Blog – Jackie Fogartie

Fun, Modern and Blue: Sarah and Steve’s Foundation for the Carolina’s Wedding!

January 6, 2016 By Jackie Fo Leave a Comment

First and foremost Happpppppppy New Year! Was Monday as rough on everyone as it was on me? Turns out that 2+ weeks of going to bed late, eating copious amounts of food and partaking in many glasses of wine makes for a sluggish Jackie. Who knew…oh wait, I knew. And I did it anyways! We capped off the last day of the “break” with a Panthers win, solidifying our team as masters of the football universe. Playoffs here we come!

For my first post of 2016, I’m here to prove to you that good things come to those who wait! I kicked off a busy wedding season in the fall of 2015 with Sarah and Steve’s late August nuptials. Sarah and Steve’s infectious love for one another and smiling faces combined with a beautiful uptown venue and great vendors made for a one of a kind wedding! Dare I say it was one of my most favorite weddings ever? Oh I do dare.

Let’s take a walk down Sarah and Steve’s memory lane! Photo credit goes to Amy Terrell with Simple Moments Photography. Full vendor list at the bottom of the post!

Let me just brag on Sarah and Steve for a quick sec…they are both so genuinely sweet and both care so much about one another; they are truly a great couple. We became fast friends and I know we will be seeing each other well after their wedding! You can tell just by looking at their photos that they are a blast as was their fun wedding party!

Sarah and Steve picked the beautiful Foundation for the Carolinas venue located in uptown Charlotte. The modern venue has a beautiful lobby filled with unique artwork and the event room is walled by windows and overlooks Charlotte’s bustling uptown streets. Both their ceremony and reception were held there. Their wedding had so many unique elements, and the ceremony “altar” and programs were two of my favorites.

With a custom designed pipe and draping from Party Reflections and floral by Bloom Room, the “altar” was stunning! Small glass globes with candles were hung from the piping and made for a beautiful ceremony backdrop against the wall of windows.

In the ceremony chairs were two-sided programs custom created by Three Little Birds. One side had all the ceremony info and on the other side were words of congratulations like “Yay, Congrats and Yippee!” Guests were instructed to hold up their congratulations when the couple walked back down the aisle as man and wife. Genius! They also made for fun props for the wedding party photos!

As I mentioned, Foundation for the Carolinas has so many beautiful aspects. Their lobby makes for the perfect place for wedding party and bride and groom photos.

I also love the “living wall” that’s on the outdoor deck/patio area. It made the perfect backdrop Sarah and Steve’s First Look…

…and for one of my favorite pictures from the wedding, Sarah and her Grandpa. Isn’t this the sweetest picture? I love her bouquet too…

…Speaking of flowers, my gal Lynette with Bloom Room totally rocked out Sarah’s florals. Sarah knew she wanted blue and green, and in case you are wondering, there aren’t tons of blue flowers! Using an eclectic group of containers including mercury glass and blue glass, as well as a wide variety of flowers, the floral design on this wedding was a showstopper that every guest commented on!

I loved the long head table with tall bunches of Belles of Ireland making a statement.

You might have noticed those custom designed table markers on each table. Three Little Birds knocked it out of the park again with location-themed table cards. Each card had a custom drawing of a landmark in a town up closer and personal to the couple. Not only that, on the backs of each table card, there was a description of why that city was important to Sarah and Steve. Can we say creative much? There was a custom seating chart as well so guests could find their table. This is a great example of how to make a wedding personalized and unique!

When it came to food and dessert, of course we made that creative too! Each food station (catered by the always great Best Impressions) had a regional theme, like this Philly-Jersey Station.

And of course there was no regular ole’ wedding cake, it was a beautiful and unique cupcake display using clear acrylic boxes and topped with a sweet “LOVE” topper. Amy from Wow Factor Cakes and I had fun designing this cake display!

There is absolutely NO doubt in my mind that Sarah and Steve are going to be dancing their way through life together…

…and I wish them so much happiness and love!

