – Alternating table designs will make the room look interesting, but stick to the same colors and basic styles or the room will look like it was decorated for different weddings, not one. 

David had a fabulous mirrored dance floor custom created just for this wedding.

Tip – Don’t think that there are only wood dance floors. If you need to rent a dance floor, ask the rental company if they can provide floors that can be covered with a custom design or made of other materials.

You can lean more about the vendors who helped dsign this wedding on the WEtv website.

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The dragonfly wedding theme is not new but when celebrity wedding planner David Tutera planned a dragonfly wedding on his WeTV Show, “My Fair Wedding,” he took it to a whole new level. He added a feeling of whimsy and magic and gave the bride a fairytale wedding that was much more beautiful than she could even have imagined.

The bride had not yet selected her ceremony site and had planned to have the reception in her own backyard. David moved the entire event to the Calabasas Inn. Although it is already a beautiful location with trees, gardens and a waterfall, he had the florist bring in rose bushes and plants to make the site even more lush.

Tip – add flowers and plants to an outdoor space to make it suit your bride’s theme.

The ceremony was set outdoors, guests were seated on mahogany chairs with lavender cushions. Programs, printed on green paper, hung on ribbons from the backs of the chairs.

Tip – tying the programs to chairs is a great alternative to placing them on the seats where they can fly away.

When it came time for the outdoor reception, the chairs were moved to the dining tables and the lavender cushions were switched to white ones that matched the white lace napkins and white candles that were on each table.

Tip – switching cushions gives a different look without the cost of renting additional chairs.

The long dining tables themselves were positioned around the dance floor. They were covered with lavender underlays and lavender sequined overlays.

To give the guests the feeling of that they were sitting in a garden, there were no cut flowers anywhere at the reception.

A “garden” of rose bushes, flowers and moss decorated the centers of each table.

Tip – if your bride wants to use plants for centerpieces, she might be able to rent them or she can select plants that can be given to guests as favors. 

The cake had a garden theme and was decorated with dragonflies.

To give the wedding the whimsical feeling, David had wonderful costumed showgirls walking among guests, a garden nymph, a purple fairy in a “glamour sphere”

and a 9 foot tall gold candelabra “glamazon.”

Tip – a couple shouldn’t be afraid to give their wedding a feeling of fun and magic if that is what helps them express their personalities in their wedding.

What would you do if you had a bride who wanted a dragonfly themed wedding?

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Are you planning a wedding with a bride whose theme is from a different era? Celebrity wedding planner David Tutera’s bride was planning a black and white wedding with an “Old Hollywood Glamour” theme. The problem was, her decorations, such as the film strip David is holding in the photo above, were more suitable for a child’s modern day birthday party. In addition, because she was so overwhelmed by her theme, she didn’t know where to start, so she procrastinated and hadn’t gotten much done.

Tip – Procrastination is a sure sign of overwhelm. If you notice a bride has procrastinated, she may need more help than she is willing to admit.

David took charge. He first changed her dress and her bridesmaid dresses to gowns that looked more “Old Hollywood Glamour” than the dresses they already had. He had the bride try on three dresses from his line, David Tutera by Faviana, and ultimately chose for her a 60’s look, like a “young Diana Ross,” (below is the dress in a photo from his website).

The bridesmaids received black evening gowns (Style Number: L360062, it appears in white on the website) that were red carpet worthy.

David put the groom in attire that was also reminiscent of the 60’s, a shawl-collared tuxedo jacket.

Tip – Don’t forget, if you are helping the couple select their wedding attire, the groom’s outfit should match the style and level of formality of the bride.

He changed the bride’s venue from a one that, though beautiful, didn’t have the “Old Hollywood” feeling, to The Majestic Halls in downtown Los Angeles, a grand and opulent site that is often used in films.

Tip – Make sure the venue echoes the chosen theme.

To give the Hollywood feel at the ceremony, the aisle runner was a red carpet. And the aisle was further defined by red velvet ropes and movie lights.

The chairs had black covers and the backs were wrapped with a white ribbon pinned with a brooch.

The reception was made to feel like a movie that came alive.

A “living red carpet” led guests to the reception area that featured a checkerboard dance floor.

Tip – Entertainment isn’t just a band or DJ. If your bride has the budget and wants some theatrical elements, consider dancers or performance artists.

The tables were covered with black and white cloths and accented with red napkins pinned with a brooch.

Crystals hung from the ceiling and centerpieces were crystal vases filled with white roses, Calla lilies and Casablanca lilies.

