Charlotte Wedding Planner – Jackie Fogartie

Pink Springtime Wedding: Byron’s South End, Charlotte, NC

April 27, 2017 By Jackie Fo Leave a Comment

Do you like beautiful flowers, happy people and lots of pink? Then you will LOVE the springtime wedding of Deirdre and Kevin!

Perfectly captured by my boo Lori with Capture Me Candid, I can’t wait to take you through the wedding day of Deirdre and Kevin. (Full vendor details at the bottom of this post):

A few things to know about the happy couple:

-They are from Long Island (and yes, that means there was tons of Billy Joel played and I loved every second of it) #pianoman4life

-They love Love LOVE the Mets.

-Deirdre knew exactly what she wanted and I loved that about her! As a planner, it can actually be really difficult if a bride doesn’t know at all what she wants.

-Deirdre loved the planning process (not always the case!), which made her an absolute breeze to work with. She was quite knowledgeable about wedding planning and it frankly seemed more like a partnership than a planner-client relationship. One of the keys to being successful at what I do is to take the “tone” of the relationship from the client. Some clients are more hands-off, some want to be involved in every detail, etc. In this case, the bride had her vision, I helped her execute it, and everyone was happy!

I will be supplementing this blog with some comments from my partner in crime, the bride herself, Deirdre!

I’m starting off with these SHOES because wow. Badgley Mischka, can I just say you really know how to craft a shoe.

Deirdre worked with a family friend who has a small invitation company, J. Elle Invitations. These invitations set the tone for her wedding with their pink accents and rustic glamour and elegance.

THE DRESS. I can’t even with this beauty. This picture is stunning, and just know that the dress was even more stunning in person! Originally an illusion neckline, the dress was altered to create a strapless neckline.

CJ with J Majors whipped up a custom bolero to match the dress for Deirdre to wear at the church. Dear CJ – I want to be you when I grow up. I loved the bolreo, and I love that Deirdre had two different looks for her day.

Deirdre has 2 sisters (and note – all have been or will be married within a few years of one another- wowza), and they selected one veil to share for all three of their weddings. I love sentimental touches like that!

Deirdre had this “something blue” patch ordered from Etsy sewn into her dress. I heart Etsy.

I love this shot with their bright dresses and the blue sky! They had excellent weather for their wedding day (which always make my job a bit easier!)

Reception centerpieces were extremely important to Deirdre. We chatted about it at our very first meeting. She was confident that she wanted to use her creativity to make the vases and accent pieces for the reception flowers. Within seconds of hearing Deirdre explain her concept, I knew this would be a successful “DIY” project. Deirdre was realistic in knowing that she didn’t want to mess with doing the florals herself, but she knew she wanted to create the containers. I let the florist know this was the plan, gave them the diameter and sizing of the vases and brought the containers to them the week of the wedding.

Deirdre had a plan to complete these over the course of her 1-year+ planning period and that’s exactly what she did! Deirdre is now my go-to example for how to do DIY right. You need someone who won’t procrastinate and will work on the projects over the course of months, not try to jam it in the last month of planning when you are already busy with your impending wedding! Another note about DIY – typically a florist will come back at the end of the reception and pack up all vases and votives the client has rented from them. If you are DIY-ing any of your centerpieces, you will need to make a plan for who will pack everything up at the end of the night and where they will go. Typically this would be your planner, a family member or friend – just make sure it’s figured out prior to the wedding day!

Here’s what Deirdre had to say about the centerpieces:

I am pretty creative, I love making things so I decided to make all my centerpieces and decorative accents. I accumulated my supplies over a 6 to 12 month period. I mostly got what I needed from Michael’s and Walmart with some bulk pieces bought online (save-on-crafts.com) as well as Etsy.

Also, if you plan on making any or all of your décor I highly recommend hiring a planner for at least for the month of. You don’t want to worry about setting up your wedding the days leading up to the big day. The weekend before my wedding I boxed up everything I made, labeled it and our planner picked everything up and brought it where it needed to be.

