If your preference is an intimate wedding celebration, then consider these important tips from Tan Weddings & Events in scaling down, while elevating the experience.

A Romantic Setting and Scale
Here at our styled shoot at beautiful Arista Winery in Healdsburg, CA, a manicured swath of lawn cut against the vineyard and hills beyond provided a setting that was proportionately scaled for a smaller gathering. The addition of an arbor structure further brings a cozy, more intimate feel.

Touches of Elegance
Elements of chic and elegant do not have to be grand scaled. When scaling down, attentiveness to the details is key. For instance, we placed a modern chandelier from Bright Event Rentals to anchor the arbor with a very sophisticated touch. No need for lots of lights, just a well chosed detail.

Textural and Sensuous
Curated florals from Bloom & Vine, and carefully grouped place-settings and patterened linens from Bright Event Rentals, these all hold their own in the overall design, contributing to the experience of touch, sight, and comfort.

Your ceremony deserves thoughtful consideration as it is more than just the words spoken and shared on wedding day, it represents your commitment of a lifelong love. It is aso at the core of the wedding celebration; why your families and friends were brought together in the first place. Here are some helpful tips in making your ceremony meaningful.

Choose the Officiant Who Matches your Needs
A couple should consider an officiant that meets their beliefs and values. The officiant should be able to work with the couple's often busy work/life schedule, able to communicate via emails effectively and Zoom chat as needed. The officiant sets the tone of your ceremony, so make sure they reflect your personality and the occassion. And finally, the officiant should have the right demeanor on wedding day - calm, compassionate, authoritative, professional yet personable.

Create a Ceremony Script that Resonates with You
You can start with ceremony templates or a brilliant app like Wedwordy to begin customizing your ceremony script. You might decide to do it yourself or work with your officiant in personalizing and refining it. It should have words that reflect your love as a couple, it should be authentic to who you are, it should say the words that will carry you into married life. 

Personalize your Script
There are ways that even a ceremony template can become uniquely yours. You might share your love story with your officiant who may incorporate it into the ceremony. You can read your personal written vows - quite a cherished moment when friends and family hear your voices and the heart-felt promises you make to one another. You can include unity rituals that are drawn from your faith or culture, such as the veil and cord rituals of the Filipino culture.

Hire a Professional Officiant or Consult with One
A professional officiant, such as any member of the officiating team of Tan Weddings & Event, will meet all your needs above, but you might decide to have your family member or friend officiate for you. In that case, consult with TWE's principal officiant Reverend Rick Tan who will provide your friend or family member with helpful tips to officiating like a pro!

Sharing a meal together is at the heart of many gatherings, and weddings offer a delightful and delectable experience for your guests. Whether you decide a buffet, family-style, or plated,  matching table decor with the meal service type will take your dinner from bland to grand!

Got some hearty eaters who like to have a few entree choices? A buffet style service would be an excellent format. With the tablescape, you have a lot of freedom, where the dinner plate can be a part of the place-setting, and ample room on the tables for florals, candles, and other decor.

This format gives an informal, laid-back vibe to a celebration, without giving up an elevated aesthetic. Since platters of sides and entrees will be brought out by your caterer to the tables for guests to share, make sure there are landing areas such as stands, and that flower and other decor do not overwhelm the space, allowing for guests to pass platters amongst themselves unhindered.

This is the most formal of these three meal service types, where guests will have selected their entree choice prior to the wedding day. With this type, the place-setting will not have a dinner plate on the table as the catering team will be plating the entrees on the dinner plates. Design-wise, the combination of the charger, napkin, and menu will tak center stage.

When you want color on your wedding day, the sky's the limit. Or with our Malibu wedding, the surf's the limit!

Our couple did not shy away from color with their wedding palette. For them, the brief was, "Let's represent Malibu, the Moorish influence of the venue, our Persian hertiage, our SoCal lifestyle!" Tan Weddings & Events obliged. The pastel hues of beach and surf paired with the vibrant pigments of earthen textiles.

