How do we get started?
I have avoided words like bespoke, haute-couture, and luxury to describe what I do, instead opting for something more to the point – Custom Design. I love rolling up my sleeves and getting it the shop. This hands-on approach is holistic and forms the basis of my knowledge. I will design a program exclusively for you including fabricating unique items to bring your dream event to life and managing all the details through take down.
01
Listen
“What is your dream? What do you envision for the wedding service and the reception? Likes/dislikes? Listening is the most important thing I do.”
03
Request Services
“I encourage you to compare me with other planners. Review my body of work for weddings, corporations, galas, and life celebrations. Consider my skills. Read my reviews and call past clients. When you are comfortable, request a service agreement. I would be honored to be a part of your very special day and work hard to live up to the trust you put in me. Contracting is the next step.”
02
Get to Know
*(During Covid, we are taking all necessary precautions as recommended by the CDC and look forward to when we can meet again in our showroom.)
Behind the Scenes & Ted
In the early 90’s, Ted started an event company hiring theater technicians, carpenters, artist, conference planners and interior designers. Fast forward 3 decades and plenty of growth, Ampa Events is still going strong. As a wedding planner, Ted’s focus is the close personal service desired by brides and families. The benefit to all of Ted’s clients is, the business, its inventory and talented personnel all support Ted’s one on one customer service for Wedding Festivities.
Wedding PLanning & Design Services
Signature Services
For 25 years, clients have trusted me to “take care of it?” My goal is to serve you as if you were a guest in my home, with kindness and joy. The task list can be as long as needed. I will be with you every step of the way for discovery, planning, and manage the execution. Signature Services are not just about an opulent design, it is about bringing all my technical and design skills to bear, giving you the confidence to enjoy this time in your life.
Service Includes:
- Regular communication by phone and email
- Regular planning meetings
- Assists with Invitations
- Venue review, recommendations, and selection
- Vendor review, contracting, management and communication
- Budget management, contract negotiations, and consolidated billing
- Submitting photos for publication/announcements
- Hotel room block evaluation and contracting
- Transportation
- Catering recommendations, selection, and menu development
- Site inspections and technical assessment
- Custom designs for wedding service and reception
- Itemized design proposal with photos, renderings, and illustrations
- Floor plans, seating charts, and escort cards
- Planning tools, list and time tables
- Regular communication with all vendors
- Wedding guest gifts and favors
- Development of wedding festivities information guide for all guests with schedules and appropriate information. – printed or produced as a website
- Wedding management guide for wedding party and family. An overview of wedding-related events, contact numbers, family photos, VIP information, and other information needed to keep the wedding party and family going throughout the weekend
- Wedding day oversight. Full-day coverage to include management personnel from installation to takedown.
- Managing related wedding festivities, such as Ceremony Rehearsal, Rehearsal Dinner, and more may be added to a service program as desired
Signature Services – Starting at $6000
Destination Service
We transport you, your family, and friends to a remote island with white sandy beaches and a cool breeze. Destination weddings are dreamy. The planning services start with my Signature Services program plus a bit more. Through corporate events, I have a relationship with a travel company that opens options for destinations throughout the world.
Service Includes:
- Destination and site selection
- Group travel and hotel reservations
- Local transportation
- Logistics and shipping
Starting at $8000 plus travel expenses
Decor & Design – Wedding Reception
With a trained and experienced ear, I listen carefully, formulate designs, and do the behind the scene work needed to bring the motif to life. Designs include Floral, Linen, Designer Tables, Chairs, Table Service, Drape, Lighting, Chandeliers, Lounge Furniture, hand-made designer Bars and Food Service Displays, Custom Dance Floor Wraps & Signs, greenery and foliage…. This is a holistic approach encompassing all decorating materials and equipment as well as general event equipment. My focus and total energy shall be on the design and installation of a program to achieve the desired look, leaving the full coordination and planning of wedding festivities to you or others.
