THE WEDDING
Olivia and Jason Minatrea had their first date at Disneyland, which set a playful and fantasy-themed tone for their wedding, a feast for the senses that transported guests to different worlds spread across two venues.
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Olivia’s family has long had a love affair with all things magical—her fathers are experiential event planners Larry Abel and Raymond McCallister, founders of the award-winning Abel+McCallister+Abel who planned the wedding a
longside Olivia (who is also a partner in the company). The three take much of their inspiration from Disney’s magical moments and attention to detail. While the company doesn’t typically take on weddings, this one was different: They decided to apply their expertise to Olivia’s wedding. Their love of fantasy was on full display throughout the wedding and reception—and it started with the invitation.
Abel+McCallister+Abel designed and produced the invite, an acrylic frame along with instructions to download an augmented reality app for their phone. When they did, the invitation—a video of the engaged couple—came to life, and they invited guests personally to Nashville. The invitation, while over-the-top in the best way, was purposefully vague. The family didn’t want guests to know anything about the weekend for which they were in store, preferring to keep an element of surprise throughout the entire event. Upon arrival, guests enjoyed a wine reception in the Union Station Lobby and assumed they would watch the vows there, but instead, they were ushered by a train conductor (a la Harry Potter) into a stunning chapel, custom-constructed on the hotel’s terrace. (They were also given train tickets as an added design detail.) The stunning space included large buttresses and windows built just for the ceremony, and stunning six-foot-in-diameter chandeliers that dropped flower petals on the bride on cue as she made her way down the aisle.
“I believe that an event should be a journey,” says Abel. “We believe it should be unwrapped like a present in layers.”
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An additional layer provided a literal flight of fancy: an owl from Austin, Texas, acted as “wing bearer,” delivering the couple’s rings mid-wedding. The owl, and its companion owl (plus their handlers), stayed to pose for pictures with the bridal party and guests. After the ceremony, guests were taken next door to the Frist Art Museum, where they were greeted by enormous pen-and-ink drawings of the couple throughout their lives. The museum-inspired installation replaced the humdrum photo collage or slideshow often played at weddings and elevated the tradition by tenfold.
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After guests noshed on some of the couple’s favorite foods—served up out of three-dimensional custom-built storefronts instead of traditional stations—they hit the dance floor under a marquee that read “It Was Always You! Starring Jason and Olivia.” That’s when the bride and groom got a surprise of their own: Award-winning songwriter and producer Wayne Haun (who served as musical director of the evening) produced a poignant and personal song for the couple called “I Prayed For You,” performed by YouTube sensation 4th and Main. The song—a total surprise to all in attendance, including Jason and Olivia—documented the couple’s journey to the altar and left nary a dry eye in the house.
“All you could hear were sniffles from me and from the bridal party,” says Olivia. “We were a mess.”
One thing that was not a mess was the incredible cake, made by the bride herself. The exquisite six-tier confection took 140 painstaking hours to complete. After all of her hard work, Olivia says there’s very little she would change about the special night, but that she does wish she’d taken a moment to look around at the fruits of her family’s labor.
“I think the only thing that Jason and I have gone back and said we wish we would’ve done a little differently, which we just meant to do, was to walk into the reception and take a few minutes to grab a glass of wine and enjoy it as if we were kind of seeing it for the first time,” she says.
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A lost moment of reflection aside, the event went off without a hitch, all thanks to a passionate family and their own experiential agency which took a chance and reinvented the wedding in the process. And before saying goodbye, the couple invited their guests for one final experience—a supersized bouncy castle where Olivia and Jason literally jumped into their new lives together. For more information and to see all of the experiential details from the wedding, visit abmcd.com/wedding.
THE DETAILS
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- PHOTOGRAPHER: Brian Dorsey Studios, New York, NY
- VIDEOGRAPHER: Midtown Motion, Nashville, TN
- PLANNER: Abel McCallister & Abel- Production, Design, Execution; Nashville TN, Day of Coordinator - Ashley Reed Sweetwater Events, Nashville TN
- FLORIST: Abel McCallister & Abel LLC in house floral
- CAKE: The BRIDE! Olivia Abel
- PRE-WEDDING RECEPTION: Union Station Hotel
- RECEPTION: Dream Catering and Events
- PAPER GOODS: Custom Printed Napkins
- EVENT DECOR PRINTING: Production Graphics, Los Angeles; Signs First, Nashville, TN
- CUSTOM EVENT DÉCOR: The majority of all the decor for the ceremony and the reception was custom designed and fabricated by our event production company, Abel McCallister & Abel, LLC, with offices in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles
- SOCIAL MEDIA PHOTO BOOTH: Sharing Box, New York
- RENTALS: Liberty Event Rentals, AFR Event Rentals, Please Be Seated, Event Carpet Pros
- TENTING: Nashville Tent and Awning
- LINENS: Graceful Tables, Nashville, TN
- MUSIC: Music played a huge part of the ceremony since we are in Music City and we were fortunate to have an incredible line up of entertainment for the evening. Pre reception Pianist: Tracey Phillips, Dove Award winning musician & Recording Artist, Atlanta, GA; Ceremony: String Quartet - Viva La Strings, Nashville, TN; Ceremony Featured Soloist: Grammy nominated and Dove Award winning musician, recording artist and producer, Wayne Haun, Nashville, TN; Song commissioned for Olivia and Jason and debuted at wedding “I Prayed for You” Written by Multi award winning songwriter Joel Lindsey, Santa Barbara, CA and 4th and Main group members Randy Austin, Chase McDaniel performed by 4th & Main, Nashville, TN; Reception DJ: Kat V, Chicago, IL; Reception Main Stage Band 4th & Main, Randy Austin, Chase McDaniel, Chris Chavez & Blake Whitlock: Nashville, TN; Opening act: Josh Roberts, Oklahoma City, OK; Headliner: Grammy nominated, CMA nominated, Dove Award winner recording artist, Ty Herndon, Nashville, TN; Reception: Father Daughter Dance, Mother Son Dance Wayne Haun (see above)
- WING BEARER Owl Wildlife Revealed, Austin, TX
- BRIDE’S GOWN: Designer Tony Ward, Purchased at Kleinfelds, New York
- SECOND RECEPTION GOWN: RK Bridal, New York
- BRIDE’S SHOES: Michael Kors; Reception Tennis Shoes, Converse, New York
- BRIDE’S JEWELRY: “something borrowed”
- HAIR STYLIST: Stefanie Duell, New York
- MAKEUP ARTIST: Stefanie Duell, New York
- BRIDESMAIDS’ DRESSES: Curated selections from high end department stores
- GROOM’S FORMALWEAR: Alton Lane Nashville, TN
- GROOMSMEN’S FORMALWEAR: Jim’s Formal Wear
- THE DAD’S FORMALWEAR: Liam John Custom Tailor, Columbia, SC