Plan-it Wedding
Wedding planners make the day go more smoothly and bring great ideas for details you will remember forever.
By Leslie Hoffman
Amy Craven and Kevin Kocka had their monogram
projected onto the dance floor with light.
Katherine Shaw, Trends To Traditions
Shaw began her career in 1994 in St. Louis, planning events for the National Football League, the National Hockey League, and the Arena Football League. After marrying, she moved to Pittsburgh in 1999 and worked with another events planning company before founding her own events business, Trends To Traditions, specializing in the planning and coordination of both local and destination weddings, corporate events, and other social galas.
Shaw says that uplighting can
dramatically transform any space.
TREND: In the wedding of Amy Craven and Kevin Kocka, pictured here, Shaw incorporated up-lighting and a lighted dance floor. “Lighting is the No. 1 most effective element you can incorporate into your wedding,” Shaw says. “It drastically and dramatically changes the entire atmosphere of your party. People don’t commonly see lighting effects at weddings, and when you have guests walk into a room and the entire room is transformed with color, decor, and dimension, it produces ‘the wow effect,’ and sets the wedding apart from all weddings most people attend.” The beautiful thing about lighting is that it’s not as expensive as it looks. And, Shaw adds, you can light a room in almost any color. “If there is a color that the lighting can’t produce, then we complement it with decorative fabric,” she says. For example, if a couple’s colors are baby pink, raspberry pink, and black, the room can be lit in the pink shades, but not the black color. Instead, Trends to Traditions, who has two people on staff who specialize in lighting and fabric design, incorporates black silk fabrics in draping throughout the room. Trends To Traditions, 417 Quarter Horse Lane, Cranberry Twp. 412.267.2108.
“Lighting is the No. 1 most effective element you can incorporateinto your wedding.” — Katherine Shaw
Natalie Berger,
Natalie’s Bridal Consultant & Party Planner
Berger began her career as a wedding planner inadvertently. As a florist at the shop she and her husband owned, she would make recommendations to her clients on wedding menus, caterers, bands, and linens. When she left the business 20 years ago, a former client from the florist hired her to do her daughter’s wedding; at that wedding, she was hired to do two more weddings. “That first year, I did nine events, and thought I was queen of the hill,” she says, with a laugh. Now, Berger does nearly 40 events per year, mostly private occasions such as bar and bat mitzvahs, anniversaries, birthdays, and of course, weddings.
TREND: For Berger’s weddings, she is seeing a whole new energy, specifically bright color palettes and activities for guests, such as photo booths, or FlashBox, a cutting-edge video recording kiosk. “We’re going from a lot of cream, white, and pastel-colored weddings to these bright, vivid colors,” Berger says. “For the last three years, I’ve very seldom had anything that was different; everything was soft colors. Now, it’s just these wonderful vibrant combinations. They’re just so yummy. They make the room pop.” And, coming soon to a wedding near you: “The other thing is that a lot of people want to have an activity at the wedding, not just eating, drinking, and dancing. Every wedding that I am doing for the next year will have a photo booth or a FlashBox.” Natalie Berger, 412.661.4601.
At the wedding reception of her daughter, Jacki Savage Gelernter,
Berger incorporated bright colors throughout the decor.
Sheila Weiner, The Event Group
Weiner has 24 years of event planning experience, and her company, The Event Group, has four full-time employees who oversee the production of events locally, nationally, and internationally. In addition to assisting brides in planning their weddings throughout the United States, the Islands, and Europe, she planned the 2006 All-Star Game VIP reception for 5,000 people, the opening of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, and the grand opening of the Dale Chihuly exhibition at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens.
TREND:This wedding event celebrated the bride’s Persian cultural heritage, and, using fabric, Weiner transformed a room at Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall into an exotic destination, complete with ceiling and wall draping and floor pillows. Weiner and her team also covered the tables with linens and fabrics tied into the theme: patchwork velvet and gold charmeuse. Then, they used different types of seating: square tables with chairs, as well as a very long table in the center of the room with pillows. “Using fabric, you can completely transform a room. You can divide a room if you need to turn it into two spaces, and you can soften a room,” she says. The Event Group, 1008 Washington Blvd., East End. 412.441.9811.