Adamson House is a historical site whose foundation was literally built on the owner's company Malibu Potteries, established in 1926, whose influences range from Moorish to Mayan, Andalusian to Art Deco. It provided the perfect setting for the couple's Persian heritage where the tile work and motifs resonated with their family.

Lilla Bello deftly assembled florals that bridged the Malibu vibe and the Mediterranean spirit. Julie King Studio captured the mood of the celebration in the signage and paperie. Casa de Perrin set down exquisite plateware and glassware and Town & Country Event Rentals brought chairs and tables that together were like the sandy beach where all this beautiful color could play.

In combination, the color palette spoke to the personality of the couple, who wanted to honor family, entertain their guests, and simply enjoy their celebration with wild, unabashed love of their beachy digs!

Event layout design is a key aspect of planning and producing a wedding. Tan Weddings & Events creates layouts that are thoughtfully-designed, driven by the four principle factors of space planning.

FLOW
Every space, whether it's a winery in Napa county or a private residence, routes people among the built and landscaped environment. For a wedding event, keep in mind the movement of guests from the welcome space to ceremony to cocktail to dinner. Ensure the paths are clear, logical, well-marked, and well-lit as needed.

FUNCTION
As guests flow through the spaces, regard the function and intent of the spaces. Create gathering spaces designed for the guest count and the activity, the function. If beverages and food are in self-serve stations, make sure there is room for lines. For dinner service, our rule of thumb for spacing between table edges is 5 feet minimum, six-seven is ideal. Designate spaces that allow vendors to deliver their A-game.

FEEL
As guests flow from one functional space to another, regard it as a sensual experience. Engage all the senses - visual, tactile, olfactory, auditory. Make the spaces comfortable and cohesive. Everyone should feel welcomed, oriented, joyful, celebratory.

FUN
And finally, a wedding celebration is all about the fun factor! The flow, function, and feel, when harmonized, will allow for the fun to happen. Further enhance with experiential moments that will make the event unique, and yet belong to the overall design. The event is at the beach? Incorporate an oyster bar. At a ranch? The bride on a mechanical bull is quite the picture op! At a European castle? Perhaps a string ensemble playing baroque music.

While event layout design may not be as glamorous as selecting place-settings and linens at a showroom, it is a key element in the overall wedding experience.​

You're engaged and faced with one important decision (the first of many decisions during wedding planning): "Should we have a full-on wedding ceremony and reception, or should we elope?"

Every couple is different, and you'll have your reasons for choosing to go big or to scale it down. Before you send out the save the dates to 300 people, here are three reasons why an elopement may suit you:

#1 Less people to entertain equals less costs. Scaling down to 2 - 14 people for a ceremony-only event will save you costs on venue fees, food & beverage minimums, rentals of linens and place-settings, decor, floral arrangements, etc.  Tan Weddings & Events' Budget Calculator estimates how your investment allocates to the vendors.) Simply put, keep your money!

#2 Less pieces to manage translates to less stress. A wedding day adds layers upon layers of things to manage, coordinate, track, and juggle. From shuttle schedules to silverware selections, it's a lot to think about! An elopement eliminates all of that. You can now focus on each other. Simply put, keep your sanity!

#3 Partner with an elopement specialist to make it happen. Tan Weddings & Events knows elopements! They will provide the essentials: planner, officiant, photographer, florals, cake, and music. Two hours at a gorgeous venue, an intimate ambience, your "I do's". Simply put, keep it simple!

Don't get us wrong, we LOVE the big celebrations, but there are benefits to eloping that you may find appealing. If so, reach out.

Planner, Officiant, Harpist | Tan Weddings & Event
Venue | Chateau St. Jean
Photographer | Elizabeth Warrick
Florals | Scarlett & Grace
Cake | Let Them Eat Cake

There's an inscription at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, chiseled into limestone and marble, "Know thyself." It is sage advice, and perhaps those ancient Greeks, some 2700 years ago, knew something about weddings! 

