Emily and Nick's wedding at The Westlake Village Inn

The wedding rehearsal on June 13 was foggy, misty, and chilly, just like the previous two weeks of June had been. The icky "June Gloom" was to blame. But Sunday, June 14 dawned sunny and warm, with fluffy puffy clouds in the sky. A perfect day for a wedding!

Nick and Emily live here in Los Angeles, but many of their family and friends came in from out of state for the weekend. Emily's lovely mother, Sara (who lives in Kansas City), and I did a majority of the planning via phone, email, and two powwow weekends of back to back meetings. Nick and Emily are a busy, busy couple. He is a doctorate student at USC and she just finished her doctorate in clinical psychology. Very smart people. And wonderful, kind, and deeply in love.

The ceremony was held at the gazebo at the Westlake Village Inn. Rabbi Brett Krichiver officiated a beautiful and touching Jewish ceremony, and Emily walked down the aisle to a song that Nick specifically chose for her: "Le Cygne" by Saint-Saëns played by a quartet with Blue Skies Events. Cocktail hour was held on the terrace of the Provence room. The ceremony and reception colors were a mix of whites, celery green, and pale aqua. The flowers, designed by Val Eule of Just Flowers, were a summery airy mix of white and green Hydrangea, Roses, Lilies, Lisianthus, Freesia, Dendrobiums, Tulips and Orchids. Alternating high and low arrangements looked lovely against the aqua linens and beneath the sparkling chandeliers.

The cake was baked from scratch and decorated by Joeleen Jaquez of A Sweet Design. The guests enjoyed a dual entree dinner with fun touches to the reception such as a Sundae Bar and a Cappuccino Bar. DJ Nahchey of Dash Entertainment turned the evening into a party and guests had a ball.

The entire day was full of handmade details made by Emily's mom Sara. Unique fan programs, escort cards, table numbers, favors and adorable petal cones were such great touches made with love.

Not only did the day flow smoothly with a happy couple enjoying their family and friends, I had a wonderful time. Sara actually thanked me in her welcome toast and told me that she could not have done it without me! Such an unexpected gift!

Videography was done by Isabel Gonzalez Videography and Images were captured by the talented Veronica Puleo of Verofoto. A huge thank you to my assistants Krista and Dani--as usual, I could not have done it without you!

An interactive wedding video

I love this video. The wedding day flies by so quickly that I cannot begin to imagine what it took to coordinate it! It put such a huge smile on my face!

Brian & Eileen's Wedding Music Video. from LOCKDOWN projects on Vimeo.

Seating chart and escort card advice

In my opinion, getting the guests seated and the reception started is the stickiest part of the wedding day. Seating charts look perfect on paper, but factor in human error, extra guests, or missing escort cards, and we have situations that can quickly get out of control. An alphabetical list (preferably in Excel) of all of your guests and what table they are at is crucial to get this transition done smoothly. This is one of the items on my checklist that I request from my clients, and trust me when I say that my assistants and I USE this list. When the ballroom doors open, we are stationed next to the escort card table to assist the elderly that cannot read the cards, pick up the cards that fall on the floor, and troubleshoot the problems that arise. We have seen everything--guests that do not have an escort card, couples that are assigned to separate tables (in error), guests who pick up the wrong card, guests who go to the table and find that it is already full, and guests whose cards are blank because the table number was not written in. If we have an alpha list, we can fix this in one minute and the guests can find their seat and the party can begin. If we don't have a list, it is difficult and embarrassing for all. I have had a few weddings in the past where the brides did not have time to get me this list, and in each situation we started the reception late because we could not get guests properly seated. It's bad enough when the guest who can't find their seat is a college friend or coworker, but it's worse when it is a grandparent, godparent, etc. A few years ago I had a couple leave because the bride had forgotten to assign them a table and they were embarrassed and angry. They refused to wait while the staff created place settings for them. Not a pretty situation.

If you do not have a wedding coordinator, there are a few things I recommend to help assist this transition time:

1. Make sure you not only triple check your seating chart, you have someone else check it with fresh eyes. At this point in the game, you are tired and overwhelmed and mistakes are easy to make in this area.

2. Create 2 empty seats at a table at the perimeter of the room that you can use as a backup if there are any errors.

3. Ask an aunt or a friend to take time during the cocktail hour to check the tables to make sure they are set correctly, as in, if the floorplan says that Table One is set for eight, make sure that there are eight chairs, plates, silverware, etc. Banquet staff make mistakes and set tables incorrectly all of the time.

4. Ask an aunt or a friend to be the escort card table host and use this alpha list to help guests find their seats.

5. Reconsider your decision of not hiring a wedding coordinator :)

Westlake Village Inn, Universal Hilton, and Universal Sheraton--all in one week!

On Sunday I had the honor of coordinating Nick & Emily's wedding the Westlake Village Inn. Since Nick is in his doctorate program and Emily just finished her doctorate, they were both completely busy and allowed Emily's mother and myself to plan the wedding. Emily's mom lives in Kansas and even though we did most planning over the phone, we were on the same wavelength regarding design, flow, etc. and had a blast planning together. Such a wonderful family!

Once I receive the images from the talented Veronica Puleo of www.verofoto.com I will post a full recap of the wedding.

Today I am gearing up for a two day Indian/American wedding that will be taking place at the Universal Hilton on Friday and the Universal Sheraton on Saturday. I love mixed culture weddings! This wedding I am actually working as a lead for one of my fellow coordinators, the fabulous Mimi Flowers of Mimi Events, as she has a wedding out of town. It's not uncommon for vendors in the wedding industry to help each other out like this--Photographers, DJ's, Florists, etc will work other weddings when they have an open weekend. It's challenging to walk into a situation with new assistants and vendors that I haven't worked with and run a smooth event, but it keeps me sharp!

The BEST invitation I have ever seen!

This video is 4 minutes long. Hopefully it will blow your mind like it blew mine!



Congratulations, Corey & Rachel. If you are anywhere near as cool in person as your video makes you out to be, you rock!