Let's face it; living in Music City, brides have SO MANY great options as far as live music is concerned. How does one decide between a band or a DJ? Now, you don't have to! The latest in wedding entertainment is booking both a band and a DJ for the best overall experience for your guests.
Music City Events knows all about this unique approach to wedding reception entertainment, and we chatted with owner Sarah to learn more.
Sarah, owner of Music City Events
Plenty of Nashville brides are eager to have live music at their reception, but don't want to sacrifice the fluidity of the evening. That's why a lot of weddings now are reaching out to Music City Events for help fusing both a band and a DJ together at their reception for the ultimate experience that is sure to prevent any lapse in energy. Your band wants to take a break? No problem. The DJ will pick up where they left off, spinning the Top 40 hits that some of your college pals are dying to hear, but that wouldn't really fit the bill for your '60s funk band.
When you hire a band for your reception, you need to factor in that the band will take a break approximately every 45 minutes for anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes. Have you ever thought about what your reception will be like during those breaks when absolutely no music is playing? Talk about being super awkward for both you and your guests!
If you were thinking that hiring both a band and a DJ will double the cost of your musical entertainment, you'd actually be mistaken! Here's the average cost breakdown...
Cost DJ - $900-1200 for 5 hours
Cost Band - $3000-3500 minimum
Cost of fusion – Cost of band plus $500 for DJ
This is less than HALF of the cost of hiring both separately. Who says you can't have it all on your big day?
The Respectables is one of a few companies in Nashville who offers a DJ/band fusion. Their all-inclusive package includes the band, DJ, sound system, and stage lighting. According to their website, "with the band & DJ combo, you get the excitement of a live band with the flexibility of a DJ, all in one affordable package."
When it comes to planning a wedding, the venue cost can often eat up most of the bride and groom's budget. Luckily for Tennesseans, we have many beautiful state parks for that budget savvy bride who would rather splurge on a fabulous band or delicious food than the venue rental fee. State parks are not a wedding-specific venue, so they don't charge those marked-up wedding venue prices and don't have "preferred vendors" the bride and groom must use, which means you can bring your own alcohol and ask your Grannie to make the cake if you feel like it!
Photo: APracticalWedding.com
Tennessee State Parks are also a great choice for the minimalist or outdoorsy bride. The outdoors lends itself really well to a wedding. Who needs to spend a fortune on flowers when you have the beauty of Tennessee surrounding you and your guests on your big day? From beautiful mountains to lakes, rivers, and waterfalls, Tennessee's State Parks are the most amazing backdrop for any size wedding. You'll get more bang for your buck as well, with prices ranging between $250-$550. Plus, State Parks don't exactly have a maximum capacity, so if you want a 300 person wedding, this might be an inexpensive option.
For more information, visit tnstateparks.com/groups/weddings.
Nashville Event Space recently updated to their beloved downtown venue, aVenue. Nashville Event Space/Randi Events owner Randi Lesnick and the Director of Weddings, Sarah Ann Miller, spearheaded the project and worked countless hours to produce the flawless updates.
We caught up with them to learn more about what Nashville couples and planners can expect from the updated space.
Could you tell me a little bit about the venue?
Absolutely! aVenue is located at 120 3rd Avenue South; we’re a stone’s throw away from Broadway, the Pedestrian Street Walking Bridge, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, and great hotels and restaurants. We were going for a modern industrial feel with the renovation. Our venue is a completely blank space so it’s easy to create an event that’s uniquely yours every time.
What exactly was changed during the remodel?
Our structure is still the same, but we did refinish the floors, replace all of the lighting fixtures with recessed, dimmable cans, ultra-sleek fans, and change up the colors in the room with fresh paint. We also remodeled the restrooms.
Who were your designers and what was the "new" vision?
Randi Lesnick, our President and CEO, and Sarah Miller, our Director of Weddings, spearheaded the project. The thought process behind the vision is simple; we wanted a clean, modern, and versatile space that we could use to design the best events possible.
What do you want for clients to experience with the new venue?
We want our clients to walk in the venue and feel like they could be anywhere in Nashville, because we can create any environment in our venue. The amazing reality of our space is that we’re located in the heart of downtown Nashville, which is a huge pro when selecting a venue. We want our clients to experience the same level of service and creativity that they’ve come to know and love through Randi Events at aVenue.
Has the remodel changed the venue capacity or your pricing?
We did remove a half wall that has really opened up the space, even more so than before. Please contact our sales office for pricing and venue capacity. We can’t wait to show off our space!