Truer words were never spoken! Thanks for showing us how to do DIY the RIGHT way! And the end result was AMAZING!

More personal touches were scattered throughout the wedding like these custom Mets cornhole boards (side note – cornhole in a wedding dress? I could get down with that!) ….

…and this personalized Mets jersey used as the guest book! I LOVE creative guest books. You’ll be much more likely to display something unique like this in your home versus a traditional guest book.

Instead of a traditional tiered wedding cake, this ice-cream loving couple opted for an Ice Cream Sundae bar and mini dessert shots. Everyone loved the adorable treats.

In a moment that had everyone wiping a tear away (including, ahem, myself), the Bride and Groom dedicated a song to the Bride’s parents. The happy couple was thrilled to share an anniversary with the parents of the Bride, and they surprised them with their very own dance to their very own wedding song. It was a really touching moment.

At the end of the evening, they snuck out for some skyline smooching and cigar shots with the Groomsmen.

One last word of advice from our Bride:

“Its your day, one of the few days you get to be truly selfish. Make your own traditions or bend the old ones to your own style. You can’t make everyone happy (PREACH), just concentrate on you as a couple and decide its going to be the best day of your life and then it will be.”

Some wise words from a smart lady! Deirdre and Kevin – Thanks for being a breeze to work with and I wish you a lifetime of happiness!

Full Vendor Listing:

Mint Green Springtime Wedding in Uptown Charlotte: Allison and Joe

February 1, 2017 By Jackie Fo Leave a Comment

Happy New Year friends! After a lovely holiday season in our new home (I hosted Christmas Dinner and it was amazing! But borderline more stressful than planning a wedding – HOW is that possible?!), I’m excited for my 11 weddings (plus always booking more!) weddings I have on the calendar so far for 2017. Last year was filled with so many beautiful weddings and I’m going to start blogging them NOW. First on the docket, Allison and Joe! Where can I even start…

Allison and Joe, in full disclosure, are friends of Mr. Fo and I. Joe works with Stu, and the four of us always have the best time together. When they got engaged in 2015, Allison asked me to be her planner and I didn’t hesitate for a second. While working with friends can sometimes be difficult, I knew just from Allison’s fun, kind and organized demeanor, she would be a total breeze. We had zero issues and became closer because of it. I loved helping them pull of their perfect day, and also loved that I was technically a wedding guest who got to somewhat partake in the festivities after my wedding “duties” were over. Stu was actually in the wedding as a Groomsmen, so I got to order him around which is always a plus in my book. (Just like at home, right honey? Hehe.) I truly enjoy watching all of my clients tie the knot, and having two friends do it on my watch? Well it was that much sweeter.

That’s enough chatting, let’s let the beautiful photos from Tricia Coyne do the talking!

A full vendor list is at the bottom of this post.

Custom skyline invites from Three Little Birds set the tone for a sweet wedding with tons of simple charm. Allie knew she wanted mint green to be a main color and we carried that throughout the wedding design.

This picture of the boys figuring out their pocket squares just makes me laugh. If you want to see a room full of well dressed men confused, watch them figure out how to fold a pocket square. Giggles. Don’t worry, I saved them from their misery.

Speaking of pocket squares and groomsmen, one groomsmen did happen to misplace (aka lose) his pocket square the morning of the wedding. Oh, that groomsman happened to be my husband. Of course. The look of fear in his eyes when he told me what happened was simply comical. Luckily the linen napkins were the same color as the mint green pocket squares, so I MacGyvered a new pocket square out of a linen napkin and took care of that in a jif. (Yea. It was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. #igotmadskillsyo)

Here are Allie’s bridesmaids reaction to the beautiful bride as they sent her off to her First Look.

Joe making a big ole show of waiting for his bride to arrive!

Here she is – what a beaut. They had their First Look at the Green in Uptown Charlotte on a perfectly lovely May day. She’s got that pure joy look on her face!

