Behind the Scenes, TWU

Preparations for welcoming our students to The Wedding University on Sunday morning, began early in the afternoon, on Saturday, as several of us met to assemble the 20 page "syllabus" folders and extensive gift bags to be given out the next day.

We finished this job about 10pm, which is when
John Woods, of Enhanced Lighting, and his drape and lighting crew were leaving San Francisco to drive to the Four Seasons, Silicon Valley. As it turned out, the crew worked all night, installing lighting, hanging chandeliers, and creating backdrops for the elaborate displays created by our design team.

Here John is using the lift to go up and adjust the red lanterns, which were a vital element of this design; it was about 6am, and his crew still had so much to do!

The finished display, ready for our students to arrive at 11am.

Nancy Liu Chin, and Gloria Tritasavit, 2 other members of our design team, spent the night at the hotel so they could work late, and get up early; as it turned out, they really didn't get any sleep at all! Their assistants arrived at 6am to help finish the designs begun by Gloria and Nancy during the night. Below is the table setting as the students saw it.


Creating an arrangement with hundreds of roses, and hydrangea, at the top of a 3 foot tall vase, required Nancy's tallest assistant, and a chair!
...but the effort definitely paid off! What an elegant display!

The fourth table design incorporated 2 very heavy chandeliers, which John rigged over the rich black, magenta and purple table setting, full of arching orchids, painstakingly wired together.


Here is the finished display...lots of bling, and popping with color!

One last behind the scenes shots is of Geoff White's assistant photographer, Eric, shooting one of the model couples we had doing casual modeling all day at the Wedding University. This shot in the Four Seasons will be a classy reminder of how, for one day, the hotel became a Wedding University Campus.



Here one of the model couples pose with me, Gabrielle Medrano, of Gabrielle's Bridal Boutique, who provided all of the gowns for our models, and Armando, of Get Your Do Up, who handled all of the hair and make up styling for each of the models. It should be noted that the groom in this photo is Gabrielle's son; she kept a close eye on this couple!