California Chic Celebration 04

Q&A with Meg Owen of Meg Owen Event

WHEN TAYLOR CAME TO ME, I was elated for multiple reasons. She’s a part of a special sorority (and I mean additional to a Greek one). It’s always the most ideal situation when clients come referred by former clients, but Taylor’s was extra special because we had not one, not two but three former brides in the wedding party and special guests. From the start, it was like getting the family back together to celebrate one of our girls, and that we did! Taylor wanted to do something new and fun in a classic space, so we got to working. In many of our design meetings, I could tell that we were going to look at special lighting and surprise elements to really set the mood. We were getting inspired by West Coast weddings and restaurants that had an intimate, romantic and swanky vibe to them. They were creatively lit and used more natural items like trees and foliage to complement the more modern floral. We had the idea to keep the party moving (like a progressive wedding) with a newer surprise around each corner. A candlelit ceremony led to a spectacular 250-person plated dinner (in a spectacular cleartop tent complete with multiple sputnik chandeliers), and at the end we really went out with a bang with a surprise room flip and after-party for all the guests!

COLOR PALETTE: Black, White, Olive

LIST OF VENDORS:

Event planner(s):

Meagan Owen, Meg Owen Events

Venue(s): Oklahoma City

Golf and Country Club

Photographer: Mark Boatright

Entertainment: The Wavetones (Box Talent) and OKC

Entertainment (Keegan Kirkhart)

Rentals: Mood Party Rentals and Marianne’s Rentals

Catering: Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club

Cake: Amy Cakes

Floral: Meg Owen Events (Designers Meagan Owen, Caitlin Grassmyer, Jodi Ferrell and Heather Hayes)

Stationery: No Regrets

Photo Booth: SNL

Hair: Beth Kelly

Makeup Artists: Nick St. Clair and Tiffany Pham

Dress: Monique Lhuillier from JJ Kelly

Q&A

WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR THE EVENT? California chic. In our early inspiration hunts, I was noticing that many of the pictures we were loving were happening at Los Angeles-esque restaurants. They all had really chic and simple color palettes and weren’t too fussy on the floral. They all seemed to include lots of live greenery elements (like trees and large plants) and had a moody lighting component.

HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DID YOU START PLANNING? Taylor and I started working together eight months prior. She already had a date and the venue (which in this case also included a caterer and bar service) as well as her photographer picked out.

HOW/WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THE VARIOUS VENDORS? Rather than go by an arbitrary percentage listed online, I have my clients prioritize their wants for the day. Based on those priorities, we can focus on those really important vendors first and work our way through. I always ask “What’s your 10?” at the beginning of every consultation. For some it’s photography, for some it’s entertainment. Taylor wanted the guest experience to be unique, so we kept the party moving (literally) from space to space. There was always something new to see.

WHAT MADE THIS EVENT SPECIAL? While the guests were enjoying the reception, we flipped what was their ceremony space to a surprise after-party. A DJ, late night bites, espresso martinis, disco balls and Fobbles were such a hit!

WHAT WAS ONE ROADBLOCK OR SETBACK? Having a tented wedding is never easy. There are so many elements you have to contend with, but a tent’s main nemesis is weather. We had very mild weather leading into wedding week, but a cold front moved in and the temperatures were forecasted for the wedding night for the 20s and 30s, yikes! However, what you might not know about clear-top tents is they also act as a greenhouse during the day. So when the sun was up, it got so hot in the tent that the heat started to melt the taper candles in their vases! We joked that those flowers really took a journey that day, loading in at 23 degrees, being in an 80-degree tent in the middle of the day back to the low 30s at night! Ultimately we got a tent heater added, replaced a few candles, fluffed some hydrangeas and all was well.

WHAT WERE THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE EVENT FOR YOU? Seeing Taylor’s joy after we pulled off the surprise was so fun. It’s so hard to sit on a secret from your friends and fiancé that long, and when the doors opened and everything happened on cue, we were both so happy. I ran up and hugged her afterwards and we both said, “We did it!”

WERE THERE ANY SPECIAL REQUESTS OR REQUIREMENTS? Taylor wanted to use her longtime family friends, the Nevilles, owners of No Regrets, for our stationery, and our letterpress invites are truly some of my favorite stationery pieces this year. We also wanted to make sure we gave a nod to Al’s family and heritage and make sure they had their go-to Lebanese wedding songs on rotation at the reception! Lastly, Taylor wanted something fun and fresh that no one had ever done before, so we asked Steve (OKC Entertainment) for a Fobble machine to blow fog bubbles at the entry of the after-party!

WHAT ARE YOUR GO-TO VENDORS IN OKC THAT YOU ALWAYS RECOMMEND? OKC has so many talented and wonderful event industry partners. There are just too many photographers, makeup artists, bands and florists to choose from. But if you’re truly making me, I will always recommend Mood Party Rentals and Amy Cakes. Whenever we book a new client, Amy is usually my next email to get on her schedule. Her craftsmanship, her flavors, her talent – it’s just out of this world. The email after Amy is usually the girls at Mood. Their customer service truly can’t be beat, and we have become such close collaborative partners on so many projects and events throughout the years – they feel like family!