The Bridal Party joined the couple after the First Look for photos. This is one of the many benefits of a First Look – having tons of time for Bridal Party photos and not having to squeeze them in during cocktail hour!

Here come the boys!

And the girls with their pretty bouquets from Pink Petunia:

Another interesting fact about our beautiful bride? She’s a triplet. I. KNOW. So freaking cool. Here she is with her lovely sisters by her side:

The Bridal Party switched locations to get some photos in front of Panthers Stadium (back when we had high hopes for this season…Sigh). Allison and Joe are huge Panther fans so they most definitely dabbed on it.

Here’s Joe contemplating something serious while holding a football.

Now that we’ve taken the photos, it’s time to get hitched!

I think I recognize this handsome groomsmen! Hey honey!

Also, this adorable Bridesmaid? You’ll see Rachel this year when I coordinate her April wedding to the equally adorable Rob!

Allison’s sisters walked holding hands to get in place and watch their sister get married. I thought this was so sweet.

Here’s the bride walking out to meet her dad and cheesin’ at her soon-to-be groom.

As with a lot of Uptown outdoor weddings, we had some unpredictable noises – a verrrrrrry long train and a helicopter to name a few. The best part? The bride and groom were so locked in they didn’t even notice. This is my favorite picture from the whole wedding btw – how could it not be? It’s pure happiness.

Inside, the venue was decorated with mint green, gray and touches of pale pink and coral. Allison was originally anti-pink, but she ended up loving the touches of pale pink throughout the florals.

Allison’s friend Heather did a lovely job with the cupcakes and cupcake display. They turned out great and the display was exactly what the bride wanted!

Now it’s time to party:

Stu once again made an entrance into the reception and made me proud:

Allison danced her face off as did everyone else at that wedding. Once we passed out the giant glo-sticks, this turned into a Par-TAY.

Allison wanted a big group photo on the dance floor and Tricia delivered!

I was so excited to be a part of this wedding, as both a friend and a planner. I loved every second of it and wish my friends the very best! Love you both!

Charlotte City Club Wedding: Blush, Champagne and Elegant

June 26, 2015 By Jackie Fo Leave a Comment

What do you get when you combine a gorgeous uptown venue, a happy couple and a group of badass vendors? A gorgeous uptown Charlotte wedding like this one I did back on a beautiful May day.

I worked with Carrie and Ali for a year and loved seeing their elegant wedding come together. The talented Lori with Capture Me Candid Photography made Carrie and Ali look like the rockstars they truly are!

The wedding was held at the beautiful Charlotte City Club and the venue was the perfect backdrop for their blush and champagne wedding. Let me take you through their day!

I loved their classic invitation from Paper Source.

A simple bouquet of blush garden roses from Pink Petunia was exactly what the bride wanted.

Here’s the lovely bride with her maids on the well known City Club staircase.

A proud papa walking his daughter down the aisle.

Always fabulous Reverend Rebecca Nagy put on a heck of a ceremony as usual!

The couple took beautiful uptown Charlotte photos after the ceremony.

The ballroom at the City Club was decked out with gorgeous florals, linens and blush satin napkins.

Wow Factor Cakes provided a stunning dessert table with cake pops, cupcakes, specialty brownies and a small cake for the couple to cut. We found this wonderful customized golden cake topper on Etsy that was perfection on the textured buttercream single tier cake.

Z Brothers DJ spun some sweet tunes that kept the crowd dancing all night long!

Selfie sticks were a big hit…

Another special part of the couples wedding weekend was the Persian Wedding Ceremony on Friday night which was held at the Duke Mansion. The groom’s mom coordinated the entire event and it was absolutely gorgeous. They were kind enough to invite myself and my husband and it was a beautiful, symbolic affair. Here are a few photos from that evening.

I was really sad when this weekend was over because I enjoyed the planning and hanging with this fun couple so much! Here they are departing through sparklers at the City Club. I wish them all the very best! Thanks to all the wonderful vendors who helped make this day a true success for the happy couple. Congratulations to Carrie and Ali!

