Monique Lhuillier Sample Sale!

HIYEE! So sorry for the long time no post…but I’ve just been extremely busy! Hopefully in a week or two things will die down and I can play catch up!

But for now…I want to make sure all my lovely brides are aware of the following:

Sample Sale!!

ONE DAY ONLY

Sunday, July 19th, 200910 am – 6 pm

Bridal & Ready to WearFrom 40% to 90% off
Merchandise is “as is” and all sales are final

No alterations provided. No appointments are taken

1201 S. Grand Avenue, 2nd FloorLos Angeles, CA 90015

In case you’re wondering…

The Knot Unveils 2008 Real Weddings Survey Results

2008 WEDDING BUDGET SURVEY RESULTS
How much do brides spend on their cake? Caterer? Venue? In 2008, $29,334 was the average wedding budget in the US (not including the honeymoon) reflecting a 5.2% increase year-over-year.

Category Average Spend 2008 vs. 2007
Wedding (Overall) $29,334 +5.2%
Reception Venue $13,667 +7.4%
Reception Band $3,633 -11.5%
Reception DJ $943 +0.3%
Photographer $2,655 +0.2%
Videographer $1,591 +1.2%
Wedding/Event Planner $1,907 +8.6%
Wedding Gown $1,032 -22%
Florist/Décor $1,924 -2.4%
Invitations $538 n/a
Wedding Cake $555 -19.7%
Ceremony Musicians $414 -12.0%
Catering (Cost per Head) $73 +6.9%
Wedding Day Transportation $725 +6.7%
Favors $352 n/a
Rehearsal Dinner $1,640 n/a

GENERAL WEDDING STATISTICS
Number of guests: 148 (nearly the same as 2007)
Number of bridesmaids: 5 (up over 2007, when average was 4)
Number of groomsmen: 5 (up over 2007, when average was 4)
Length of Engagement: 15.7 months (a 26.6% increase over 2007)
Most Popular Month to Get Engaged: December (17%)

NATIONAL 2008 WEDDING TRENDS

TOP PRIORITIES: Venue, Band, and Photography: The bulk of the average wedding budget is dedicated to the reception venue ($13,667, a 7% increase over 2007); followed by the reception band ($3,633 on average); and photography ($2,655 on average).

BUDGETS: Budgets Are Bigger and Everyone’s Contributing: The bride’s parents (44%) and the bride and groom (43%) are paying for the majority of weddings. Grooms’ parents also contributed (12%) in 2008.

ENGAGEMENTS: Couples Are Engaged Longer: Couples marrying in 2008 were engaged for an average of 15.7 months, more than 25% longer than those married in 2007. A majority of couples (71%) lived together prior to getting married.

VENUES: Brides are Looking for More Unique Locations: Traditional venues, like reception halls and restaurants, dropped off slightly (10% and 11% respectively) as couples chose inventive sites, such as historical buildings, vineyards, and beaches. In 2008, 35% of ceremonies took place outdoors.

FORMALITY: Weddings Are Casual: Only 20% of weddings in 2008 were characterized as “formal/black tie”.

PLANNERS: More Brides Hire Planners, Particularly Day-of Coordinators: Nearly half (41%) of couples employed full wedding-planning services in 2008, while “day-of” services jumped 14% in popularity.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Photography Is Editorial and Digital: Almost all (93%) brides chose “documentary” style photographers, and 90% of photographers shot in digital.

CAKES: Most Brides Choose Designer Cakes: Over 51% of couples chose an independent cake baker to design their wedding cake.

WAYS TO SAVE: Brides Are Hot on Do-It-Yourself: More than half (55%) of brides made their own favors and ceremony programs. Other top DIY categories were escort cards, save-the-dates, invitations, and decorations.

MUSIC: Four Times More Brides Choose a DJ over a Band: The most popular style of band was Rock-and-roll/Motown (40%) the second most popular was Jazz/Big Band (18%) in 2008.

FIRST DANCE SONGS: Brides Love Classics: The top three first dance songs were: “At Last,” by Etta James; “Bless the Broken Road,” by Rascal Flatts; and “Everything,” by Michael Buble.

LOCATION: Many Couples Are Marrying Far Away: In 2008, 1 in 5 couples planned an out of town wedding, with 1 in 10 couples hosting a full-fledged destination wedding, characterized as “200 or more miles away from where the bride and groom live (including non-US locations).”

