Catchup

Posted on: Thursday, November 25th, 2010

Well, as the main wedding season winds down here (keep in mind we are really a year round option here in S.Cal due to our great weather), I realise that there were lots of other great weddings, couples, and things that happened that I have not mentioned so here is a recap below:

I had a bride that was very crafty and had brought a lot of ‘items’ over the year to be incorporated somehow into her decor, we found a great florist who works with that kind of product and ideas who pulled it off beautifully, could have looked cheesy, but it ended up looking very elegant, and the groom got to have his craps table in the corner, and play his drums with the band!!!

I had a couple from Texas and two from Arizona, where everyone flew in and had a good three day type celebration, I always have NY couples but their guests tend to come from  various states and also have a lot of local guests, so it was great to see groups of 40-60 all coming in to share an event with a couple (as I would too, you have every reason to want to come on over to the West Coast/S.CA/the OC)!!

I had a couple of weddings that ended up with major NZ connections (I am from New Zealand), one a couple I had been working with had applied for residency in NZ and it came through while we were planning their wedding here, so in the middle of planning the wedding, the groom relocates to my home town (isn’t that getting wierd) where he has a job, the bride goes down for a visit and ends up coming and going three times, as does the groom who came back for the tasting and then again of course for the wedding) and now they are there enjoying the cold weather!!!! (but great lifestyle and people).  Then another couple who were a lot of fun, we had a beer bar with 13 different types of beer on it, two martini ice luge with different colors and names for the couple, strings for the cere, reggae guy for cocktails, Mariachis to lead guests into the ballroom for dinner and then play during dinner (and again, another reason to hire a seasoned co-ordinator, the groom had hired most of his musicians off a certain web site, I had called and checked several times with each one/confirmed etc, then two hours before the mariachis were supposed to play I got a call that they were not coming they had been arrested due to not having papers (I can’t make this stuff up), so I immediately made two calls to two mariachi groups I use and recommend only, you pay more, but quality and reliability is not an issue, one could not make it due to another event (but he has a couple of times before when similar situations have happened last minute) but the other group was up in LA playing and made a 50 min drive down in time to start playing when dinner  began – whew!!  Now the couple knew by now there would not be mariachis to play them in and thought that was it, so when the toasts ended and the MC announced dinner was being served and the next thing the couple heard was mariachis starting up and saw them walk in the room, the bride was in tears and the groom couldn’t stop smiling – those are the moments that I know I was able to make a difference and add an important moment to their memory of their celebration.  Anyway, I digress, then they had a Frank Sinatra singer do the last hour of dinner, and an Elvis impersonator do a show 1/2 way into the dancing time, but the part I loved most was, their band was a group of guys from  New Zealand.  So easy to work with, no divaish issues/demands, played when people were dancing and only took breaks when they could see the crowd needed to break also.  Very cool/hip guys.  Aaaah, made me miss home.

This is how their ballroom looked:

I had one Chinese bride where we had 7 dress changes.  I feel like I spent more time in the changing room/head under dresses than out on the floor!

I had a bride who was looking to book me a year ago for her  August wedding, then found a location that provided a  day of co-ordinator and decided to go that route, oh well.  Well two weeks before her big day, I get a frantic email to see if I was still available as the hotel person had flaked on her and she was not comfortable at all and needed my help.  I had a  morning wedding that day, so had my lovely Teri and Peni head up there and get things going and I was up there in time to get the ceremony started and see her thru the end and ensure she got to bed with happy memories.  Wow, fate sure has a funny way of bringing you back to where you should have been/stayed from the beginning.

Lots of cultural weddings and had quite a few Jewish celebrations, which I love as they are normally on Sundays, and the hotels are so much quieter, so you can do ketubah signing, couple meeting, and everything you want to do when you want to do it, without much in the way of conflicts or space being tight at the locations.

Of course, none of these celebrations come to fruition without the tastings, floral meetings and the detail meetings I have with my couples, so I was kept pretty busy and time  seemed to go very fast.  Thank goodness the weather is holding out so I can feel like I am having my own summer!!  Most of the time we end and we are in full fall/winter type weather and it is so sad.

A couple of nice events I made it to over the season, one was held at the Sheraton in Carlsbad,  a really lovely property that if you didn’t have kids dragging you to Legoland you would have no idea they are there, and then was down at the Park Hyatt Aviara, formerly the Four Seasons, and happy to say it seems to be exactly the same which is nice, such a lovely property and experience.

Well that winds it up for me on this one

Till next time

Lisa

www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

Tags: , , , , , , ,

  • Categories

  • {"number_of_column":"1","number_of_column_desktop":"1","number_of_column_small_desktop":"1","number_of_column_tablet":"1","number_of_column_mobile":"1","auto_play":"true","auto_play_speed":"3000","scroll_speed":"600","pause_on_hover":"true","infinite_loop":"true","navigation":"true","pagination":"true","swipe_on":"true","mouse_draggable":"true","rtl_mode":"false"}

    ROB AND KIM

    We are so thankful and appreciative to have had you there on our special day. Words can not express our gratitude. From the very first moment we met you until the last moments of our wedding, you handled yourself with professionalism and respect. You made us feel comfortable and confident throughout the entire process.

    Client

    LAURA AND JAMES

    You are a great woman and a wedding co-ordinator ‘extraordinaire’. We are blessed and honored to have you as our co-ordinator.

    Client

    DIANE AND DAVE

    Thank you for making my wedding perfect. Everything went really well and I was able to really enjoy it. My guests are still complimenting me on how nice everything was. Everyone kept commenting on how calm I was and that is because I had you to take care of everything.

    Client

    JULIE

    I wanted to thank you again for all you did. The wedding was beyond my wildest dreams. It was beautiful and exactly as I pictured it.

    CONNIE AND JOHNNY

    I just wanted to say thank you for everything. The wedding turned out soooo BEAUTIFUL. I don’t know what we would have done without you. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

    Client

    Call Us

    714-305-7112