Full Vendor List

Photographer: Capture Me Candid | Venue and Caterer: Charlotte City Club |

Dessert/Cake: WowFactorCakes | DJ: Z Brothers | Officiant: Reverend Rebecca Nagy |

Flowers: Pink Petunia | Linens: Party Reflections |

Hair/Makeup: Sissy Duncan, Simply Beautiful Artistry

Invitations: Paper Source | Seating Chart and Placecards: Three Little Birds

Persian Wedding Venue: Duke Mansion

Upcoming Weddings and More!

June 9, 2015 By Jackie Fo 2 Comments

Whether it’s fall, spring or even winter, it’s always a good time to have a wedding in the Carolinas. I’ve got some beauties coming up later this summer and fall and I wanted to give you a little preview of what’s been percolatin’ here at Jackie Fogartie Events!

You really can’t go wrong with a beautiful backyard and outdoor lighting, and one of my upcoming weddings is proving it! With an intimate group of about 75 guests, this poolside wedding is what Pinterest dreams are made of. Here are a few inspirational pics for some of my upcoming weddings.

Intimate Backyard Wedding

Stringing (professionally, of course) market lighting over the seating area creates a beautiful ambience.

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As does lanterns with candlelight lining the pool.

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And these rustic but elegant farm tables are going to make great family tables for this backyard beauty!

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Modern Wedding with a Garden, Mossy Feel

My August bride is getting married at the Foundation for the Carolinas, a beautiful venue complete with floor to ceiling glass walls overlooking downtown Charlotte. I love the whole design but am especially excited about the desserts – and not only because I will get to sneak some, hehe.

The cupcakes and other desserts will be perched on an acrylic display similar to the one below. With votive candles, dripping moss and beautiful confections, I’m beyond excited to see how this dessert display turns out!

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Black and White Wedding

A color combo of black and white will never go out of style. Add in some white hydrangeas, sleek black tablecloths and shimmering silver mercury glass, and a beautiful wedding is just around the corner. My couple this fall is using all of these elements and I know it will be gorgeous!

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Anenomes are the perfect addition to a black and white wedding.

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A champagne toast is never a bad idea! Add a sophisticated element by dropping blackberries into the flutes for a black and white look!

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And this cake…well, it truly speaks for itself!

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Fall Colors and Succulents

Finally, I’m really loving the color combo of one of my fall brides. She’s bringing burgundy back with this burgundy, gray and navy color combo. After visiting a florist we decided we wanted to bring in succulents to complete the look. These wedding florals are our inspiration! Can’t wait to see the gorgeous florals later this year!

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I can’t wait for these beautiful weddings and more that I have coming up to finish out 2015! I’m planning well into 2016 too so there’s lots of planning and wedding fun in store. In non-wedding planning related news, I’m super excited to be part of a local campaign on behalf of the Marriott Charlotte Center City. I happen to love the Marriott Center City as it is located right in the heart of Uptown Charlotte. I suggest it to clients all the time for their wedding guests! The Marriott is renovating to make the hotel even MORE fantastic and because they are uber smart they are running a social media campaign called #DesignCharlotte. For the next few months you’re going to see me Instagramming, FB-ing, Tweeting and blogging about all the best Charlotte has to offer. Seeing that I love exploring new restaurants and of course love a good cocktail, you can look forward to seeing many pics of local brews and bites, all with the hashtag #DesignCharlotte. The best part is that you too can use the hashtag too and be entered to win some sweet giveaways. So for my Charlotte peeps, show off our city by hashtagging your little heart out (#designcharlotte), okay? I can’t wait to explore my city and of course see the Marriott in all its renovated glory.

Before I say goodnight, I’d like to introduce you to my newest (and only…) godson, Benjamin. Baby Ben is my (double) cousin Lauren’s first baby and I was able to meet him this weekend. He’s even cuter than his picture. Much love to Ben and his Mom, who is truly over the moon! XO

I mean how tiny is this little guy? And does he look half Italian? Maybe he’ll grow into it?!