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POINT OF VIEW with CLOCHE EVENTS

A Stunning San Antonio Wedding Weekend

As soon as we laid eyes on the first image from Carrie and Matt Hancock’s San Antonio wedding with Cloche Events, we fell in love. And boy did we have questions! From the tastefully masculine mood of the rehearsal dinner at The Hotel Emma to a lavish backyard wedding (that only took 14-days to construct on-site around a favorite Oaktree, no biggie), how did this whirlwind wedding weekend come together so beautifully? (We would say effortlessly, but there is no lack of effort to pull off an event of this size and style without unwavering aim and passion for detail.)

We took note of the white trellis theme in a beloved childhood home, the sculptural tabletop silhouettes that gracefully stood out with each place setting, and the symmetry of a classic, courtyard-style wedding. Calling all Grace Kelly’s out there: You’ll want to bookmark this page for exemplary execution and wedding inspiration. There’s magic in the makeup, and the ladies of Cloche were willing to share their top takeaways to creating an unforgettable, personalized wedding event. So without further adieu…

First things first, tell us a bit about yourself and your team for those new to meeting Cloche Events.

I’m Laura Nell Burton. My business partner (also my best friend!) Christin Gish, and I have been in the industry a long time. Together, we founded Cloche Events over four years ago. We are a full-service planning and design company specializing in luxury weddings and events. Our business model is built on two pillars: Delivering concierge service to our clients and an unforgettable hospitality experience for their guests.

We're highlighting the Hancock wedding, from rehearsal dinner at The Hotel Emma to the Big Day. What were the highlights for you, and how did you keep this train on the tracks?

We poured hundreds of hours into the design, including sketching the stage backdrop and matching bars by hand and then having them produced especially for this bride. We weren’t sure if the wedding would happen because of Covid as the date came closer, so to see it all come to life as originally planned during the two-week install was a dream come true.

The tented reception took place in the client's backyard. What was it like planning for an outside event in February?

We were hired right when Covid hit and the world was shut down. Initially, our AMAZING tenting partner, Sandone Productions, had to wait to do a site visit. That means we had to spec the custom clear tent ourselves to cover the entire footprint of an irregularly shaped backyard–including over the pool while also capturing the canopies of our client's majestic oak trees under the tent roof. The night of this wedding was the night that the crazy ice storm hit Texas. We were up against excruciating conditions, but everything came together perfectly, and it was magical.

We're obviously obsessed with the tabletop details. How did you put the style of each event together, and what were your favorite P.O.S.H. pieces used?

For sure the Duchess green goblet. It was truly everything to the wedding day tabletop!

You love a custom cocktail. Tell us about the Hancock drinks.

We do LOVE a custom cocktail! For this wedding, we did a few specialty cocktails.

Our Cloche brides choose their drinks and approve the names, and then we always ask the bride if she will agree to give us full creative license on curating the details. If she says yes, we as a company always gift all the cocktail details–it’s kind of a Cloche brand thing! It honestly takes hours to get details like this perfect, including highly specific instructions to the caterer (we prepare creative briefs with actual photos of each mocked-up cocktail).

Before the reception begins, we orchestrate a private reveal moment where the bride and groom are surprised and served from a silver tray. This bride was moved to tears. She was so happy! It was the best moment of the entire planning journey for me.

Our most creative cocktail (ever, really) was “Waylon + Henley’s Margarita” named after the couple’s fur babies. We designed custom acrylic swizzles with original watercolor art of the dogs from the couple’s wedding crest and finished things off with custom brass tag dog collars engraved with Waylon and Henley’s names buckled around the glass rims. I really had to rabbit hole online to find the perfect collars!

There was also "Carebear’s Summer in a Bottle" rosé, a nod to the bride’s nickname “Carebear” and to the Hamptons where the rosé is bottled and the couple became engaged (each Gatsby coup glass had a Sugarfina rosé (care) bear in the bottom as a sweet little extra touch).

How important is having a strong planner and vendor team, especially on such a large, multiple-week production?

Teamwork is everything. My business partner and I spend days perfecting our production/installation schedule so that when everyone arrives, we have thought through literally everything possible so our vendors can hit the ground running. Although our business is in San Antonio, we prefer destination weddings, and over the years we have gravitated to Dallas for vendor talent. Lately, most of our team comes from the Metroplex area.

We are very particular about our vendor team and are upfront before a bride hires us that we only work with vendors of the highest standards. We especially love P.O.S.H., of course! The customer service (Kara is amazing) is truly incredible and the team leader (Carlton is beyond the best, and we request him every time) and the entire P.O.S.H. team at installation stand out as best in industry class, no doubt.

What is your biggest takeaway from this stunning wedding? We will be talking about it for years!

We were up against so many odds, but we never gave up and the result was beyond our expectations. Our client had very high expectations across the board that in the end we successfully met, and we are so blessed to call them now our very dear friends. The love between us and this client now because of everything we all went through during Covid and the ice storm as we built a magical kingdom and then tore it back down in their backyard is worth every challenge we encountered along the way.

Planning and design are such an important part of this day. What do you want future brides and families to know before planning their big day?

Hire the best planner you can afford and then trust them! Make sure they are not only good with client service and design but also strong on the accounting front. I am a designer, but I also worked in the accounting industry for seven years. I never over-design because I am my own budget governor as I go along–it is an uncommon blend of skills.

My business partner, on the other hand, handles client service. Hands down, there is just no one better! She is just the best person I know. Trust is everything. When there is trust, that is when a bride benefits from the full measure of creativity and talent that a planner, and really anyone in this industry, has to offer. That is when the magic happens. In our humble opinion, a stellar planner is truly the most important decision that a bride can make.

A two-part question! What are you working on next, and what are you looking forward to non-work-related?

Next up we have a big deb party in November for six families (that’s 18 clients to service on one job, including the debutantes!). Generally looking ahead, we pour our absolute hearts and souls into each wedding.

Over the years that we have been in business, we have learned so much about the types of clients that are (and are not) a DNA match for our business model, as well as really honed in on the size and nature of projects we are interested in so we are being very discerning about the portfolio of projects we are willing to take on in the future.

Thank you so much for sharing your skill and passion for such special days in your client's lives. Tell us where can we find you?

Please visit www.cloche-events.com to see more of our work, as well as find contact information.

Bonus Feature! We have an incredible Behind the Scenes video of this wedding, so you can see the magic for yourselves. Click here and enjoy!

READY, SET!

From the rehearsal dinner to the main event, no detail was overlooked for this seamless wedding weekend. Linked below are the P.O.S.H. picks for each striking tablescape, handpicked by the Cloche Events team.

Rehearsal Dinner at The Hotel Emma: The vibe was traditional rustic chic, reflective of both the groom and the aesthetics of this legendary hotel and brewery in the renowned Pearl Plaza and Park in San Antonio.

Wedding Reception at Private Residence: From the custom cocktails and fauxcades to the specialized place settings...each detail blended into a beautifully cohesive and timeless wedding.