I can’t wait to share the rest of my Fall 2015 weddings with you over the coming weeks!

Thanks to all the amazing vendors that helped make Sarah and Steve’s wedding happen!

Complete Vendor List:

7th Annual Cookie Party: Candy Cane Lane + a Peppermint White Russian

December 23, 2015 By Jackie Fo Leave a Comment

If you don’t know, we take our Christmas Cookie Party pretttty seriously around these parts. This years party “Candy Cane Lane” was our 7th Annual and we had a blast!

If you want to review last years party theme – Gold and Glitter – you can check that out in the link below:

Gold and Glitter Cookie Party

We had peppermint cocktails, candy canes of all sizes and a very special guest. Let’s review our fun day on Candy Cane Lane!

We stepped our invitation game up this year by hand delivering box-style invitation wrapped with a red and striped ribbon.

The invitation was designed by Scratch Paper Studio (LOVE Natasha’s work and she’s local for you Charlotte peeps!) and was accented by you guessed it – a candy cane! Party tip: A creative invitation sets the tone for the fun that’s to come!

Guests were thrilled to be greeted by a fabulously decorated bar cart rimming with festive goodies and the aforementioned Candy Cane Cocktail. More on that later. Thanks to Tarjay for having this bar cart that we added to our party arsenal. We can always count on you. Ridiculously over decorated bar cart below:

Not only did guests have a choice of the candy cane cocktail or a cranberry Prosecco immediately upon arrival, the drinks were delivered by the one and only Santa Claus! (Note: Large variety of Santa costumes at your nearest Party City.)

As usual, my mom strung her beautiful garland up and down the stairs in the entryway. We accented the garland with striped bows from Michaels (aka my 2nd home and the reason why I’m constantly covered in glitter during the month of December). We also lined up our cookie tins on the stairs like so:

The trees and mantels were decorated with extra special Candy Cane Care.

The main cookie table (the party has grown so much we have 2 tables of cookies now!) was lined with a beautiful red chevron runner I rented from gals at Party Reflections and a plethora of candy cane trees. It was a real peppermint overload. But in a good way.

Even the flowers were brimming with candy canes!

There were 33 cookie contenders this year and they were all winners in my book. Some standouts:

Candy Cane Cookies (you know I love a theme so I extra loved these):

The winner for Most Creative were these ADORABLE Holiday Hedgehog cookies!

Due the extreme number of cookies, people had to share cookie plates. Even a Cookie Monster couldn’t eat this many cookies…

Votes were tallied using the official ballots as we do every year:

Now that we’ve covered the cookies, let’s talk signature cocktail. Every year at the cookie party we do a signature cocktail and this years was no exception! We also provided wine and cranberry Prosecco (Prosecco + Cranberry Juice = Cranberry Prosecco), but the signature cocktail was our Candy Cane White Russian (really a Peppermint White Russian). Here’s the recipe – there’s DEFINITELY time to whip this up for your Christmas dinner!

Candy Cane White Russian (Note: Measurements aren’t exact. I just kept pouring the stuff in until it tasted pepperminty and delicious! It was a tough job but somebody had to take one for the team.)

Whole Milk (It’s Christmas, don’t use skim milk people)
Kahlua
Peppermint Vodka – Specialty vodka made by Smirnoff around the holidays. It has a pretty red and white striped bottle. Can be substituted with Peppermint Creamer – creamer for your coffee! It also tastes delicious if you can’t find the specialty vodka.
Lots of ice (Warm Milk = Ew)
Garnish with a mini candy cane hanging off the side of the glass.

Enjoy! I mixed up a pitcher of these because come on… milk and cookies?

So let’s review: We had cookies, white russians, freaking SANTA CLAUS and good friends and family. We were totally winning…..

Here I am with my hostesses with the mostesses, my mom and my sister in law (and Santa). (Note: Wearing a Panthers Jersey because the game was on during the party – poor scheduling but we won 38-0 that day so cookies must be good luck? Go Panthers baby!)

