Sunset Terrace, Ritz-Carlton, Laguna

I had the pleasure of working with a lovely couple on their wedding last weekend at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel.  They have a great story, knew each other before they married other people, the groom actually attended the bride’s first wedding.  Now after losing their partners, found each other and a whole new beginning.  It was a lovely intimate affair of 40 guests.

The ceremony had a backdrop of the Pacific Ocean that looked so smooth and silver it was unbelieveable, and to think elsewhere in the country they are cold and covered with snow (no matter what time of year, you can count on  S CA for a great wedding celebration)!!  In the Plaza Room the guests sat around one dining room style table, we  had the fireplace on (for atmosphere, not because we needed it sillies!!), a pianist played the grand piano during dinner, and we even had dancing to his playing after.  He actually played YMCA as a joke for the groom – a song he kept requesting believing it could not be played on the piano!!  A great wedding to start the year with.

But the  main point of my blog today is actually to show you how fabulous a site the Sunset Terrace is.  For those that may remember or know it from a few months ago, there was a large tree in the middle of it, and that really dictated how we needed to set the ceremony site.  Well we were all sad when the tree died and had to go away, but  I can now say that, as much as I loved the tree, I love the site even more now.  Look at those pictures and tell me that backdrop is not stunning.  The backdrop previously due to the tree and the angle you needed to do the ceremony on, was about 75% land and 25% ocean, and now it is 100% ocean.  Aside from the reputation and service you know you will get at the Ritz, isn’t the ocean a huge part of any decision to have a wedding celebration there, so this now helps solidify your decision as a 150%, heck yes.  Maximum in the room that goes with this site is 74 (with a sweetheart table), so that is the max you can do here at the ceremony site.

I am very excited for the couples that now get this new view/backdrop for their wedding at the Sunset Terrace, it is awesome.  I challenge anyone to give me another location for an intimate event that has this backdrop, along with a beautiful dining room feel room for the dinner/dancing that has a fireplace and chandelier, and the 5 star hotel/accommodation/service along with it.  I can’t  think of any hotel or location along the French Riviera, and that would be the only other location I can think that could compare to this backdrop.

Thanks to Katie Clark for the photos (yes those are white doves we released at the end of the ceremony – wee hint, always do 100, it gives the guests and you time to get over the initial surprise and then enjoy.  They were a surprise to the bride from the groom, and she loved them). http://www.kcpstudios.com

Till next time

Lisa

www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

Add a comment January 14, 2010

Happy New Year/Decade

Hi there

I hope everyone had a nice xmas day (if that is what you celebrate), and a safe/fun bringing in of the New Year.  We certainly can’t complain here in S.CA, we have been wearing t-shirts and having nice 70 degree days while most of the country is all white.  Brrrrrrrrrr.  That is why I live here.

So 2010 is here, and if this is the year of your wedding.  Enjoy the process, because it should be fun/enjoyable, and here’s to you and the start of a whole new chapter in your life.

On days when I wasn’t busy, I got all 4 digital cameras out that we have in the house, and starting printing out hundreds of pics to put in the albums.  I was always a film girl which I loved because someone developed the pics and then I just put them in the albums, nice and easy and very soon after they were taken.  But this year I ran out of film several times and there was just too many digitals sitting around which were way too convenient to pick up and use.  So what an effort, took hours, but the albums are updated, and now I have decided to use the digital camera, and once I have so many pics on the card I am just going to send them over to the photo store and have them print them out, and then I can put them in the albums.  My and my kids lives are well documented in albums, everything we do, every important moment.  The good news is, one day any grandkids/great grandkids that come along will have access to the family history this way, but I can already see with my two, that their pics stay in their computers or go in places where they can be easily deleted when new and more exciting pics are taken, so at some point, hard copy pictures just won’t be a happening thing.  Oh well.  Can’t fight technology.  I tried and tried, but you just can’t.  So anyway, I digress, while clearing the digital cameras I found some wedding pics I had taken on my husbands for some strange reason, must have thought I wasn’t going to see pics from their professional photographer (and I was right), so took some myself, and because I don’t have anything else to chat about, you now get to see them

This wedding was at the Hyatt Huntington Beach (Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa, if you want to be official).  A lovely couple who loved baseball but hard core followers of different teams.  Great colors and thought put into everything, so enjoy.  Note the lounge furniture area with the 3 ice-carvings, 2 of which show their team preferences.  There was a groom’s cake which was done as a complete suprise for the groom, that was a replica of the SD baseball park, it was amazing.  Anyway, a great wedding, fun couple and bridal party group.  Hyatt staff as always lovely to work with, and my Hyatt specialist/co-ordinator Miss Peni was my assistant that day, amazing job as always.

Ok, so everyone deserves a gift for the holidays/New Year, or because they are getting married, so whether you are going to call me and book me to help you with your wedding planning or not (at least call and chat with me before going elsewhere)!!), here is yours.  If you are looking for suits or tuxes to rent, the best company here in S.CA is Friar Tux.  They have been around for years, and where others are closing their doors, that will not be the case here.  Each local store has a great display of what they have to offer, plus they have hardcopy brochures if you prefer or need, but they also have everything on the web.  Now why the web is important, because it doesn’t matter where you or any male who is going to need something is based, Switzerland, New York, Fiji, or here locally, you the couple pick the style (can be in person or over the web) and get it put in the computer under your name/date etc, and then your men just call in their measurements and voila, on the designated day, the suits/tuxes are waiting and ready for that S Ca wedding celebration.  Very seldom have any dilemmas last minute when someone uses them, but if something does happen, their main alterations/warehouse location is right here in Anaheim, so all will be well in time.  I have seen disasters when other companies have been used and how inconvenient it has been to get things fixed prior to, one groom spent half of our rehearsal on the phone to the tux company he used trying to fix the problems and then trying to work out how to get suits back to them and then back in time for the wedding, which was happening 24 hours later, it seemed to be all him working it out, not a lot of help from the other side of the phone!!!

Anyway, use them, and when you pre-register your wedding with them, give this code N11321.

This code will give you the great service/product I talked about above, but also a $100 gift card to a variety of stores, BB&Beyond, Crate&Barrel, Target, Victorias Secret, and…… the groom’s tux/suit will be free.  It’s a special promotion and you are the winner all round, so go for it.

You know, if you are going to a wedding/having one elsewhere where there are no Friar Tux Stores, or you are not from here, but someone/you are/is flying thru LAX or San Diego, or Inland Empire, you could still do this, as they have branches everywhere from San Diego up to Bakersfield and Ventura County, so during your layover you could have your pickup arranged for the branch closest to the airport you are coming thru, head out, get them, back to the airport, back on the plane, off to the wedding, and then do the same thing in reverse on the way back.  All depends if the free tux and the gift card and their rental pricing for the rest of the suits/tuxes make it worth your time/effort compared to your local place.

Happy New Year

Till next time

Lisa

www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

Add a comment January 7, 2010