Service Includes:
- Design services with an appropriate amount of time committed to the complexity of the desired program
- Coordination with the chosen planner or one point of contact
- Site inspections and technical assessment, including independent interaction with venue
- Custom designs including fabrication services with sneak peeks in the shop if desired
- Itemized design proposal with photos, renderings, and illustrations
- Itemized billing
- Selection, coordination, and management of equipment vendors
- Floor plans
- Production and installation schedules
Design Services Starting at $2000.00 with Minimum Decor & General Equipment Budgets of $8000.00
Mix & Match
Many of my clients are very capable with family and friends to help plan. If there is one thing I have learned over the years in the event world, it is to be accommodative and adaptive. Mix and Match is a combination of Decor & Design plus other services.
Planning events can be fun. This is your day. Enjoy every part of it you wish. Please feel free to select how I may best serve you.
Starting at $3000.00 and adjusted as needed
Lighting Design Services
Lighting is one of the most important elements in any event.
Consider a theater program. In theater, we affect mood with color,
direct the attention of the audience where we want it, signal changes in the sense, and more. It is practical as well as glamorous.
For Wedding Services, many churches are well lit with focal points
on the altar area. Additional accent lighting may be warranted and can be used to personalize the service further.
For wedding receptions, lighting helps establish the color palette;
highlights action stations-cake table, food and beverage displays, head table, and centerpieces; adds patterns and textures to walls and floors; projects monograms and messages; softens the canopy of a tent, and with active lighting designs can be changed on cue to signal changes in the activities and help usher in the celebratory dancing towards the end of the reception when the party really starts to rock.
In over 25 years, I have enjoyed working with lighting as the most important accent tool in my repertoire of event products and services.
In stock, I draw from over 12 different par cans and LED lights for up-lighting; LED and incandescent theatrical fixtures for scenes and patterns; effects lights, battery-operated fixtures, pin spots, string lights, and more.
Elegant venues may only require accents. Contemporary venues may need a bit more flair. Lighting in combination with sheer drapes can be magical. Multiple scene changes playing with color and texture create entertainment value. Lighting is transformative!
Service Includes:
- Standard Reception Lighting:
- Pin Spotting
- One Monogram Gobo
- Up-lighting
Starting at $3500
- Full Room Custom Lighting Designs with Gobo Patterns:
Starting at $4500
- Chandelier Systems with Fly Rigging:
Starting at $2500
- Total Show Controls and Scene Changes:
Requires custom quote
Consulting Service
A good consultant has knowledge – both educational and experiential – to provide great advice and appropriate solutions. Hands-on fabrication skills with mixed materials, technical knowledge, and first-hand experience in numerous venue types throughout the mid-Atlantic in a career spanning 30 years go a long way to help you get it right. Call me for a technical assessment of electrical needs, how to span a pool for a dance floor, or structural advice for outdoor events. I am happy to assist with “How To”.
Minimum 5hrs @ $200.00/hr
Petite Programs
If you’re planning a small wedding and the above programs do not fit your needs, I can still be of assistance. My company, Ampa Events, has been planning events for over 25 years. We have all the equipment, wedding rentals, and knowledgeable staff to assist you. Ampa’s inventory of special event rentals – complete with unique event equipment, drape, lounge furniture, traditional party rentals, event lighting, theme decor, and much more – is easy to access and review throughout the e-commerce equipment rental site. Event planners are available to assist and Ampa offers everything from pick-up rentals to white glove delivery, installation, and removal of the ordered items.
Call for Rates: 804-358-5451
“Here is a funny: Just like the movie, my wife has an aunt who is a travel agent specializing in Greece.”
Design Skills & Practical Knowledge
I have designed and produced thousands of events over a career spanning 30 years. I hope my body of work and skill set is reassuring.
It’s your dream. Let’s have fun bringing it to life.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
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.
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.
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 an event goes off without a hitch.