Guess what?

The party will continue HERE

The Amber Events Army will soon take over the world

This photo makes me happy--it looks so regimented yet festive! I imagine that any second they're going to bust out into a regimented choreographed dance ala the dancing tea cups & saucers from Beauty and the Beast. I have these pins made out of bottle caps for my interns and assistants to wear on the wedding day to look not only official, but sassy.

Wedding Industry Experts Question # 11

Q. What marketing method has proven the most effective for you in attracting new clients?


A. My blog has set me apart as a wedding planner with a wealth of knowledge and a glimpse into behind the scenes of the nuts & bolts of planning a wedding. Anybody can post pretty pictures and inspiration boards, but I explain the why and how of weddings. I also show how much friggin' work it is to do what I do. When a bride googles "how to bustle a wedding dress", "what is a catering service charge", or "how to get a fire permit" they are going to find my blog and they're going to learn about how much they need me heading up their wedding. Also, some of the videos that I've been involved in have garnered some attention: 
Behind the scenes at a Vibiana wedding
Joya & Emre's Black Eyed Peas Music video
Amber on The Knot TV as LA's insider's guide  

To read about how other wedding planners get their business, click HERE

Wedding Websites and your privacy

I have saying that goes: "forget diamonds, GOOGLE is a girl's best friend" as I Google everyone I know and I tend to find out some fairly juicy stuff.  In fact, before I meet with potential clients I just google their first names + weddings and many, many times I find their wedding website and I browse around there for a while.

While it will take away some of my nosy fun, I mean this when I say: password protect your wedding websites, people! Why are you showing all of that information to the world?  There is an evil yet brilliant app called "Crash Corsage" that allows people to find out all info about the wedding that they can crash: location, time, name of bride & groom, name of their bridal party, etc.

I doubt your crashers would be as fun as these guys...

Pretty Pictures: String of lights

There is something about a string of bulb lights over head to make for an enchanting evening. 

These were used at our most recent destination wedding. Mark and Jessica's Mexico beach wedding was the perfect opportunity to use these lights. They were strung over the reception tables. Tables which were just a handful of feet away from the ocean water. It was stunning, and we can't wait to share these photos with you soon. These type of lights have several names: Edison lights and Italian bistro lights are the two I've more commonly heard. I've grown so fond of them, my own apartment balcony is drizzled with it. On warm breezy nights, I love to come out to my balcony with my laptop, a glass of Chardonnay and french Pandora playing in the background. I'm automatically transported to Europe. OoOh La La

Sheerluxury via Larisa Lovely

Wedding Industry Experts Question # 10

Q. What is the most unexpected thing that has happened on the day of a client's wedding?




A. I had a groom get tangled up on the dance floor with his six year old niece and in trying to prevent her from getting hurt he completely dislocated his kneecap as he fell down. As awful as it is to say, thankfully this had happened to him in the past and instead of having to be rushed to the hospital, he snapped it back in to place before it started to swell. The guests were in a frenzy with worry and the silent room was becoming more uncomfortable by the minute.

Immediately I got him ice and pain killers, sent an assistant to the pharmacy to buy a knee brace, kept all guests/family members away from him and his wife as he attempted to compose himself, and I got the party started again per his request. He and his wife stayed outside for almost an hour due to the pain and his intense disappointment at this happening on a wedding day.
When they cut the cake, he gave the MOST incredible speech to his new wife and his guests. He said that while they were outside together Alexis told him that they had promised each other that day “for better or for worse”. Steve said that while he was not expecting the “for worse” to come so quickly, he realized that the most important thing was that he was married to the most beautiful woman in the world and he couldn’t understand how he got so lucky.
He went on his honeymoon with a full leg brace. Two years later these two are still madly in love (with a new baby girl!) and I think that the way that they handled the incident so gracefully together set a precedent for their marriage. The way I see it, because of the way they came through it, they had a perfect wedding. Something is perfect only if you see it as perfect.

To read stories from the other wedding planners, click HERE.

Pretty Pictures: Red Lips

I may be biased, since red is one of my favorite colors. And let us not get started with Amber. Queen of  Red and all things that sparkle. Though there is something very alluring about red: a confident color, powerful and even erotic. This picture of Olivia Palermo, is the perfect example of how to execute a red lip. Red lips is standard for a classy french woman, but for the everyday American? It's a bold move and I feel like more women should attempt this look. Even with a bare face it'll automatically make you look more put together. 

Research has reasserted a strong link between males' perceptions of female attractiveness and red lipstick. Specifically, men are not only most drawn to a woman's lips, but, they spend the most time (7.3 seconds) fixated on a woman's lips when she is wearing red lipstick (as reported by the Daily Mail).

