Our Fabulous Wedding Vendors
On March 13, Amanda Brown and Jessica Engel, the winners of QSaltLake’s first wedding giveaway, took their vows before friends, family and members of the local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community at the University of Utah’s Post Chapel. The ceremony and the reception that followed were the culmination of hundreds of hours of work on behalf of several local wedding service providers, whose generously donated their time, resources and talent to making the couple’s “big day” a joyous occasion.
QSaltLake would like to thank all of these vendors, many of whom are profiled here.
Bacchus Event Services
The friendly bartenders at the reception’s café bar and the cash bar were provided by Bacchus Event Services, which provides bar services and rentals of bar-related furnishings including tables, tents, chairs, stemware and silverware for events held throughout Northern Utah.
The company was founded in 2005 by Michael Roussin and Bryan Johnson, and quickly grew from offering the services of bartending staff into rentals and sommelier (wine steward) services, said Roussin, who is himself a professional sommelier. A wine steward, he explained, handles such things as selecting and pairing wine choices with menus, conducting wine tastings and win classes, and picking up wines and beers at cost on behalf of clients (Utah alcohol laws prohibit sommeliers and bartending services like Bacchus from selling their own alcohol or making profits off of wines they purchase on their clients’ behalves).
Roussin said that Bacchus has staffed events of all sizes, from parties at the Sundance Film Festival with thousands of attendees to the smallest party in the group’s history — a gathering of eight friends.
“I paired a wine with each of their meals and provided table service,” he said, noting that most gatherings at which the company serves are roughly the size of Brown and Engel’s reception, or 100–300 guests.
Roussin estimates that Bacchus has done bar services for “at least two or three” same-sex weddings, including one memorable function in 2008.
“We were not informed by the caterer ahead of time that it was going to be a same-sex wedding, and it just so happened that the bartender we sent was gay so he was very pleasantly surprised,” he said.
When asked why he and his business partner decided to be a part of QSaltLake’s wedding giveaway, Roussin said that he heard about the wedding through caterers Le Croissant and was moved by the paper’s story about Brown and Engel.
“I was angered to hear that [Engel] lost her job after her employer found out she was participating in something pro-gay,” he said, referring to Engel’s termination in late 2009 after she and Brown were featured in a _Salt Lake Tribune_ article about World AIDS Day (Brown is living with HIV). “It was asinine to me.”
“It just seemed like the right thing to do,” he continued. “It’s not our first [same-sex wedding reception] and hopefully not our last.”
Visit Bacchus Event Services at bacchuseventservices.com.
Bart Russon Jewelers
One of the most important parts of the wedding and the following reception was one that few but Brown, Engel and their youngest son noticed: the pair’s rings.
The two tungsten bands were provided by Bart Russon of Bart Russon Jewelers, a family-owned jewelry store specializing in gold, silver and equally beautiful metals like titanium and tungsten. Russon offered Brown and Engel a substantial gift certificate for bands, which the two took advantage of a week before their wedding.
“Jess and I are pretty plain,” Brown wrote on the couple’s blog, lesbianmomma.wordpres.com. “We don’t need a lot of diamonds and bling to show our commitment to one another.”
Upon entering Russon’s shop, Brown said they were greeted with “a warm smile and a welcoming handshake” before the jeweler sized their fingers and demonstrated the various metals available for rings. In the end, the pair said they went with the tungsten because of its durability.
“It was neat to see him vigorously rub the tungsten ring across metal edged case without a care in the world,” Brown wrote. “Although it’s a little heavier, it doesn’t scratch and that’s what I was looking for. Jess’ ring is a little more rounded than mine. It was nice to get rings similar in style yet different enough to allow for personality.”
Visit Bart Russon Jewelers at bartrussonjewelers.com.
C3 Design
Brown and Engel’s wedding invitations were created by C3 Design, a full design company with expertise in an eclectic mix of fields including stationary and site décor for any occasion.
“The whole idea is that your event should be all tied together [design-wise],” said co-owner Colby D. Su. But clients, she added, can pick any service they want for their events, from a full interior design consultation, to event planning, to place settings, to unique cards and invitations.
Su began the business with her husband after she became tired of putting together business evaluation courses and training materials for certified public accountants and wanted to put her background in Web development and graphic design to a more artistic use.
“I really am passionate about packaging events,” she explained, noting that making an event “cohesive in look and feel” isn’t something that most people think about when putting together a party or even a wedding.
“Naturally, this turned into event planning,” she added.
