Travel Lust is flaring up again

Yesterday I created a slideshow out of all of our favorite pictures from trips the husband & I have taken over the years.

Yes, I know this is a slightly narcissistic "nah nah nah nah--look at my vacation pictures" type thing to do, but theys some purty pictures that make me smile. They might make you smile too. Or buy a ticket to Italy...

Every door needs this

And yes, I do realize that I way overuse the word "need". Water is a need. Shelter is a need--ornaments & decor are not. Yet I seriously dig this wreath. I think I "need " to go order one with a "G" for my door. It would also be a great (early) holiday gift for a loved one--they could enjoy it the entire season!

Too many pretty things, too little time!

Welcome, Christmas!

And Chanukah! And "The Holidays"! And Kwanza! For myself personally, I celebrate Christmas, so my blog is going to be dripping with sparkly ornaments, festive bling, reindeers, candy canes, the Baby Jesus, and Santa, Santa, Santa for the next month. Wheee! I love Christmas. I love the parties, I love Christmas themed weddings, I love the glitter and the lights and the food, food, food that comes along with this season.

Welcome, Christmas!

My New Favorite Thing: WONDERFUL GRAFFITI

2008 Brides, sit up and take notice: this is going to be big! Bigger than 'The Candy Bar' big. Oh, how I love love love this product! Apparantly, Martha Stewart and Pottery Barn do to as I've seen graffiti on the walls of some of the spreads in their magazines. I mean, can you get any more validation than that?!
Words, designs, & monograms that attach to any surface with no harm done is what it is. Wonderful Graffiti is your answer to blah ballroom walls, church doors, and any other flat surface you want to pretty up. Hey, you can even get gift certificates for your bridesmaids as gifts!
The website is FUN too. They have a wedding centered website and their regular home website. Both are worth playing around at. You can choose your wall size, color, etc and go to town!
Wall graffiti is great for your home too. I just designed & ordered a border that I am going to have at the top of the wall that I display my family/friend pictures on. It is a quote from my favorite musical Les Miserables: "To Love another person is to see the face of God"

I can't wait to see what my wall of fame will look like with all of the pictures of the people I love and my favorite quote above it. I'll definately take pictures to post.

Rebecca & Aaron's Wedding

College sweethearts Rebecca and Aaron booked me just 4
months before their October 20th wedding. The venue and
music were already booked, but we had a lot of catch up
work to do! We hit the ground running! Thankfully, this very
cool and very fun couple kept an open mind and we threw
around tons of ideas to create a unique wedding that was so "them"!

The wedding & reception were held at the Intercontinental
Hotel in Century City and the slightly art deco feel of the
building went perfectly with the calla lily arrangements and simple, yet beautiful chuppah that a family friend made.
Rebecca's three gorgeous nieces were angelic flowergirls.
Literally!

Because we wanted to create a very sultry jazz-loungy
feeling for the reception, Rebecca & Aaron jumped for the
idea of using lit feather centerpieces on the table instead of flowers.
They were fabulous!

Rebecca, a professional singer, surprised Aaron with
a 2 song medley & choreographed bridal party dance
during the reception. It was incredible!

Congratulations, Rebecca & Aaron! Thank you so
much for allowing me to be a part of your special day!

Also thanks to the wonderful staff at the Intercontinental,
Val Eule of Just Flowers, Blue Silver Photography,
Lori Andrews of Jaz Harp Records, 5th Avenue Orchestra, Moonlight Video Production, and my wonderful staff
Barb, Lina, and Erin.

Videography (also titled "should we or shouldn't we?")

I have no idea how have I been asked, "Do we really need a videographer? I mean, we are already spending sooooo much money on photography and I just don't like cheesy wedding videos!"

My answer is always "YES. Yes you do need a video of your wedding". I never really had a concrete answer why I felt so strongly, but now I do. I'll explain.

I am a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants (ABC) and am extremely lucky to have such an active chapter in Los Angeles. Every other month we have a workshop on one aspect of being a wedding vendor from vendor relations to marketing and networking. Last month our topic was on Videography and truth be told, it sounded a tad boring, but I "had" to go as I missed our meeting the month before since I was traveling in Turkey & Greece (that's another blog). I am truly glad I went. Not only did I learn a lot about the technology side of videography and see some beautiful work from our 4 panelists, I have my answer to WHY you need a video.

Quoted by veteran event coordinator Carol Rosen: "You are going to watch your wedding video a few times, as will your parents, but it will be worn out by YOUR FUTURE CHILDREN"

How right she is. What a priceless gift it would be to be able to experience my parent's or grandparents weddings! Thankfully, pictures can suffice for myself, but thankfully, I have a video to give to my future children. I just hope they'll forgive the cheesy wedding bell border at the intro!!