Now if that's some good incentive right there!

Racho del Cielo Wedding: Michelle & Ben on Style Me Pretty today!

It's always a good day that starts off with a feature on a major blog. It's an even better day when that blog is the largest wedding blog in the world, Style Me Pretty! Today Michelle & Ben's Rancho del Cielo wedding is gracing the Little Black Book blog on Style Me Pretty! Click here to view it!

Engagement Session Advice

I'm a huge, huge proponent of engagement sessions prior to your wedding as if gives you and your fiance a chance to experience what it's like to be the focus of a camera's attention for long periods of time, helps you bond with your photographer, let's you try out your hair & makeup prior to the big day, and gives you gorgeous photos of you and your love.

Photographer Jasmine Star has some aaaaamazing tips on how to prep for your engagement photo session, and if I may be so bold as to add one more tip to hers? Booze. Have a drink before your session so you can really loosen up in front of the camera.

Enjoy!

Kayte and Brian Engagement shoot

These days I see so many engagement sessions styled within an inch of their lives: entire living rooms set up in fields, elaborate staging, major period costuming (i.e., Mad Men) and while there is nothing wrong with that type of drama if you are genuinely that dramatic of a couple,  in my opinion all you really need is LOVE.

Lately the summer brides are having their engagement photo shoots and stressing a bit much over what kind of "theme" to have for these sessions as the wedding blogs can sometimes make them feel like they have to do that. These few photos of one of our summer couples, Katye & Brian, completely prove that you just need each other, a great photographer, and good light.

How romantic are these photos? Kudos to Brandon-David Photography and Kayte & Brian for being so in L-O-V-E.

Next post: some tips on how to be comfortable in front of the camera for these sessions.

Wedding Industry Experts - Question # 9

Question #9: What are you most proud of in your professional life?

My reputation amongst my peers in the wedding industry. It makes my day when a fellow vendor tells me that I'm one of their favorite planners to work with or when a new vendor I have not met yet tells me that they're excited to work with me because they've heard such good things about my events, my clients, and  my work ethic.

Amber Events featured on Christine Chang's Photo Blog

What a lovely surprise to see an Amber Events shout out on Christine Chang's Blog! Christine is a phenomenal photographer who features video tutorials and advice columns for brides and budding photographers alike. We had the pleasure of going to Mexico with her for Mark & Jessica's wedding. It was nice to see her unwind as guest for that one.  She deserves it. This is a hard working gal! Thanks CC!

Wedding Industry Experts - Question # 8

Q. What do you do to prepare for a first meeting with a client? 

A. Initial consult meetings are done after a bit of email exchange or phone time, after the bride or groom has been informed of  my planning rates, and after  he or she has filled out a questionnaire that helps me gauge if they are realistic or not. I don't have time to meet with clients who have impossible budgets. In this pre-meeting stage I'm also sniffing out the crazies--if you text me on a Sunday morning why on earth would I sign up to work with you for one year???? You crazy.

Once a meeting is actually set I have a pretty good idea that this is the type of couple I want to work with, but sometimes I do get surprised. In order to do a great job I have to genuinely LIKE my clients! I'm happy to say that I truly adore my clients.

Meetings are a combination of getting to know the couple on a personal level, showing my portfolio, and seeing if we are the right fit for each other. I believe that this is a chemistry based relationship and we all have to be on the same page. As much as they are interviewing me, I'm interviewing them and sometimes I have not accepted a client because it did not feel right.

Engagement session featured on Grey Likes Weddings

 Mark and Jessica's engagement photos were featured on Grey Likes Wedding's site and we are very happy to share them with you! Caroline Tran is the photographer who captured this couple so beautifully both for this engagement session and their wedding at Bel Air Bay Club. The wedding photos are soon to come, but for now please enjoy these images. I especially love that they used their own canoe in a nearby Venice Canal. What a perfect date!

Pretty Pictures: Underwater Canines

I wouldn't go as far to say that these pictures fit the category of Pretty Pictures, but I just couldn't help but sharing how cool these are! Seth Casteel is the very talented lifestyle pet photographer from Little Friend's Photo. This underwater experiment was to showcase how dogs playing fetch look like under water.  Drink a glass of wine, I'm sure these images will end up looking 10x more amusing.

After spending a week with my family and their two dogs, Penny and Benji, I realize how people like they can be. Penny is a little hot dog and Benji a black lab (similar to the one pictured below). Their expressive eyes and and desire to please make them the most perfect companion. 

I loved playing fetch with them too! Well that's till their toys got so slobbered on, I called it quits. 

Even my neighbor just got himself the cutest Boston Terrier, and quite frankly...I'm jealous. 

