Planner: Staci Mandikas, UNIQUE Weddings + Events, www.designedbyunique.com,staci@designedbyunique.comTime in Industry: 10 yearsPhotographer: Christina Maldonado Photography, www.christinamaldonado.comBusinesses involved: Over the Top Rental, Corey’s Bakery, Puff ‘n Stuff Catering, Ten23 Designs (details), Garret Lauer Events (DJ), Sweets Treats Candy Bar, conceptBait (floral, décor, furniture, lighting), A Chair Affair (rentals), A+P Design Co (stationery), Salvador Dali Museum (venue), Since 1987 Films (videography)Wedding date: Oct. 1, 2016Guest count: 65The couple: Paige and Rick are free spirits. They are both into yoga, are laid back, and wanted a wedding that reflected them. Not interested in a boring wedding, Paige and Rick wanted to shock guests and set the stage for a memorable celebration. Involvement: Full design and planningInspiration: “Alice in Wonderland through the Eyes of Dali.” The inspiration came from the couple's love of the artist Salvador Dali’s “Alice in Wonderland” series.“Aha” design moment: An initial conversation with Paige set my design wheels into motion. I’m guilty of dreaming big, but I am always ready to edit the design for my client. When it came to Paige, she took the design “as is”—without any edits! This was a first for me, and it allowed for us to create something truly magical.Most unique design element: Our favorite design element was a decision made on the wedding day. The cake was a traditional, ruffled grey ombre design, but it felt like it needed something more. Inspired by the famous Salvador Dali painting called “Meditative Rose,” which illustrates a red rose floating with a horizon behind, we created a levitating, red rose cake topper with a little fishing line and ingenuity.Other unique elements: The bride’s blue hair and Alice in Wonderland tattoos were complemented by a traditional wedding gown with red and black accents. She carried a multi-colored sculptural bouquet with a family heirloom pocket watch hanging from the handle. Guests were greeted by a sign that read, “Holy Shitballs, this wedding is going to be awesome!” beside the Dali Museum entrance. Grazing flamingos made of flowers also greeted the guests, who followed the “mutual weirdness” arrow to the third floor, where they surrounded the spiral staircase to watch the ceremony on the second floor landing. Dripping flowers with blown-glass orbs hung from the staircase, and the couple was married by a family friend, dressed as the Mad Hatter. After the ceremony, guests were sent “down the rabbit hole” to the first floor cocktail hour space, which was filled with black and white graphic prints and brightly colored centerpieces. Guests were invited to stroll through the Dali art galleries and they offered their “keys to a happy marriage.” Rather than a traditional guestbook, guests signed their well wishes onto skateboard decks that will adorn the couple’s home. A tree of hanging pocket-watch style escort cards corresponded with clock face numbers on each of the guest tables. The reception took place “beneath the rabbit hole,” with the large column in the reception room transformed into the roots of a tree. Solid walls were draped off and reflected the kaleidoscope of color that filled the room. Pinspot lighting and uplighting transformed the reception space from a standard meeting room into a surreal celebration. Guest tables were covered in white linens with black knit overlays that were reminiscent of Dali’s pen sketches. Each guest table centerpiece was a translation of one of the paintings from the Dali “Wonderland” series. Each place setting featured a cookie that read “eat me” and a glass of champagne with a swizzle stick that read “drink me.” After dinner, hot tea was served in teacups while the guests danced the night away atop the black-and-white-checkered dance floor.Color palette: Multiple colors with a consistent black, white, and grey presenceBudget: $60,000Staff hours: 125 - 150Planning time: 6 monthsNumber of meetings: 6Set up/strike details: With such an ambitious design and a ton of décor, the setup and strike of this event was a concern. The venue, a museum, did not grant vendors access to the reception space until three hours prior to the ceremony start time, and ceremony/cocktail hour space access was one hour prior to the ceremony start, as the museum was open to the public until 5:30 p.m. Each vendor’s staff member had to go through security prior to unloading a single item. The beginning was a bit chaotic, but everyone did their job beautifully. Once the event ended, we had a hard strike, with only 90 minutes to strike all décor.Revenue breakdown: Planning and design, 53%; linens, 8%; decor details, 14%; flowers, 12%; lighting, 2%; rentals, 4%; and stationery, 7%Biggest challenge: Setup was a challenge. In addition to the limited timeframe to completely transform a community room into Wonderland, there was a major race taking place behind the museum, creating traffic delays and parking issues.Learnings: The DJ was a professional DJ, not a wedding DJ, and he was a personal friend of the bride’s. His emcee skills were not wedding-friendly. If we’d known about this earlier, we would have taken charge of the emcee duties earlier in the evening. WPM