Island Hotel – Newport Beach

I was at the Island Hotel when this bride and groom and her parents were walking around looking at it as a potential for her wedding reception, and they liked what they saw me doing for that wedding and I got booked for Maria’s. Their ceremony was at a church that does not have church ladies and I have done a few there now, so I was over there getting everyone up the aisle too.

From our awesome placecard table floral to the church and the ballroom, EBD Floral did a beautiful job again as always.

Linens and napkins came from Luxe.  We even had caricature artists after dinner which were very popular.

Chivaris/dancefloor/lighting/draping by my pals at TMMPRO

   

Thanks to Jacqueline Kay for some of the photos above and some are mine, the bad ones, lol.  And as always, to the Island Hotel team, thank you for being awesome.

Till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment July 29, 2017
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A May wedding for May

What a joy/pleasure May was to work with on planning her wedding.  I am so lucky I really do have lovely brides, grooms, couples.

The Pavilion ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna offers such a beautiful backdrop during cocktails and later throughout the evening.  These 2 pics I took were at sunset time, another beautiful  S CA sunset.

4snapz photobooth knew she liked Disney and brought them these ears to wear/keep, that was so lovely.  My vendors really do put 300% into what they do as well as love.  My 2nd red dancefloor in 2 months, looked awesome when May had her red dress on.  Did you also notice the red rose petals in the ice luge??

We pulled together a really lovely vendor team for this lovely couple – Alvarron Ent/dj-Al, Tony Florez photog (some of his and some of mine above), The Emotion Picture Studio/video-Marc, Joyce Luck for making the girls look  lovely, Carving Ice for the luge, TMMPRO for the red dancefoor/chiavaris/lighting, Flowers Etc/Debby for being so easy/nice to work with and Lake Forest Limos for getting everyone to the church and back from the church, and of course to our family at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna. xoxoxo

till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment July 26, 2017
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Vendors came together for this one

There was a special backstory to this wedding, they booked short term (which has turned into a thing this year, with my short term couples booking a hotel from 5 days prior to 4 weeks prior and off we go, I have always had 6-8 week out couples and longer of course, but this is the year of very short term, and I love the challenge, and as fate has it, my couples are ending up with awesome vendors who were also available, so I call that fate and we were waiting for you but you didn’t know it) and between the hotel, me and then the vendors who came on board we all went over and above, and Brenda was such a sweet bride we wanted her to have the wedding of her dreams and she did!

It was a morning ceremony and lunch reception with no dancing, so we did a different setup in the beautiful Pavilion ballroom with the sweetheart table at the end of the room

 

Thanks to the awesome vendor team on this one, Frank Salas/Photographer, Flowers by Cina, Design Visage, Peter/Vive Ent for all the music, and Michelle at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna for making it work for this lovely couple and wonderful mother of the groom.

It really was all our pleasure to make Brenda’s dream come true, her tears only reinforced why we do what we do.

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment July 25, 2017
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Beautiful wedding for a sweet bride

What a joy Ina was to work with, Frank Salas (thanks for the photos), Flowers By Cina and I kept saying how lucky we were to each other.

I always use TMMPRO for the dancefloor/chairs/lighting but this time we even had Jack himself as the dj, love it.

 

Another Sunset Terrace and Plaza beautiful intimate celebration, xoxoxox

Till next time

Lisa

lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment July 3, 2017
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Laguna Cliffs Indian wedding

We have done Indian wedding celebrations all over S Ca, but this was our first at Laguna Cliffs.  You will notice that our lovely bride strayed from the traditional colors used for the wedding (my brides tend to stray).

They actually booked Teri for the day as I was already booked, but I managed to make it for the Indian am ceremony before I headed off to my wedding, and Teri and the team carried on with the luncheon, the pm ceremony/cocktails/dinner/dance.

 

Thanks to Lin & Jirsa for the pics, they turned out wayyyyyy better than any of the ones we took on our phones, lol!!

 

Thanks to the team at Laguna Cliffs, as always we love working with you

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment July 1, 2017
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Beautiful couple and beautiful Ritz wedding

Working with Erika and David over the past year was just a joy.  Very busy couple with kids going here and there and travelling and busy with work, so sometimes wedding planning halted and then we would get going again.  That is the beauty of how I work, I could pull your wedding together in a week, but for most brides that would freak them out, so anytime longer than that means you can halt anytime you want/need to  and there is no panic/pressure from me!!!

Erika had inspiration pics that she pretty much stuck to through the process and they were very much a reflection of her, soft, lovely and in love with love

All the tables had these lovely floorlength linen overlays and we did not use the Ritz baseplates (2 to choose from) this year my brides are loving these new chargers I get through one of my vendors.

