Ritz Laguna Destination wedding-Plaza

Aaaaaaah my sweet sweet Molly and Yuan.  So loved helping them with their wedding, and this is another story about how we all end up with who we should be working with and when it doesn’t work out there is a reason (i always find the reason out after and thank the Universe above for sure, lol).  It was a sat or sunday and I was in the office waiting for a couple to come in and detail their wedding/day which would normally take about 3 hours.  About 20 mins after their time they were not there so I called and the groom said he had been working and got caught up and they would not be able to get down from LA that day so we setup a phone detail for during the week.  Now folks, it was a weekend in the 2019 wedding season (which was crazy busy) and I didn’t have many of those off, so i had got out of bed early, showered etc, and was now thinking, whaaaat!! lol  Then my phone rang and this lovely lady started asking me about my services and then asked could she come and see me, I was just about to leave the office to go home, so I asked how long do you think before you could be here (not sure where they were coming from) she said, 15 mins, i said, let’s do this.  They came in, we chatted, they signed me on the spot and we did our budget/task meeting right then and there, so i was in the office for about the time i would have been with the detail meeting, and all worked out perfectly.  yayyyyy  Molly loved what she saw from past weddings I had done in the Plaza Room at the Ritz Laguna (where we do the most weddings each year and have been that way for the past 19 years, our #1 venue and we have stayed on the vendor list that whole time which I think says a lot about us and it’s an honor that I don’t relax about, but it was not in their budget which made her sad, so that is when relationships help a lot and your being flexible.  We ended up making it work by their wedding being on a sunday in November and daytime, we started at noon, done by 5pm, perfecto and Molly’s dream wedding happened and I know it was because she told me many times on the day and in a beautiful email I got from her afterwards.

So we pulled a fab vendor team together, EBD Floral-awesome job as always, Luxe Linens for linens/napkins, TMMPRO for the draping/benches/dancefloor+decal/chiavaris, Peter/Vive Entertainment for all the music, and Will/Resonance Vision (some of these pics are his and some mine, normally the darker ones, lol) who they found and wanted because he spoke the same language as the parents who spoke no English and they wanted them to be comfortable, he was lovely to work with.

Thanks to my partners at the Ritz Laguna, as always we are the team that make the dream a reality, thank you, thank you, thank you xoxxo

Till next time

Lisa

xoxox

catch me on insta   @lisasimpsonweddings.com

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Add a comment April 22, 2020

Ritz-Carlton Laguna Terrace Salon wdg

Ohhhh Lea and Craig, loved them, so fun.  Craig is English and not the stuffy kind of English (being 1/4 English I know my English, lol) and he was funny and kept us very amused through the whole planning process.  This was a couple that had a great time at their wedding.  Above is their sweetheart table, using my fave B&G sofa and i love a sweetheart table with orchids dropping off it.  And… as all the hotels and my brides know, tea sandwiches come before everyone gets dressed.  They are smaller so as the makeup is done the ladies are still able to have food of substance to tide them over until they get to eat big again at dinner (or cocktails if they are lucky) and if a little champagne has been consumed during getting ready it helps keep everyone awake, lol.  The Ritz-Carlton Laguna does the job perfectly for my brides/ladies.

We did the ketubah signing in the Private Dining Room, then Rabbi Ian led the ceremony with the ocean backdrop, perfection!!

