Vibiana – Downtown Los Angeles wedding

I love doing weddings for siblings and normally there could be many months or years inbetween, but for this wedding I had done the brides brother’s wedding under a month prior.  So it was fun to see everyone, a lot of the same guests, so soon, like seeing my own friends again.  Plus I love the parents of the bride and my comment as they were leaving at the end was, I was sad they did not have more children to get married!! Boo hoo

So the two pics above show the two main areas used at Vibiana, outdoor ceremony and then indoors for dinner/dancing.  Cocktails are held in the courtyard to the left of the ceremony site, and its really cool to realize you are in the heart of downtown LA and look up and see old and new architecture/buildings, but not feel like you are in the midst of it all.

The pictures above were done earlier, note the lighting in the main hall and you will see it looking a bit different with a lighting change, and I loved how the Rabbi’s shadow is very obvious in the area we were going to be doing the ketubah signing.  It was a dusk/dark time for the ceremony, see below how lovely it was.

Sweetheart table and cake on the altar, and a view of the altar with lanterns and greenery reused from the ceremony.

Ronit had a totally different vision/vibe for her wedding than what her brothers was, and Wisteria Flowers captured everything perfectly and were just so wonderful to work with.

Great vendor team we assembled, thanks to Hom Photography for some of the photos above (some are mine), Design Visage for beautifying everyone fabulously as always, 90210 dj Nathan/have worked with him a couple of times now, and to Denise at Vibiana.

Till next time

Lisa

714 305 7112

lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment February 24, 2017

Ritz-Carlton Laguna intimate celebration

So I get a lot of calls saying, we are just doing a small wedding!. Not sure if they think that means the same decisions are not needed to be made or thought put into it, as larger weddings.  WRONG. The same decisions are needed and from a planner standpoint its the same work, just ‘moving’ less people around.

We do intimate weddings all the time and its becoming more the norm that couples wanting a Pacific ocean backdrop here in beautiful sunny S CA are cutting their guest lists down to be able to do their celebration at one of the top 4 hotels we have here in the OC, they may spend the same as a wedding elsewhere for 100 people, but for those lucky guests that are invited to one of these weddings, they get a more foodie or special celebration they are attending, plus with the smaller guest list you tend to invite guests that are coming no matter what day of the week you are getting married, they make a family vacation out of it, and that means for you with that flexibility great things, it could be a lower food/beverage minimum that you could now work with, it could be a bigger room that you would not have been able to get/use/afford for a Fri/Sat/Sun night event.

This wedding started with Angela’s mom calling and chatting with me because Angela was busy (as is also the norm, busy brides with work/life/families) and off we went, and bonus (because it was close to xmas and a weeknight the vendors that could, were more flexible with rates/offerings), it was a Thursday wedding.

I am seeing couples wanting to do unique seating with the smaller weddings, one row of chairs with a gap, one row no gap, spiral around the couple, circle around the couple, above you see another version.  And to make this even more intimate, our bride’s dad was the officiant, and he did a great job.

You also see that when its intimate  you can spend money on items you may not have had the budget for with a larger group, and you can get creative with the table setup in the dining/dancing room also.

After we did the budget and I understood priorities and vision/style, I was able to guide them to a great group of vendors to consider/select from, and these were the ones I was lucky enough to work with that night: Frank Salas/photo (thanks for the pics above), CA Bride for the over the top round florals, huge I mean huge!! Peter/Vive Ent my dj for many many years, Design Visage for always making the ladies look fabulous, TMMPRO for our seamless glossy dancefloor with decal/lighting and chivaris, and to our friends at the Ritz-Carlton who we have had the pleasure of working with for the past 15 years and really consider the banquet/setup team our family we are lucky enough to see often!! xoxoxox

till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

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714 305 7112

Add a comment February 22, 2017

Langham Pasadena wedding

A November wedding which always had the ceremony planned for indoors, even though the weather was beautiful we still did the ceremony indoors and it really turned out beautiful.

Yes lighting is everything, especially uplights on a Chuppah.

The placecard table and pre and post ceremony cocktail foyer area

    M 

Miri our bride had great vision and knew exactly how she wanted things to be and it turned out beautifully.  Great working with Butterfly Floral, TMMPRO for the lighting and seamless glossy dancefloor, and the team at Langham, some I have known and some I know now!!   This was the first of a brother and sister that were getting married within a month of each other.  Second one coming on the blog soon

Till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

714 305 7112

lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment February 16, 2017

Laguna Cliffs Marriott wedding

This was Lisa’s backdrop to her destination wedding here in S CA.  For the 60 guests who came from all over the country, it was a perfect late afternoon wedding followed by cocktails and dinner and dancing under the stars, now where else in the USA could  you do that in October!!

Her photographer was a friend who travelled to come and take pictures and the pics above are a mix of mine and his, Nora the hotel florist did the flowers, Al of Alvarron Ent handled all the music and did a great job keeping the dancefloor full which kept them nice and warm when it cooled down a tad, and to Sandy and the team at the hotel, you are such a pleasure to work with xoxoxo

Till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment February 9, 2017

Indian wedding celebration-Hyatt Long Beach

Lovely Archana, she booked me after I had done one of her friends weddings (which was part of a reality tv show), with both of them being from Houston, TX.  80% of my couples do not live in CA but choose to get married here, why would that be you ask …..

that’s due to wanting to plan an outdoor wedding anytime you want during the year where it’s not too hot or too cold and chances of rain are slim,  the Pacific Ocean can be your backdrop, and what other location in the USA is a place guests are happy to spend their money to come and see you get married and probably have a vacation at the same time.  Make sense??

