Hyatt Huntington Beach Intimate wedding

Melody booked Nicole to oversee/orchestrate things on her wedding day.  This was a destination wedding and a lovely intimate group of family and close friends who attended. Melody booked us for Month of service but used our preferred vendor list to pull her vendor team together, and when the service officially began, Lisa pulled everything together/double checked everything Melody had organized, created the detailed timeline/order of events and then Nicole ran the celebration on the day.

Dj Steve Burdick and Nicole were a great team, not often we get pics of lovely Lauren with Design Visage but there she is putting finishing touches on our bride, and there is our happy bride, thanks to Joel Austell/photographer for the pictures above, and of course fabulous Heather at Hyatt Huntington Beach for always being so wonderful to work with, xoxoxoxo

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment August 10, 2016

Hyatt Huntington Beach wedding

Lynda booked us for day of service and actually had booked either Teri or Nicole on her day, but I was available, so Nicole and I both did her wedding on the day.

Who needs a ceiling hanging point to hang a cake from, a structure was created and it turned out great.

The picture above shows how booking a photographer who looks to do something different pays off, to me this picture could have been taken in Hawaii, but instead its by the Jacuzzi area right here in Huntington Beach, great job as always Lin & Jirsa.

A very shaded structure was created for our couple during their ceremony.

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment July 31, 2016

Ritz -Carlton Laguna wedding

They booked me for Month of service before they even booked the hotel and when the service officially kicked in, David said two things to me which I loved….. We should have booked you for the bigger service, I have no idea how you do what you do, dealing with vendors was so frustrating.  What can we do that would be really unique?

Well thank you David, when you love what you do it’s not work and it’s easy and how about a champagne lady??!!  We had the champagne lady greet the guests at cocktail hour and then again she was in the ballroom when they came in and they took a glass for the toasts. They had my preferred vendor list and made some good decisions along the way and actually did ok considering they were a destination wedding.

Sweet/simple look for the ceremony, with that backdrop you don’t need more

We had a bling photo backdrop at one end of the room

An old fashioned floral combination for the sweetheart table but it really looked lovely

Our groom wanted a cool dj booth and Revelry Event Design had a few to choose from

Thanks to Lin & Jirsa for the pics and being so great to work with, they wore many hats for this one, photo/video/photobooth/drone, TMMPRO for my fave dancefloors and decals, Jason Jass/Visions Entertainment/dj for being a pleasure to work with, the lovely ladies at Design Visage for beautifying our bride/moms/bridesmaids, and the team at Ritz-Carlton as always, love love love you all for helping me create wonderful memories for couples and their family and friends, for over 15 years now.

Till next week

Lisa

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Add a comment July 3, 2016

Huntington Beach & Hotel wedding

The beach theme made its way across the street to the placecard table, driftwood and orchids, love it.  There wasn’t a memorable enhancement they weren’t up for, doves at the end of the ceremony, even on the beach, yes please.

Great shoe shot by Frank Salas, great looking shoes but not worn much that day by our lovely bride, as always!!  The pic above on the right is the surfboard martini luge which was a huge hit

Such a great time working with these two on the planning of their wedding.  They were the third referral from someone I know in Arizona, my Arizona couples love the beach and that is where the weddings are held.  During the planning a baby was even born!!  So Nick is a surfer and we had a martini luge created of a surfboard which was out on the balcony with the Pacific Ocean in the background, and Annemarie was such a great bride in trusting and going along with a lot of my thoughts on how to make their wedding look fabulous.

They sat at a great B&G table, and we had my fave, the round dancefloor in attendance.

We mixed up the tables, rounds and rectangles, and that meant a variety of floral looks

Behind the sweetheart table was a round room, we tried to do the first hanging cake in that room but it just did not work out, so instead had the cake sit on a great acrylic table display and created a cool sitting area.

The wedding ceremony was originally booked at the hotel but as time went along Annemarie asked about getting married on the beach and as they were before Memorial Weekend it was able to happen and look how empty the beach is, so lucky.  Wendy Smith/my fave harpist loved the stage/platform that was made for her, and the ceremony décor was a mix of driftwood and strung orchids moving in the wind, it was really lovely

You need to always look after the guests when doing a beach/sand wedding and the Waterfront Beach Resort were so fabulous in making everything happen and create a great station for the dry and damp cloths for our guests feet.

We had an awesome team on board for this one, Frank Salas/photographer-thanks for the ballroom pics/the beach pics are mine, Scott Cummings Music band Dirty Sugar, Design Visage for beautifying everyone and ensuring their looks withstood the ocean wind, Square Root Designs for the florals/futniture/linens-we love them so much. Carving Ice for the martini luge-it turned out even better than I had hoped.  Chiavari Chair Rentals for the ghost chairs and dancefloor, Shane Productions/video, Clint Hufft for doing a great ceremony as always, White Flite the best dove release company out there and I always do 100/most impact, and of course Vanessa and the team at the Waterfront Beach Resort.  It was great being back there again, and very exciting with their renovations and new ballrooms and ceremony space that will be on board in the next year, but I have to say, combining the beach with a room at the hotel that looks over to the beach is pretty hard to beat.