< BEFORE: Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, before the transformation.
AFTER: Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall transformed with fabric and lighting for a wedding celebrating the bride’s Persian heritage.
Bonnie Walker, Bonnie Walker Events
Walker has been in the event planning business for more than 25 years, traveling the country to plan personal events such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, birthdays, and anniversaries as well as non-profit fundraisers and corporate events. With each event, she hopes to incorporate attention to detail as well as the personal style of her client throughout the event. “The guests are going to walk away not saying it was a ‘Bonnie’ event, but Mary’s event or the charity’s event — that it was so personalized to them!” she says.
“In this room, the first thing you see is the beautiful escort card table; the entire room is encased in turquoise, blues, purple, and white. It’s dripping in colors, and it gives you a feel of what’s going to happen 
next,” Walker says.
TREND: Walker does not adhere to “trends,” preferring to make the wedding reception all about the bride and her family. Her signature is “detail, detail, detail.” In these photos for a weddings she planned, she used three types of tables: round, square, and rectangular shapes, each with a different use of Lucite, white laminate, or fabrics. Each table had a different type of floral arrangement in blue hydrangeas and white orchids, and each had either cobalt blue or white glassware. She also incorporates a monogrammed napkin. And, accent lighting is a must! Bonnie Walker Events, 320 Fort Duquesne Blvd., Downtown. 412.572.5227. 445 Park Ave., 9th floor, New York City. 212.829.5659.
“The mediums are the same, just designed slightly differently. The shades of
blue lighting are soaked up beautifully by the Lucite,” Walker says.
Vickie Violi, eVents by Vickie Violi
Violi is an independent event planner with eight years of experience, including corporate celebrations as well as the Pittsburgh Wine Festival and the Pittsburgh Whiskey & Fine Spirits Festival. She also plans weddings that range from very traditional to very trendy, keeping with the couple’s unique style.
TREND: Just before the wedding of Chris and Darlene Yanakos, Violi overheard the bride and her attendants planning to “Trash the Dress,” the new trend in which the bride destroys her dress following the wedding, capturing it with artistic photography. The women had some scissors on hand to shred the gown, but Violi had a better idea to complement the couple’s urban-themed wedding: “I handed the limo driver $50 and told him to run out and purchase as much spray paint as he could.” Just before taking the wedding party shots using Downtown Pittsburgh as a backdrop, the bridal party spray-painted the gown. Later, after the bride changed in a cocktail-length wedding dress for the reception at the Andy Warhol Museum, they laid out the graffiti-covered gown on a table and invited guests to sign it with glittery Sharpie markers. eVents by Vickie Violi, 412.877.0313.
“I handed the limo driver $50 and told him to run out and purchase as much spray paint as he could.” — Vickie Violi
Darlene and Chris Yanakos opted for an urban-themed
wedding, with photos taken in Downtown Pittsburgh’s cityscape.
Darlene Yanakos’ whole bridal party got in on
“trashing” her wedding dress before the photos.
Shaun Pierce, Pierce Events
Pierce has planned events such as Skyblast for the Pittsburgh Pirates and fundraisers for the Salvation Army throughout the past 15 years. Last year, the planner founded his own company, Pierce Events, which produces events for corporations and non-profits, as well as personal events such as weddings. “Weddings are a part of our business, which allows us to bring an interesting perspective to them,” Pierce says. “Sometimes we pull ideas from other events, things that planners who only do weddings might not think of.”
TREND: The great outdoors is calling more and more couples, and Pierce has seen an uptick in weddings held in a family backyard. “They are budget-friendly and often provide a more relaxed atmosphere because they are familiar surroundings for family and friends,” Pierce says. It works particularly well for smaller weddings, but Pierce suggests considering the parking and the seating carefully, to accommodate your number of guests. He also recommends carrying the décor throughout the home and the yard, and to “be a good neighbor,” letting surrounding homeowners know the plans, too. Pierce Events, 96 Kendall Ave., Bellevue. 724.986.6939.
Hanging out: Pierce says outdoor weddings are becoming more popular.