After planning events for friends and family separately for many years, Beach Haven residents Kitty Snyder and Kate Devaney have combined their passion and expertise to form Three Crowns, a full-service planning, style, design and rental company. The women both raised their families on Long Beach Island, and have been friends for the past 15 years. They have an eclectic taste that allows them to create inspiring affairs from lavish beach or backyard weddings and parties to intimate bayside gatherings or charity events.
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| Photo by Ann Coen Old church pews and vintage chairs complete the scene at the Nugent and Mehl's farm wedding. |
“Anyone we know who’s had a party in the last 30 years, we’ve helped. So we thought, ‘Let’s get paid for it like everyone else is doing,’” said Devaney. “It’s what we love to do, and at this stage of our lives we want to do something that we really love to do.”
Snyder, an instructional aide at Southern Regional Middle School in Stafford Township, is a former caterer. Devaney, who works as a nurse for AtlantiCare, was social chairwoman at the Little Egg Harbor Yacht Club for five years.
The duo are huge collectors of things “that people don’t want,” so there’s lots of mixing and matching as well as repurposing. For instance, Devaney saved pieces of the original Surflight Theatre piano that she bought more than 20 years ago, which was damaged during Superstorm Sandy.
“It’s a piece of history. I didn’t want to get rid of it, so when we had to chop it up, I saved parts of it and made a candle holder out of it,” she said.
The women find many of their unique items during hunting expositions at different antiques stores and thrift stores. Most of their collections are kept at a storage unit on the mainland as well as at Devaney’s house.
“We have a ton of inventory. We have all the different pieces of furniture that fit in all genres. It just depends on the client and how we can fit that in,” she said.
Mismatched tables and upholstered chairs, old signage and vintage china and silverware are just some of the items they have collected to create one-of-a-kind events.
“You’d be surprised by what we can put together,” said Devaney, who noted the company handles every aspect of an event, from “soup to nuts.”
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| Photo via Three Crowns A local resident's Malibu Barbie-themed bridal shower is a big hit with guests. |
“We love juxtaposition, something that will surprise you,” Snyder added. “When we do an event, we like to make sure that wherever you’re looking, your eye is going to catch on something that makes you go, ‘Oh my gosh, that looks awesome,’ or ‘Wow, that’s different.’”
The women believe little touches, such as a crystal chandelier in a deer stand or a velvet couch on the beach, can create an interesting twist that makes any occasion more intricate and inviting.
“We find one inspiration piece, and with the venue we just go from there,” said Devaney. “It’s all in the details; I think that’s what sets us apart. Our favorite saying is, ‘Sometimes less is more, and sometimes too much is just right.’”
“Everything just sort of evolves in layers,” Snyder added.
Beach Haven resident Jane Kleber’s Malibu Barbie-themed bridal shower at the LEHYC in May transpired from an idea the women got through a video on Show Me Your Mumu, a clothing company website.
“I honestly have no idea how I would be planning this wedding without them. They have the most amazing and unique ideas,” said Kleber. “I am not the best at making decisions, so I have allowed them to take the reins. However, they are very easy to work with, so they are great whether you need just some help with a party or full-on event planning. They have great ideas to make your party stand out, and they are so helpful in the planning process.”
Devaney noted a lot of brides know what they want but don’t know how to get from A to B.
“We can take them to C,” she said.
The creativity of the events often stems from their clients’ personal items, which help to make the occasions even more special.
“When we’re doing a party for someone, we especially love to see the things that they have that we can pull from and utilize and incorporate into the design of the table or the flower vessels, like family photos, to make it personal,” Devaney said. “People always want to use their family’s wedding photos, but how about photos of your grandparents when they were on the beach in Atlantic City? Those are fun and a little more interesting, and that’s what we try and come up with.”
For the Nugent and Mehl’s rustic-decor wedding at the local family’s farm in Pemberton this past October, which will be featured in New Jersey Bride, Snyder and Devaney included at the parents table the groom’s father’s horse trophies that he won as a kid, which they had found in the attic.
“It makes it a little more industrial along with the romantic, which we love,” said Snyder.
“He was really touched, I think,” Devaney added, noting the wedding was their “first gig out of the gate.”
To pull the events together, the women collaborate with other companies, from florists, caterers and mixologists to photographers, calligraphers and other artists. They also build a lot of their own displays and accessories, including photo walls. Their items can be loaned out as well.
“We prefer to plan, style, design, but we do offer pieces that are for rent,” said Devaney.
Although the women enjoy planning weddings, they would also like to do more parties.
“We love doing weddings, but there’s such a market down here for people that are having parties, and they’re not here all the time and it’s coming up and they have a caterer, but they want to make it a little different and unique,” Snyder said. “We know the area very well. Between the two of us, we kind of know everybody. We’re kind of a concierge. We’re very community oriented.”
For more information about the business, visit threecrowns3.com.
— Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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