As avid readers of Inside Weddings as we know you all are, at least here in the United States, you will no doubt have seen the gorgeous real wedding story of Tamra Barney and Eddie Judge featured in the current issue on newstands now. The Real Housewives of Orange County couple were married this summer at the St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point, California and only the amazing Diann Valentine, wedding planner to the stars, could design the festivities! We asked Diann to share the design inspiration with us, particularly noting how the bride and groom collaborated on the design with Diann and her team. Also, keep reading as we asked Diann to recount her day “by the numbers” to better understand what a wedding producer does on the wedding day itself… Diann is an inspiration, truly!

{THE BRIDAL CIRCLE}:  WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION BEHIND TAMARA’S WEDDING? DID SHE COME TO YOU WITH A CONCEPT, COLOR OR THEME IN MIND? OR, DID SHE, AND OR THE GROOM COME TO YOU AND LET YOU PROPOSE A CONCEPT FOR THEM? OR, DID THEY COME TO YOU WITH AN IDEA THAT THEN CHANGED ONCE THEY HEARD YOUR THOUGHTS AND IDEAS? BASICALLY, HOW DID THE WEDDING DESIGN BLOOM?

{DIANN VALENTINE}:  Surprisingly, Tamra did not have many preferences about anything for her wedding.  She wanted something beautiful and trusted me enough to come up with a design that she knew she would love.  Now as much as that sounds great, I know better than to just design another woman’s wedding without her input so I was able to drag some details out of her.  Initially Tamra wanted an all-white wedding.  However, all-white weddings feel so 80’s to me! They have been done thousands of times and it is difficult to make such a specific trend fresh and new. Once she told me that she was wearing blush pink, I suggested that we keep the colors of the celebration very neutral and then add in shades of blush pink to tie into her wedding gown.  Also, Tamra has very rosy colored skin and I felt that the all white environment would be too stark against her skin tone.  The blush pink accents in the room were a much better complement for her.

{DIANN}:  Through my careful question and answer sessions I learned Tamra loved cherry blossoms so infusing them into the event design in an organic way was crucial. I didn’t want her wedding setting to end up looking like a Hollywood set!  Eddie, the groom, had even less input than Tamra in the design creation.  He only cared about two things: (1) budget and (2) Gummy Bears.

{THE BRIDAL CIRCLE}: HOW DOES THE DESIGN PROCESS WORK BEHIND THE SCENES? DO YOU CREATE AN INSPIRATION BOARD? A SHOW AND TELL SESSION TO HELP NARROW THE CONCEPT DOWN? DO YOU PRESENT YOUR CONCEPT/DESIGN WITH REAL SAMPLES, A SAMPLE TABLESCAPE, OR BY INVITING YOUR CLIENT INTO A SPACE THAT IS DESIGNED AS A MINI-WEDDING? HOW MUCH OF THE DESIGN CONFIRMATION IS TACTILE AND HOW MUCH OF IT IS TRUST?

{DIANN}:  I use a number of methods to communicate the design of a wedding to my brides.  Every single design project starts with a conceptual inspiration board that may or may not be shared with our clients.  It depends. Some want to see it, others do not. This is my way of setting the tone and direction for the project so that my team and I can remain focused on the design direction throughout the process.  Once this is solidified, we move onto CAD Drawings, sketches and 3-D renderings to flesh out the concept to the last detail. Sometimes even modeling plays a part in order to clearly demonstrate the design direction to our clients in a very real fashion. 

I never expect a client to rely on my descriptives because most do not have the vision that I have and it can feel crippling to them.  Also, my clients invest a substantial budget into their celebrations and I do not want them to have any surprises that they may not love in the end.  With my design process and presentation, I can usually get clients about 80% of the way there on the full concept and then I ask that they trust me for the remaining 20% for it is in these final stages that I can take a concept from good to great to extraordinary.

{THE BRIDAL CIRCLE}: WHAT WEDDING IDEA, DESIGN ELEMENT OR CONCEPT SURPRISED YOU IN ITS EXECUTION?  

{DIANN}: The suspended cake stand was far more beautiful in the final execution than I had anticipated.  My production designer drilled holes through all of the crystals before hanging them and we were able to get a magical reflection of light throughout the room because we avoided using plastic beads.  Before the night was over, we had a little scare though.  As Tamra prepared to cut the cake, she thought it would be fun to swing the cake and it went flying.  For a moment, I thought I was going to have a heart attack because I had visions of the crystal chain breaking and the cake landing on someone across the room.  Thankfully, we were able to stop her before it got ugly and I must say that I think I have the best Production Designer in the business because we never have design disasters. Including this one!

{THE BRIDAL CIRCLE}:  CAN YOU SHARE WITH US HOW THE WEDDING DAY UNFOLDED FOR YOU? WE’D LOVE TO SEE THE DAY “BY THE NUMBERS” TO GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING ON HOW YOU DO WHAT YOU DO!

{DIANN}:  Absolutely! Here it is, and WHEW! I get tired again just reading it!

{THE BRIDAL CIRCLE}:  THE LIST OF FABULOUS PROFESSIONALS AND ARTISTS DIANN VALENTINE AND HER TEAM WORKED WITH ON THIS EVENT IS BELOW:

Location and Catering: St. Regis Monarch Beach www.stregismb.com

Photographer: Christine Bentley www.christinebentley.com

Floral Designt: Justin Howard of Flaming Flower Productions www.flamingflowerproductions.com

Cake: It’s All About Cake www.itsallaboutcake.com

Invitations and Paper Accessories: Prim and Prixie www.primandprixie.com

Favors: Giant Gummy Bears www.giantgummybears.com

Hair and Make-up: Hair Comes The Bride www.haircomesthebride.com

Videographer: Brian Perry www.perryfieldfilms.com

Harpists: Carolyn Sykes www.pacificharps.com

DJ: KC Campbell www.voxdjs.com

Officiant: Dr. Linda Wainwright Trott www.theclergynetwork.com

Fun: Shutterbooth of Southern California www.shutterbooth.com

Lighting: Amber Event Production www.ambereventproduction.com