Every wedding vendor team is created a little differently. In this series we explore how and why each couple selected the right wedding vendor team for their wedding day.
Fernando and Kevin had been together for eight years, when Fernando proposed while they were visiting Paris in the spring. Although they didn’t start planning immediately, the discussions started about where the wedding would take place. The Brooklyn-based couple wanted to get married in the Dominican Republic, where Fernando’s family is from, and for it to be an amazing experience for everyone in attendance. But they knew they couldn’t pull it off by themselves. So before making any real moves, they searched for an experienced wedding planner and designer to help them create their dream day.
Towards the end of the year, they found Claire Duran of Claire Duran Weddings & Events on Instagram, set up a call, and hit it off. Soon, a March 14, 2020, date was secured and the wedding weekend began to take shape.
“Working with Kevin and Fernando was one of the best experiences and felt like what I always strive for: to feel as if I was planning a wedding for my besties. Since we have worked many times before in the Dominican Republic, they knew we had a solid understanding of quality vendors in the half-island, and knowing I understood their vision and target budget clearly, they fully went along with our recommendations.” —Claire Duran, planner/designer
“Claire Duran Weddings & Events made our entire vision come to life beautifully, while putting us at ease and allowing us to enjoy the day for what it was: the best day of our lives! We consider them friends now and are grateful to have had them walk into our lives! The hardest part of the planning process came at the very end, when, due to COVID, approximately 30 people canceled within 72 hours of the wedding. Obviously, this was not ideal, but with our team’s help, it all worked out thankfully, and we still had over 100 guests.” —Kevin, groom
The next step was a trip to the Dominican Republic to tour venues that could be a possible fit for what the couple had in mind. They found that in Casa de Campo Resorts & Villas. It offered a multitude of picturesque locations: a beach for portraits, an amphitheater for the ceremony and cocktail hour, and a private villa for the reception.
“We chose Casa de Campo because we wanted quality accommodations and flexibility for our guests. We know that destination weddings can be slightly more logistically challenging than local weddings so we wanted to ensure that everyone had options that met both their needs and their means—and of course, that they would really enjoy their trip and our wedding!
The Amphitheatre was all about the space. The rusticated risers as a backdrop for every moment. The modernist villa for the reception was about juxtaposing the old and the new, the ancient and the modern. A transition through time and space. The grounds were beautiful—the backdrop here was about the geometry and the green of the palms against the clean lines of the villa.” —Fernando, groom
With the venue in place, the couple and Claire further discussed their priorities. The grooms really wanted a photographer with a fine art approach, who could navigate between the editorial/fashion look and candid style very seamlessly. Claire had worked with Lance Nicoll of Lance Nicoll Photography the year prior at a different venue in the country and knew he’d be able to offer up exactly what was desired.
Fernando (an architecture fabricator and model-maker) worked on the save the dates himself—and ended up designing all of the stationery himself, putting his background as a creative to use in the most meaningful way. Meanwhile, Claire worked on securing other local key vendors to ensure the foundational logistics were in place and that there’d also be a killer soundtrack to the evening: Glamband and Joeury Duran (a DJ) to perform and Vialx to provide the sound and production support.
Conversations then progressed into more nitty gritty design details and it was time to select a florist and rentals. Claire collaborated with local floral designer Carmona Decor, and then they chose rental pieces from Divano that brought the vision of a modern minimal celebration (but with maximal impact) to life. Guests played into the look and feel of the event as well, taking their cue from a lookbook of fashion inspiration Fernando created and shared on the couple’s wedding website.
While having a live band was important, the grooms wanted to take it up a notch. For their “hora loca” (an entertainment hour), they asked Claire to find a drag queen team to perform alongside drummers. Drag Klembert Queen took that role and ran with it.
“La Hora Loca, which is a Dominican tradition, is always one of the best parts of a Dominican wedding. Ours was that much better because our planner was able to find one with drag queens (as we had hoped) that just livened the entire party and got everyone on their feet for the rest of the night.” —Kevin, groom
A surprise served as the final element to the celebration planning. Fernando’s mom wanted to gift the couple a performance by a live singer for their cocktail hour, instead of the original idea of having the DJ play. It was a surprise for some time, but when the grooms reconsidered just having background music, the news got out that Fernando’s mom (and Claire) had planned something special for them already, by hiring Luana Ruff.