While Jacqueline Riehl of Riehl Events handled the planning for Brown and Engel’s wedding and reception, Su created the day’s simple but elegant invitations, which showcased photos of the couple taken by David Newkirk. And when a miscommunication resulted in the couple needing nearly 100 more invitations than Su had planned on printing, she happily obliged, donating her labor time and charging the pair only for additional envelopes and postage.
Unlike many of the vendors who came together to make this wedding possible, Su got involved when another merchant, her friend Leslie Fiet of Mini’s Retro Café, told Su about the bridal shower she was throwing at her restaurant for a lesbian couple.
“This sounds like a great cause and I’d love to be a part of it,” Sue said she told Fiet. The next day, she said, she called QSaltLake and offered the paper “all the free time you need.”
Although this is the first same-sex union Su has helped put together, she said that she would “love to do more” — no matter the size of the couple’s budget. Like many vendors who helped make Brown and Engel’s wedding possible, she will work with any budget to make any event special.
“I enjoy doing it too much to turn anyone away, so let’s just make it work,” she said.
Visit C3 Design at c-3design.com.
Le Croissant Catering
Many guests at Brown and Engel’s wedding reception raved about the tasty appetizers: spinach and cheese Rangoon, pesto meatballs, jalapeno popper cheese dip and a variety of fresh fruits, deserts and nonalcoholic beverages, including blood orange spritzers and a variety of ice waters flavored with strawberries and limes.
The delicious spread was the work of the owner and employees of Le Croissant Catering, which offers breakfast, lunch and dinner menus for holidays, picnics and corporate functions, and a special menu for weddings.
Co-owner Kelly Lake, who runs the business with her husband John and sister-in-law Pat Slade, said that she offered to provide refreshments (including a popular candy bar) to the wedding guests not only because she is interested in catering same-sex weddings, but out of frustration over discrimination against gays and lesbians.
“I got very frustrated with the amount of prejudice and lack of education [last year] surrounding the issues that I thought were just kind of going unchecked, like people disseminating this scary stuff about gay marriage,” said Lake, noting that she has several friends who have faced discrimination for being gay or lesbian “though not necessarily on the housing or marriage front.”
“You can only hear so many stories [about discrimination] that people you have cared about face without feeling concerned yourself,” she added.
Although this is the first same-sex wedding Le Croissant has catered, Lake said that she ad her company have provided food for events in the local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender for years, including the Royal Court of the Golden Spike Empire’s Empress Tea Party and the now-defunct Utah Gay Rodeo. And while the company offers some décor and floral services, Lake said that they specialize mostly in “just playing with food” of all kinds. Le Croissant, she said, primarily bakes its own breads—like the hearty white and whole wheat slices that accompanied the jalapeno dip and makes its own desserts.
Le Croissant offers full catering, bar and sommelier (wine steward) services to locations in Salt Lake City, Provo, Ogden and Park City and all points in between these cities. Full menus for all events are available on the company’s Web site, lecroissantcatering.com. Le Croissant will also work with clients who wish to design their own menus.
Mini’s Retro Café
Weeks before Brown and Engel’s wedding, the couple had a bridal shower provided by Mini’s Retro Café, a restaurant whose TV trays and vintage décor make it live up to its name.
“I feel like sometimes I was born in the wrong generation because I love everything from the 50s and early 50s,” said owner Leslie Fiet, who began the café as a cupcake shop two years ago (the restaurant, she said, is named for the miniature cupcakes she still serves).
Along with its trademark cupcakes and furnishings of yesteryear, Mini’s (which now boasts two restaurants to its name) also specializes in what is commonly called comfort food, such as the pigs in a blanket and hearty macaroni and cheese, which is the restaurant’s signature dish.
“I wanted to recreate your grandparents’ kitchen and dining room area [where] we ate on TV trays and watched old cartoons,” said Fiet. “It seems to me that we’re starting to move away from the power lunch, and our lives are so crazy at work sometimes that you need a mental escape from it [all].”
Along with taking her customers out of their hectic daily schedules, Fiet also hopes to take them away from greasy fast food made by faceless international corporations. She buys all ingredients from local vendors and readily answers all customers’ questions about the food’s origin and contents.
“It’s always been a priority of ours to buy products from local small businesses,” she said. “Me being a small business owner, of course I want people to support me and I think I’d be a huge hypocrite if I spent my money outside of the state. And it is harder to shop local but it’s worth it to me, because people don’t understand the impact when they don’t buy and support local to our economy. [This way] the money stays local.”
Fiet’s philosophy of shopping local also includes making “as many donations as we can fit in” to local projects, such as QSaltLake’s wedding giveaway.