The cake followed the colors of the wedding, it was white with black designs and some layers were decorated with red roses.

Tip – Help your bride match the cake to the theme and colors too!  Tell the cake designer about the theme, bring pictures and swatches.

Do as David does when planning a themed wedding, make sure every detail matches the theme, that is what makes the wedding memorable.

Celebrity wedding planner Diann Valentine believes in doing everything in a big way. On her current WEtv show, “I Do Over,” she gives couples, who have had disastrous weddings, second weddings that are beyond their wildest dreams.

The ideas that she and her team execute, although perhaps more extravagant that what you might do for your brides and grooms, will give you ideas that will help you make your couples’ weddings more memorable.

In a recent episode, Diann redid the wedding of a couple whose February 2010 outdoor tented wedding in Southern California had been ripped apart by the rain and winds of a tsunami. At their first wedding they had planned a sweet dreams candy bar but because of the weather, it never got set up.

Staying true to her belief  “go big or go home,” Diann, with the help of her sponsor, celebrations.com, created an entire candy environment. The candyland lounge (see photo above with Cheryl Dent, the designer) had jars filled with 200 pounds of assorted candies, platters of cupcakes and other baked sweets, and bowls of candied popcorn. Guests could fill bags with candy to take home with them.

While your bride may not need to fill a room with 200 pounds of sweets, think beyond just a table of candy. Design, or work with an event designer to design, a fun, visual experience for guests. You can select candy that follows the color palette of the wedding. Or, do a retro candy table and fill it with candy from the 50’s or 60’s, you can find companies on the Internet that sell candy from different eras. A visual tip from the show, Diann’s staff unwrapped the individual pieces of candy so they were easy to see in the displays.

Can a wedding design go wrong  after selecting a theme? Yes, definitely, as celebrity wedding planner, David Tutera, saw when he met his “My Fair Wedding”  bride who had plans for a Tuscany, Italy and wine themed wedding.

The bride and her mother had been to Tuscany and loved the land, wine and the rustic feeling of the area. They attempted to recreate it in their wedding design and had purchased items in ivory, gold, fuchsia and mandarin orange and put the bridesmaids in mango/orange ruffled dresses.  David saw that they were headed in the wrong direction – the fuchsia and orange colors were not Tuscan. He was further convinced they were veering too far from their theme when he saw the venue, it was a beautiful country club, but it didn’t at all look like Tuscany.

(Tip- do your homework. David had been to Tuscany and was familiar with the colors and ambiance of the area. If the bride has selected a theme which you are not familiar with, take the time to learn all you can so you can help make the theme authentic.)

David changed the bridesmaids out of their mandarin orange dresses and into merlot/pinot noir-colored fitted strapless dresses from Anna Elyse Bridesmaids.

To give the wedding the real Tuscan feeling the bride had wanted, David changed the venue to the Church Estates Vineyards, which has been the scene of many celebrity weddings, including Black Eyed Peas singer, Fergie and singer Natasha Bedingfield, and he had also used it last year for his Butterfly Bride.

(Tip – help the bride keep the theme in mind when selecting the venue. Hotels and country clubs, in particular, usually have a distinctive style that may not work with the theme or the color scheme the bride wants.)

Although the venue was beautiful, like many outdoor venues, everything had to be brought in, the tables, chairs, linens, centerpieces, flowers, place settings, electricity, lighting, restrooms, and a  full kitchen for the catering. In addition, David brought in 15 foot tall cypress tress that he had decorated with sunflowers and lavender to add color.

(Tip – Remember to ask what is included when selecting an outdoor venue. When everything has to be brought in, the costs could skyrocket, making the venue too expensive for the bride’s budget.)

Th cake, designed by Jamaica’s Cakes, was decorated with grapes and sunflowers, like the table centerpieces, and sat on a wine barrel.

(Tip – it’s the little details, like placing the cake on a wine barrel, that really stand out to a bride and her guests.)

The happy couple were overjoyed by the work David did for their wedding.

If you’re like most wedding planners, your brides will want weddings that probably don’t veer too much tradition. But you might come across a bride who wants something totally unique, like celebrity wedding planner David Tutera did with his Goth bride on his television show, “My Fair Wedding.

This non-traditional bride had been planning a small, 20-guest, Goth wedding in her home. The decor was mainly black and included skulls and spiders. She told David she didn’t want it to look like Halloween, but that is exactly how her decor came across.