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To learn more about Nashville Event Space or to see the renovated aVenue, contact Sarah Ann Miller at 615-497-6802.
Ashley's Bride Guide sat down with Amy Millslagle, owner of delicious cake shop The Frosted Affair of Green Hills. Her talented team, along with fabulous designer Jay Qualls, debuted their new collection of wedding cakes for 2015 earlier this month and we were fortunate enough to pick her brain and learn more about the inspiration behind these jaw-dropping designs.
Can you tell me a little bit about your inspiration for you new 2015 collection? What are your team's favorites? Which style was most popular at the debut event?
The Frosted Affair’s 2015 Wedding Cake Collection was inspired by numerous sources:
- Bows, embellishments, lace, and ruffles from newly released wedding dress designs
- Vintage music lyrics
- The newly released 2015 Pantone colors
- The growing popularity of gold, glitter, and bling!
- Bride’s own personal wedding invitation!
We love all of the designs, but, as our designers have said, it makes me happy when we get to paint with gold, push the envelope with modern, painted, distressed hexagons, and create items with some of the latest techniques including wafer paper and edible images.
All our guests had their personal favorites, but the black and gold glitter cake was a hit! Also, everyone had fits over the 3 groom's cakes in the collection – Casino Night, Beer Can, and Vintage Tool Box.
What makes this collection stand out?
The designs are fresh, new, and executed extremely well. However, when you look at the collection as a whole, it doesn’t all look the same. Inspiration has been drawn from many sources and the outcome is many distinct designs– each as unique as our wonderful brides!
For brides who aren't familiar with your designers, can you give me a little bio?
At The Frosted Affair, we have two lead cake artists in addition to a team of bakers, cake pop artists, and cookie artists! Laura Grizzel, lead cake artist, is a graduate of Southeast Culinary & Hospitality College, Bristol, Tennessee, and is originally from Gate City, Virginia. Amanda LeSaicherre, lead cake artist, is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, and originally from Ponchatoula, Louisiana. These two phenomenal artists have over 15 years’ experience.
Jay Qualls, celebrity cake artist, joined our team as a wedding cake consultant in the fall of 2014. He has helped inspire our team creatively as well as transform our beautiful shop where brides can have a one of a kind cake consultation. Jay is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University and opened Maples Wedding Cakes. While he no longer owns Maples, he continues to be one of the leaders in the cake industry with his unique sense of style in cake design, teaching, product development, and business consulting. He has starred in two national television shows, season one of "The Next Great Baker" and season two of ABC's hit reality show, "The Taste."
What is your price range?
Pricing is extremely simplified. For the most part, brides can have any cake design they want between $6.50-$7/serving with a 100 serving minimum. This way, you can get exactly what you want without having to ask each time, how much does this one cost? Our groom’s cakes are custom priced based on difficulty and size, and start at ~$100.
How can brides see/taste this new collection?
At The Frosted Affair, couples enjoy a complimentary tasting and consultation in our private wedding consult space. Consultation appointments need to be scheduled at least three days in advance, ideally on a Monday or Tuesday when possible. Our room has beautiful furniture, a large wall of cake inspiration, and classical music playing softly in the background. Traditionally, we taste our five most popular flavors (Strawberry, Almond, Vanilla, Chocolate, and Red Velvet) accompanied by your choice of champagne, wine, or water – just the way you will eat it at your wedding!
Brides meet with one of our lead cake artists, who sketch your custom dream cake on site. Once booked, the sketch is yours to frame and put out at the wedding and then eventually put in your wedding scrapbook.
You can also see our collection online at http://www.thefrostedaffair.com or on our social media sites! Or, just pop in! We're located at 2209 Bandywood Drive, Nashville, TN 37215, 615-856-1903
Matt Currier, the fabulous videographer, with Audio Video Art created the most fun and memorable video for Caylan and Anderson's Nashville wedding. From touching scenes at Saint George's Episcopal Church to the guests getting down on the dancefloor at the downtown Nashville City Club, Matt captured the ceremony and reception beautifully and also made a really fun video for the couple and guests to enjoy.
We shared their video last year but we weren't the only ones who loved it. The couple recently posted a review of their videography service that we thought you might enjoy, especially if you missed seeing the video last year.
Enjoy!
Caylan - Nashville Bride
"Matt was fantastic to work with. He shot beautiful footage and did and execptional job creating our wedding video. Matt took all of our special requests to heart and also added a beautiful artistic eye to create a video better than our expectations. We highly recommend Audio Video Art for any special occasion. "
At Ashley’s Bride Guide, we’re always on the lookout for innovative and exciting wedding ideas.
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