Monday, October 25, 2010

    Post Wedding Survey: Amanda and Steve


    Steve and Amanda were kind enough to take time out of their schedules to fill out the post wedding survey I send. I love it when couples do that. Enjoy!

    Q. What was the best part of your wedding day? 
    A. The whole thing! But otherwise, I’d say we definitely enjoyed seeing everyone together and having so much fun.

    Q. What do you feel was totally unnecessary? 
    A. I didn’t really feel anything was totally unnecessary! 

    Q. What would you change, if anything?
    A. I would have probably not listened to the bridal store and gotten my dress a size smaller.

    Q. What was unexpected that you loved?
    The rain, I guess! It didn’t ruin anything, and made the day even more memorable. 

    Q. What are your fondest memories of your wedding day?
    A. Just feeling so happy and excited that we did it! All the planning and effort paid off, and we threw a great party with all of our loved ones around. It was so wonderful to see everyone. And aside from the actual being-in-the-spotlight part of walking down the aisle, I didn’t have that overwhelming stress of being the center of attention. It was just really fun.  

    Q. Is there anything you wish you had spent more time or money on?
    A. Not really.  

    Q. Is there anything you wish you had spent less time or money on?
    A. I wish it hadn’t cost so much to alter my dress (since it was too big; can you tell I’m hung up on that?)  

    Q. Were there any unexpected surprises or issues?
    A. Rain! But it was awesome, and Amber, our site manager Bobby, and the servers (Huntington Catering Company) were great at quickly reacting to the rain and devising a back-up plan for the ceremony. Thankfully the rain stopped and we were able to continue as originally planned, but it was good to know that we weren’t going to be screwed if it hadn’t!

    Q. What's your number #1 tip for future engaged couples?
    A. It is going to be a wonderful day, not just because you’re getting married, but because you’ll be surrounded by people that you love and who love you. Make sure your wedding is going to be enjoyable for you, and put your personality into it.  

    Q. How did you feel after the wedding?
    A. Super happy. 

    Monday, October 18, 2010

    Smog Shoppe Wedding: Amanda and Steve

    Imagine: you are a guest at a wedding and the reception is about to begin. "The Eye of the Tiger" starts pounding through the sound system. Loudly. This banner below is set in place. You, and 110 other guests start pounding your fists on the table to the beat. The music gets louder, so does the pounding and cheering.
    Amanda and Steve bust through the banner to begin their reception and the crowd goes wild!!!!!

    Probably my favorite Grand Entrance ever, ever.  And captured by the wonderful Suthi Picotte of Picotte Photography.  Meet Amanda and Steve!

    Amanda and Steve had such a fun wedding at the Smog Shoppe back in July and today it was featured by the lovely Lydia on the blog Ever Ours!  You have to head over there to read about all of the fun DIY and unique stuff that the incorporated into their wedding. Handmade invitations!  Home brewed beer! 400 mason jar candles! 400!


    Their wedding day, July 10, dawned overcast like the entire summer had been. However, at 5:30 P.M. when guests started arriving, so did the rain. RAIN! For those of you not familiar with SoCal, you need to know that there is practically a 1/100 chance that it is going to rain in July. Thankfully, Smog Shoppe is an indoor/outdoor space and we asked the guests to come inside temporarily as the staff and I jumped into action and re-set the ceremony under the awnings. Before anyone was able to start down the aisle, the rain let up and the ceremony was able to go ahead as planned. Even with the whirlwind of activity that happened, we were only delayed by 15 minutes.

    The ceremony was officiated by their friend Chris, and during the ceremony the sky decided to put on quite a show of big puffy white clouds and perfectly clear blue atmosphere. For those of you not familiar with SoCal, this is also not normal.

    Make sure you go to Ever Ours to about the rest of the day!








    The team that made it happen:

    Venue: SmogShoppe
    Wedding Planner: Amber Events
    Photography: Picotte Photography 
    Catering and Rentals: Huntington Catering
    Ceremon and Reception Music: Dash Entertainment
    Flowers: Holly Flora
    Photobooth: Photobox LA
    Site Management: TACT Event Management
    Valet: Jeffrey Valet
    Dessert: Vanilla Bake Shop
    Bridal Beauty: Design Visage
    Wedding Dress: The Image Bridal
    Groom’s Tuxedo: Mr. Tuxedo
    Bottlecaps: Crafty Caps

    Thursday, October 14, 2010

    Does the word "wedding" double the price?

    This clip from British comedy series Man Stroke Woman, while hilarious, is sadly what many people assume that the entire wedding industry is like. Granted, there are crappy people in every industry who are out to rip people off, but most of the people that I meet in this industry are passionate about what they do and the clients they serve.




    As shown in this clip, there is this myth that if you put the word "wedding" in front of something, the price will double or quadruple immediately. I called one of my bakers, Joeleen from A Sweet Design and asked her how she prices her cakes. She told me that she bases her pricing on: number of people it will serve, the filling and flavors (BTW, Red Velvet is the most expensive cake to make because of the ingredients) and the design. To most brides, the design is the key component in a wedding cake, and that's where the dough (literally!) comes in to play. She told me that a simple 3 tiered cake to feed 100 would range between $350-700 from her bakery. So yeah, $350 sounds insane for a cake, right? But look at it this way: if you ordered 100 Cappuccinos from Starbucks, what would that come in at? She also mentioned that her 3D cakes frequently tend to be pricier than tiered cakes, so groom's cakes, 1st birthday, Sweet Sixteen, etc. cakes that are complex 3D cakes can run much, much higher than a 3 standard tiered wedding cake.


    Recently Joeleen made a cake for one of my brides and the the labor alone of replicating the pattern of lace on my bride's dress took 5 hours. Pause for a moment and realize that 5 hours is almost an entire work day.  What is your work day worth? Joeleen's 5 hours of decor does not count the time that it took to bake the 3 tiered, multi-flavored cake, pack it up for delivery, transport it, and set it up.


    The wedding world is its own universe and there are reasons why things are priced what they are priced. Planning a conference for a company is light-years away from planning a wedding. Trust me, I've planned both.

    Thursday, October 7, 2010

    I'm your guide to LA!

    Back in June I spent a day filming with The Knot as the "Insider's Guide" for Los Angeles. I was able to show off some of my favorite venues and vendors! I don't have the embedded links yet to be able to paste here, but you can click on each link to see the videos.

    Vibiana




















        




















    Shutters on the Beach





















    Holly Flora




















    Vanilla Bake Shop