“It sounded like something that would fit into what we do, and to give someone an opportunity like that who usually doesn’t get these opportunities was amazing,” she said.
How got invoved w/ wedding? “We as a bus philosophy we always try to support local projects independ proj thru as may donations as we can fit in.” So when we contacted her, told about wedding and backed up on donating cupcakes b/c can’t handle much more paid business and girls found it amazing and had great story (sounded amazing) and it “sounded like something that would fit into what we do, ad to give someone an opp like that who us doesn’t get these opportunities was amazing.”
Visit Mini’s Retro Café at minisretrocafe.com.
Twigs Flower Company
Raymond King is no stranger to same-sex weddings or commitment ceremonies. In the 21 years since he began his own flower business he estimates that he has created floral arrangements for at least 30 gay and lesbian couples.
“Just because we can’t legally get married, that doesn’t diminish the importance of two people’s commitment to each other,” said King, who is openly gay. “That’s why I think [flower arrangements] should be perfect that day.”
Perfection is certainly something that King comes close to. In the last decade his craftsmanship has won him a number of awards, including QSaltLake’s Most Faaabulous Awards for flowers and roses since the Fabbies’ founding, _Salt Lake Magazine_’s award for best Utah florist, and a number of _City Weekly_ Best of Utah nods. He has also made it onto the prestigious preferred list of the Memorial House, a historic reception center in Memory Grove. To get on this list, said King, a wedding vendor must have a long history of excellence.
“What that means is I have to have done at least 50 weddings and not received a single complaint,” he said. “I’m proud of that.”
King was also proud, he said, to help Brown and Engel plan their dream wedding.
“[When QSaltLake asked if I’d participate] I said yes, of course, I want to be involved! Of course I want to give back to the community!” he said. “I think that’s so important to make a point of giving back to the community.”
To help, King offered the couple a $500 gift certificate, which they used for corsages, bouquets and table arrangements of large Gerber (or Gerbera) Daisies in bright pink, orange, green and cream, colors which complemented the wedding cake and favored, as Brown’s admitted taste in _Alice in Wonderland_-style colors.
While the gift certificate was half of the minimum many Salt Lake City florists charge for wedding arrangements, King stressed that he will work within all couples’ budgets. In fact, he is one of the few florists in the city who has no minimum price for any flower order — including wedding orders. He will always do his best, he added, to work within a couple’s budget to make sure their wedding has the most beautiful flowers he can provide.
“I have people who have come in and want a wedding and only have $200,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve a beautiful wedding.”
Visit Twigs Flower Co. at 1100 E. 1616 South or online at twigsflowerco.com.
The Utah Museum of Fine Arts
While many in Salt Lake City know the Utah Museum of Fine Arts as a place to see a wide-ranging collection of art from around the globe and a number of outstanding traveling exhibits, fewer likely know that it is also an excellent venue for receptions, such as the one held after Brown and Engel’s wedding at the University’s Post Chapel in Fort Douglas.
The museum’s G.W. Anderson great hall in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building, said UMFA Public Relations and Marketing Associate Shelbey Peterson, boasts award-winning architecture, a five story hall with a view of the city, a sweeping staircase perfect for wedding pictures, and a number of rotating exhibits throughout the year. At Brown and Engel’s reception, the exhibit on display was “The Continuing Allure: Painters of Utah’s Red Rock,” which features paintings of Southern Utah’s landscape by a number of international painters, including Depression-era landscape master Maynard Dixon and contemporary artist Mark Knudsen.
“It’s one of the rooms the brides just love,” she said. “It’s a breathtaking venue and we’re so happy to have it.”
The museum leases the room, Peterson continued, as part of its ongoing mission to make “meaningful connections through artwork and culture” in the local community. And while the main hall houses most large receptions, other spaces are available for such things as business retreats or smaller parties, including the museum’s spacious café, its patio and auditorium. Prices vary, but the great hall costs $2,500 to rent, which includes the use of tables, chairs, audio equipment, guest orientation services, coat check, and full staff support, which includes set up and breakdown for each event.
While Peterson could not say how many receptions the museum has held for same-sex couples, she stressed that any and all rooms are available for rent to individuals and couples of all sexual orientations and gender identities.
“The museum is here to serve everyone in the community and we’re always happy to accommodate anyone who meets the requirements who is looking for private rental,” she said. “We’re always happy to be part of all of our brides’ special days.”
For more information about rentals contact Anne Bastien, Visitors Service manager, at anne.bastien@umfa.utah.edu or 801-581-3123. Visit the museum online at umfa.utah.edu.