About Ted the Wedding Planner

Ted Rubis has over 30 years of experience designing events, building props and scenery, working with drape treatments and fabrics, installing intricate theatrical lighting designs, and managing the details of technical services such as audio video, electrical and logistics. Rock solid in theater arts, technical theater, carpentry, painting, and lighting – he is more than a wedding planner.

“Asking Stephanie to marry me and celebrating the marriage sacrament was the single most important act of my adult life. There isn’t a day that passes where my memories of our Big Fat Greek Wedding give me warm fuzzies. When designing weddings and receptions, if the work I do in bringing your dream to life also helps you with lasting warm fuzzies, then I will have truly accomplished something spectacular!”

What is Your Speciality?

Our grandparents came over from Greece around 1911, so of course one of my specialties is the Big Fat Greek Wedding! Working in the event industry for over 30 years, my repertoire of designs is quite extensive. I have always loved greenery. So, I’ve been buying boxwood hedges and topiaries for over 20 years, long before the recent trends. I love designing centerpieces with two heights having 50% tall and short or a non-floral centerpiece such as floating candles, candle stems or lanterns. Rustic Chic is super easy with the materials I have collected for Ampa over the years. Equally, dreamy programs with massive amounts of sheer drape, specialty tables, bars and furniture are exciting for me.

Fun Facts about Ted:

I usually get a funny look when people find out that I am a pharmacist! Many ask how I got into events? I was involved in creative projects before school. I was also creative with my chemistry set as a kid and blew up my parent’s basement. See! Chemistry is creative, too! (During Covid, this is been immeasurably helpful in guiding my company and helping others)
Love gardening – hate weeds
Love cooking. Stephanie, my wonderful wife, jokingly boasts: “…you won me with you cooking and now that we are married, you forgot how to cook!”
Favorite drink: Southern Sweet Tea with plenty of fresh lemon
Favorite cocktail: Jim Beam on the Rocks for Fall and Winter; Piña coladas and refreshing tropical drinks for Spring and Summer
With meals – properly paired wines
Favorite desserts – tiramisu and crème brûlée (How can you have just one favorite dessert?)
Love, Love, Love Coffee – especially coffee with chicory, cream, and sugar
Favorite listening music: Jazz classics, New Orleans Jazz, Blues
Favorite dance music: Love to dance and to everything from swing & rock to the Commodores, Etta James, B-52s, Beyonce, and OutKast….
Raised in Richmond, VA I was taught to be and conduct myself as a southern gentleman – proper, and a bit formal
Love swimming, hiking, the outdoors, the beach – boogie boarding & building sandcastles with my kids!
Love working with my hands, carpentry, and making things look beautiful.

Design

It is hard for me to identify one specialty. After all, as the owner of Ampa Events, I am the primary buyer and designer/fabricator of the bulk of our inventory. All of our inventory and the hundreds of motifs designed over the past three decades are special to me. So, part of my specialty is as I am an instant source of creative ideas in a myriad of designs and styles.

Lighting

Lighting is a passion. I have designed with every theatrical fixture and I know them all intimately – their use, the type and texture of lighting they emit and the proper application of each fixture. The right fixture is oh so important! Lighting is transformative. I have used it to bring forward a color scheme or monochromatically in a soft illuminating color palette for appropriate levels of lighting to dine and celebrate.

Decor

When it comes to design periods, I am especially fond of the Art Deco movement in architecture and impressionist artists although as I age I have a newfound appreciation for renaissance art. Being well traveled internationally as well as having an education strong in a liberal arts foundation, a degree in pharmacy and subsequent work in business school studying finance, accounting, and marketing, I like to think I bring a truly well-rounded, worldly, approach to a client.

“I love bringing glamour to events in unique venues and remote locations such as cleaning out a historic wood barn in the mountains, or installing a tent in the lowcountry of a river estate.”

Customers Reviews

What People Are Saying

Ampa, especially Leslie Amason, was able to guide us through a very anxious July wedding. Because of the Covid pandemic we had to cancel our wedding of 225 people and just include the bridal party and immediate family. Due to the Covid stages specifications had to be met in order to pull it off. In a panic, Leslie was able to provide places to call and specific ideas to still give our son and daughter in law the fairy tale wedding of their dreams. Their suggestions in the placement of tables, social distancing with how the meal and appetizers were to be served lifted so much anxiety that we were really able to enjoy the day. The cigar bar was an enormous hit!!! I would highly recommend Ampa. They were professional and very comforting in a time when it could have been total chaos. It can be done and they did it.

Ted was able to change a very large, plain church hall into a lovely reception hall for my daughter's wedding. He placed the lights just so, they illumined the ceiling and the bridal party. He also brought beautiful tables for the wedding party so they were not seated at folding tables! The stage was became the back drop for the wedding party as he used beautiful drapes to hide the stage and enhance the hall. The hall was recently renovated and many of the parishioners were astonished to see how lovely the decorations were. He was able to make a plain hall appear to be a beautiful reception room.

Without AMPA Events my wedding reception would have been sweet but forgettable. With the help of Ted Rubis and company our church hall was completely transformed! Lighting created a space that felt ethereal and intimate. We could not have been more surprised or thrilled with the results! Thank you!!

We reached out to Ampa only a couple weeks prior to one of our couple’s wedding requesting a black and white checkered dance floor. They were quick to respond, professional and gave us a great quote. They delivered on the wedding day and the couple was so happy to have exactly what they envisioned. We will certainly go to them for other rental needs in the future!

Over the years Ampa Events and DeFazio's catering have worked together to produce several very memorable events. Our longevity is proof of customer satisfaction. Coordination is easy and success is a given when two like minded companies come together.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What If?

I often get the question, “what if…?” in one form or another. I am practical. Life is not perfect, but “the show must go on…”. For Example: we arrived at the hotel at 6am on the dot for our load in, but the freight elevator was broken! Uuugh! With advance planning, we always have additional time in our schedule for surprises. Our muscles were aching the next morning. We used the stairs. The family was never aware of any hitch.

Do you have experience in outdoor, remote locations with tents?

Yes. Throughout the rivers of Virginia and Maryland, family farms and on historic estates. Everything must be planned for, including electrical services and how best to support catering and more.

How far will you travel?

I will be glad to travel to you. In 30 years, I have produced events as far north as Boston, several programs on the west coast, Chicago, New Orleans, Texas, and South Carolina. I would love to produce your wedding in Miami Beach or on a warm tropical island anytime from January to March to escape the winter cold 🙂 Destination services are no different than local services – just a bit more planning. I do suggest getting started much earlier when planning a destination wedding. Contract your planner a couple years ahead and apply for your passports.

Do you have a vendor who can build custom elements??

Yes, Ampa Events is a full service event design and production company that provides Full service design and fabrication in our scenic shop. Our scene shop is best described as a traditional theatre type scene shop. We build props and scenery, custom signage, scenic painting, carpentry, countertops, furniture, displays and so much more.

What if one of your vendors does not show up?

I have been in business for 25 years, this has never occurred. While planning, we keep frequent communications with vendors and have rigorous follow-up calls and discussions regarding installation. With equipment arriving early and in some cases the day before the event, planning is the precautionary steps we take to make sure your event goes off without a hitch.

What if our order is big but the installation site is small?

My company, Ampa Events, has been installing large programs in the small boutique Hotels and narrow alleyways of corporate buildings in the DC Metro area and throughout the mid-Atlantic region for a very long time. We understand challenging installations. We do everything we can to cut down on the number of trucks by consolidating orders into fewer trucks. Boutique locations require coordinated staffs of installation professionals. We planned in advance for success.