Cortney+Shannon

The request was simple: make this wedding as fabulous as the bride's sister's wedding just a short 10 months ago. A simple request it seems, but the wedding of Cortney's sister Lindsey on New Eve's Year on the stage at The Hippodrome Theater was fabulous. OK, we can do fabulous again.

For this wedding, the church ceremony was set for Corpus Christi but we needed a reception venue. After looking at many possible sites, the bride and groom fell in love with The American Visionary Art Museum and the planning started full force. We decided to rent the JRVC at the museum and use the first floor for cocktails and hors d'oeuvres and the third floor for dinner and dancing.

The bride is a busy doctor so her mom was a VIP in this planning process. All decisions were made together with a consult from the groom and the bride's dad. The result was a spectacular event that is sure to be remembered by the family and guests for a long time.

We'll be sure to post professional photos from Arthur Remanjon soon, but in the meantime, we've added some of our own here. The decor was a major part of the room set-up and included flowers by Blue Sage, custom table linens by Table Toppers, beautiful dishes from Party Rental and many decor elements by Perkins Productions. Perkins installed the shiny white dance floor, the band stage finished with wood panels, the colorful fabric on the ceiling, all the specialty lighting, and the beautiful entrance curtain to the room. The gobo was placed in a great spot for guests to see just as they came off the elevator. The guest tables were a combination of long rectangular tables and square tables.

The catering was done to perfection by the Brass Elephant group with chef/owner Brian Boston at the helm and manager Jack Elsby working his magic in managing the staff and the party. The guests raved about the food all night. The first course of a whole grilled lobster tail over micro greens was a wonderful first impression followed by a steak dinner with jumbo grilled shrimp beautifully presented on a square plate. The dessert station had 6 (!) desserts plus wedding cake and we are not talking just ordinary desserts. There were chefs at the station preparing bananas foster in dark rum, hot fudge sundaes, yummy petite pastries, hot apple cobbler with caramel sauce, raspberry sorbet with fresh mint, and fresh berries with marsala zabaglione sauce.

The fun details of the party included a photo booth which produced a strip of photos for each guests, a huge lighted bar from Party Rental, lighted ice cubes for mixed drinks, a signature drink in a cool blue glass, flip flops for tired feet near the dance floor and a silver picture frame attached to each place card. There was more though (a bag of candy and a custom made CD of all the wedding music) which was the reason to also give the guests a custom embroidered tote bag to take home all the goodies.

The band Sound Connection did a wonderful job and kept the dance floor full all evening. They are just so great to work with and everyone loves their music.

Other vendors we want to mention that did a terrific job: Black Tie Video (videography), Courtesy Parking (valet parking), Sugar Bakers (the wedding cake) and The Pleasure of Your Company (all the printed items from the save-the-date to menu card, ceremony programs and the wedding invitation).

And, of course, we weren't finished at midnight. The guests who were brave enough were shuttled to The Intercontinental Harbor Court for an after party that lasted until 2:30 am and featured a full bar, dance music, and yummy snacks like sliders, hot pretzels, mozzarella sticks, cups of french fries and mini hot dogs. We used the very cool space called Hamptons at Harbor Court with it's view of the Inner Harbor and lounge furniture.

More photos to follow!