GROOMS: Guys Are Involved Whether They Like It or Not: Many (36%) of grooms were “very involved” and 58% of grooms were “somewhat involved.”

REHEARSAL DINNERS: Side Parties Are Serious: The average rehearsal dinner spend in 2008 was $1,640, reflecting larger parties and pricier menus; the morning-after brunch cost, on average, $827.

INTERESTING REGIONAL DIFFERENCES
With the large sample size, results of the 2008 Real Weddings Survey can be broken down on a region-by-region basis. Some interesting regional differences are:

• New York City has the oldest brides and grooms, with average ages of 31 and 33. Respectively, Utah has the youngest, with average ages of 25 (bride) and 27 (groom).
• Iowa and Nebraska couples have the largest weddings, with more than 200 guests.
• Hawaii, Maine, and North Carolina have the most casual weddings. Connecticut, South Florida, Chicago, Detroit, and New York City (and surrounding areas) have the most formal (black tie).
• Central Pennsylvania has the lowest average wedding budget ($20,653), reflecting an 18% drop over 2007. Long Island, NY has the highest average wedding budget ($56,823), followed by New York City which rang in at $52,904 (an intriguing 5% drop-off compared to 2007). Las Vegas, Nevada, weddings experienced the highest jump in overall bridal spend at 19%.
• The top 10 “most expensive” places to get married are: Long Island, New York; New York City; Northern New Jersey; Hudson Valley, New York; Chicago; Connecticut; Los Angeles; South Florida; Rhode Island; and Orange County.

Article found on Business Wire 4/08/09.

Bottega Louie Downtown LA

I was lured into Bottega Louie because of their coffee. For a buck, you can enjoy this new eatery in downtown LA. But as I sat there enjoying the coffee with a few macaroons ($1.75/per), I realize this could be a potential wedding venue!

The location comes with a full bar

Impressively large windows

Amazingly high ceiling (can you imagine what could be accomplish with lighting?!)

Full kitchen

It would be for a fairly small wedding (100-150) and I’m not sure if you can bring in your own caterer. But the location is the epitome of trendy downtown living.

And I leave you with a couple fuzzy pictures of the dessert…

Macaroons

Cupcakes

Flower Trial

Last week I visited Flower Allie at her new studio in Fullerton to view a sample centerpiece for the sweetest bride to be. And we were ecstatic to be greeted with something more beautiful then what we could have imagine.

To give proper credit, the following picture was what was sent to Allison to recreate ~ something whimsical, soft, and girly.

I’ll have to apologize this isn’t a great picture taken with the iPhone. The fresh curly willows were very flexible thus easily bent into desired shape. Allison spray painted them to the dark brown color seen below.

Close up of the floral arrangement on the bottom ~ shades of pink from light to dark ~ roses, orchids, peonies, and hydrangea

Allison feeling there should be ’something something’ to brighten the willows attached the delicate stephanotis to the branches ~ the perfect touch.

And for cocktail, we didn’t want to go with the usual floating flower and Allison came up with this ingenious idea ~ peonies on curly willows!

I’m excited to see all the beautiful flowers come together day of! Only a month left to go!

Brides Against Breast Cancer

This Friday & Saturday Feb 27-28, the Brides Against Breast Cancer Nationwide Tour of Gowns are in Anaheim. For two days only, brides can shop from huge selection of wedding dresses in all sizes and prices at 25-75% below retail. These beautiful wedding dresses have been donated by past brides, designers, salons, and manufacturers so that proceeds from the sales go to benefit Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation, a non-profit organization which grants end of live wishes to terminally ill metastatic stage IV breast cancer patients.

Power Hours
Making Memories will host special morning hours of operation to offer brides a ’sneak peak’ and first pick of the thousands of gowns available for her one special day. “Power Hours” are on Friday, Feb 27th, 2009 from 10:00am to 12:00pm – admission is $20, advance registration is required and space is limited. Please visit here to register.

Here are the details on the Brides Against Breast Cancer Wedding Dress Sale:
Location: Anaheim Marriott Suites Hotel 12015 Harbor Blvd Garden Grove, CA
Hours: Power Hours: Friday Feb 27th, 10:00am – 12:00pm
Gown Sale: Friday Feb 27th 12:00pm-8:00pm Saturday Feb 28th, 10:00am – 4:00pm

When to splurge, when to save: Juggling the cost of your wedding

By: Associated Press – Texarkana Gazette -
Published: 06/22/2008
NEW YORK—Khris Cochran splurged for her wedding seven years ago. The ceremony was in a rose garden overlooking San Francisco Bay. The cake was made by a star baker featured on the Food Network. The honeymoon was in French Polynesia.