We did a mix of high & low florals, all by Flowers By Cina, thanks again for a fabulous job, Dancefloor+custom decal/B&G sofa/Chiavaris by TMMPRO, cere/cocktail music by Naples Strings, dinner/dancing music+mceeing+lighting by Invisible Touch with Juan and Deon, Design Visage did the hair+makeup and on time as always xoxox

We did the In N Out Run and the parade which I love to lead and make the servers do it with me, not sure if they like it as much as me, lol, which our couples love and the Ritz did a station to go with it with the groom’s fave fried items.  Terrace Salon Balcony is a popular place at every wedding, men migrate out there to chat during the noise/dancing and ladies head out in-between, sometimes the event ends and i realise there is a big group sitting out there chatting not ready to leave!!

thanks as always to our Ritz Carlton family, we love being there with you all xoxox

Till next time

Lisa

xoxox

catch me on insta  @lisasimpsonweddings.com

lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

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714 305 7112

Add a comment April 21, 2020

Ritz Carlton Laguna Destination Wedding

Had a great experience planning with Sterling and Jonathan from afar (as are 80% of my couples).  They were very busy so very efficient when it came to making decisions and getting tasks done, yayyy, love that.  We had the ceremony on the Monarch Bay Sunset Lawn, cocktails on the Plaza Balcony and then dinner/dance inside the Plaza Room.

Thanks to Cat/Adi of Next Exit Photography you have got photos here of the Plaza Room from every angle and a few for the ceremony site, tx guys for being friendors for so many years and being great to work with on the day xoxo  We pulled together a great vendor team, Rabbi Ian co-officiated with the Pastor from Sterling’s church who flew over for the wedding, Design Visage did hair/makeup, cere/cocktail music by Naples Strings, dinner/dance/mceeing by Jeff/Moondance Mobile Music, and to EBD Floral, wow, i was taken aback by the beauty of the florals and colors.  Jonathan is from South Africa and Sterling wanted to incorporate the South African national/native flower and Karla did it beautifully, love love.  And to TMMPRO who helps me transform the Plaza Room with draping/dancefloor+decal and lighting, and we had them provide chiavaris for the cere (Sterling was not into using hotel chairs at all) and had Chiavari Chair Rentals provide the infinity chairs for the Plaza Room.  Everything was bellisimo!!

And of course to our friends/team members at the Ritz Laguna, always a pleasure making dreams celebrations come to reality for our couples, xoxox

Till next time

Lisa

xoxox

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lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

714 305 7112

Add a comment April 21, 2020

Ritz Carlton Terrace Salon wedding

I loved Sally’s ideas for her wedding and she had a friend who did florals and could bring her vision to life.  She had low hedges at the last row of chairs at the ceremony which looked really good on the grass, lanterns going up the aisle and beautiful vases/florals that were used inside beside the B&G sofa, and some lovely big round hedge balls at the front of the ceremony!!  In the ballroom the centerpieces varied by table, led lit up crystal vases or chandeliers inside acrylic boxes for the centerpieces.  Very effective

The flowers were really pretty, look at that hydrangea above and also what he did in the goblets/candle holders with the roses!!

We had a 100 white dove release by White Flite who i always use, after they were pronounced man and wife at the ceremony, much to the surprise and wows of the guests.  We had traditional drummers and dancers lead the bride and groom into the ballroom and do a performance and get the dancing going before dinner!! Love that for good energy at a wedding.   And thanks to the rest of the vendor team for as always making my job smooth, Joe Latter Photographer (think all the photos above are mine, he sent me his but i can’t find them and wanted to get this blog out!!), The Emotion Picture Studio for video, Peter/Vive Ent for the cere/cocktail/dinner/dancing music and TMMPRO for the dancefloor and chiavari chairs.  And always last but never the least, my family/team at the Ritz-Carlton, together we make people’s dreams come true. xoxoxo

Till next time

Lisa

xoxoxox

catch me on insta   @lisasimpsonweddings

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714 305 7112

Add a comment April 8, 2020

Another intimate Ritz Laguna wedding

Tina and Steve picked the Monday of Thanksgiving week to have their intimate wedding so the families could also be together for Thanksgiving and make a vacation of it here in S CA.  Smart cookies.  Originally they had booked the Private Dining Room to have dinner after the ceremony, then as we got talking they realized they may want to dance/spend timing moving around and not stuck at a table, so we moved to the Plaza Room and balcony.