David took her Goth theme and turned it from a very black and sad-feeling wedding to a unique, edgy, romantic event that included all of her family. 

He first changed her dress and the dresses of her bridesmaids and flower girl - they were all in black!

The bride ended up getting a unique dress that she loved. It was an asymetrical white and black plaid dress with black lace (seen in a photo below from the Cymbeline website) which she wore with a black veil.

The wedding ceremony took place outdoors, under a tent of sheer white and black fabric on the rooftop of Palihouse. Guests were seated in white chairs that were draped with black sashes.

(David’s Tip – For an outdoor Goth wedding, choose a space that is dramatic, historic, or has a stone archway for a grand entrance.)

The reception venue, La Boheme, was decorated in reds and blacks. Tableclothes were shades of dark reds with black lace overlays (below), centerpieces were black iron chandeliers with deep red flowers and candles(see photo at the top of this post).

(David’s Tip – For a Goth wedding, look for stained glass, velvet chairs and fireplaces at an indoor venue. For decor, choose dark colors that don’t clash with the venue, black, midnight blue and dark greens, maroons, and reds. Flowers should be exotic; orchids, dahlias, black magic roses, and eggplant colored calla lilies.)

The cake, by Cake Divas of Los Angeles, was black fondant decorated with red, purple and black flowers that looked like the paper flowers of the Victorian era.

(David’s Tip – Red velvet and chocolate are good flavors for cakes for this theme.)

Goth might not be your style but if, like David, you open your mind and can understand the bride’s vision, you can make a Goth themed wedding a romantic and fun event.

On the season 5 premiere of “My Fair Wedding,” celebrity wedding planner, David Tutera, fulfilled a Make-A-Wish Foundation wish by a teen-aged boy, Ryan, who wanted David to go to Kansas to plan his mother’s wedding.

Within six days of arriving, David, with the help of his staff and many Make-a-Wish Foundation volunteers, was able to give the bride the wedding of her dreams.

The bride had originally had a theme which included 1000 origami cranes (symbols of happiness, peace and prosperity). She wanted a spiritual, peaceful feeling to her wedding and a decor that included weeping cherry blossoms and a long aisle with trees along the way.

David made her indoor venue look like a serene, organic outdoor space with pergolas,  trees and the cherry blossoms the she wanted.

Here are 5 of David’s tips for bringing the outdoors in that you might want to use for your brides:

1) Rent plants and trees rather than invest in additional flowers to transform a space and make it look more nature-inspired, they are also more affordable than flowers

2) David banded together both real and silk cherry blossoms when decorating the pergola to make the arrangements more lush (make sure you are using good quality silk flowers that look real)

3) For an evening wedding, add twinkle lights to the trees, accent foliage with uplights, and hang glass-enclosed candles from the tree branches (check to make sure the venue allows open flames)

4) Use trees along the aisle to define it and act as markers along the bridal path

5) Define sections in your venue with tress – separate the ceremony, cocktail and reception areas

Bringing the outdoors is in very popular today, especially since trees were brought into Westminster Abbey for the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

In the video below are scenes from the show where you get to meet Ryan and his mother and see some of David’s designs. 

Click here to view the embedded video.

On last Sunday’s episode of “My Fair Wedding,” celebrity wedding planner, David Tutera, helped a fashionista bride who had pretty much spent her entire wedding budget on her Vera Wang wedding dress and Christian Louboutin shoes. Yikes! Good thing she had David’s help to make her dream wedding come true.

(Tip – the wedding dress should be part of the wedding budget so if you are helping a bride with this, make sure she tells you how much she has spent or is planning to spend on it. And, she should not be selecting her dress until she has decided on her venue. Certain styles work better in large venues than small ones and there are some dresses that are too difficult to wear at an outdoor wedding.)

The bride had all sorts of ideas for her fashionista wedding. She talk about wanting it girly, prissy, full of pastel colors, and similar to Marie Antoinette. Her venue was an outdoor space with a beautiful view but it wasn’t ideal because of unpredictable weather and because it had an indoor reception area that was too small.

David took her ideas and focused in on the heart of what the bride was all about – her dress, fashion and details.

(Tip – It’s easy for a bride to have too many good ideas, it’s your job as her wedding planner to help her get focused. Get to know her, look for the common thread running through her ideas and make that the focus, and don’t forget to let her personality come through.)

David usually changes a bride’s wedding dress but this time he let her keep it. The Vera Wang gown was edgy and fashion-forward and expressed the bride’s personality. The photo above is from Vera Wang’s website. The dress is from her Spring 2011 collection.