Extroverted OR introverted. Consider these personality types at the very beginning of wedding planning, as it can make a big difference on how you will enjoy your wedding day! A planner like Tan Weddings & Events can assemble a great vendor team, develop a master timeline, enhance the setting, and create a magical ambience, but you have to be honest with who you are to really vibe with your vision.

Who's an extrovert? A person who is extroverted draws energy from being around people, they would be energized and happy with lots of exciting activity. An introvert, on the other hand, prefers peace, tranquility, moments of reflection. Being "on" all day, being in the limelight, tended to, interacting with lots of people - these will sap the energy of an introvert.

Here are a few moments that can be a part of your wedding day. You'll discover that you tilt more one way or another, or maybe you fall somewhere in between!

1. Hair and makeup session - lots of your peeps, chatting, munching on snacks, drinking, moms too, OR just you and your maid of honor, in your suite.
2. Sharing personal vows - during the ceremony, in front of your attendees OR in private, in a quiet courtyard of the venue.
3. Photos and video - first look, portraits with wedding party, portraits with parents, videos of getting ready, videos of toasts, videos of walking and laughing OR portraits with family, candid videos and photos.
4. Grand entrance - dancing to some deep bass beats, the wedding party and the newlyweds enter the room OR just the newlyweds enter.
5. Dress changes, toasts, games, espresso martini tower, photobooth, gelato carts, first dance, parent dances, and so much more!

Exciting or overwhelming? Too much, too little? The wedding day can be perfectly planned and perfectly executed to your specifications, but the true joy, your own personal experience, depends on knowing yourself. So be honest with who you are, find the balance of what works for you, and your wedding day should feel joyful and authentic.

Having planned their own 30th anniversary celebration, Rick and Jennifer, co-owners and principal planners of Tan Weddings & Events, experienced being "the couple". It reaffirmed the advice they give their couples to make wedding day  smooth and stress-free! Here are three of Rick and Jennifer's Wedding Day Do's and Dont's:

DO Have a Photography Plan.
So you want to be fully present with each other and your guests on wedding day, AND you also want quality photos and video to enjoy in the future. These two goals are not naturally compatible. It's like wanting your all-you-can-eat sushi buffet AND training for a half marathon. It's not that you can't do both, it simply needs planning!

Involve your planner, who will recommend: 1) Talk to your photographer and videographer about your priorities to balance portraits and candids, time posing and time partying; 2) Create a photo list and schedule to fit in the master timeline; and 3) Recruit a family member or friend who knows the people in your photo list to efficiently direct portraits.

DO Refine (REDUCE) Your Guest List.
Refine is a graceful way of asking yourself - "Do I really need to invite my brother's cousin's ex-wife and her plus one and toddler?" "Do I want my dad's golf buddies there?" "Should I allow random plus ones?" It is not an easy task to create a guest list, but reducing the number of guests has some real benefits. Let's talk budget. We are seeing, on average, couples spending $1000/guest (this is based on the total wedding costs). Do you want to spend that on someone you hardly know and will probably not even get a chance to talk to on your wedding day?

Less guests translate to less cost, but it also allows more venue choices that can host a smaller guest count, it opens more space on the dinner layout, it reduces the time guests get served their courses, it reduces the need for extra shuttle trips, it reduces all those part and pieces of wedding day - menus, favors, place-settings, room blocks, the list goes on.

The real question to ask yourself is - "Who do we want to spend this day with, to share in our joy and happiness, in our journey as a couple?"

DON'T DIY What You Can Leave to a Professional.
Being creative people, Rick and Jennifer naturally added in their personalities and their hobbies into the wedding day. It is who they are. Rick did the signage. Jennifer hand-crocheted her entire dress! They hand-woven runners for their tables. Their son, an engineer, created aluminum placecard/napkin holders. 

Yes, they DIY'd those elements, but it's also part of their professional lives, and it aligned with their vision and aesthetic. But those elements for sure impacted the planning and the getting ready part of their wedding day.

Bottom line, the more things you DIY, the more things you have to personally take care of, assemble, store, package up, transport, handle, and worry about! So leave what you can to the professionals to manage.

