PSA: be on time

Brides: when you're coming to a meeting with your vendors or your potential vendors, please give us a heads up if you're going to be late OR early. Late arrivals usually know to call or text about the traffic. But you early birds? You're the worst. Arriving early can destroy the tone of an entire meeting because we're not ready for you, and then it just wastes both of our time. Like every other person who works in the wedding industry, I'm balancing running my home life and my business, and when a meeting is set for 6:00 PM, I could be in my workout clothes as late as 5:45 PM or still in a meeting with another client. 

While I know it's impossible to rule the 405, it's not hard to send a quick text or a call and say: "I'm running 15 minutes early/late". Let's not waste each others time, shall we?

Anniversary photos

One of the great things about working in the wedding industry is the friendships that I built with some incredibly talented people. Last month my husband and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary (no, we did not get married when we were 12!) and I asked one of my friends, Adi from Next Exit Photography, to take pictures of us. Adi, being an awesome buddy, spent an hour or so with us at the LACMA light installation and would have spent a lot longer had I not told him that I was "over it" and ready to go eat sushi!

I don't normally wear a lot of makeup, but I couldn't resist taking up a makeup artist on her offer to do a free trial on me. I loved what Stacey did (individual fake lashes!) and so did Eric. Without making this sound like a commercial, she is offering free makeup trials for if brides end up booking her for their summer or fall weddings. That is almost unheard of! Stacey Herman can be reached at staceyslrh at aol.com.

Here's to another 10++ years, babe! 

Carondelet House Inspiration Shoot

Confession: this was my first inspiration shoot, and honestly? It's probably going to be my last. Don't get me wrong, I'm crazy proud of how it turned out but it was a TON of work and was a 12 hr day on my feet. And then there was the whole planning of everything. But! This new venue is so, so, so pretty! I got to design something fun! I got to work with people that I love, respect, and admire! And, I have pretty, pretty, pictures to show! So all in all? Win/win. Read more about it on Style Me Pretty!

One of the aspects I loved so much about this  shoot was the fact that we did two shoots with two separate photographers: one daytime and one nighttime. Suthi Picotte of Picotte Weddings did our daytime portion, and Duke Khodaverdian of Duke Photography . I loved seeing the day not only through the photographers different perspectives, but the impact of how lighting changes a room.

Some of my favorite images from Suthi

Some of my favorite images from Duke

Our Amazing Team

Planning + Design: Amber Events
Venue: Carondelet House
Site Management: Tact Event Management
Floral Design: Peony and Plum
Daytime Photography: Picotte Weddings
Nighttime Photography: Duke Photography
Cake: Superfine Bakery
Rentals: Town & Country
Invitations + Calligraphy: Olive Hue Paper Goods
Catering: Auntie Em’s Kitchen Catering
String Trio: Strings by Reiko
Lighting: Aspect Lighting
Wedding Dress: Chantilly by Claire Pettibone
Hair + Make-up: Fiore Beauty
Jewelry: Margaret Rowe
Dresses for Quartet: The Dessy Group
Cinematography: Duke Khodaverdian and Eric Film
Female Model: Monika Zimaniova / Male Model: Mike Thompson

Amber Events Featured on Style Me Pretty today!

I'm so excited to share an inspiration shoot I designed and produced back in May that is featured on Style Me Pretty today. I'll be posting some of my favorite photos tomorrow, so head on over to SMP to see the pretty! Los Angeles Photo Shoot by Amber Events + Picotte Weddings + Duke Photography

Online Reviews in the wedding industry

Last June I wrote the below blog about online reviews. It was looking at it only from the negative side of reviews when they're not so stellar. On the flipside of things? Good reviews keep me in business and they're a huge part of the reason that people hire me. I want to remind you currently engaged couples: as much as you read reviews before you hire your team, please, please, please take the time to write reviews after your wedding. I know you think you will now, but the day after your wedding you're on to other projects.
 

Online Reviews in the Wedding Industry 
(originally published in June 2010)

Don't get me wrong, I love to google a company to see what comes up, but when reading certain sites,  I always remember to take everything with a grain of salt and know that angry people tend to be the ones to write reviews.

Why am I talking about this? Recently one of my clients emailed me back after I referred a certain vendor. In years of working with this vendor I have never had a problem and neither have my brides, yet my client asked me what was up with the nasty reviews online? Sure enough, I googled this vendor and was shocked by what I read. Had I not worked with this company, I would steer wide and clear if I were a potential client.

I immediately got on the phone with said vendor and asked for their side of the story. In a nutshell: bride booked services, signed a contract, then 2 weeks before the wedding decided to cancel. Then bride got angry that she was being held to the contract that she signed. So bride and fiance got on the warpath and wrote some nasty and untrue things online. That vendor has lost who knows how much money due to this act.

What many brides don't know is that these "free listing" sites contact us vendors telling us: "you have bad reviews, if you advertise with us, we can 'help' you". In between the lines this means: if you pay us $400 per month, we'll make you look better. Kinda smells like blackmail to me... 

Other sites (ones that rhyme with "help") only shows reviews from people who are active "helpers".   Meaning, a happy client can open an account, write a few reviews about their vendors, then never log in again. Those good review disappear after a while. The nasty reviews? Those tend to be from perpetually angsty "helpers" who like to "keep it real" and constantly review things. This site won't take anything nasty down, nor will they let a business owner thoroughly refute something, but they still want $400+ per month from us small business owners.

Brides and Grooms, I beseech you: read these sites with a grain of salt, a spoonful of sugar, a glass of wine, whatever. Just because it's on the Internets doesn't make it true.