When we pulled up to New College of Florida in Sarasota for Alexis and Dylan’s wedding day, we already knew this one was going to be special.
They had chosen black and white and stayed with it — no hedging, no third accent colour creeping in. That kind of restraint only works if every piece in the room agrees with every other piece, which is exactly the sort of job rentals are for.
A Venue That Asks You to Bring Everything
New College of Florida gives you architecture and very little else. The bones are beautiful — panelled walls, tall windows, proportions that photograph well from any corner — but a venue like that arrives empty. Everything a guest sits on, eats from, or dances on has to be brought in.
That is not a drawback. It is the reason the room ended up looking like Alexis and Dylan rather than like a venue package. All-white chairs went in for both the ceremony and the reception, and they set the tone immediately: clean lines, no ornament, nothing competing with the building.
Outdoors, string lighting overhead did the same job in reverse, softening the space after sunset instead of sharpening it.
Why all-white worked here
White chairs are the safe choice in a plain ballroom and the bold one in a room with this much character. Against dark panelling they read almost graphic, and they keep sightlines open so the architecture stays visible from the back row.
They also move well between ceremony and reception, which keeps the turnaround short and the look consistent from the first moment guests sit down to the last toast.
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Black, White, and Candlelight on Every Table
Our reception tables gave the florist a clean, sturdy canvas to work with. The result — Calla Lilies, amaranthus, and moody candlelight at every table — was the kind of tablescape that makes guests stop and take a photo before they even sit down.
Amaranthus is the detail worth noticing. It spills over the edge of an arrangement instead of standing up inside it, and against a white cloth in a black and white palette it reads as movement rather than colour.
Candlelight carried the rest. Low flame at table height flatters everyone in the room and keeps the ceiling dark, which makes a panelled space feel intimate rather than cavernous.
Building a tablescape that holds up all night
A tablescape has two lives: the one guests photograph when they walk in, and the one they actually eat at two hours later. The tables underneath have to be stable enough for the second without looking utilitarian in the first.
That is mostly a question of getting the base right and then letting the florist and the place settings do all of the visible work on top of it.
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A Dance Floor Built for the Night
Music was everything to this couple, and they needed a floor that could take a full night of it. Ours anchored the reception space and gave the room its energy, from the first dance through to the last song.
The black and white checkerboard was not a neutral choice, and it should not have been. In a palette this disciplined, the floor is the one place the theme gets to be loud.
The full picture
Stand back and look at the whole room — the chairs, the tables, the floor, the string lights overhead — and it is easy to see why this wedding was featured on Marry Me Tampa Bay. Everything worked together. Every piece had a purpose.
One hundred and ten guests had an incredible night because of it, and almost none of them could have named a single rental. That is usually the sign it went right.
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Interested in a classic monochrome aesthetic?
Our rental catalog features many timeless black and white pieces similar to those seen in this Sarasota wedding, and we would enjoy chatting about your venue choice and guest count to determine which items best support your event schedule and aesthetic goals.
Wedding Credits
- Venue: New College of Florida, Sarasota
- Rentals: Gabro Event Services — chairs, tables, dance floor, outdoor string lighting
- Photography: Grace Ann Rae Photos
- Wedding Planning: Blue Skies Weddings and Events
- Florist: Save The Date Florida
- Catering: Pier 22
- Linens: Panache Events
- Hair & Makeup: Adore Bridal
- DJ / Entertainment: Grant Hemond & Associates
- Cake & Desserts: Ash & Co Cake Studio
- Photobooth: The Gala Photobooth
This wedding was featured on Marry Me Tampa Bay.