Keep these three tips in mind and you're sure to enjoy your celebration!

It's no secret weddings can be expensive. On top of that when you think about your wedding party (especially a large one!) We're here to let you know it's OKAY to have your wedding party pay for certain expenses. 

Attire. A bridesmaid dress can range from $50-500 and tuxes can be even more than that if you're not renting! There's no need to feel pressure to provide attire for everyone in your wedding party. We love the trend of giving your wedding party a color scheme and telling them choose a style of dress that they're confident in and fits within their budget! We love the variation this creates and it also eliminates a lot of the financial pressure of having a wedding party. 

Travel. If your wedding weekend involves traveling or staying in a hotel. It's completely acceptable for your wedding party to fund their own way. These people who are your chosen wedding party are likely very special to you and if they are unable to financially make it to your wedding, they will be open with you about that and understanding will exist on both sides! If you're able and comfortable affording these luxuries for your wedding party, by all means go for it, but know It's okay and it's not an expectation to buy a bunch of plane tickets and hotel rooms.

​Accommodations. Along with hotel rooms (as mentioned above), your wedding party's transportation accommodations, food, beverage, activities, outings, and more do not need to be taken on by your own wallet. It's a great idea to prepare a loose itinerary of local things to do surrounding your venue or hotel block! Giving your guests options is a wonderful way to make sure people can feel included, but also not feel pressured to spend if they're unable and makes it so you are also not overly spending on things that are not typical couple wedding expense. 

Ready for more advice and to begin planning with us?! Connect with us today for your free discovery call :)

We'd love to introduce you our first 2024 TWE Vendor Spotlight, Joe DeBorba with DeBorba Events! We hope you enjoy learning about Joe and his take on being a wedding DJ.

How long have you been in this profession?
"21 years"

What do you love most about your job?
"I enjoy crafting the ideal atmosphere by using music and lighting to make each moment unforgettable. Additionally, I take pleasure in spreading joy and positivity through music, fostering a celebratory environment for all."

If you had to have any other job in the world besides what you are doing, what would it be & why?
"If I weren't a DJ, I would certainly be mixologist at a high-end restaurant, crafting my own signature elixirs and artisanal cocktails. I relish the opportunity to engage with and meet new individuals. The thrill and perpetual energy of the bar scene are what initially captivated me and drew me to DJing."

What is one thing you wish couple's knew about your profession or field of work?
"One crucial aspect I wish couples understood about my profession is that we are more than just a playlist on shuffle. We serve as the Master of Ceremonies for your event, ensuring the seamless progression of the celebration to prevent any guest boredom and to optimize dancing time. Crafting the perfect dance floor experience involves more than just playing good music; it's selecting the right tunes precisely the right moments. The ability to maintain a smooth event flow and a lively dance floor comes with years of experience."

What is one piece of wedding advice you'd give?
"Enjoy the moments. Take the time to savor and relish each moment of your wedding day, as it passes by quickly. One way to achieve this is by hiring a professional team of vendors that you trust. By entrusting the details to them, you can remain present and fully enjoy the celebration, and ready to hit the dance floor!"

Please tell us one fun fact about you!
"We own a small flower farm, and it brings me immense joy to put in hard work and cultivate such natural beauty. I particularly love the moments when I get to ride on my tractor, surrounded by the blossoming fields, and listening to music. It's a peaceful and rejuvenating experience that fuels my passion for farming and creativity."

Joe is loved by many! Enjoy reading one of his stellar reviews. Interested in working with DeBorba Events or want to know more information? Visit the link below to dive deeper.

Vendor List

​Photography: Nicole Sepulveda Photography 
Planning, Design, Production & Officiant: Tan Weddings & Events 
Catering & Accommodations: Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn 
Venue: Sonoma Golf Club 
Florals: J. Blooms 
Video: Jevin Films 
DJ: DeBorba Events 
Cake: Flour & Bloom 
Rentals: Bright Event Rentals 
Photo Booth: Giggle & Riot
Mariachi: Mi Tierra Linda