Amber Advice on LA Style Unveiled

I am honored that sassy new wedding blog LA Style Unveiled featured an article of mine today!
LA Style Unveiled is a new website for stylish and chic brides looking to make their wedding as fabulous as they are.

My article has tips on creating your seating chart and can be found here.

Wood Wedding Invitations

image taken from www.oslopress.com

I am researching wooden wedding invitations for a client that wants something rustic and a little bit different and I'm so in love with these I just have to share! Below are some of the websites that I found that sell wood invitations:

http://www.oslopress.com/wedding-invitations.html

http://www.cardsofwood.com/weddings.htm

http://modern-letterpress.com

http://www.lazerdesigns.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=wedinvite

http://www.nightowlpapergoods.com/home.php?cat=22

image taken from http://www.nightowlpapergoods.com

image taken from http://www.lazerdesigns.com

An event at the Westlake Village Inn

Last night I attending a networking dinner for the Association of Bridal Consultants' Los Angeles AND Ventura county chapters. We have dinners where vendors in the wedding industry can showcase their flowers, favors, fashion, music, photography, etc. It was held at the gorgeous Westlake Village Inn in Westlake Village. Not only was I looking forward to networking with 150 other wedding industry professionals, I was especially excited to experience the Westlake Village Inn as a guest as I have a wedding coming up there in June. Being a guest at an event and being a vendor at an event are two totally, totally different worlds. I've always had a good feeling about the venue based on our meetings there and I know that the wedding will be gorgeous based on all of the work and attention going into it, but now I am even more excited about the wedding as I know that the service, staff, and food will be flawless!

It doesn't matter how pretty a venue is, if the staff is sub-par and the food mediocre, guests will definitely remember that about your wedding. What a treat it was to get a taste of what my lovely June clients will have on their wedding day!

great gifts for all walking down the aisle

I carry a mini emergency kit on my hip (ok, ok, so it's a fanny pack. Glamorous, eh?) and when I line the bridal party up to start the processional I pass out Kleenex to everyone in line. Unfortunately, Kleenex held in sweaty hands gets pretty gross after about 5 minutes. I'm a huge fan of handkerchiefs and an even bigger fan of these embroidered hankies from Felicia's Fancies . They are stunning. The personalized notes are so touching. These would be such great gifts to give out either at the rehearsal dinner or the day of the wedding to your mom, bridesmaids, father, etc.

The Name Change

I like to give gift ideas of things that I think are great. Kind of like Oprah, but I don't give said gifts to my readers. Maybe someday, when I am a billionaire and get free products coming out of my ears...

Today's gift is specifically for the Bride**. It's not glamorous, it is not sparkly, it is not sassy, but it is truly a wonderful and useful time saver. Ladies and gents, may I present: Miss Now Mrs.

Last year I was doing my 3 hour details meeting with a bride and groom and when I got to the question: "are you going to change your name?" my overwhelmed, overworked, full time student/working bride completely burst into tears and wailed "I can't even think about that right now!!!!!" Her fiance looked at me with a look of shocked horror wondering if his bride was getting cold feet about marrying him and I told him: "Don't worry, she'll be ok, let her cry this out. It's normal". Then I consoled her and told her that she doesn't need to worry about it right now, just take things one step at a time. I really wish I had known about this service then, because for $29 I could have saved her a lot of work and aggravation. Poor thing. I know how she felt.

Truly, changing your name is a royal pain in the pants. Dealing with the state government, the DMV, credit cards, bank accounts, loans, travel documents, IRA's, and 401K's is not fun. No longer does this need to be a daunting task though! After dealing with the headache changing the wife's name, a husband and wife team created a site that helps you make a task list, tells you the steps to take, and fills out the forms for you! Hallelujah!!


**If the Bride isn't changing her name, get her something sparkly.