David did change out the Vera Wang midnight blue bridesmaids’ dresses. He had three fashion students present ideas and chose the design by Masai Payan because it flattered different types of figures and was a beautiful color that blended with the bride’s dress and the color theme of the reception. The photo below is from Masai Payan’s website where you will also see his original sketch of the dress.

The venue David chose was not an ordinary wedding and event venue, it was glass-walled top floors of the AT&T Center on 1150 S. Olive in Los Angeles. This gave guests a 360 degree view of the city which made it unnecessary to fill the space with lots of decorations.  (The lower floor was for the reception. The top floor had space for the reception and the dance floor.)

(Tip - don’t think that wedding venues are only hotels, banquet halls, country clubs, and restaurants. Research unique venues that might have event space such as universities, museums, art galleries, historic homes and office space, such as this one that David found.)

For the tables at the reception, David chose two different designs, using wonderful chair covers and table cloths.

The chair covers were from Wildflowers Linens. If you haven’t seen their designs before, check out their blog which shows many of their linens at celebrity weddings and Hollywood events.

David chose the Curly Willow, because it resembled the bride’s dress.

and the Lilybelle chair sleeve because if all the the chairs resembled the wedding dress, they would take focus away from the bride.

The table linens were also detailed and fashion forward. One had a swirl design

and the other floral, both were from Cloth Connection.

(Tip – all tables don’t need to have the same design. Alternating makes it interesting and can save money if some of the tables can have lower-cost centerpieces. Just make sure everything blends together and suits the theme of the event. Florists and linen providers can help you and the bride with the selections.)

You can read the bride’s thoughts on her experience with David and his team on the WeTV website.

Celebrity wedding planner David Tutera kicks off the fifth season of his show, “My Fair Wedding,” tonight on the WE television network. For those of you unfamiliar with the show, David takes a bride’s vision for a wedding and in three weeks transforms it into an event that is way beyond their dreams and expectations. I have frequently blogged about wedding details from his shows. Read what he did with a Winter Wonderland theme in Southern California.

The second wedding show airing tonight is “I Do Over.” It is also on WE and features renown wedding planner Diann Valentine. In the show she helps couples who have had disastrous weddings ”do over” their weddings. She gives them the happy wedding memories that they didn’t get the first time.

Check out these wedding shows and get inspiration and wedding planning tips from two top wedding planners.

Not knowing anything about Indian weddings didn’t stop celebrity wedding planners Tori and Dean from helping a couple plan their Bollywood themed wedding. The couple wanted to combine their Indian culture with hip, modern day touches.

Because the parents wanted the ceremony and reception all in one location, the couple chose the Marriott Marina del Rey in Marina del Rey, California. The ceremony was originally scheduled to be outdoors but with the rain, it was moved indoors to the same ballroom as the reception. This gave the wedding planners two hours to turn the room around, which was a very tight time schedule. (Tip: Always have a plan B when planning an outdoor wedding, especially during the rainy season.)

The ceremony was set up with a mandap, a covered structure with pillars, that is used in Hindu weddings, gold chiavari chairs and and a red aisle runner covered with flower petals arranged in a pattern that matched the light patterns projected on the ceiling.

The reception colors were blue, wine and gold, which echoed the colors of the ballroom carpet. (Tip: picking up the colors of the room gives a very coordinated look to a reception.)

The tablecloths were red, the napkins, blue, and the roses were a very deep wine color. The gold chairs from the ceremony were used for the reception.

The table numbers were from a photography session that Tori and Dean did with the couple. They photographed them in different poses and outfits then placed the photos into different “Bollywood” scenes.  (Tip: you can also use existing photographs and have someone familiar with Photoshop create table numbers that match the theme.)

The bride and groom sat at their bridal table during the reception.

It was decorated with many of the same details as the guest tables –  roses, elephants and candles.

Guests left their good wishes for the couple at a special table decorated with the image of Ganesh, the remover of obstacles.

Wedding dessert included cupcakes with Indian motifs. (Tip: cupcakes decorated to match the theme of the wedding are not only a great dessert but also a great wedding favor when you send guests home with them in little cupcake boxes.)

Displayed on buffet tables.

The wedding cake, by The Great Dane Baking Company, was in the colors of the reception and featured an elephant as the topper.

Although we were told at the end of the show that the next one episode would feature a Marie Antoinette theme, this appears to have been the last show of the season.

These photos are from the Oxygen website.