"F" is for Felicia Events

Felicia Events, Lake Tahoe

Felicia Gantar is a wedding planner based in Lake Tahoe. She has been in business since 1999.

How Felicia Got Started in the Business

Felicia has been in the hospitality business since she was young. She went to Le Cordon Rouge (Culinary) in Sausalito, California. Once completed, a mentor advised her to go to the Hotel & Restaurant Management Program in San Francisco. "Great advice! I had a wonderful opportunity to work with the best in San Francisco and met my first wedding planner. I thought to myself, 'WOW I want to learn what he is doing!'"

About Felicia Gantar

Felicia had front and back of the house training. Then, she shadowed with wedding planners before starting her own business. "I still call other wedding planners to see if I can shadow them or work with them to continue to grow." Felicia also takes continued educational classes with ABC (Association Bridal Consultants) and attends seminars and conferences.

Felicia on top of being a member of ABC, she is also a member of NACE (National Association Catering Executives), and AWPI (Association for Wedding Professional International). Felicia has been featured in Wedding Affair Magizine, and received the NACE, 2008 Table Top Designer of the year, and NACE, 1st Place for Contemporary Table Design.

Felicia does about 16-20 weddings a year and loves bringing everything together, reminding the bride of details and assisting the bride with designing the wedding.

Besides her job, Felicia loves her family, "They are my strength and support team." She enjoys traveling, skiing, cooking with her husband and having friends over for a great dinner and wonderful wine. She has a Jack Russell dog named Dash, a cat named Buffy, and two birds named Rainbow and Snow.

Hottest Trends and Most Unusual and Unique Requests

Some of the hottest trends in the industry right now are LED lights, crystals, string curtains, and blue and teal colors.

In the Bay Area, Felicia loves the The City Club of San Francisco on Sansome Street. "I used to work there many years ago and it is a classy place."

Felicia's most unusual request was when she did a wedding in Virgina City, Nevada. The bride dressed up as a Spanish dancer and the groom was dressed completely in western wear! They had an acting team, “Pistol and the Petticoats,” act out a scene. The bride(Spanish dancer) acted like she just got off the train to marry the groom that had ordered her. (Yes, ordered her!) Then another woman(actress) comes running down the aisle screaming she was promised to the groom. Then there was a shoot out! "I would say that is the most interesting wedding I have done!"

Felicia had the pleasure of working for Ron Schwary, a movie producer from Hollywood (Tootsie, Batteries Not Included, Scent of a Women, Meet Joe Black, and the show “Medium”). He married Karen Feldman, a wonderful make-up artist out of New York. It was a private ceremony on a yacht at Lake Tahoe of only 40 people.

At a wedding that could have been a potential disaster, Felicia saved the day: A bride wanted to hire the local high school floral department to do the wedding flowers. Delivery time came and past and nobody was answering Felicia's calls. The wedding was in a back yard of the parents house, so Felicia cut flowers in neighboring yards and took ribbon from her emergency case and made a bouquet and a boutonniere for the groom. The high school showed with frozen flowers about 2 hours later!

Pricing and Advice to Brides on How to Save Money!

Every client is different, not one wedding is alike, so all weddings and prices are customized.

"On a very tight budget, I would suggest having a small ceremony around 10:30 a.m. and then serve brunch with light music in the back ground. Make it intimate."

Felicia Events, Lake Tahoe
http://www.feliciaevents.com/

Phone Number: (775) 783-1948
Office Hours: By Appointment