Then came the debt. She was $5,000 in the hole before she lost her Silicon Valley job in the dot-com bust. “It took years to get out of that debt,” she says. “By being so tied to the wedding dream, I ended up in a financial nightmare.”

Weddings are said to be recession-proof, but the same can’t be said for couples’ budgets. As the economy takes a hit, many nearly-weds are looking for ways to scale back on a lavish wedding without sacrificing a special day. Wedding spending is expected to dip slightly this year to about $28,700 per event, according to trend tracker The Wedding Report Inc. That’s down just $28 from last year’s high, but it bucks the 48 percent growth that surveys by the Conde Nast Bridal Group documented from 1999 to 2006. At the same time, the fever for budget-busting weddings hasn’t broken. Wealthy couples are now focusing on understated flourishes, says celebrity wedding planner Marcy Blum: “Serving Cristal, for example, as opposed to having elephants.”

What’s worth the splurge, and what’s a smart save? Here are some ideas for richer and for poorer:

SAVE: GUEST LIST

You can always elope. Barring that, if you want to save money, trim the guest list.“You really don’t need to invite everyone you know or have a party of 20 bridesmaids,” says Maria McBride, an editor at Brides magazine and author of “Party Basics for New Nesters.” If you really want a big crowd, consider a smaller wedding with a separate cocktail reception. It beats a 300-person sit-down dinner in both cost and atmosphere, says Blum. “There’s no way to go about making it affordable and really fabulous, unless you’re a rock star or someone you know is Kuwaiti.” If your parents really want all their friends to attend, or your colleagues at work expect invites, remember it’s your day. A good rule of thumb: Have you had dinner with this person in the last year? If not, and you live in the same city, consider a cut. Looking back, Cochran wishes she and her husband had invited only the people closest to them. “It’s not only an instant budget saver but a way to make the whole event more intimate,” she says.

SPLURGE: SETTING

David Tutera, who planned Star Jones’ wedding, advises couples to focus their spending on the venue and decor, including flowers. One of his clients is spending $1 million on flowers and design, including 50,000 roses. “People walk away remembering the unique experience you create and not the food that you served,” he says. He and Blum each stressed the importance of lighting, which they say many couples overlook. “They spend tons of money on decor and they have a great band, but if they don’t spend on lighting, you can’t see what they’ve done,” Tutera says. For Eda Kalkay, design and location were the most important decisions for her October 2007 wedding. The 150 guests to her city-meets-country wedding at an estate in New Hope, Pa., were treated to a white fantasy in the woods, with globes of white hydrangea, white candelabras and a surprise performance by a gospel choir. The price tag? More than $300,000. But she has no regrets.“It was so beautiful it felt surreal,” says Kalkay, whose wedding was being featured on WE TV’s “Platinum Weddings” this summer. If you want a luxe setting at a discount, ask for a deal on a Friday or Sunday wedding, or cut costs with a daytime affair. And consider alternatives to expensive floral displays, like smaller “tablescapes” of candles and fruit, or centerpieces using a single type of flower, bought wholesale.

My two cents: I often get asked by my clients “why do I need lighting?” I can’t stress enough the importance of lighting when it comes to the design of your wedding. It’s the difference between having a candlelight dinner at a fine restaurant and dining under the harsh white light on your kitchen counter.

SAVE: INVITATIONS

Cochran, who now runs the Web site DIYBride.com, says invitations are an easy way to cut costs.“Paper is cheap and most people have a computer, word processing software and a decent printer already at home, which makes invitations an easy way to save some cash and be creative,” she says. Invitations set the tone for an event, but Tutera, author of “The Party Planner,” thinks guests are more likely to remember the last moments of a wedding. Etiquette experts still frown on electronic invitations, so prepare for raised eyebrows if you cut that corner. Instead, Blum suggests cutting down on invitation inserts and heavy stock that waste paper and increase postage.

