BEHIND THE SCENES

PHOTO COURTESY OF LISA HESSEL PHOTOGRAPHY

C R E A T I N G A

Grand Entrance

An inside look at creating a custom event.

As told to Marianne Moore by Jenny Kehm of Before I Do and Bryan Schulte of Exclusive Events

People often look at wedding pictures and ask, “How? How did you do that? For this team, that’s the moment that they knew they made magic.

Jenny Kehm of Before I Do, approached Bryan Schulte of Exclusive Events with a wedding that had a speci c production challenge. The celebration, originally scheduled at a local country club, needed to be relocated to the family residence. Jenny remembers, “This wedding had not only been postponed due to the pandemic, but now, it had to be relocated.” When Jenny reached out to Bryan, she let him know that wedding reception was to take place in a tent on the front lawn of the family’s home, he remembers thinking, “tent, no problem”. Then Jenny dropped the bomb. The front yard had a serious slope. At the house side, the tent platform was at ground level but on the street side the platform was 12 feet off the ground.

In talking through the details of the event, Jenny told Bryan, the one thing that had been a constant throughout the planning process was that the bride wanted a grand entrance. That was her non-negotiable. Jenny challenged Bryan to use this information to create a dramatic rst impression that would allow guests to enter the tent from the street side, directly from the valet.

Translation, challenge accepted. Bryan immediately thought, “We need a huge custom staircase.” Bryan adds, “It was a huge challenge, it wasn’t just the look that we needed to perfect but also the engineering to make it safe, and this grand staircase would be in almost every photo, with groups of people on it, so safety was de nitely top of mind.”

The process started with the design. The rst step was to research the look of the grand staircase. Bryan’s background in theater set design was a huge asset. He says, “I have designed and built many staircases throughout the years. Drawing on that knowledge I knew we needed a

wide stair with a graceful curve accented with columns and spaces for owers and décor. We needed a princess staircase!” Jenny echoes, “if it’s a grand entrance she wants, we’re going to give her the full Cinderella staircase!”

Once look of the staircase was established, they had to tie in the rest of the design. The tent platform was 90’ wide, the staircase was not going to be built that wide. As the team talked through the options, they realized that issue created another design opportunity that would accomplish 2 things; rst, it would hide the under structure of the tent platform and second, it created the means to take a design element and incorporate it into the overall design of the entrance. The design was modi ed to add a terrace. Cheree Berry Paper and Design created an invitation suite that included gorgeous branches in the design. Her team created a graphic of those branches and Exclusive Events used that to create large wall panels to use at the entrance and again as the backdrop for the stage.

The next part of the challenge was the overall engineering of the project. The rst step was for Traube tent to create a site survey, so everyone had an idea of the exact slope of the yard and the placement of the tent platform. Jenny says, “it just so happened that the perfect place for the tent was nestled among 3 giant oak trees.” She adds, “the trees created a perfect canopy.” Once position was established, Bryan created a draft of the seen part of the staircase from all different views. He says, “that allowed me to envision the understructure.” The structure is then broken down into engineered pieces so that they can

be produced, then installed. This requires the production team to know how big each piece can be so it can be safely moved and transported.

Now that the design and engineering are nalized, the project moved into the production shops. The staff broke down the overall design into shop drawings. These drawings are the blueprints that the carpenters used to construct the design. We use a huge platform with a computerized cutter. We program the cut and the router does the rest. While the carpenters built the support system the CNC router cut out the curved nish of the stairs, the railing and tree branch pattern. “The process is nely orchestrated,” Bryan says, “it took two weeks to slowly assemble the staircase in the shop.” It started as a skeleton, and nally took shape. The curved stairs and railings were added. Problems are seen and reworked. “Eventually”, he adds, “we had an 11’ tall, curved staircase fully assembled in the shop.” Once the design was complete, the paint staff and electricians took over. The paint crew hand painted the entire design matching the color swatches that Jenny provided. While this happens the lighting team ran cables and added sconces to the columns. The lighting was not only a design aspect but also a practical one. Once the sun sets the stairs needed to be lit for safety.

After another week of painting and touchups the design was event ready.

What goes up, must come down, and then be put up again! Bryan explains, “every bit of the design was taken apart and wrapped for

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When Lacey + Tyler walked up the custom staircase and entered the tent lled with breathtaking orals and silk draping they were in complete awe. Lacey remembers, “we watched the structure being built, but until all of the elements came together, we had no idea that this was going to be more than we could have ever imagined.” She adds “the brilliance of Jenny, Bryan and all of the vendors took our vision to a whole new level. It was absolutely magical.”

transport.” Once onsite our team started the process over and began construction on the front yard. The under structure was assembled and then using a huge off-road forklift we raised the stair sections into place. Once the stairs were built, we started covering the exposed tent platform and added the railing system. It all went together onsite quickly and smoothly, after all this isn’t the rst time the team assembled the structure. Bryan says, “it took us 2 days to install the design onsite,” Jenny adds, “that looked like magic!” “The reality is”, Bryan adds, “we had been intimately working on the design for weeks in our shops.” “In those two days”, Jenny says “I can’t tell you how many people stopped by to see what was happening, to take pictures”, she adds, “it was the talk of the neighborhood!”

Once assembled the nishing touches are addressed. Jenny explains, “the orist comes in and adds in their air.” Then then lighting crew came in and added the lighting design that made this important rst impression glow all night long. The painters returned touched up any scratches and dings that might have happened during assembly.

The grand entrance was ready for Cinderella.

Both Jenny and Bryan agree, “This is the most rewarding part of what we do. There is something about that intake of breath you see during the big reveal.” Bryan says “it’s the moment that makes our hearts swell with pride.” Jenny adds, “our client delicately walked up and down the stairs and eventually you can see it in their eyes when they realize that this is theirs for the rest of the event.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF LISA HESSEL PHOTOGRAPHY

Vendor Team

PLANNING + DESIGN

Jenny Kehm, Before I Do

PHOTOGRAPHY

Lisa Hessel

TENT

Traube Tent

DÉCOR PRODUCTION

Exclusive Events

MUSIC

Contemporary Productions; Memphis Soul Revue

CATERING

Butlers Pantry

STATIONARY

Cheree Berry Paper and Design

CAKE

Kaked By Katie

FLORIST

Festive Couture

RENTALS

Exclusive Events; Aries; Nuage; BBJ Linens & Chargers

THE HAPPY COUPLE:

Lacey + Tyler