Madison and Tanner Tewes handed Mandy Marie Events a brief built on chrome, calla lilies, and a strict monochrome palette, and the planner pulled off the harder version of the job, she made all of it read as the couple instead of the algorithm. The payoff was a Scottsdale weekend that ran three spaces deep, a rooftop, a pool, and a ballroom, each one branded down to the couple’s own cocktails and their brand new last name. That is what happens when a planner treats a trend list as raw material rather than a finished answer.
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Style: Modern, Monochromatic, Personal
Time of planning: 10 months
Number of guests: 150
Setting: Rooftop and Ballroom
Season: Fall
Madison and Tanner both run their own businesses, and they met the low stakes way, at a party, through mutual friends. Years of traveling followed, the kind of relationship that collects passport stamps and inside jokes at the same rate. Madison had exactly one request going into the engagement, that she wanted to be dressed and ready the moment Tanner proposed. Tanner ignored the memo on purpose. On her birthday he cooked dinner, set up a game night at home, and proposed in their pajamas, which is either a total betrayal of the plan or the most honest version of it.
They looked at a few places before landing on Scottsdale, a city they already loved, and the deciding factor was the newly opened Caesars Republic Scottsdale. One walk through the property and the search was over.
Welcome Day
The weekend opened the night before with a welcome party at the same hotel, and the couple set the tone early. Madison wore Ines Di Santo, which is a serious opening move for a welcome night look, the kind of gown that tells guests the fashion is going to matter all weekend. Flame Kissed Fire Arts brought fire dancers into the mix, and Cannolis by Mike handled dessert, because a welcome party that ends on fresh cannoli is the kind people are still talking about at breakfast.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
Madison’s gown came from Vagabond Bridal, an A line built for movement, paired with Aminah Abdul Jillil shoes. The styling brief was specific. Emily Mosby on makeup and Alicia Webster on hair were both told to build on Madison’s everyday look, so the face and hair reading back in the mirror still looked like her, just turned all the way up.
Her bouquet was calla lilies, which is the single smartest floral call of the year. The calla is the architectural flower of 2026, long stemmed and stripped of filler, carrying a real Art Deco lineage. Madison and Ash & Oak Floral refused to stop at the bouquet either. That same calla shape repeated across the design all day, in the vases, the tablescape, the small details, so the flower ended up working like a logo. The paper from Caroline Haines Creative kept the same monochrome discipline going, tone on tone and quiet about it.
Groom’s Fashion
Tanner went the other way on purpose. His suit was custom from Balani Custom, a black build with nothing extra on it, no boutonniere, no pocket square, no hardware. The only flex lived underneath, a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes doing the talking where nobody thought to look. In a room where the entire guest list showed up in black tie, the groom made minimalism the whole argument, and it landed because the restraint read as confidence.
Ceremony
The ceremony ran on the eighth floor with Camelback Mountain sitting right in the frame. The family made one call early that shaped the entire tone, they asked guests to come early and share a drink before anything started, so the room was warm and a little loose by the time Madison walked. The seating was the real statement. The design went fully circular, with guest chairs wrapping all the way around a round altar in the center, which turns every seat into a front row and puts the couple at the literal middle of the room.
A live pianist and vocalist from Elan Artists played a song that matters to both of them as Madison came down the aisle. Tanner had also asked for a specific version of the first look. The couple spent a private moment together in the ceremony space before any guests arrived, but he held off on actually seeing Madison until she was walking toward him, which kept the aisle moment fully intact.
Moments Together
Cocktail hour moved downstairs and went poolside, and this is where the branding really kicked in. The couple built their own named bars through Liquid Caterers, pouring Madison’s Tinis, a nod to her martini order, and the Tewes Tequila, Tanner’s Spicy Margarita, both named like menu items at a bar the two of them would genuinely open.
The hour closed on a grand entrance that spilled straight into surprise fireworks from Fireworks Productions of Arizona, going off right behind the hotel, which is a hard act to follow and exactly the point. Hayley Dolson Photo caught the whole sequence, the poolside light, the entrance and the sky.
Reception
The ballroom is where the monochrome concept got to run at full volume, and it is the part of the weekend that lived or died on the planning. Everything held together the way it was drawn up. Mandy Marie Events worked the room off a tight palette of chrome, white, and warm light, with drape from Linens by Divinity softening the hard architecture and lighting from Divinity Event Productions pushing the whole space warm.
Ash & Oak Floral carried the calla motif off the bouquet and onto the tables, so the flower that opened the day in Madison’s hands closed it out as the centerpiece language. BBJ La Tavola linens kept the tones in check, and the chrome Madison wanted from the very start read as one intentional idea across every table rather than a single accent.
Then the family detonated the surprise of the weekend. They flew in Gary LeVox, the lead singer of Rascal Flatts and one of the couple’s favorite voices, to perform live. Madison and Tanner took their first dance to Bless the Broken Road with the actual man who made it famous singing a few feet away.
Emma K Films added the gut punch, the videographer cut childhood photos and videos the family had shared into short films that played during the entrance, the father and daughter dance, and the mother and son dance, so the room got a full history lesson between songs.
The food and the details matched the ambition. Guests walked into dinner past a cake standing eight feet tall from A. Cakes Bakery, which is one way to set the tone for the night ahead. To close it out, the hotel cafe turned into Tewes Treats, the couple’s brand new last name reworked into a late night stop for gelato, pastries, and coffee. The self branding never let up, from the cocktails to the cake to the sign over the dessert counter, and that consistency is what makes the whole thing land as one clear idea instead of a pile of nice things.
Advice from the couple:
• Take it all in as much as you can! Spend time with the ones you love and treasure the time all together. People come from near and far to celebrate you, so really getting to spend that time together is so special. We’re endlessly grateful to every single person who came to celebrate with us and helped make our day so unbelievably magical.
PLANNING & DESIGN Mandy Marie Events | PHOTOGRAPHER Hayley Dolson Photo | VIDEOGRAPHER Emma K Films | VENUE Caesars Republic Scottsdale | FLORALS Ash & Oak Floral | STATIONERY Caroline Haines Creative | SIGNAGE Arch & Arrow | HAIR Hair by Alicia Webster | MAKEUP Emily Mosby MUA, Bridal Artistry Collective | BRIDAL GOWN & SECOND LOOK Vagabond Bridal | BRIDAL CEREMONY SHOES Aminah Abdul Jillil | BRIDAL AFTER PARTY DRESS Sherri Hill | BRIDAL AFTER PARTY SHOES Jimmy Choo | WELCOME PARTY GOWN Ines Di Santo | GROOM ATTIRE Balani Custom | GROOM SHOES Christian Louboutin | BAR ACTIVATIONS Liquid Caterers | CAKE A. Cakes Bakery | CANNOLIS Cannolis by Mike | FIREWORKS Fireworks Productions of Arizona | OUTDOOR CANDLES Bouquet Garni Events | FIRE DANCERS Flame Kissed Fire Arts | RENTALS Hazel Grove, Bright Event Rentals, Epic Party Team, Prim Rentals | LINEN BBJ La Tavola | DRAPE Linens by Divinity | LIGHTING & AV Divinity Event Productions | CARPET Event Carpet Pros | GOLF CARTS Joy Rides AZ | ENTERTAINMENT Elan Artists | AFTER PARTY PERFORMANCE Gary LeVox