SPLURGE: PHOTOS

A wedding is only one day, but the photos last forever. Even on a budget, brides rarely lament the amount spent on a quality photographer. “We really love our wedding photos and still get compliments on them to this day. She was worth the extra cash we spent,” Cochran says. Photos were so important to Kalkay, she spent $50,000 to bring in photographers who regularly shoot celebrity weddings. If you’re cutting corners, however, you may be able to find a skilled student photographer who’s eager to earn extra cash and build a portfolio. And you can forgo a videographer altogether. “It’s very passe compared to photography,” says Tutera.

SAVE: FAVORS

You might really love that silver box with your monogram on it, but guests who have been to several weddings will probably toss it when they return home. “Nobody needs another placecard frame, or a bottle of crummy wine with your name on it,” Blum says. It may seem like a small expense, but even cheap trinkets add up when you have a lot of guests. Odds are, there will be no complaints if you skip the favor entirely. (Cochran also points to money-wasting extras like toasting flutes as a bad idea.) If you really want to give your guests favors, Blum suggests something edible. “You’d be much better off to have all your bridesmaids or ushers bake cookies and enclose a great recipe,” she says. Another nice touch: offering a coffee cake or brioche on the way out for the next morning’s breakfast.

Paper Source Weddings 2009

For all the people out there that’s as addicted to Paper Source as I am, there are a few upcoming events at all Paper Source stores!

Complimentary Creative Wedding Demos ~ February 21, 2009

11:30 am – Announcing the Big Day

12:45 pm – Inspired Invitations

2:00 pm – Tasteful Tabletop Décor

Exclusive Event: The Wedding Suite ~ March 5, 2009

6:30 – 9 PM (seats limited to 15)

$35 per person ~ Sign up with a friend and receive $5 off each seat!

Special E

I’m very excited to have discovered a company that offers this service for all the brides and grooms out there! Quoting from the company’s website, ‘ Special E is a green service that rescues leftovers from meetings, conferences, parties, weddings, and special events, then recycle them in ways that help our planet and people in need.’ 

After your event, the company will come and pick up the left over food and deliver it to food banks, soup kitchens, shelters to feed the hungry and homeless. Floral arrangements or centerpieces will be delivered to hospitals or nursing homes. Empty cans and soda will be recycled and proceeds goes to abused and abandoned pets. The list goes on what the company can rescue and put to good use. 

What this company offers is amazing! As a planner, I usually stay late into the night to oversee the break down and clean up of the event. There has been times where I delivered left over flowers to nursing homes because I couldn’t stand to see the beautiful, fresh flowers getting thrown away. Some venues already allow couples to pack the left over, this company offers that extra step of delivering the food to the people in need. There’s so many hungry people out there, wouldn’t it be great if we put everything you planned to use and help the less fortunate? 

There is a fee associated with their service and you would need to fill out a form to determine the exact amount. I know if everyone do what they can do help save the planet, we’ll be leaving a better place for the next generation. I encourage couples to plan ahead and work this into their budget!

Short but sweet….(hopefully)

I know I’ve been missing forever….but I am swamped with weddings. I was finally able to upload the pictures from Wendy’s Bridal Shower (I know, it’s almost 2 MONTHS ago!). At least I posted eye candy! Photos courtesy of Jonilyn Photography…don’t things just look so much better through the professional lens.

Diddy Reese cookie favors

Tissue poms

Painted wooden numbers for tables

Ribbon place card board

One of my favorite moments when the Groom came by to surprise the Bride…she was in disbelief!

Picture of the lovely couple

The wishing tree was pretty popular!

White sangria awaited guests on a hot summer day

And finally…girls that made the day possible.

More sample centerpieces…

I love sample centerpieces…they give you a glimpse of what’s to come.

The first one was created by Dodie Sy of Brassavolas Floral Couture. Isn’t it gorgeous?! The reception room is going to be draped with satin brown linen, soft amber lighting, and intermittent tall and short centerpieces.

Here’s a close up of the flowers. They’re such VIBRANT shades of pink and orange.

The second sample centerpiece is the creation of the talented Kate from Kate Baker Floral Design. I have heard about her and seen many of her creations and am so happy I finally get to work with her. This brides is also going with satin brown linen but her colors are shades of bring pink to light pink. This arrangement is made with pink hydrangeas, roses, spray roses, pink dahlias, green berries, snap dragons and more! I love the delicate calla lilies in the vase. Kate is going to ’shape’ the callas so it curves a bit more.

I can’t wait…both these weddings are right around the corner!