It was a super successful 7th Annual Cookie Party- here’s the the 8th! I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas!

Cheers, Peace and Love to all!

Skillpop: That time I taught a class on Holiday Entertaining and Hosting!

December 15, 2015 By Jackie Fo 1 Comment

Earlier this month I added a new title to my resume: Teacher.

Well, sort of! Basically I spent 2 hours talking about cocktails, tablescapes and prepping for holiday entertaining. Honestly it just sounds like a regular day in the life of Jackie Fo!

This awesome opportunity came about because of Skillpop, a great new concept in the Charlotte area. Skillpop hosts pop up classes in the Charlotte area with topics ranging from photography, hand lettering and much, much more. Basically, you learn a new skill (without breaking the bank) all while meeting new people in your own city. Score! If you’re local, check out their upcoming class schedule HERE!

My class (aptly timed for the season) was Holiday Hosting and Entertaining. I may be biased but I thought it was a blast! The group of ladies were so much fun, asked tons of questions and provided a really interactive environment which is great, because no one wants to hear me talk for 2 hours. Not even me.

(Note: All pictures are iPhone pics. I was too busy molding young minds to break out my real camera.)

I made a mock table scape for the ladies with a silver metallic theme. The centerpiece was made from glassware and candle votives which is a great way to create an impactful table scape without spending a lot of money. Have to be cognizant of the cost, especially during the holidays!

I also demonstrated a super easy DIY place card made from a faux pointsettia found at Michaels. I bought this bad boy for $8ish dollars. I should own part of Michaels at this point. I could walk through it blindfolded.

The DIY is so simple! Cut the pointsettia apart with floral or wire cutters and attach a tag to each piece with a guest’s name. I used a key tag below. Each place card will be a little different which I love! I made 4 place cards for $8…you can’t beat that! Plus Michaels has faux flowers in every color of the holiday rainbow to match your table scape.

Here I am showing off my placecard idea… do I look profesh? Or like I remotely know what I am talking about? Or just plain awkward? The jury’s still out.

I also shared one of my absolute favorite cocktail tricks of all time – the no-fail rimming the ole’ champagne flute with sugar trick. You may remember this from my tutorial around this time last year. I’m telling you, it’s an instant party face-lift.

The last activity was a flower arranging activity and each guest got to take home a holiday arrangement they created. I didn’t claim to be a florist (because I am SO not), but I did give them some helpful hints and ways to make flower arranging easier. To keep things totally real as I like to do here on this blog, one of the tips was just to buy flowers prearranged from a florist. Ha! Sometimes you’ve got to leave it to the professionals and that’s totally okay.

Here are the ladies showing those flowers who’s the boss.

I also gave guests a thorough holiday entertaining “prep” timeline with tons of specific tips plus a take home sheet with stress-free entertaining/hosting tips and tricks. Not that I’m an expert. But do I know a thing or two about throwing a fun party!

Basically I had a blast talking about one of my favorite topics with a bunch of women who were interested in hearing what I had to say. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season and to start closing out a successful, busy and satisfying year.

Don’t worry, I’ll be back later this week sharing pictures from our 7th annual cookie party. Things are winding down here at Jackie Fogartie Events and I’m looking forward to sharing a few more posts with you all before we close 2015. Cheers!

Lauren and Peter: Intimate Outdoor Wedding

November 18, 2015 By Jackie Fo Leave a Comment

And that’s a wrap folks. I’m talking about my 2015 wedding season. I had my very last wedding of the year this past weekend. If you’ll allow me to induldge for a moment, 2015 has been my most successful year yet and I keep thinking back on all the fun weddings from the year. The fall wedding season nearly killed me (Read: Exaggeration level high) but it feels amazing to work so hard and produce so many beautiful weddings for kind, appreciative and happy clients.