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment June 26, 2016

2016 thank you’s already

We work for many months with so many of our brides and for some not so long, but either way when a thank you comes in after, it just reinforces why I love what I do and the couples I get to work with.  Here’s some from just the past few weeks……..

Thank you Lisa for all your help with our wedding on Friday! It was just perfect! With love, Mrs Lunzer

Hi Lisa, Thank you SO much for making last Friday run so smoothly.  You are amazing and I don’t think it would have turned out nearly so well without you and your wonderful vendors.  We have heard so many compliments and truly cherished every beautiful moment.  I will definitely pass on the word about your mad skills.  Love Annemarie

Thanks for everything. I think things turned out pretty good.  Thanks again for all of your help, we really appreciate it. David.

Note from Lisa: David and Jessica booked me for Month of service, when that service officially began David told me he wished they had of booked the next size up service as they spent so much time being frustrated, stressed and overwhelmed during the planning months, and he doesn’t know how I deal with vendors, they were driving him crazy!! lol

Then texts ….

Morning after  the wedding………….

Good morning Lisa! Thank you so much for all your hard work.  The day went by seamlessly and u did an amazing job!  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  Miriam

Another couple …  at 11:56pm, night of wedding…..

Thank you very much.  It turned out very well, better than we all expected. Brian

Then at 10:15am the morning after………

Morning, we are sooooo happy how everything turned out!!  Thank you so much! Brian

Then at 6:15pm the day after, from the bride

Lisa, thank you for everything that you did for us, you’re truly an amazing woman and we’re so happy to have had the opportunity to have you as our wedding planner and plan out our most important day ever!  Blessings to you and thank you once again, it was gorgeous.

Awwwwwwww, thank you my lovely couples, it was really my joy and pleasure.

But to top things off, vendor kudos from some I have never worked with before, really are the icing on the cake……….

One dj during the event commented on how nice is was to work with a co-ordinator that actually co-ordinates.  He said he feels that most of the newer/younger co-ordinators are in it for the picture of the ballroom rather than the co-ordinating part.  After the wedding he sent me this

Lisa, Thank you so much, how nice it was to work with a coordinator that has their S#!T together.  You were right on top of everything and made my job very easy.  Would be an honor to wok with you and your team again 🙂  Best,

Then another dj who I worked with for the first time, sent me some lovely flowers.

Not sure who has it right or wrong when it comes to what I do/what people think we should be doing, but I seem to be more on the right side it seems.

Later

Lisa

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment June 13, 2016

New Zealand wedding?? Let’s do it

Well I am kind of an expert on New Zealand, have travelled it from tip to tip, side to side, literally, thanks mum and dad, I’m sure we complained at times that we wanted to stay home and not go on holiday like other kids, oh and I am a kiwi, I just happen to live in the USA.

I am fortunate to where I go home often, in fact just got back a couple of weeks ago.  The top pics are from my flight on the way, stopped via Fiji.  The beauty of NZ is you can stop at Fiji, Tahiti or Australia on the way to or from the USA, so get a bunch of great destinations checked off that bucket list.

Imagine this for your ceremony backdrop, a mountain/great for skiing on in the winter, and an active volcano right next door!!  This is in the middle of the north island, there are a lot more snowy/glacier areas in the south island if you are looking for that.

The pic above is Lake Taupo on a lovely day with the smoke from the thermal center across on the other side, a big part of the foreshore of this lake is warm, due to the thermal water running into the lake.  The second picture is on the waterfront in Wellington the capital city, lots of great places along the waterfront to eat and party, the pic below is one of them, and while I was there a wedding was happening up above us!

Would love to help you plan a wedding in New Zealand!!

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment April 21, 2016

Second Pelican Hill wedding of 2016 for me

Was so thrilled to help Sara and Jeremy with their wedding celebration.  We had a great time planning, pulling the vendor team and vision together, gonna miss them!!

Sara wanted elegant and calm, think we nailed it!!

Vendors we love: Karla/Elegant by Design-florals, TMMPRO-dancefloor, Chiavari chair rentals-draping of rotunda, McCune Photography – but the pics above are mine, fyi everyone, lol, Design Visage-Sara and the girls all looked fabulous all night long, Monico Décor-napkins&chiavaris, and of course our team at Pelican Hill Resort, excellence doesn’t even begin to describe how you all are.