The furniture setting on the balcony was actually copied from a wedding they had gone to, but we added florals to the wrought iron and Erika provided the rug which means when she sees it at home it will remind her of her wedding, love that

In 16 years of doing weddings in the Plaza Room no one ever brought up the idea of draping the whole room, but over the years I had brides who wanted to cover paintings in there so we had been creative with draping particular areas, placing trees and placing something on the mantle to cover the fireplace picture, but draping the whole room, hmmmmm. So when Erika said lets do it, I was excited to see the outcome, and it was

l

beautiful, and now all my brides are doing it.  It totally transforms the room and makes it soft and romantic and elegant, intimate and I think it makes the room feel a bit bigger.

 

We had an awesome candy table setup in the foyer during dinner and guests made to go bags or grabbed some to eat later in the evening when they felt the need.

 

I love it when a bride lets me guide them to the perfect team for them for their vision/style and budget, and when I say budget, anytime you look at the pics from my couples weddings, whatever you think they may have spent, in reality they probably spent less because I know the right people out there.  Our awesome vendor team on this wedding was: Frank Salas for the pics above and some were mine, Design Visage for the beautifying of all the ladies, Elegant by Design/florals, Chiavari chair rentals, TMMPRO, The Sugar Philosophers, Peter/Vive Ent, Naples Strings, White Flite Dove Release, and my fave Rabbi, Rabbi Ian!! And of course the wonderful ladies and gentlemen at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel xooxoxo

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment June 24, 2017
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Balboa Bay Resort Wedding

I don’t often post pics of the bridal bouquet but this one was colorful and so different to most I see, I couldn’t help myself.  Beautiful florals by Flowers by Cina xoxox

So gardeny, Soy’s vision brought to life!!

I love a glass base to a cake and florals amass under

Floral reuse – from the arch to the sweetheart table, works fabulously right?? The cake design was very special, Suzanne took their invite and put key elements on to the cake and if you look carefully you will see a 3rd wee item which is for their wee boy! So sweet.

Yes we did, As a nod to their culture plus she liked the idea, a RED dancefloor!!  Looked awesome later when she had her red dress on.

the tiffany blue was her pop, cake and napkins.  A pretty view from the sheart table

Pics above are all mine so sorry for them not being the best.

Till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment June 11, 2017
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Island Hotel client appreciation event 2016

I don’t do none wedding events very often.  I have done some parties for past couples and last year I was asked if I could do the Island Hotel’s client event.  they were expecting around 400 guests (think on the night it ended up being closer to 500) and the original theme was glitz/glam and I was to take it from there.  A couple of weeks into my getting a plan going/pulling the vendor team together the theme became ‘speakeasy’.  Hmmm, what to do what to do.

Well the pics here show what we did……… on arrival at valet guests were asked for a password that the GM had email blasted to all attendees about 30 mins pre start time, then they were sent in the direction of the location but there was no signage, only a symbol that was connected to the password at the reader board outside a door by the ballroom.  When they opened that door and most did it not sure if they were supposed to, they saw a dark tunnel that looked like an alley with the neon sign at the end pointing them to the next area where registration was.  Standing in the dark alley was a security guy who asked the password, normally startling the guest!!

I didn’t even think about it, so didn’t have a professional bring a camera, so these pics are all from my iPhone and don’t do the look any justice.  It was really dark and lots of candles.  So as a speakeasy was all about prohibition/drinking something illegal in dark corners, we had a double luge for whiskey drinks, black bars, the  ballroom was draped in black by the hotel av department who did an awesome job, we created some booths/cabanas on one side, and they did the amber uplighting I needed.  Lots of black furniture sitting areas, low and high cocktail tables with black chairs and they entered the room through a mass of candles right onto a black dancefloor that went all the way to the black stage where our awesome band, Full Spectrum who for the first couple of hours played jazzy music, then went into dance mode and got that dancefloor full.  Frank Salas had a photobooth with props that were ‘in theme’ and was very popular.

The furniture came from Signature Party rentals, TMMPRO did the dancefloor and black chiavaris for me, Found had the items I needed to create the mood/alleyway and their delivery guys are really fabulous.  Karla and the EBD team lit many many candles and had really great pieces on all the cocktail tables all over the room, no flowers!!

 

Kim of the Sugar Philosophers did a wonderful candy/dessert station that as always was beautiful and elegant to look at.  The hotel had fabulous food stations, no one left needing to go and get food that is for sure, and at the exit the guests got to take a split of Prosecco, just to prove prohibition is something we don’t have to deal with, lol.

