Pelican Hill Resort, Intimate Indian Wedding

Yi yi yi. March last year as we started to pull at the final touches to this couples wedding, they said to me, are we going to be ok on our date? I said to them, oh this stay at home we are going into in 4 days will be done in 2-3 weeks and you will be fine. Little did we know eh, a year later nearly in March and I am getting those questions now for 2021 brides that already moved 1-2 times!!

So as we know it wasn’t ok, this couple moved their date two times in 2020, and then their hotel closed on them (still not open) and all monies were refunded. We are just going to the courthouse the groom said to me. I said, take a couple of days and think it over, it is your wedding day and whatever is done will be that memory, you have vendors that are paid we can look at other options. It won’t be your large Indian traditional celebration, but we can make it special/memorable. Well kudos to us/them for taking that time and for the Universe looking after them, we got to do their very intimate ceremony with the traditional mandap/Priest at one of the most beautiful prestigious wedding venues in the OC. Beautiful. And as the groom said to me at the end as they were leaving, this may just have turned out better and more meaningful/special than the original plan. Yes Nikhil yes, i believe it totally did.

Thanks to Kismit Designs for the floral/decor.

Goodnight till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment February 16, 2021

Ritz Carlton Laguna Indian Wedding

The above pics show how this setup on the Bluff Lawn could be for a non-Indian wedding, and then when it is setup as a mandap!!

We had Daisy bring the groom in as we do for most of our Indian weddings.  Shukavek Dasa my fave officiant for Indian weddings did another wonderful job.

In the ballroom we had the dancefloor/decal, stage cover & draping done by my pals at TMMPRO, all music from baraat/dohl player to dancing after dinner was done by Ali/Special Occasions, and the floral/décor and B&G table were by Flowers by Cina, another wonderful job ladies.

 

And a variety of closeups through one of the rectangle tables we had on each side of the dancefloor, the rest of the ballroom were round guest tables.  Thanks as always to our team at the Ritz-Carlton, teamwork makes the dream work, xoxoxxo

Till next time

Lisa

xoxox

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Add a comment April 20, 2020

Hyatt HB Indian Wedding

    

This blog will give you a good feel for the special moments/elements of a wedding day celebration, thanks to Andrew Kwak Photo for the pics.  Hair and makeup was a collaboration between Drea and Lulu, Daisy the horse was there of course, and Sound Nation/Raj kept things going from the baraat with the dohl player through to the end of the evening dinner/dance.  Thanks to our friends at Hyatt HB as always too xoxo

     

the pics above are when the bride and groom leave after the ceremony (normally done around 11am so it is done by noon) and luncheon to follow, for the grooms family home.  The vehicle they leave in varies, i have had everything from luxury car as above to helicopter to yachts!!  It’s a really emotional time for the bride and her parents and family because life as they knew it with her at home/in the family will now be different/change.  The good news is, on this day, they make it back in time to get ready for the dinner/dance celebration, yayyyyy

         

Till next time

Lisa

xoxox

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Add a comment April 20, 2020

Hyatt HB – Indian Wedding

So this was the second child of this family that I was honored to do a wedding for.  The funny thing is I was at the Hyatt HB doing a wedding when they were doing their site visits with hotels and bumped into me and said, we think we will do it here and look here you are, lol.

We did the ceremony on the CA Courtyard Lawn which with the canopies and guest count pretty much maxed the lawn out, but it worked.  Then cocktails were held on Huntington Ballroom balcony, then into Huntington Ballroom we went.

A wee room by the catering office is the perfect spot for the bride to watch the baraat from.  Raj came in on Daisy the horse who we use a lot.

 

My fave Indian Priest/officiant Shukavek officiated and as always did a great job.

We draped the service wall of the ballroom, it makes such a difference, and they loved the round dancefloor when i mentioned it, so we added that in too.