This post is going to be different to my normal ones as its a smattering of pics that were taken over the two day celebration and as well as the normal ceremony/reception room pics that we or the photographer took, John of Greycard Photo took some really great pics of the bride and groom and they caught my eye.  Above is the round mandap (my Indian brides tend to not be totally traditional, they like to add their own touch or edge) beautifully done by Shawna Yamamoto and team (I remember when one of my brides from about 5 years ago found Shawna, I had not heard of her at that time, and my bride said, she is up and coming Lisa, she is going to be big, and boy was she right!!!) and in the pics below you will see more of their work.  The picture on the right is the milni, where the brides family greet the groom to the ceremony area, at the end of the baraat, its a lovely tradition.

This is my first wedding where the swing was incorporated into the ceremony, love new aspects and their reasons, see our horse departing after the baraat.  The middle shot was our couple in their ballroom which was very bling bling and was so pretty.  The end pic shows some round tables (and the new carpet in the ballroom) you will see more pics with the rectangle tables below.

We loved these tall centerpieces, very florally chandelier feeling and bling bling.

For the sangeet the night prior we went totally different in color palette and had a mendi area that Yamamoto created, turned out fabulously

The view the groom had as everyone came down the aisle towards him.  As indian weddings are so long most Indian brides are now providing the shade canopies which is a great thing and keeps more people in their seats during the cere, rather than seeking shade elsewhere.

The sangeet was a south beach/Miami type vibe/colors

The colors look so great in these pics above

In the cocktail area of the sangeet the hotel has some wall dividers that had vases etc on it, our bride asked if they would take those down and we could put the gifty items for the guests there, kind of like a gifting station.  Very colorful and ended up being décor as well as a useful area.   Don’t even know where that bridge was, but glad John did!!

The hotel building is a really cool backdrop and both of these pics work, the close up and the more faraway one, the coloring is awesome

The ocean restaurant area lit up at night was a great backdrop, and the pic on the left was done on just a walkway but how cool is it!!  Just goes to show, if your photographer is creative/looks at everything and anything as a backdrop you can get great shots without having to go far

No idea where this archy thing is, but again, pleased John found it.  Then loved the shot from above with the girls sari’s spread out like that – so creative and just on a plain old floor!

Different tablescapes

Great example above of the same table but with the different lighting that was used during the event

From the front top of the headtable to the dancefloor, note the reflection of the ceiling lighting, it all created a bling bling look/feel

We just loved the end result of the floral chandelier centerpiece.

First dance at the wedding reception and guys dancing at the sangeet the night before.

Love the reflection of the hotel in the water that surrounds the hotel

There’s our friend Oscar that most of our Indian brides use for their hair/makeup and dressing.  We absolutely love him.  In fact at one wedding, Teri was up in the room with Oscar and the bride, he did her makeup too, lol

Watching the baraat.  We love it when there is a spot bride can watch from but not be seen.

Great detail pics of our bride Archana

This hotel has such a great walkway for the baraat, scenic and doesn’t get in the way of anyone/thing, unlike when valet areas are being partly used etc.

Back to the brides mom and the groom at the milni, and a good pic of the swing.  The pic on the far right is our bride’s dad who has passed.

Teri and I both orchestrated the sangeet and wedding ceremony, then I had to leave once I got Archana up the aisle (I was never supposed to be there on the saturday wedding event but due to the beauty of an early morning ceremony I could, yay) to head to the wedding I was doing later that day (was so pleased I got to see everything come together after all the planning, but was really hard when as I sent her off and hugged her, Archana said to me, don’t go/please don’t go! ), Teri and the team did a great job and kept me in the loop for the rest of the day on how well everything was going and looking.

Great vendor group on this one, our friend Sandeep Kumar who runs a great baraat and is so easy/great to work with for sangeets and wedding receptions, we get to see him a few times a year and it makes us so happy, others mentioned above, and to the team at the Hyatt Long Beach, Melissa was a joy to work with and could not have done more for all of us to make things work out so well.

Till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

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714 305 7112

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Add a comment February 3, 2017

Sweet Hyatt HB wedding

They were such a sweet sweet couple, and the colors/look/feel shown in the pictures is a good reflection of how our bride is.  During the planning process she found out she was pregnant, so there were some meetings where the poor thing was not well at all.  I actually had quite a few pregnancies last year, some already pregnant when they booked me and we pulled everything together in a few weeks, and two who found out during the planning and we just kept going, the gowns needed a bit more adjusting than normal closer to the wedding day though!!

I love a textured floral look and with these colors it is just so pretty

I worked with our bride and groom during the planning months, doing the budget, securing vendors to match the budget/vision/style and keeping them on track with what needed to be done along the way, then Nicole took over on the day itself and kept everything going to plan and on track, which resulted in a wonderful celebration.

The draping is a good way to hide the airwall track going right down the center of the room.

Lovely vendor team on board, Miki and Sonja/photographers-thanks for the photos, Parallel Media/video, Brent Edwards/officiant for working so well with them, TMMPRO for the dancefloor/lighting and draping.  Sweet Traders for the yum wedding cake, Pennys Florals, and all music was by DJ David, and of course to our friends at the Hyatt Huntington Beach-we love working with you all to ensure great wedding celebrations.

Till next time

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

714 305 7112

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Add a comment February 1, 2017