Monday, September 29, 2008

Our first seasonal Season Party: Fall!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to share this with you!
My husband and I decided to start the tradition of throwing a party on the first day of each new season. We love the change that the start of a new season brings: the freshness, the excitement, the inspiration. Although we do not really experience season changes much in Southern California, we still get excited for the things that each new season brings. 
We kicked off our new tradition on September 21st: the first day of fall. My job is decor, favors & other fun touches; his job is the food, drinks and music. There are specific things that we connect to fall: foods, colors & songs. 
Here is a look into how it all went, with photos by my good friend, Jenetta . 

A simple mantle decoration. 

My cricut was my best friend for this party. Not only did I use it to cut out these letters, it got more use than it ever has when it cut out hundreds of leaves (you'll see more of that in a bit).

The cute little container of sticks you see above was made by re-using an empty baby formula can. I have been storing these up to use as vases. I just taped some fun paper to it using double stick tape, and there we go! My feeble attempt to make this party a little more green :)  I also hand glittered those votives. More on that later.

The table setting:

The tree was my favorite decoration of all. I used one of my recycled formula cans, wrapped in green mod paper and then filled the can with rocks. I happened to be up in the mountains the day before the party, so I grabbed some great sticks & branches for decor. This one was perfect for what I was envisioning.

I used leaves cut out with my Cricut and hot glued them on. Super simple & super cute! This was by far the hit of the night! I plan on keeping it on my table all the way through thanksgiving.

The tree was placed on two really cool chargers from Target (on clearance too!). I then made the votive candles by painting on modge podge (actually PVA from Paper Source) and then rolling the candles in brown glitter. The polka dot candles were made by sticking glue dots on the candles and then rolling them in the glitter (a tip I got from my wonderfully creative sister-in-law, Lindsey , who did this on Christmas ornaments a few years back).

The cute plates were from Target and I placed them on a piece of scrapbook paper as a place mat.

My second favorite element of the party was an early trick or treating station:

The sign was made using letters cut out on the Cricut , hot glued to ribbon. Tip: To hide ugly push pins, simply glue a piece of matching paper onto the push pin:
(picture by me, not Jenetta)

We had several different types of candy: caramels, reese's, mellowcreme pumpkins and pumpkin spice kisses. 
I used a large piece of paper from Paper Source as a runner on my vintage buffet. 
I made these simple little bags for the candy:
Again, photo by me.

Since we had about 20 guests, we set up the food buffet style on our island:
You'll notice there is no food in the photos. Yep, we did not take a single picture of the food. Here is what was on the menu: My yummy cream cheese/brown sugar/vanilla apple dip and french ham, cheese and onion tarts as appetizers. A fall salad with cranberries and apples with red wine vinegarette. Main course: David's delicious risotto with chicken, porchini mushrooms and asparagus. We had lots of delicious desserts, including pecan pie and dutch apple pie with vanilla ice cream. 
Since I don't have any food pictures, I thought I would at least give you a picture of David cooking away:
My go-to cups for drinks at parties are always mason jars. Throw some festive ribbon on them and they are instantly cute and perfect for the theme. These were for hot apple cider (never mind that we ended up not making it and they were not used at all. They were still cute!).
Plates, glitter paper wrapped napkins, & utensils in mason jar were all held in a cute vintage shopping basket. I threw in a mason jar full of leaves and another paper wrapped formula can holding eucalyptus & other greens. Here is a terrible close up I took of those last two:
More details:
Baby-friendly coffee table decor.
Isaiah loved playing with it all!
A few details in the bathroom:
I found that branch in the mountains. Isn't it perfect?
I love these candles from cultural intrigue . We sell them- let me know if you are interested. 
I came up with the idea to start a guest book, since this will be an annual event. Target, yet again, came to the rescue. I got this cute little book in the $1 section and added a leaf to the opening.  For $1, I thought it turned out well :)  
I asked guests to write us a little message about fall or the party.
The above two images were taken by me. 

