wedcetera

new and noteworthy

WHAT'S NEXT AND NOW IN THE WORLD OF WEDDINGS written by Giuseppa Nadrowski

The Touring Tap

Once used for everything from farm utility and mail delivery to ice cream sales and meter readers, today the Cushman Haulster has found new life as The Touring Tap — a trendy mobile tap truck serving events (and beverages!) across metro Detroit. Discovered at a farm in Ohio, the 1979 truck was refurbished and transformed to house six chrome taps in its sleek Porsche-inspired chalk gray body. The Touring Tap officially launched in 2020, and this season, new owners Christopher Richmond and Jeffrey Fuller are excited to take the tap back on the road.

“This is definitely a way to set yourself apart from other weddings,” Richmond says. “It really tends to be a conversation piece. And it’s just fun. We can get really creative with the types of drinks we serve, and we can have it really add a true value to an event.”

Richmond and Fuller first discovered The Touring Tap at a graduation party last summer. It wasn’t long after that the duo decided to make it their own. This season, The Touring Tap returns to work ready to serve events of all sizes and styles.

“We can have up to six drinks [on the truck],” Richmond says. “Anything you can get in a keg we can put into the truck for your event.” Per Michigan law, liquor licenses cannot be sold to mobile bars, so while The Touring Tap can’t sell alcohol drinks by the glass or keg, they will install the kegs you purchase on the truck, help you source where to purchase them, and even help design your drink menu. There is also a variety of non-alcohol drinks that can be served — think lemonades, teas, ciders, coffees, and even craft sodas.

“Despite being small, we can also serve quite a few people,” Richmond says. “There really is no minimum ... but once we get to 200 to 250 people, we definitely recommend having one to two tap tenders.” Self-serve packages are ideal for those events with fewer than 100 guests. Tap tenders can be added to packages of any size to help alleviate lines and assist with pouring drinks.

The Touring Tap can also be styled to fit into any theme with options to provide custom cups that feature a signature design or logo. “Where we try to really focus on setting ourselves apart is just the experience from start to finish,” Richmond says. “Whether that’s helping to design a drink menu, helping to decorate the actual truck itself, or the set up and the dismount, we just want to make things really easy for our clients.”

For more information, visit thetouringtapmi.com

Salud

Shivani Kothari and Anne Goering are redefining the bridal industry with their recently launched month-to-month wedding planning subscription service, Salud. Plans start at $80 a month and include a wedding planner, virtual meetings, vendor recommendations, design assistance, an online planning portal filled with spreadsheets and planning guides, and unlimited advice via email. “Wedding planners are worth their weight in gold,” Kothari says. “But only if the budget allows. We designed our plans to be financially flexible to accommodate all types of budgets.” Kothari, a former Michigan-based wedding planner, met Goering while attending the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business graduate program. Salud, which first began as a class project, is now changing the way couples across the country plan their big day. “Before we started our business, we would hear how our team of wedding planners would spend so much time focusing on sales and marketing strategies to attract clients,” Kothari says. “We've put a lot of thought into how we cultivate the couple-planner relationship so when it comes time for the couple to hire someone for in-person coordination services, asking if their Salud wedding planner is available is naturally their first move. The couple has someone they can trust, and our planners are able to showcase their talents through the couples they work with through us so it's easier to get booked.”

For more information visit, momentstosalud.com

PĪFERI

Known for his sculptural animal-free shoes, Italian footwear designer Alfredo Piferi took to New York’s Bridal Fashion Week to debut his muchanticipated vegan bridal collection. This latest lineup features the brand’s beloved BIOVEG-certified Bio Vegan Nappa (which is composed of 48 percent bio polyols derived from non-food and GMO-free field corn) and each is handmade in Italy. Brides looking for a more eco-friendly footwear choice are sure to discover a style that fits their look. We love the chic crystal embellishments and the sleek minimal silhouettes. “When somebody says ‘I do’ in your shoes, you become their brand for life,” the designer says in a statement for the new line. “And to dress a bride on her wedding day is something that honors me.” For more information, visit piferi.com

Michigan Flower Barn

DIY flower fanatics rejoice! This year Josephine Brown, a co-owner of the Brown Family Farmstead in Owosso, launched the Michigan Flower Barn, a wholesale market collective providing designers and florists a diverse selection of slow-grown cut flowers and foliage from farmers across midMichigan. Couples looking to design their own wedding or bridal shower arrangements will love the MFB’s DIY Blooms by the Bucket service, which provides brides and grooms access to flowers that are 100 percent Michigan grown and harvested. Offered during Michigan’s peak growing season, generally between May and October, MFB is “super excited to provide this outlet to more people who are interested in sustainable floral options,” Brown says. Couples can pick up their blooms and design with their bridal parties at home or even onsite at the barn.

For more information, visit michiganflowerbarn.com

Flowers for Dreams

Flowers for Dreams, the beloved boutique flower shop known for not only their stunning farm-fresh bouquets but their contributions to local charities, has much to celebrate this year. As of April, “we’ve raised more than $1 million for 175 amazing small nonprofits in Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee, where we operate,” says founder Steven Dyme. “Charity is not an extracurricular activity. It’s not something you do after work or on the weekends like the corporate generation before us. We think it's important to build it into our everyday DNA. We want to pave the way for an ethical, craft flower movement nationwide. For the more thoughtful flower lovers and green thumbs to enjoy their blooms without the same negative waste, climate, or labor externalities. Offering a more local approach, small batch production, higher wages, and a full circle model that gives back with every sale, we hope to give a more social conscience to an industry that hasn't always been known for that.” At Flowers for Dreams, one fourth of all flower profits are donated to local charities.

For more information, visit flowersfordreams.com

The Evermore Floweret

For brides looking to preserve their wedding day florals, look no further. This past April, Levering-based Shawna Mang launched The Evermore Floweret, a modern floral preservation company. From ring holders to bookends, coasters and other decorative designs, Mang’s resin creations are a stunning way to preserve some of your most cherished memories. “I opened The Evermore Floweret because as Monet said, ‘I must have flowers, always, always,’” Mang says. “Flowers have a profound way of connecting people to each other and to their most precious memories and moments. With Evermore, I am able to preserve those blooms for people to look back on and see in their day-to-day life. Wedding dresses get tucked in the back of the closet, and photo albums set in drawers, but the functional floral art that I create is meant to be used and displayed, the flowers and memories kept evermore.”

For more information, visit theevermorefloweret.com