Mariners Ballroom, Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach

Posted on: Monday, December 19th, 2011

What a pleasure it was working with Amita on her wedding.     Not only did she go with the ballroom I love at the Hyatt the most (due to no windows a lot of brides can not see the end result, it’s such a great space that you can create areas with different uses/feel for your guests, cocktails that turns to club, cake or buffet in area on it’s own, dining in one area/dancing in another, or mix/mingle the events – it really depends on the guest count as to how much/little you can do, there are shimmery curtains that separate the areas and you can have them all open or use them partially.  I love it, very dramatic and not what any of the guests are expecting.  It’s funny now I think of it, I think all my weddings down in this ballroom have either had eggplant colors or browns, makes for a rich environment), but she was open to my room layout suggestions  and picked the one I knew would have the most impact, yay.  She had a fabulous cup cake stand made and that table with the cupcakes (by Tomgirl) was the first thing people saw when they entered the room, with her dancefloor with the gobo pattern on it beyond and then her lovely sweetheart table/decor against the far wall.  The tables were placed between the ‘cake’ table and along the sides of the dancefloor, this room has big pillars in it, so you have to keep those in mind when planning any kind of screen show etc, we had the dj off to the said for this one,  made the most sense and kept him out of the visual which I appreciate he was open to.

From the beginning when we did the budget to where she had her ‘hoped for’ max guest count which fit in the budget and gave us room for some extra items, to her finding out the parents were inviting double that number, she never got fazed.  We worked through the months, ended up with around 50 more than we had budgetted for and gave up a few of the ‘non-essential but nice things to have’ which didn’t affect the event at all.  She was also always on it, I would give her her tasks and she would respond within minutes that it was done or when it would be, we seemed to spend a lot of the months with not a lot to do.

Amita was fun because she was going against the grain in everything I knew should be done for an Indian wedding.  She was not interested in the traditional colors, and her choice were my two faves lavender and purple.  Some of the other traditions she did to make others happy, so she chose her battles.  Lovely parents/groom/celebration.  And the event, really was a reflection of Amita once you got to know her, loved it.

It wasn’t all roses though, so if there are times when you are planning your wedding and you are getting frustrated/mad at others opinions etc, take a moment and remember it could be worse, here is what they were going through ….  Two weeks before the wedding the grooms  mother  was admitted to hospital not well, after testing they realised cancer that she had had a while ago was back and she was given a limited time, but that time covered the wedding so we were relieved.  However her release from hospital kept getting put off and the wedding was getting closer.  The week of the wedding it was not looking good, I had been hoping she may make it out just for the cere and then go back, but in the days before it was obvious this was not going to happen, so then I suggested maybe skyping the cere, the day before they weren’t even sure if his mom was even going to be coherent to understand what was happening, they were all called to the hospital in the early hours of the morning prior to the wedding day so things were not good, but she made it through that day.  The wedding day came, she was still alive, we got them married, guests went to the hospital and showed her pictures from the cere (there was the usual gap between cere & reception at Indian wedding events), during this gap the groom/father were told it was only a matter of time.  The reception/dinner happened and this was a bunch of people that were there to ensure the bride & groom still had a great celebration no matter what was happening around, they wanted them to enjoy and forget for a moment and have a good time.  They did.  The end of the event came and I said goodbye to our bride & groom who were now with friends in the bar.  His mom died the following morning & thank goodness they were all able to be there with her.  I think she held on as long as she could so their anniversary day would not be her last day.

Enjoy the visual created below, we had a lot of joy creating this end result. Nisie’s Enchanted Florist of course did the florals & mandap decor (known for her lovely elegant looks), and the photos below are by Global Photography/Yogi Patel, very nice and easy to work with.  Thanks also to Mark at the Hyatt who I have the pleasure of working with a lot, such a gentleman.

Till next time

Lisa

www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

714 305 7112

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