Isaiah had a great time at his first fall party! 
He got to flirt with his future wife:
And play with his buddies:
I cannot wait for winter! Well, I can. But I am excited to plan the party!
Happy fall everyone!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Where to share

I have recently been asked by clients where they can post reviews about my services. I love this! If you would like to post a review about us, we would be honored. Here are two places you can do it:

Project Wedding   (go directly to my list by clicking here)

&

Wedding Wire      (go directly to my listing by clicking here)

I think that reviews are a powerful way to help brides & grooms in their planning and vendor selection. So, if you have been recently married, spread the word! 

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Charissa & Jarryd featured on Southern Weddings!

We love the girls over at Southern Weddings- it is an amazing wedding blog! More inspiration than you'll know what to do with. So, we were extremely excited to hear that they wanted to feature another one of our weddings.


You may remember the sneak peak I did of Charissa & Jarryd's wedding at the Nixon Library. Lots of beautiful, lush flowers in shades of tangerine and lime.




Hope on over to the Southern Weddings blog to see more of this wedding.

I will definitely post more pictures once I receive them from the photographer, but for now, here is the incredible vendor line up:

*Venue: Richard Nixon Library
*Catering: Craig's Extraordinary Catering
*Florist: Rainbows Flower Shop
*Photo: John Partridge
*Cake & Cupcakes: Vanilla Bake Shop
*Video: Mise En Seen
*Linens: Fusion Linens
*DJ: Prospect 11 DJs- Ethan
*Officiant: Tim Culling of Restoration Church of Long Beach
*Favors: Schweets
*Flamenco Guitar: Terry Toney (yep- my father in law. Better known in the flamenco world as Antonio Duran)

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Jen & Tom at the Japanese Friendship Garden

A few weeks ago, Jen & Tom were married at The Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. Their wedding day was amazing- DIY details all over the place, unique music choices, yummy food & a delicious candy bar (mainly chocolate!).

Here is a glimpse into their day captured by the fun Furious Photographers:

Jen got ready at the beautiful US Grant. Lucky girl- two of her bridesmaids were stylists!
I love this pic of Jen looking gorgeous in the lobby:
The lovely ladies and their beautiful bouquets by Suzan M Florals:
The guys hanging out at the Organ Pavilion:
I love these two little guys! Jen & her mom made these adorable ringbearer nests:
Balboa park can be a confusing place when you are driving around, so Jen's mom hand made a bunch of these:
How cute are they?

The ceremony:
The Japanese Friendship Garden is gorgeous! Look at these crazy big fish in the koi pond right next to the ceremony. One of them jumped up during the ceremony.

It was a very personal ceremony. Jen's uncle officiated & her dad and sister performed a song during the ceremony. I absolutely loved that they decided to use music they listen to for the ceremony, rather than traditional or classical pieces. For the processional, they walked into Vitamin String Quartet's versions of "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure & "All I Want is You" U2. The song that her dad & sister performed was "Everlong" by The Foo Fighters. As a music lover, I adored this!

Bouquet & bout shot:

Concepts Party Rentals did an amazing job with the lighting & swagging:
*side note about this picture: you will notice that there is nothing on the tables. This picture was taken at the end of the night, so the catering staff had already cleared the tables.

One of my favorite details: The escort cards were hung on Soji screens. This was multipurposing at its best. We wanted to block of a pathway so that guests took the long way to the reception, in order to see the beautiful gardens. Guests grabbed their cards and then headed along the pathway.
The cards were all made by Jen & her mom. Jen also hand made the reception sign. Isn't it so cute? She also made one for the restrooms and one for the entrance to the gardens. I am now the proud owner of these (thanks jen!) so if any of my brides are interested in using them, let me know.

More details to come once all of the photos are posted by the fab photographers.

The rest of amazing vendor team that pulled it all together:

Jen & Tom: Thank you for bringing me on board to help bring your personal, beautiful wedding day to life. I am sure our paths will cross again & I cannot wait to see the future has in store for you two!