5 Year Anniversary and Surprise Unveiling

I always love throwing fab parties! Our 5 year anniversary and introducing a new venture was the perfect reason! I wanted the theme to be mystery and elegance because of the surprise we would be unveiling and I love all things pretty:-) We are so fortunate to work with the best in the industry here in the Tampa Bay area and I can not thank everyone involved enough for their hard work and amazingness on this event. Everyone listed below are not only talented in what they do but also some of the best people both in character and friendship that I know. Jenny and Anthony Sanschagrin from 1930 Grande, Linda Somersall from Linda Marie Weddings, and Jana Stall from Events in Bloom are all to thank for making my small vision a gorgeous reality. They know me so well and I can not thank them enough for seriously how perfect everything was!

Florals and linens were white with lots of crystals, textured aqua linens, and Jana even incorporated votives with a chevron pattern. uDream Events did our aqua glow bars for the sushi station and mobile bar. FH weddings black and white chic furniture created a perfect lounge space. The food and red velvet signature Lovetini were over the top delicious. RJ, from the Production Crew took care of the sound, visuals, stage and one of my favorite things was the live twitter feed we had. I LOVE social media so everyone's tweets and pictures were projected on the walls. Monique, from Shutterbooth brought Open Booth and also another super cool thing. At the event you could put #carriewildes on instagram and your photos would print out at the Glam Station.

Everyone that knows me knows I love wedding cake, and we had a Cake Boss Style unveil in the center of the room with a sequin and chevron encrusted decadent red velvet creation by Alla and Boris from The Cake Zone. The perfect addition to cake is delicious Gelato from the best, the Gelato Carte. The girls from Aquali Bridal matched the cocktail models hair/makeup exactly with the florals and decor. With the theme being mysterious, we had Nathan Coe Marsh perform some of his illusions that I think we are still trying to figure out! Cory, from Grant Hemond was our MC and DJ extraordinaire. All the stationery from invitations to menus and tent cards were done by Invitation Galleria also incorporating a little chevron. My husband, David, even surprised me with a very sweet speech and a dozen roses!

The thing I was most excited about was our surprise unveiling. It was something no one would ever guess and we did a pretty good job keeping it a secret:-) Many of you know that David and I are foster parents, and we had a pretty tough year in 2013 with a sweet little baby we had for 6 months. The short version of the is, together, Holly Nazario and I came up with the idea to start a foundation to start breaking down the financial barriers so that more people can adopt and give so many children that need it a forever family. The foundation is named after our foster baby, Promise Love. We hope to help people get the most important gift that can be given family. It's in the beginning stages but are VERY excited to see where God takes this. I can not thank Alex and Jocelyn from Voila Cinematic enough for the time and work they put into this video below.