This Boston Terrier wears T-shirts every other day with cool messages on them, like "California Cool" and "I'm the Man". 

Okay, I think I need to get myself one of these cool guys. I'm more convinced the more I write. 

For now, I'll have to settle by looking at their pictures.

Wedding Industry Experts - Question # 7

Today's answers are hilarious but make my stomach turn at the thought of some of those things happening to me! Check out the Wedding Industry Experts to see what everyone else had to say to this week's question.

Q. What is the worst thing that has happened at a wedding and how did you deal with it?

A. One wedding day I awoke to the sound of my cell phone ringing and my groom Matt telling me that a part of Broadway Street was being shut down for the Golden Dragon Parade. Uh, oh. Marvimon, the fabulous venue where their wedding and reception was being held, is located on Broadway, right on the edge of Chinatown . I pulled up maps of the parade route and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that the parade ended 1/2 of a mile from Marvimon. I knew it was still going to be a sticky traffic situation, so I emailed all of the vendors and told them an alternate route to take to get there.

I asked one of my assistants to pick up a few dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts on her way in that morning as I wanted everyone working that day to be hyped up on sugar and happy. The vendors started rolling in on time and things were looking good. At noon, the situation took a bad turn. Traffic police pulled up in front of us and started setting out cones to shut Broadway down right where we were! Big problem. I started getting calls from the servers who were trying to get to us and they said that there were blockades north of us as well. Huge problem. We were barricaded in!

Jeff, the Marvimon site manager, and I went to talk to the traffic officer to explain the situation. At first he would not relent, but after begging, asking to talk to a supervisor, and finally bribing him with doughnuts and red velvet cupcakes he gave us permission to let our valets park cars on the blocked off street. One crisis solved, now to get our guests through the barricades...

Jeff spoke to the officers north of us and finally got permission to let the wedding guests onto the closed street, and once we routed out a way get them to us, I called Matt's mom and asked her to spread the word to the guests.

People had trouble getting to us, but once they arrived, things just fell into place beautifully. We started the ceremony 10 minutes after our scheduled start time.

Lockell and Chris's engagement session at Union Station

So excited to share this engagement shoot for Lockell and Chris! When Lockell told me she wanted her wedding to include a train theme, I thought " Ooo how fun! I'm in!" What's great about this concept is that we are creating a fresh and stylish wedding to include elements of the modern metro train system we use today. 

However, for their engagement shoot, she was looking to bring out the nostalgia and romance of this theme. I loved Chris's argyle and Lockell's vintage pieces. Luminaire Images did a wonderful job capturing all this, especially utilizing LA's historic Union Station. Make up by Jen Castelo and Hair by Ursula Campbell. I look forward to sharing photos from their September wedding at Huron Substation! Stay tuned! {nira}

Wedding Industry Experts - Question # 6

Wedding Industry Experts asked this week: 

Q. What type of people make the best Wedding Event Planners or Wedding Designers?

A. A person who can be a chameleon but stay true to them self.
A person who can juggle multiple clients who all have different personalities and ways that they need to be treated.
A person who can work closely with vendors yet still maintain their loyalties to their clients.

A person who can handle client family issues and know when to shut their mouth and when to give advice.

A person who can know their value and not accept less than they know their worth.

A person who can figure out a way to balance out their personal and family life in order to prevent burnout.

A person who can ok with 14 hour days, intense manual labor, and the loss of weekends.

A person who possess tact, speed, composure, grace, propriety, intelligence, a backbone, a sense of humor, and incredibly thick skin.

A person who truly cares about people and provides the type of support that the client needs.

A person who knows that nobody is going to build a business or a career for them.

And a person who will work very, very hard. 

want 5 quick wedding planning tips?

Then head over to Amy Nichol's blog and see what they are!

Marvimon Wedding: Shannon & Ernest

Shannon and Ernest got married last fall at Marvimon House in Chinatown. They met in the pharmacy: Shannon is a Pharmacist and Ernest is currently finishing up his Doctor of Pharmacy degree. Their wedding was a classy and warm as the two of them are and the guests had a wonderful time celebrating their union!

Marvimon has recently undergone and incredible renovation and we're excited to work at this wonderful venue as soon as possible!

The Team that made the magic:

Venue: Marvimon

Event Design and Coordination: Amber Gustafson of Amber Events
Photography: Natalie Moser

Florist: Holly Flora

Caterer: Heirloom LA

DJ: RedShoe

Makeup/Hair : Kelly Zhang

Valet: Jeffrey Valet 

Rentals: Town & Country
Dessert: My Sweet & Saucy

Bar: Sunseri's