 

Special Occasions handled the baraat and all music/mceeing and kept the dancefloor full as you can see.  Thanks to Matei for some of the pics above and some are mine.  Thanks to the Hyatt HB as always for helping me get things done!! xoxo

Till next time

Lisa

xoxoxo

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Add a comment April 12, 2020

Our first wedding at Pasea

I was going to be on an anniversary trip to Europe, in fact in Ravello/Amalfi Coast when Nisha’s 2 day wedding event we were handling was going to happen, so Nicole took over and oversaw both days events, but as we know Nicole gets busy and doesn’t take pics for me, lol, and when i looked back through the photographers photos, the detail pics i would have loved were not taken it seems, so i don’t have any of the ceremony area without people or any ballroom pics without people, not sure what happened!!  But anyway I digress, Nicole and i had a great final detail meeting with Nisha at the hotel where there may or may not have been champagne enjoyed, hmmmm??!! lol

The sangeet was held the night prior at the Newland Barn in Huntington Beach, a really neat venue that worked out well, and the wedding day was the first wedding we had done at Pasea which had opened just recently.  The driveway of the hotel was perfect for the baraat and our groom came in on a red mustang.  They liked color as you can see from the ceremony guest canopies and the B&G stage in the ballroom.  Wish i had more pics to share.

Till next time

Lisa

xoxox

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Add a comment April 10, 2020

Hotel Maya – Indian wedding

I really loved working with Sonia and Neerav on their wedding, fun and fun!

We had the baraat going alongside the waterway with our groom on the horse, followed by the milni and then the traditional ceremony officiated by my favorite India Priest Shukavek Dasa.  Then lunch at a different area of the hotel followed by the vidai, the farewell of the bride and groom as they head to the groom’s family home, which was done in a really fun way, they left in a yacht and went for a nice cruise, then came back and got in a limo and went to the groom’s family home.  Then back they came to get ready for the nights festivities

Cocktails were held in the area in front of the Pavilion where they ceremony had been earlier in the day.

Then into the Pavilion for the dinner/dance, where one whole side is windows and looks over to the city of Long Beach, at night it reminds me of looking at Manhattan!! love it

 

We had a great vendor team on board for this one: Greycard Photo, Robles Video, Drea for hair/makeup and dressing our bride, Amit/3D Sounds provided all the music and mceeing starting with the Baraat & the dohl player, through ceremony, lunch, cocktails, then dinner/dancing and the lighting, EBD Floral for the gorgeous florals & helping us with our unique idea for placecards!! BEL for the stage draping & décor, TMMPRO for the rental chairs and chargers, and of course to the team at Hotel Maya, we love working with you all at your unique property where we feel like we have gone out of town to do the wedding!!

Till next time

Lisa

xoxox

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Add a comment April 9, 2020

Newport Beach Marriott-Indian Wedding

Teri and I had the pleasure of helping Ben achieve a wonderful wedding celebration for his lovely daughter, her new husband and all the family and friends that came to celebrate last weekend.   Above is the Rose Garden Gazebo turned into a mandap and our groom arriving on his horse.

The rickshaw above is how the bride and groom left after the vidai.

The florist/decorator dad had hired did a great job, very creative.

      

Dad had made contact with me a year before but pulled everything together himself with us starting a month out, double checking everything and pulling our detailed timeline/order of events together.  Great working with the team at the NB Marriott again, Teri is normally the one working there so it was fun for me to be there for a change also.

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment March 14, 2016

Bella Collina wedding reception

Armaan and Shawn had a multi day event but we just handled the one day with them.  We started at the Sikh temple for a ceremony, then the guests had a nice break to relax/get ready for the evening event which was held at Bella Collina Golf Club in San Clemente.  They had cocktails while overlooking the golf greens and the hills surrounding, its such a beautiful view, and then in the dining room we had a mix of long and round tables for guests.

