Ted Rubis has over 30 years of experience designing events, building props and scenery, working with drape treatments and fabrics, installing intricate theatrical lighting designs, and managing the details of technical services such as audio-video, electrical, and logistics. Rock-solid in theater arts, technical theater, carpentry, painting, and lighting – he is more than a wedding planner.

“Asking Stephanie to marry me and celebrating the marriage sacrament was the single most important step I took in my adult life. There isn’t a day that passes where my memories of our Big Fat Greek Wedding warm me and propel me forward. When designing weddings and wedding receptions, these feelings are ever-present in every detail. If the work I do as a designer can help instill these feelings in newlyweds, then I will have truly accomplished something spectacular and lasting…”

What is your specialty?

Our grandparents came over from Greece during World War I, so of course one of my specialties is the big fat Greek wedding! Working in the event industry for over 30 years, my repertoire of designs is quite extensive. I have always loved greenery. So, I’ve been buying boxwood hedges and topiaries for over 20 years, long before the recent trends. I love designing centerpieces with two heights having 50% of the tables with a very tall centerpiece and the other 50% with a lower floral arrangement or a non-floral centerpiece such as floating candles, candle stems or lanterns. Rustic Americana is super easy because of the materials I have collected for Ampa over the years. Equally, dreamy programs with massive amounts of sheer drape, specialty tables, bars and furniture are exciting for me.

It is hard for me to identify one specialty. After all, as the owner of Ampa Events, I am the primary buyer and designer/fabricator of just about everything in our inventory. All of our inventory and the hundreds of motifs designed over the past three decades are special to me. So, part of my specialty is as an instant source of creative ideas in a myriad of designs and styles.

Lighting is a passion. I have designed with every theatrical fixture and I know them all intimately – their use, the type and texture of lighting they emit, and the proper application of each fixture. The right fixture is oh so important! Lighting is transformative. I have used it to bring forward a color scheme or monochromatically in a soft illuminating color palette for appropriate levels of lighting to dine and celebrate.

When it comes to design periods, I am especially fond of the Art Deco movement in architecture and impressionist artists although as I age I have a newfound appreciation for renaissance art. Being well-traveled internationally as well as having an education strong in a liberal arts foundation, a degree in pharmacy, and subsequent work in business school studying finance, accounting, and marketing, I like to think I bring a truly well-rounded, worldly, approach to a client.

Fun Facts about Ted:

• I am a pharmacist! Many ask how I got into events? I was involved in creative projects before school. As for sciences, I blew up my parents' basement with my chemistry set. See! Chemistry is creative, too!
• Love gardening – hate weeds
• Love cooking. Stephanie, my wonderful wife, jokingly boasts: “…you won me with you cooking and now that we are married, you forgot how to cook!”
• Favorite drink: Southern Sweet Tea with plenty of fresh lemon
• Favorite cocktail: Jim Beam on the Rocks for Fall and Winter; Piña coladas and refreshing tropical drinks for Spring and Summer
• With meals – properly paired wines
• Favorite desserts – tiramisu and crème brûlée (How can you have just one favorite dessert?)
• Love, Love Coffee – especially coffee with chicory, cream, and sugar
• Favorite listening music: Jazz classics, New Orleans Jazz, Blues
• Favorite dance music: Love to dance and to everything from swing & rock to the Commodores, Etta James, B-52s, Beyonce, and OutKast….
• Raise in Richmond, VA I was taught and conduct myself as a southern gentleman – proper, and a bit formal with respect for traditions
• Love swimming, hiking, the outdoors, the beach – boogie boarding & building sandcastles with my kids!