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment March 21, 2016

Lovely Thank You

Its always so great to get a Thank you from a bride months after their wedding.  By that time I have thought they have moved on, I move on and then voila, I realize I have been on their mind, makes me feel so good

So I went to the PO Box looking for something specific and found this and it made my day.  It’s a handwritten card from a wedding we did in September, Teri actually ran the event on the day………………

Dear Lisa,

I have wanted to write you since the wedding, but the honeymoon, holidays, birthday, and even a car accident, got in the way.  You are among my big ‘thank yous’.  All of your hard work, effort, time, and sincere caring about the event made for a wonderful experience for Joe and I.  The day went exactly how we envisioned and it was so beautiful.  Everything co-ordinated so seamlessly and appeared effortless in the end.  Teri was wonderful at the function and I hardly knew she was there.  The suggestions for vendors were great, and we can honestly say we wouldn’t have done anything differently.

Lisa, thank you for making our day fantastic for us.  It truly was a gift.  You are very talented and we wish you the best.

Nancy and Joe

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment March 3, 2016

Pavilion Ballroom – Ritz-Carlton Dana Point

So this event was actually a couple of years ago, but everything about it was unusual and I have never forgotton i, so thought I would share.

I had had a call from the bff of a very busy bride, we had a great chat, she spoke to the bride, and I was on board.  It was the three of us that pulled a really fabulous looking and fun celebration off for a group of 80ish that all came in from Texas.  The two of them worked side by side/hand in hand  with the tasks to be done along the way, invites etc, and then when they came in for the tasting (yes no groom, just us) we pulled the vision together with furniture/linens/chairs and of course the florals.

I don’t have pics of this celebration, but wanted to post about it because it was a really unusual setup in the Pavilion Ballroom and worked well and looked awesome.

Our bride wanted it to be a party (it was a 2nd marriage for both), so we had a relaxed ceremony on the Gazebo Lawn with that beautiful Pacific Ocean backdrop that I know impressed those Texans!!  Cocktails were held on the balcony with a mix of furniture and cocktail tables and that full on Pacific Ocean backdrop again.  In the ballroom/which is one side 5 sets of french doors looking out to that ocean again,  there was no assigned seating, but we had enough seats for everyone (very important, ladies must have a place to put their things down at and feel this is their home for the night), we did a variety of tables/size/height in the ballroom. We had a furniture setup in the middle of each table setup/ie each end of the room.  We mixed things up, the guests may not have noticed but we enjoyed doing it, we used the same color chivaris in all three areas, ceremony/cocktails and dining room, but put different color cushions on them to match the different mood or linens we were using in that area.

A really great celebration, as I looked at it on the night I realised I would probably do this myself!  That may have been part of why I enjoyed pulling the vision together with them, and couldn’t wait to see it come to life on the night.  A fabulous floral display from Square Root/loved the cake table, we were all excited to see how that came out on the night.   The girls loved Design Visage for hair/makeup so much they used them for pre events too.  Enchanted Evening Strings played elegantly as always for ceremony and then cocktails, my fave band kept the dancefloor full inside – Full Spectrum, just love them and the energy they produce.  Monico Décor did all the rentals and of course we had a gorgeous white dancefloor center.  They were very considerate of those travelling with small kids (as they were) so we had a company come in and setup a daycare in a banquet room and then it turned from fun to sleep for the kids in there, so the parents were really able to enjoy enjoy enjoy.  Of course the team at the Ritz as always helped us bring everything to a five star reality, xoxoxo

Till next time

Lisa

www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment February 21, 2016

Xmas cards

I am so lucky that I get notes by email/in the mail from my brides/couples during the year, and comments on instagram pics which keeps me in touch with them, and gives me a chance to comment back.  But Xmas time is great as I hear from couples from years past and I get to get caught up on other news from couples/not wedding news.

The card above came from Brooke and Matt and I think we both knew we would have withdrawals after the wedding, we had such a great time pulling their wedding together for longer than a year.

From Steve and Margo, a 2014 wedding, I heard about their travels and new doggie child and how great they were both doing with their careers.

From Amita and Raja, think they were 2012 and I have seen them at other weddings since as she keeps referring me on, xoxox) their card was the face of their gorgeous wee boy and the announcement of a new baby girl coming, then a month later a card came with the picture of their sweet baby girl who came a bit early, so good on Amita for getting her xmas cards out early!!!

From Holly and Michael such a great card collage of great pics of them with their lovely Lola/doggie child.  When are the real children coming Miss Holly??? lol  You guys are going to be great parents.

I never heard from Kathy and Keith after their wedding which was Jan of 2015 but got a lovely xmas card with two beautiful pics from their wedding day showing what a beautiful day it was and how happy they were.  Made me happy to see.

And from the McGettigan’s whose wedding I did in 2014, last years card showed their wee boy and this year he is a toddler in full swing, and a note there is a brother coming for him!!  Love it

Unlike your photographer or video where you have to have contact after the wedding, when people take the time to make contact with me after, because there is no need, it makes me smile really really big.  Thanks everyone

Till tomorrow

Lisa

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Add a comment February 19, 2016