We’re so excited to be welcoming Briel Delmonaco, the owner of Uniquely Chic Vintage Rentals. We’ve known Briel for a long time, even before she owned Uniquely Chic Events. And now, she’s got an incredible warehouse and new space for her blooming business. Today, we’re going to talk about how to transform your venue with personalized designs and rentals. Briel is giving us insight on the current trends and how to bring your personality to your wedding day. Let’s get started!
Meet Briel!
I’m Briel and I own Uniquely Chic Events. We specialize in unique rental offerings, decor, and custom fabricated designs and installations for special events or weddings. We’ve worked on movie sets, TV productions, and so many beautiful wedding days. Our sister company, Uniquely Chic Vintage restores, refinishes, and upholsters vintage and antique furnishings.
What can a couple do to transform a space into a more personalized room for their party or celebration?
We work at a myriad of venues and there’s literally no event that’s too big or too small to customize with some rentals! Part of what we offer is a full styling and design, not just rentals, so that we can help a client understand their vision and implement it. Once we know what they want, we begin to build that design for them. We’re worried about the details and creative elements of the day – not the details like the timeline.
Sometimes we’ll help build custom lounge areas for a photo booth, or a backdrop for portraits. We can do a little bit of everything. A lot of people don’t realize it, but we are a full-service rental company so we do offer things like goblets, glassware, chargers, plates, and then obviously the bigger rental pieces like lounges, backdrops, or drapes. We can custom design a piece if we don’t have it because we really want our couples’ vision to come to life!
What trends are you seeing in the event and wedding industry when it comes to rentals?
Well, first, I want to caution couples to think about the space their event is going to be in. Be realistic about the space you have to work with both in your vision and needs. If you have a rustic barn venue, you probably don’t want to try to make it a glamorous all-white event. I’m a huge fan of juxtapositions but I think it’s important for people to work within what they have to work with. You chose that venue for a reason, so think about that when you’re working out how to add rentals or a design.
Right now, we’re seeing a lot of lucite details, very chic. Geometric shapes are still trending a lot – especially triangles, arches, hexagons, and honeycombs. A lot of couples use these bold shapes for their arbors for their ceremony, they’re gorgeous! Here at Uniquely Chic Events, we can custom build those because we have woodworkers on our team.
Most of the trends we see are based on the Pantone colors of the year, so this year there’s been a lot of blue! It’s beautiful and we see couples mix the blue with white, which gives us a really gorgeous palette to work with. These colors work well around here with all of the nautical themes, whitewashed details, and ivory linens.
What are some of the pieces or designs that you have sitting around that you’re just looking at and want to bring to an event again?
Well, I’ve been provided the opportunity to make a succulent wall, which I’m pretty excited about! Another thing I’d love to use again is our canoe bar! We took an old canoe and made it into a bar, and it’s just so cool! Moving forward, I’d love people to just get more creative and try to not get bogged down in the details. No one is going to notice if the gold edging on a vintage chair and your chargers match perfectly. But, from both a professional and a personal perspective, having a little bit of diversity, whether it’s texture, color pattern, can really elevate events.
What can you tell us about pricing for rentals? Is there usually a minimum for an order? What’s the range?
I want to say again that your event is going to be a custom design based on the space you have and your personal preferences. For us at Uniquely Chic Events, all of our rental inventory is available a la carte. So the styling design and assistance is a totally separate package based on the size of the event and the vision/needs. For the rentals, we have large and diverse pricing depending on what you’re looking for. But, no matter what your budget is, we’re going to work with you and figure out what we can offer within that range. One other thing to consider when finding a company: the further away from the event that we are, the higher the transportation fee.
When it comes to minimums… During peak events season, which for us is April through October, we have implemented a rental minimum for locations over certain mileage. So, for example, anything over 40 miles is a $1,000 minimum, because quite honestly, it’s just not worth it for us to send our staff and transportation otherwise. It’s just a matter of allocating our resources and our staff in the best way possible for us to give everyone the most professional experience.
When should someone start looking into their rentals – and what’s the process like for them?
Honestly, anywhere from 2 years to 8 months in advance is about the time to start thinking about rentals. The earlier you reach out to a rental company, the better, because we can ensure we have the inventory you’re requesting. And for many companies, once it’s reserved for a day, it’s gone. So if there’s a backdrop or chairs you really want, request them early! Remember, it’s not just the big stuff you can rent, too. Things like candles and vessels for flowers can be rented, too! These small items can be a great way to save in your budget – and not waste those 100 candle holders you bought. Instead, rent them and know you don’t have to worry about repurposing something or finding a new home for it on Facebook marketplace.
It can be tempting to let someone DIY your decor or parts of your design, but just remember that doing so will take that person away from the celebration because they’re setting up and dealing with it. That’s no fun for anyone! Instead, you could spend a little extra money to have a professional there to help you out and bring your vision to life. There’s a time and a place for someone who wants to create, I also think it’s really special to create something special for your event with someone who’s going to take care of it from start to finish.
What’s something you would tell a couple starting to plan their own wedding day?
Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s our job to help make sure your vision comes to life in a complete and comprehensive way. But, try not to psych yourself out if your pieces or items all match down to the exact hue. You’re not going to remember it. Your guests aren’t, either.
Wrap Up Question
What are some key points that couples should be asking any rental company, when they’re inquiring to make sure that they are working with a professional company to ensure that their wedding day is a perfect event?
Look at social media and ask for referrals. These really show you what the company is capable of and how current clients enjoyed their experience.
Make sure your vendors are licensed and insured. That’s how you figure out who’s in it for the long haul and is going to do their job with care and caution.
Tell your rental company your date and location. These can both impact your quote and pricing. You’d be surprised how many times we don’t get that information from people! But, once we have both of those things, we can really get into pricing with you.
Links Mentioned in the Episode
You can find Uniquely Chic Events: Website | Instagram | Facebook
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