The GM of the hotel said guests were telling him it was their best party ever, so that was awesome to hear.  Thanks to everyone at Island Hotel for helping me make that happen, it was a pleasure!!!

Till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

714 305 7112

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Add a comment June 6, 2017
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Move inside, it’s rainy/cold, oh no!!

This is just a wee blog to say, if you are worried about rain and sometimes it should just be about it may be really cold/uncomfortable for your guests, then plan on an indoor wedding where you can control the environment and then you won’t be stressed if on the day you have to move in and the look is not what you had envisioned.  If you start to feel a few days ahead its not going to be as planned then you can get a tent ordered to keep the same spot/view but of course that may be cost that you were not prepared or willing to pay for.   But if you are planning on an outdoor ceremony and mother nature is not co-operating then be okay with the fact that there will be a location to move inside to at your venue, and things happen for a reason (sometimes it takes a long time to work out what, lol).

The picture above, this was an intimate wedding for 25, they had come from Russia and all over the USA, the pacific ocean and the venue was the reason they came.  We moved the arch inside, we circled the chairs around, through the windows you could see the sky and we dimmed the chandelier which gave a lovely romantic feel.  My crappy pic doesn’t do it justice but the guests were comfortable, the bride was not wet or shivering through her ceremony, and then got to go and have pics around the property.

I have moved weddings to overhangs with courtyards as backdrops, rooms with ocean views and we opened the doors as the backdrop, and four walled rooms that weren’t great but by bringing the lights down/adding candles were able to give a more romantic feel ceremony than would have happened outside.  For a couple where we knew they were longer ceremonies and we were going to be outside for long length of time which even if it was not going to be raining would be very uncomfortable for the guests and they would probably get up and move inside anyway, we made the decision a few days ahead to move ceremony inside and paid to have draping done in the ballroom section we were able to use, the florist tweaked the vision to match being inside now/adjusted things, and they have turned out beautiful and not a whole lot of extra cost.

Till next time

Lisa

714 305 7112

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Add a comment May 28, 2017
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Barbados wedding or honeymoon

I have actually been a certified Sandals specialist for the past 12 years and have sent many couples to the resorts in the Caribbean on their honeymoon.  On my recent trips I noticed a huge change, many more couples on vacation-young to older, groups of couples travelling together, and adult family groups staying.  So its time to open it up to everyone, let me take you there for whatever your reason is, vacation, wedding, honeymoon.

Here’s a couple of great options for a Barbados wedding.  These pics are the current Sandals Resort ( 2nd one is coming).  Above a lovely space for an intimate wedding dinner celebration if you have a group of people that come with you, and the other pics are maybe my fave accommodations at the resorts, the walk out into the pool rooms.

View from the swim out room and looking at the patio area, love love love

Its not a wedding setup, but the chandeliers in this intimate room for an indoor wedding reception where you can have dancing until late, and air conditioning, are quite lovely.  The cake pop picture is actually the cake tasting plate all couples get to enjoy/make their wedding cake decisions from

A ceremony setup on the beach and a view a bit further down the beach as the sun was setting.

I loved the coloring of these cabanas and could imagine a good photographer getting some great pics of a B&G in these.

Here is another resort I have stayed at in Barbados, the Crane.  I love love it, on the east side of the island past the airport.  So grand and very English looking/feeling to me.  Its on a bluff so very high up giving great views.  The pool above is actually a Jacuzzi with awesome views

Some of the accommodations and another pool area

One of the top beaches in the world.  The sand is just beautiful and the building above is a really lovely restaurant with views that amaze

A banquet room with views and a stage that rumor has it a very famous rocker has one of his homes down the hill and his band came over and had a session on it one night!!!

That elevator is how you get down to the beach if you are lazy like me!!

View of the beach by the elevator from above.  Suite style accommodation for very reasonable pricing

The high quality balcony furniture, I may have had a nap out there they were so comfy.  Apparantly Mick Jagger had been there not long before us and had accommodation like ours but on the lower level where they had their own good size pool!! I would have never left my room waiting to get a glimpse, lol

Living area and bedroom, bed was soooo comfy

Yes that bath got used by me and it was great.  The walkway for the upper floor in the area we stayed, very tropical and lovely, no boring hotel hallway here.

The restaurants and food at both resorts are fabulous, amenities high quality/service excellent.  Sandals is all inclusive so that becomes hard to beat, but maybe you can be like me and experience both!!

Let me take you to Barbados for your weddingmoon for just the two of you, or an intimate group or a large group.  Or if thinking honeymoon or just a vacation because you deserve it, you will love the Sandals Resort, and a new one is opening in December.

Till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment May 20, 2017
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