Blue Moon Events is based in the heart of downtown Charleston, SC and is one of the most sought-after, celebrated event design firms in the South. Blue Moon's signature "edited eclectic" aesthetic combines Southern style with polished modern details for an event look that is chic, timeless and smart. Blue Moon's work has appeared regularly in the pages of
Weddings Unveiled and here on
Completely Unveiled. Read on to learn more about Calder Clark, the talented owner of Blue Moon Events.
Blue Moon Events is based in Charleston, SC. To contact Blue Moon Events, visit the company website by clicking here or call 843.641.0055.Weddings Unveiled: Tell us a little bit about Blue Moon Events.Calder Clark: Blue Moon Events is a boutique event planning and design firm based in Charleston, SC. We travel cross-country producing weddings with our signature “edited eclectic” aesthetic and are most often tapped to introduce our love of vintage pieces and traditional-with-a-twist vibe into our events. Our focus is on full service consulting, styling and interiors for a select series of clients with whom we build lifelong relationships.
WU: How did you become an event designer? When and how did you begin Blue Moon Events?
CC: I got my feet wet at Design Cuisine, a fabulous catering firm in Washington, DC. After just a few weeks putting together high-profile parties for some of Washington’s finest, I was hooked. Following years in DC, I missed the South and relocated to work in special events at the Charleston Place. In 2005, I was married . . . and my husband suggested I ditch the “golden handcuffs” to become my own boss. In early 2006 Blue Moon was born and I’ve never looked back.
WU: Tell us about how you work with engaged couples, whether as a team or individually.
CC: Our focus is on building a relationship and securing the trust I need from our couples so that they give me abundant creative license. Once we have built those bridges, the opportunities to design lovely, inspired weddings are endless. We are essentially freed up to hone our craft on behalf of the couples who collaborate with us, which is simply thrilling. I enjoy both the logistics and the design and have an incredible team to back me up from both angles of the planning process. Our goal is to draw out of the couple who they are, what makes them tick, where they’ve been and where they want to go. Then we process that and turn that knowledge into wedding day details that speak to the couple and to their guests.
WU: Describe your wedding style.CC: My wedding style is intrinsically polished but soft, Southern but current, tasteful but clever and always (always) timeless.
WU: What inspires you?CC: I think style is ingrained, so the source of it is always interesting. For example, I am most at home in an antique mall or flea market, picking for treasures like the Depression era pink glass plates and champagne coupes I recently snagged for a seated dinner. I am frequently found with my nose in
Elle Décor or
Veranda, snipping pictures of curtains for inspiration on our next series of tent pole covers, valances and ceilings. I am most inspired by interior designers, wedding and lifestyle photographers and by our world history of entertaining.
WU: How do you keep your ideas fresh?CC: For me, it’s really an old-meets-new thing. I keep my ideas fresh by looking through foodie magazines and blogs, rifling through back issues of interiors magazines (like
Domino), renting old movies and scouring the web for art installations and store environments that inspire.
WU: What was your favorite wedding and why?CC: Oh I couldn’t possibly! So many have fallen into the realm of magical for me that I don’t know how to pick. Emotionally, my favorite(s) are where our couples have let us do the legwork and they’ve put their time and energy into preparing for marriage and a life together - because that’s what really matters. Geographically, I have to give props to my home state of Tennessee. We recently designed a wedding at Blackberry Farm, which absolutely took our breath away for its natural beauty and impossible charm.
WU: What makes Blue Moon Events different from other wedding and event designers?
CC: Transparency and approach set us apart. The wedding industry is full of mystique and markups, thus we really pride ourselves on offering emotional, contextual, financial, and conceptual lucidity in the planning process. We are down-home girls with city slicker knowledge, which is a killer combination. We get the job done, but we may just add a “yes ma’am” and a hand-written thank-you (in cursive!)
WU: What would be your ideal wedding assignment or dream wedding to design?
CC: It’s always fun for us to get out of our proverbial shell, and I have a small obsession with San Francisco. I’d love to do a wedding weekend series for a couple in California, where the art world, wine country, landscape and ocean vistas collide to create an endless backdrop for entertaining.
WU: Tell us three things you can't live without.
CC: My faith, my family and Diet Coke.
WU: What is the best advice anyone has ever given you?CC: Don’t try to be all things to all people.
WU: What is the best advice you can give to an engaged couple?
CC: Slooooow down and drink it in. The engagement should be an incredible memory, not a blur- because the wedding night is certainly going to be!
Image Credits: (1-4) A Bryan Photo. (5-8) David Edwards Photography. (9-10) Tracy Turpen.
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