With seven years of planning some of Bermuda’s
most chic parties under their belts, Exclusive
Events is expanding to include floral arrangement,
wedding planning and consultation services, as
well as increased art direction at different stages of
the event planning process. This expansion poises
Exclusive Events, the event-planning arm of The
Exclusive Group—which includes Exclusive Home,
the retail home goods store—to become a premier
one-stop shop for Bermuda weddings.

Whether the prospective bride has already contracted with a planner, is on the hunt for just the right person to help bring their wedding vision to life, or is opting to lead planning efforts on their own, the Exclusive team will help with all design elements leading to and on the big day.

Owner Steven Faries has brokered collaboration agreements with a few of Bermuda’s top wedding and event planners who have signed on to help brides who come to Exclusive Events starting at square one, and continues to build relationships with other planners who are looking to outfit their events with the Exclusive touch.

The company expects to make a big announcement about these partnerships in the coming months. Not only do the floral division and on-site planners provide convenience, and ease of service, but the new structure will serve to make the business of planning more efficient with regards to both time and costs. Steven projects that more services provided under one roof lessens time spent going back and forth to coordinate e fforts. “We can leverage such great prices,” he says of the cost estimations his team has worked on.Beyond convenience, Exclusive Events’ new structure supports three elements Steven believes are central to the firm’s growing success: design and art direction, exclusivity, and expertise. One of the challenges to coordinating amongst multiple vendors is assuring a continuity of vision: different vendors, different interpretations. Lack of aesthetic cohesion can compromise the look and feel of one’s most special day . “I can’t control anything outside of my business,” Steven explains. “If I could offer my client what they want, I feel that I can control it.” “It’s all in the design,” he emphasizes. With the right consultation, that design is carried through each element of the wedding correspondence, photography, and mementos thereafter. “We did a Gatsby wedding and the bride was like ‘we need to make sure we look very Gatsby,’” Steven says, sharing some insight into the subtle skill of aesthetic consistency. “The photographer said, ‘you stand how you want to stand.’”

The problem? There was zero art direction. Not so with Exclusive Events at the helm. “I said, ‘Let us come in there, we’ll help you with designing the set, so when you’re taking the photos it’s very Gatsby looking,” Steven says. Details are what give an event the “wow” factor. “We want it to all flow in with the event,” he says. At efficient, engaging, and exciting planning sessions, brides will be able to coordinate décor with floral design under one roof. No need to explain the look and feel to another vendor; no need to coordinate e fforts. “We can offer them their florals right then and there, from bouquets and boutonnieres, to centerpieces,” Steven says. Exclusive stays true to its name by offering clients a wedding that is tailored to their particular design interests, even if it means that part of the work is helping brides understand what their design tastes are.

Steven and his wife started the business having come to certain realizations while planning their own wedding: older companies had a tendency to replicate the same designs, and the same events. “I wanted the business to offer clients a unique product tailored to their vision,” Steven says about his desire to create a different kind of events business. “You could never go to one person’s event and say ‘I’ve seen that be fore.’” When people come in to Exclusive Events with a theme in mind, Steven’s first question is always: how did you come up with that theme? “And they say ‘I saw it at Suzanne’s wedding and I loved this color,’” Steven chuckles at the irony of inspiration. The derivative nature of inspiration sometimes leads to outright replication. He pushes his clients to think outside of the box. “We don’t want Suzanne coming to your wedding and seeing a replica of her wedding,” he exclaims. This approach, Steven finds, opens clients up to the possibilities of design. Next in the brainstorming, comes the prioritizing. Steven puts the question to couples, “What is the one thing you must have at your wedding?”

The Exclusive Group understands that to maintain their expertise, they need to stay abreast of the event trends for Bermuda-based clients, as well as those planning destination weddings, and to that end, they are constantly up scaling by interacting with the international event planning community. A member of the National Association for Catering and Events, Steven frequents conferences and presentations on event production, design, and trends. He gleans inspiration from trend reports and forecasts, but he stays true to the Exclusive principle: never copy. “When I go to the shows, I always ask the question,” he notes that he has gained a bit of reputation in the design world for this. “We live on a beautiful island, why do I want to take crystal back to my island? What trends do you have that you can come up with for us?” Willingness to merge contemporary trends with Bermuda flavor gives Steven and The Exclusive Group a unique aesthetic sensibility. “We know in Bermuda, the blues are not going to go away,” he says. “We go to the shows and we may not see that, but I can’t dismiss that.”

With his understanding of international event and design trends, Bermuda culture and aesthetics, and his sensitivity to the differing needs and approaches of local couples and those planning from abroad, Steven and the Exclusive Events team blend different styles, inspirations, and desires to create a new wave of exciting and elegant events. It’s the exclusivity, expertise and design that Steven and The Exclusive Group know keeps clients coming back time and time again for their planning needs. “It’s about having a relationship with our clients; you stay connected,” he says. “We still want to be connected with that bride and groom for the future baby shower.”

– TEXT by AMANDA WILLIAMS PHOTOS by EXCLUSIVE EVENTS