Essence Bridal Bliss: An Olympian & An NFL Baller

I always love browsing through the Bridal Bliss section of the Essence website where they highlight the real weddings of lovely couples from around the country. This week they highlighted the February wedding of Olympic Gold Medal sprinter, Sanya Richards, to NY Giants cornerback, Aaron Ross. Check out some of the pictures below.

Real Simple Weddings

For those of you looking for a wedding publication with great planning tips and hints abound, head to your local bookstand and pick up the 2010 edition of Real Simple Weddings. The magazine is filled with valuable information to guide you through the wedding planning process. I have a copy on my coffee table, but still stood in The Grove's Barnes & Noble browsing through the pages and pages of images and planning tips for the umteenth time this weekend. A must read for all you soon-to-be brides!

Selecting Your Event Venue

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So, you finally got the ring and now the planning can begin. What’s the first thing you need to do when planning a wedding or event, you wonder? After you decide what type of event you want to have, select and book your venue immediately.

Typically, a wedding and reception venue should be booked 12 months in advance. Locking in a contract with a venue early will ensure you have a variety of dates and times to choose from in your preferred event month. However, if your timeline is a bit more condensed, book your venue at least 9-10 months in advance.

There are a variety of tools out there to help you pick a venue that’s perfect for you. Wedding and event planners are great resources. All you have to do is give them some information about when you want to have your event and the type of setting you want to have your event in, and they’ll do all the leg work for you then come back to you with a handful of recommendations. If you decide to go about it on your own though, ask family and friends if they have any recommendations, turn to a search engine like Google, or take advantage of websites like Project Wedding or Wedding Wire that have listings and reviews of wedding and event venues in your desired area.

Once you have your short list of venues, arrange for site checks. Pictures can be very deceiving, so I always recommend that clients schedule at least an hour with the venues on-site catering or event manager to take a walk through of the location. This is your opportunity to ask any and all questions needed to narrow your list down to your top choice, including:

• What does the venue rental fee include?
• How long can the venue be used for that fee and what are the overage charges if the event exceeds that time period?
• What are the insurance requirements?
• Do you have to use the venues preferred vendors, or can you bring in your own outside vendors?
• What is the parking capacity at the venue and is parking included in the rental fee?
• What time can you access the venue on event day to begin setting up?

These are just a few examples of questions to ask, so make sure to bring something to write with, take copious notes and plenty of pictures to ensure you have all details needed to make your final selection.

Once you’ve made your final choice, review the rental contract carefully to ensure everything you discussed with the on-site manager is included within the agreement.

After you sign the contract, the on-site manager will be a vital part of your “wedding planning team,” so feel free to contact them regularly throughout the planning process to ask questions, make additional arrangements, schedule another walk through, etc. They are there to help you and you’re paying them a lot of money to do so. 

*Wedding Venue Image from La Venta Inn. Photo by Sean Azul Photography

Fabulous Wedding Rings...from Costco

While taking care of a little weekend grocery shopping at my neighborhood Costco, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a display case full of a girl's best friend...diamonds! That's right, among the aisles of electronics, food, clothes and pretty much anything else you can imagine, Costco also sells wedding and engagement rings. I never thought to direct clients to Costco for their wedding bands, but I certainly will in the future. While the selection is much smaller than a jewelry store, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and options Costco had to offer (including a ring very similar to my dream Tiffany ring, but for a fraction of the cost!). The Costco website shows a sample of their selection, but  the display case in your local store may offer a different or even better selection.
 

Shoe Shots

Once upon a time, it was all about the dress. But these days, bridal footwear makes just as much of a statement and attracts just as much attention as a wedding dress. Colorful bridal shoes are all the rage, so here are just a few options that can add a punch of personality and pizazz to any dress.

Manaolo Blahnik

Steve Madden

JCrew

RSVP

Nine West

Nina

Pour La Victoire

Stuart Weitzman

Adding Personalized Touches With Etsy

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For most modern brides planning their big day, status quo just won't do. These days, brides are looking for fun and unique ways to personalize their wedding day and incorporate one-of-a-kind elements into their celebration.

