So between 5 weddings in September, and already starting to book for the fall, we decided to throw one more big thing into the mix. A new space (Colorado Divison). We are very excited and are already painting, decorating, and fabbing it up for all of you girls to see and love. In fact, we are sharing it with Jenna Walker and her sister, Katie, as well as her husband Matt who are all mahhhvelous photographers, in our famous last words. It is such an awesome location and we are all so excited to be new "roomies". I will post photos of it once we are done and we do plan to have an Opening in the fall. Stay tuned. My most wonderful mother is flying in tomorrow on 24 hours notice to help us glam it up!
So, speaking of booking for Fall, September and October are really taking the cake next year as popular dates to get married. Blame it on the changing colors and cool weather. In Florida, it is Hurricane Season…Anyway, we have booked a few weddings this week for next Fall and are so blessed because our "season" hasnt even started yet. Not to mention, we just started working with 3 brides that are Social Workers and 2 of them happen to have the same name, MARY CATHERINE. How cool is that?
Let’s see - what else is going on. We are planning a huge launch party for PREMIER BRIDE magazine. A new Bridal Resource Publication in town. It is going to be in October at the Phipps Mansion and the guest list is tapping out at about 300 people. It is an "industry" party so we are excited to see our fave vendors, as well as meet with new ones. The theme is a "Premier" - red carpets, Rolls Royce’s, Paparazzi. Should be lots of fun…it is a nice change to plan a party every once in awhile between all the weddings. And the creative ideas are endless. We have lots of fun surprises in store.
But, Weddings are our #1. We LOVE "love"!
Lord have mercy on our souls, we are so darn busy. It is hard to even keep up with the blogging but we know how much you girls LOVE reading about crazy and utterly fabe’ antics. Anyway, we had a small wedding - 96 people - on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend. Smaller weddings can be so refreshing at times. Our Bride and Groom, Laura and Tom, were great to work with. In fact, we planned their event in 3 months…with a venue change. The ceremony was at the Denver Botanic Gardens under a tent. Very beautiful…but it rained. Luckily, everyone one was under the tent and the ceremony was over…Did I mention their was champagne there too? That always helps people deal with adversity.
The reception was at OCEAN restaurant in Cherry Creek. VERY COOL venue to have a small wedding. We would suggest it for 100 people and less. Cocktail hour, sit down dinner, and an oustanding band. Camilla Formica’s gorgeous voice and her jazz friends kept people dancing until the bitter end. She was very cool and taught me a lot about scotch. I felt like a wimp between her and the bartenders pressuring me to do a Patron shot. When I politely obliged, they asked if I rememberd when I was "cool and fun"….Oh, bring it on baby! Needless to say, I downed the shot. (it was the end of the night and I felt that it was important to prove my fun coolness to the hot bartender!)
The venue doesnt need much decor at all because it is so contemporary and sophisticated. Great for a bride on a buget. We did homemade iced sugar cookies at each place setting with their blue/brown polka dot motif, place cards that also served double duty as the menu card (it was inside) and had the biggest sparkler exit I have ever seen. The sparklers were like 3 feet long but boy, was the photo awesome! And speaking of photos, Dave Rusell was the photographer. What an awesome guy. He is not only adorable and shy (everyone’s shy compared to us) but he is very talented…and humble! (hard to find) He is also SO QUICK in getting photos back to you. In fact, he got a slideshow to me within 3 days and has already sent the pictures to the couple…I am still recovering from the tequila shot (not really).
Dave Russell Photography Website
Check out the photos in our photo album…
One of our new fave decor/floral companies, CONCEPT BAIT, has just been amazing to work with on our Bling Bling, South Beach meets Audrey Hepburn, Diamonds and Pearls, Marilyn Monroe, Super Fab March wedding for next year…PHEW! Anyway, they have done some amazing decor and florals for us, upwards of $50,000+. Dramatic, Beautiful, Dripping with Crystals and yummy little secrets. And worth every bling bling penny. We are hoping to get the wedding featured on the WE network for PLATINUM WEDDINGS. Keep your french manicured fingers crossed for us! They have made everything so seamless, have really done a fab job of transforming our clients ideas into magical works of art, and most importantly, have been super fun to work with. We will definitely be sending more of our big budget brides their way. We can’t wait to see how all of this comes together. So far, So Fab! Come back soon for more…
Concept Bait Website
Ok girls. So, you want a really COOL gift to give your maids. Check out Custom Handbags by Freddy&Ma. You can pick the size, shape, leather, print, pattern, hardware, etc. I built a cute cluth for fun and it was about $85. I thought that was reasonable for a super cool custom bag to match the Bridesmaid dress. And what a cute photo op to have all of you gals holding them. Super Presh!
Freddy&Ma Website
Customizing your wedding gets even better…with custom hand-sewn pillows by Sarah Lansdale. These are great! What a great way to have an adorable Ring Pillow that matches your entire wedding AND you might actually keep it around after the wedding. All the mass produced ring pillows are just that..mass produced. And a lot of them are just a smidge cheesy for our liking…although some lines are getting better. What a great way to even memoralize a deceased family member by having their initials sewn into your pillow….These little treasures are just too cute for words.
Sarah Lansdale Website
Make sure to visit our photo albums as we just added 2 of our couple’s recent photos from their engagement sessions. We love these…and so do your photographers. It gives them a chance to get to know how the Bride and Groom interact with each other and allows everyone to be in a more "relaxed" environment (than a wedding).