As I shift focus to start preparing for 2016 weddings, I’m going to spend the next couple weeks sharing my fall weddings with you on the blog. First up is Lauren and Peter, and I’m so excited to share these gorgeous photos from Smith Photos & Ink. Photographers Jessica and her husband are from Charleston and were an absolute pleasure to work with! A full vendor list is at the bottom of this post.

Let me start by telling you a little something about our beautiful bride Lauren. After meeting Lauren for 5 minutes, I knew I would love to work with her. She was so laid back, fun and knew exactly what she wanted for her big day. Oh, and have you seen her hair? Luckily she picked me and a friendship was made. I see many shared bottles of wine in our future!

Lauren and Peter’s wedding was an intimate affair held at a family friends home. To clarify, it was an absolutely stunning home with a magazine-worthy backyard. The wedding was to be held in said stunning backyard, but unfortunately Mother Nature had a different idea that involved rain, rain and more rain….all the live long day.

Pause blog for a Wedding Planning PSA: When planning an outdoor affair, there has to be at least one conversation about the possibility of rain and a rain plan must be sketched out. No one wants to talk about the dirty “R” word, but it has to be done.

Luckily, Lauren and I and my fab friend Lynsey from Party Reflections had previously come up with a rain plan (see above PSA) so we were able to implement this plan once we saw the weather report. A tent was put up in the driveway, cute clear umbrellas were purchased and we rolled with it. Lauren, being Lauren, was calm and trusting. With a little extra planning, we laughed in the face of this rainy day and had a badass wedding anyways. In hindsight, the tent plan worked out wonderfully and the yard had enough covered space to accommodate everyone. Lauren and Peter were so darn happy it just didn’t matter what the weather was and a grand time was had by all. Let’s take a look at their happy day, shall we?

First off, Lauren’s dress was one of the most beautiful I’ve seen to date. And as you can image, I’ve seen a lot of wedding dresses. Can we talk about this train/long veil combo?

As they say, “I literally can’t even…”

Guests patiently waited for the festivities to begin!

Lauren and her dad had a few steps to walk down to get to the ceremony. The ceremony was held in a beautiful stone pavillion on the property which was then flipped into a dance floor for the reception.

Lauren’s handsome groom is waiting for her!

Now that’s a first kiss!

I love the happiness in this picture. And also, I can’t neglect to mention the chandelier which is also amazeballs. The whole ceremony setting was perfectly cozy. There was even a fire burning!

After the knot was officially tied, guests enjoyed a cocktail hour (including mini biscuits and Bourbon Slushies, umm yes please) on the beautiful double decker porch.

After cocktail hour, guests were escorted into the tent for dinner. Farm tables and beautiful linens complete with simple florals and lots of candles created the perfect cozy ambience.

Instead of a traditional cake, Lauren and Peter opted for a donut truck from Sugar Handmade Gourmet Donuts. People were loving this cute purple truck… and the donuts…OMG. If you’re in Charlotte, I highly suggest checking out their Maple Bacon Donut, especially when it comes warm right out of the fryer. Don’t blame me when you’re addicted.

After everyone was pleasantly stuffed with warm donuts, they took to the dance floor.

And because it’s college football season and the groom is a Studio Host for Espn’s SEC Network, you know the crowd would find a way to watch a little football.

Unfortunately the night had to end, but it ended with a fantastic sparkler send off.

I can honestly say this was one of my most fun weddings to date! From the setting, to the happy couple, to the guests, everything was simply perfect.

Lauren and Peter, you were such a joy to work with and your happiness is evident from the big smiles on your faces! I wish you many sunny days ahead and a lifetime of laughter!

Vendor Credits:

Fun, Modern and Blue: Sarah and Steve’s Foundation for the Carolina’s Wedding!

7th Annual Cookie Party: Candy Cane Lane + a Peppermint White Russian

Skillpop: That time I taught a class on Holiday Entertaining and Hosting!

Lauren and Peter: Intimate Outdoor Wedding

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