One place I've seen a lot of brides turning to for distinctive customized pieces is Etsy. For those of you who don't know, Etsy is an online shopping community where sellers all over the world sell handmade and vintage items in almost every category imaginable.

I've seen Etsy items popping up everywhere in bridal magazines and wedding blogs and photography. You can purchase boutonnieres, bouquets, bridal headpieces, stationery, decorations...the list goes on and on. Below are just a couple samples of what the Etsy community has to offer.

Whimsical Silver Beaded Headband by MeghanHamilton

Myrakim’s Custom Headpieces

Enchanting Autumn Boutonniere by Rationale

Button Bouquet by letters4lilly

Custom Cake Topper by EmilieFriday

*Opening Image: Boutonniere and Barrette by MeadowbelleMarket

Weekend Rundown: Bridal Shows & More Pinkberry

Hello lovlies! Hope you all had a great weekend and are not missing that hour of sleep too much. My weekend was full of wedding highlights:

After witnessing Pinkberry's new catering service on-site at the Kick-Ass Cake Bash the other week, Tamika, the catering manager of the Burbank Pinkberry store came out to meet me to chat more about all Pinkberry catering has to offer for weddings and events. If any of my SoCal readers are interested in incorporating Pinkberry into your next event, contact Tamika who is an absolute joy to work with. Their catering services start at $4.50 per serving.

Along with Liz Coopersmith of Silver Charm Events, I headed over to the Festival of Brides bridal show at the Millennium Biltmore on Sunday. I met dozens of upscale wedding vendors and unfortunately broke my health food kick to sample a few small bites of delicious wedding cake. The pictured themed cake by Cakes By The Pound was by far my favorite. 

For you soon-to-be brides, bridal shows are great venues to meet all sorts of wedding vendors. Click here for a list of Southern California bridal shows this season. 

Oh, and for you fellow emerging wedding planners, Liz is hosting an introductory session for her new wedding planner coaching program, (What A) Wedding Planner Needs, this Saturday in Santa Monica. Contact me if you want to come along. It starts at 1pm and is completely free!

Now This is a Destination Wedding

When I come across an exceptionally planned or designed wedding or event, I just have to share it; whether I was involved in the planning process or not.

I was blown away when I saw this destination wedding, planned by Atlanta based event design company, Lemiga  Events. The Jamaican wedding encompasses all the elements of a fabulously executed tropical event. Here's a sneak peak, but make sure to head over to the Lemiga blog to check out the full recap (part 1, part 2 and part 3).

photo Our Labor of Love by Heidi

Designer Wedding Cakes at Knock-Off Prices!

What do you get when you mix gorgeous wedding cakes, a Culver City art gallery, wedding pros, and 6-foot tall models? A Kick-Ass Cake Bash, that's what!

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the Broke-Ass Cake Collection, a new patnership between the Broke-Ass Bride and Fantasy Frostings which offers fabulous designer wedding cakes at knock-off prices. The premeire wedding cake designers of Fantasy Frostings have created sweet treats for the likes of Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Barbara Streisand; so you can be sure that the Broke Ass Cake Collection does not dissapoint.

Royal/T, a cafe/shop/art space in the trendy Culver City arts district, was a perfect venue for the event, and the artwork covered walls provided a great backdrop for the edible art being featured.

The Broke-Ass Cake Collection starts at $4.25 per serving and is available exclusively through the Broke-Ass Bride website.

Wedding Vision Boards

As you prepare for you big day, you're likely to work with at least a dozen vendors to bring your wedding vision to reality. In order to insure that all involved parties truly understand what you expect your design, decor and theme to look like, try constructing a wedding vision board.

A vision board is a collage of images that give you and your vendors a visual reference for most elements of your wedding, including venue, ceremony site, attire, flowers, tablescapes, etc.

You can create a handmade vision board with items like posterboard, magazine cut outs and fabric swatches or, even better, simply head online to a site like Dessy and use their free vision board tools.

The vision board pictured above is a sample I created on Dessy for an outdoor autumn earthy wedding.