Lori and Sander’s wedding is scheduled on Sept 15th, 2007 at the Mile High Station. Ceremony is at Denver Botanic Gardens. They are both well traveled professionals and are incorporating a lot of various "cultures" into their wedding. Such as, a hispanic guitar/vocal duo for the ceremony/cocktail hour, a brazilian specialty as their signature drink, an asian food station, etc etc Their photographer is Melissa Rich from Lotus Photo and she is truly awesome. You can see for yourself. She also shot Kara and Matt’s engagement photos. We can’t wait to see the wedding pics!
You will also find photos of Amanda Jane and Adam. They are a very fun, sweet couple from Boston (originally from Denver) who are getting married next Memorial Weekend at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Colors are so much fun: Tangerine, Yellow, Black and White with a Vintage 20’s theme. Adam is an amazing musician so of course he had to have a photo with his instrument. Amanda is a chef and works VERY hard. Their photographer is the fabulous Jenna Walker Jenna Walker Photography Website whom we always claim as one of our faves. This is one of those girls that bride’s book without even meeting her!!! Check out their session. Also, come back soon to see photos of a great wedding we had with Jenna a few weeks ago. We are always on edge waiting for her photos.
We just learned about this really great website that sells all kinds of packaging items for all of your "Guest" Gift Bags that you girls seem to love doing. ..or having us do! They are a really nice gesture to have in the hotel room as your guests arrive. Most of our brides spend somewhere between $15 - $25/bag and include things like personalized water, travel candles, M&M’s, Trail Mix, Starbucks Frappucinos, Boulder Potato Chips, Cotton Candy, Chap Stick, Mini Sunscreens, Advil (for the hangovers), etc etc….Some of our girls customize them even further.
For instance, in Colorado, their are a lot of local companies that have great products such as Boulder Potato Chips, Celestial Seasonings Tea, Mountain Man Nut and Candy Company, Dazbog Coffee, Rocky Mountain Chocolates or Local Wines from Wineries on the Western Slope. We have even seen "Elk Droppings" which are actually Chocolate Covered Peanuts. Get Creative.
In Florida: Salt Water Taffy, Tabasco Sauce, Key Lime Shortbread, Florida Orange Juice, Flavored Honey and Lindt Truffles are popular. Cheap Flip Flops are great too and can be found for as low as $1.00. Sunscreen a must…Have a HUGE budget? Spoil your guests with sunglasses. I’ll take the PRADA’s please!
Also in them, a weekend "itinerary" as well as "Things to Do". Guests really appreciate the hospitality and "thought" put into these "Welcome" bags…or baskets. Anyway, a great site to find bags, tissue paper, cool packaging and bows is called BAGS & BOWS. Check them out!
Bags and Bows Website
With one of our busiest months coming up, we have spent a lot of time getting organized with all of our vendors who will be servicing our clients this next month. Working with stellar vendors makes our jobs so much easier which is why we continue to recognize those people that really enhance our weddings through their fabulous performance.
First, we would like to recognize EPICUREAN CATERING. Wow! What an amazing job they did a few weeks ago for our bride Heather. Richard Rizzo, our main contact on this event, really went above and beyond the call of duty from the moment he was hired. He was very involved with the catering, design, decor, set-up, flow, and intimiate details of the wedding that most caterers could care less about. He was very supportive of our ideas and came to the table with a few of his own. We worked VERY well together and will definitely be referring him and EPICUREAN in the future. What a great caterer to work with…and not to mention - fabulous food! He was extremely organized and had helped us coordinate great back-up plans for rain…and it did rain. Luckily, not for long! So, we didn’t have to use any of them. He was truly a joy to work with! We also love Wesley Guzman over there….
Epicurean Catering Website
We also want to recognize a great new band we had never worked with before called HOMESLICE. How super cool were they? They learned Justin Timberlake’s SEXY BACK for the Bride & Groom and had people dancing from the moment they started "the show". And a show it was. During their fabulous rendition of "Red Red Wine", the lead singer even donned a Rastafarian Hat with Dreadlocks. The crowd loved them. They have always been known as more of a bar band but have recently started performing more weddings…and will continue to do so! They are worth every penny. Very professional….Punctual…Easy to Work with….and Lots of Fun! All qualities you should look for in a GREAT wedding band. We have an event with them in October and look forward to working with them again!
Home Slice Band Website
One of the smallest wedding’s we have planned so far - about 70 people - and one of the most fun. The bride was such a job to work with because she trusted us every step of the way and looked to us for guidance. Marion and Jason wanted to offer their guests a fun, relaxed but elegant weekend at the Lodge and Spa at Cordillera and really got to spend a lot of quality time with their guests because of their wedding size.
They served an amazing dinner of sea scallops and shrimp as well as filet and chicken. They had a custom cake by Mountain Flour as well as mini candy bins at each place setting, with scoop, filled with one of Marion’s favorite treats - M&M’s (custom of course). They had fabulous hors d’oeuvres out by the pool - Lamb Lollipops, Crab Cakes, Jumbo Shrimp and more…and the Veuve Cliquot champagne was flowing and was CERTAINLY the drink of choice that night. Who can pass up such a fabulous champagne on someone else’s dime? Regina Mountjoy from Recherche’ photography was so much fun to work with and we can’t wait to see the pictures! She had various cameras going at once. How do they do that?
The couple was REALLY into music and struggled with the decision as band vs dj. So, they picked both. And got the best of both worlds. All of the guests danced through the end of the night.
The parents, family and friends had a wonderful time and threw many kudos our way! We had a great time with this one and always enjoy a weekend in the beautiful Colorado mountains…or on the pristine Florida beaches!