Tina loves blue and the ocean, so no flowers, it was about seafoam chiffon flowing in the wind like ocean waves coming onto the shore, and along the center of the table were containers that had candles/starfish/coral etc in them and we enhanced with blue uplights.

We added bistro lights and benches to the balcony of Plaza Room where the bar would stay and people spent the whole evening going in and out, hearing the waves crashing on the beach, feeling that wonderful fresh air.  As it gets darker that time of year, we did a mid afternoon ceremony and we were all done by 10pm, wow, home by 11pm to watch WWHL on a Monday after a wedding, i could do that every day of the week!!   Love it when i can keep my vendor peeps busy on a week day/night – thanks to Tony Florez photo, Paul Uhlar/officiating with that lovely voice of his, Design Visage for prettying the ladies up, Karens Flowers (no insta or website) and Jeff/Moondance Mobile music for the music/djing/mceeing as we needed it throughout the event, and TMMPRO for the rental chairs/lighting/benches, and of course to the ladies & gentlemen at the Ritz-Carlton for always helping us make intimate weddings feel just as important/special as big events.

Till next time

Lisa

xoxoxox

catch me on insta   @lisasimpsonweddings

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lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

714 305 7112

Add a comment April 7, 2020

Ritz Laguna Wedding

This was one of the first weddings after the astroturf was put down on Monarch Bay Sunset Lawn.  Looks awesome and all the questions about ladies heels and the grass stopped, yayy, lol.

till next time

Lisa

xoxox

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lisa@lisasimpsonweddings.com

http://www.lisasimpsonweddings.com

714 305 7112

Add a comment April 5, 2020

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

714 305 7112

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Add a comment July 3, 2017

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

Ritz/Laguna, Sunset Terrace & Plaza Room

Just so hard to beat, this beautiful backdrop to a ceremony, with a 5 star/5 diamond hotel attached and a wonderful intimate room/balcony to have your lunch or dinner and dancing celebration.

A lot of my couples take advantage of the private beach cart/driver for a fee to head down to the beach and get some pics down there.

Great shots by Joe Latter above, I have to say Joe you are the first I know of to do the shot above with the B&G in the window, kudos to you.

A lot of couples want just one more practice of their first dance, so of course we sneak them in.

Tammy wanted an intimate/gardeny feel and only low centerpieces, great job Karla/Elegant by Design the flowers were lovely.  We also went white chiavaris (which could be my favourite) and white dancefloor to offset the creamy/ivory hotel table linens.  The room really had a lovely feel.  We pulled together a great cohesive vendor team to ensure their day went well and they were looking forward to working with everyone. Elysium Video, OCASV lighting, Noemi/Posh Beauty, Jeff Holmes/Moondance Mobile Music- kept that dancefloor full, Monico Décor/rentals, and of course without them none of this is possible, the awesome ladies and gentlemen at the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna.

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment January 30, 2016

Plaza Room, Ritz-Carlton Laguna

I love it when a bride picks up on something that most people are ok with, but Sally hated the railings around the balcony and wanted them prettied up.  Both bride and groom love flowers and have flower gardens at their homes, so were really into sharing with Karla/Elegant by Design and had long discussions about flowers.  It was lovely.  Karla totally came to the party with the end result and both B&G were thrilled.

We came up with such a pretty vision, it was really an elegant beautiful celebration for an older very much in  love couple.  One of the best vows from a groom to a bride I have ever heard ‘I promise you will never fly coach again’!!  Yeah baby.

We pulled together the perfect vendor team for this couple, James Johnson photography/thanks for the photos above, Karla/Elegant by Design florist, Enchanted Evening strings for our ceremony and cocktail music, Essence Entertainment for the band that kept the white dancefloor full, Monico for the rentals and Paul Uhlar for doing a great ceremony as always.  To my friends at the Ritz-Carlton, you make our weddings 6 star events, so thank you very very much.

Till next time

Lisa

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Add a comment January 23, 2016