I helped them pull their vendor team together for all events, even though we were only physically present on the one day.  I handled the ceremony at the Temple and Teri handled the event at Bella Collina.  Jim Kennedy/photographer, Robles Video/so fun to see you a few times in a couple of months, my awesome Oscar who does such a beautiful job for hair and makeup for my beautiful Indian brides, and not that you can see it, but Matthew of OCAVS did a great lighting job at Bella Collina.  Pics above courtesy of me and Teri!! lol

Then I got to see all the aunties and relatives and bride/groom at another wedding a few weeks later, love it!!

Till tomorrow

Lisa

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Add a comment February 17, 2016

Indian wedding/St Regis Monarch Beach

For the first time ever I saw a couple of smaller Indian weddings come to me and what that allowed them to do was have their wedding at  the premium hotels in the OC using the smaller spaces and stay within budget.  Normally the hotel celebration is the third day of events, so they have to be really good about choices as they go along.

This couple along with many of my Indian couples, did another ceremony and event at the Sikh temple the day before.  So here you get to see their Indian Ceremony setup with the elephants greeting the guests, the mandap, ganesh statue, and what a backdrop they have. My fave Indian officiant Shikavek Dasa ran the show, he does such a great ceremony

They wanted different colors than the normal Indian Orange/gold/red (which most of my couples seem to not want) for the luncheon event, blues and golds.  Turned out quite great.

Thanks to Frank Salas/photo for the pics above, you are a pleasure to work with always, in fact getting ready to leave now and do another wedding with you today, yay

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment February 6, 2016

Two day wedding/Ritz & St Regis

I just love it when I can incorporate my two fave locations in S CA, and so lucky I actually get to do it quite often.  Tala and Raj were doing a two day event, incorporating two cultures and traditions.  We chose to do the Indian Celebration/day at the St Regis and day 2 for the Persian Celebration at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna.  Lucky guests getting the best of the OC for the celebration of this fab couple and really lovely parents.

As you can see Tala wanted different colors to the traditional Indian wedding colors (my Indian weddings are rarely traditional colors), we used the existing rotunda at the cere site as the mandap structure and it worked really well.  Our groom arrived on a Rickshaw for the baraat, in the picture above the guests are congregating for the milni.  The tables on the Grand Lawn is where the guests went for lunch after the Indian ceremony was over.  Now what you don’t see/know is there was a threat of rain for the ceremony/lunch time, so the night before we draped a portion of the dinner room as ceremony backup and with the chiavaris I have to say it looked awesome.  The decision to move inside had to be made as 7am, so who could sleep right, I was up at 4am driving downtown Dana Point and the roads was slik, hmmm.  At 6:50am up again looking out my hotel window, talking to the florist who was at the property, and we made the decision to stay outside.  I saw father of the bride while I was having breakfast at the hotel and he said to me, in or out, out I said, he smiled.  And again, on my watch, all was good, in fact it was quite warm/hot towards the end of the ceremony and luncheon!!

Then the evening sangeet.  We reused the draping we were doing as ceremony backup and moved it (again the importance of vendors who work together a lot and will do things spur of the moment when needed/will make it work for me).

On Day 2 we had a bridal party, and how elegant they look.

Great shot of the back of Tala’s gown on Day 2, and the sofreh with a pretty spectacular backdrop!!

Tala was not a Persian bride wanting large/big florals, for the ballroom everything was low for the reception/dinner/dance for 300, when you do low florals in such a big ballroom they get lost in pictures, but believe me the room looked beautiful, elegant and calm, just like our bride.  We had the space in the Grand Ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna to do a mix of long and round tables which is always fun.

Thanks to Frank Salas for the above photos, to White Lilac for being a great partner for two days and creating such beauty, David Medill/videographer great to meet and work with him for the first time, Flawless Faces for beautifying the girls for both days, and to my favorite Persian officiant, Shahrzad Ardelan – I refer her to everyone and am always sad when a couple doesn’t go with her.  To the teams at both St Regis and Ritz-Carlton Laguna as always, we create beautiful dream weddings together, I appreciate you all.  xoxoxo

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment January 18, 2016