Should Santa Barbara Have Pop-up Weddings
MORTON — Brittney Jones thinks she has the perfect solution for a couple that doesn't want to invest the time or expense in a traditional wedding but wants something simple, convenient and memorable for their big day.
Jones' new Spruce Wedding Co., an offshoot of her Something Old Event Rentals business in Morton, is offering what's called a "pop-up wedding." Think of it as a Las Vegas wedding chapel-style event without going to Las Vegas, or eloping without leaving town.
Jones' spin on a pop-up wedding is a 90-minute themed wedding and mini-reception for 10 to 25 guests held at a venue in central Illinois.
Packages start at $3,500 for ten guests and include invitations, an officiant, photographer, live music, flowers for the couple, centerpieces, light appetizers, cake, tables, chairs and linens provided by a team of wedding professionals. The venue holds up to four wedding simultaneously.
"This isn't a mass wedding," Jones said. "It's a private time for a couple to be married, abbreviated, so expenses get shared with other couples. It's a series of short weddings. And I add several personalized touches, so each couple feels the wedding is distinctly theirs."
Oct. 8 is the first wedding date. It's at the Pekin Park District's Soldwedel Program Center. Each wedding will have a campground theme at "Camp Spruce" and include wood-grained invitations and a smores wedding cake.
"If I find a location that works exceptionally well, I may have multiple wedding dates at that venue," she said. "The venue needs to be smaller than a traditional wedding location because the maximum number of guests is 25."
Among the wedding themes Jones is working on are rustic evergreen, old Hollywood glam with black sequins and candlelight and a garden setting.
She plans on announcing wedding dates and themes three to six months in advance but anticipates couples deciding on a pop-up wedding will be married just six to 12 weeks after contacting her.
There are several reasons why Jones, who is married and the mother of two pre-schoolers, decided to offer pop-up weddings.
She said she played in a string quartet at weddings "and over time I realized how much I enjoyed being a small part of a couple's memorable day."
Those feelings led to her to open her vintage furniture rental business a little more than two years ago and eventually establish the Spruce Wedding Co. Her vintage furniture and traditional rentals appear in her pop-up weddings.
She said she learned about pop-up weddings from a woman who hosts them in Pittsburgh and thought they'd work well for friends who were interested in getting married and wanted something in between a traditional and courthouse wedding but couldn't do a destination wedding because of financial or family considerations.
Reach Steve Stein at 686-3114 or stevestein21@yahoo.com. Read his Stein Time blog on pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpartanSteve.
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