Real Life Bride : Week 2

 I love this picture, it's the cover of a card.  My best friend and Maid of Honor, Shannon, gave it to me because we both got engaged this year and are simultaneously planning our weddings. I suppose most people would think it’s dangerous planning a wedding in the same year as your best friend (insert “Bride Wars” joke here), but it’s honestly been so nice.  Shannon’s wedding is in June 2011 and ours is in September 2011, so when she checks something off her timeline list, I know that leaves me about a month to do so myself. The most recent box to check off the timeline to do list? Buy your wedding dress.

The hunt started online.  I was certain I had picked out my dress without stepping foot in a store (I was wrong).  Sadly, I’m the girl who has to have a new dress for every special occasion, party, event, holiday… My profession is in the fashion industry and I love to shop, so I figured that dress shopping would be a cakewalk (I was wrong again).

I was really nervous try on my first wedding dress, I’m not going to lie.  The thought of Carrie Bradshaw fainting in that one episode of Sex & The City kept running through my mind over and over.  I took a few deep breaths, walked in to Monique Lhuillier and tried one on… and that is how my newest shopping addiction was born.  I fell in love with trying on wedding dresses. Week after week I would visit and re-visit bridal salons all over Los Angeles; I’m sure the sales associates were thrilled.

After all of that, I ended up finding “the one” in New York. My Mom and I planned a mini-vacation to the big apple for dress shopping, which ended up being a great success.  On our last day, we visited Vera Wang, where we both just knew we’d found it.  I thought I had a “gut feeling” with other dresses but this one just overwhelmed the rest. I. Love. Her.  While I’m sad to put an end to my latest shopping addiction, I’m thrilled that I have my dress!! Below is a picture of my Mom and I just after leaving the store.

I wish I could share pictures of my dress with you, but Grant is keeping in tune with tradition and doesn’t want to see the dress until the big day (which I’m very happy with).

All I can say is she is perfect!  I am happy to report that I have checked off yet another box from the timeline to-do list.  I wonder what Shannon will have in store for me next week.

Planning status:
Wedding Dress: Ordered
Bridesmaids Dresses: Narrowed Down
Bachelorette Party Location: Check
Save-The-Date List? Took it home to Texas Thanksgiving to review with the parents.

xoxo

Real Life Bride : The Save The Date Video

Just to let everyone know, I don't edit my real life brides in ANY way. I want them to share exactly what they believe best represents their wedding planning journey, BUT, to say I was disappointed that Jacey only included a small little link to her save-the-date video would be an understatement. This video lets everyone get to know the couple that much more and I had to share it immediately. I think watching it will make you fall instantly in love with this couple just like Susie and I have!

Brand Spankin' New "Real Life Bride" : Week 1

 

Let the wedding blogging, loving, smiling, stressing and planning begin! The above picture pretty much sums up our lives to date:  Grant and I, hanging on for dear life to each other, as the world around us spins out of control, morphing into something new – but at the end of this journey, and at the end of him twirling me around, we will be left standing with our arms around each other, smiling and laughing about the ride. At least we hope – Ha!

Grant popped the question about 6 months ago and we both agreed that we wanted a nice, long engagement.  We also knew that we wanted a fall wedding in Los Angeles, September particularly, because it is the nicest time of year with ideal weather.  So we’re set to wed: September 24, 2010. T-Minus 322 Days.

We had our engagement party about a month ago at the Soho House in West Hollywood. It was a perfect opportunity for our families to meet and greet everyone. It was also a great warm up to what we can expect for the wedding. A few lessons we learned:
1.    Get everything in writing. We got taken for by the limo company as they charged us $250 one-way to shuttle guests to/from the hotel, not $250 total like we were told.  Now it’s a “he said, she said” battle.
2.    Food is necessary when serving alcohol. Shoes were off by 11pm and our guests could barely walk out of the place. Which actually isn’t too bad, but we felt a little guilty when friends called from their bed at 3pm the next day.
3.    When the party starts, have fun.  Grant and I learned that when the first guest showed up, that meant it was time to let go of any finishing touches and enjoy the party.  

We had a BLAST.  Our friend Andrea Trujillo at A.SweeT made an awesome candy table with custom lolli-pops.  My parents flew us some cotton from my Dad’s farm in Texas, so we had HollyFlora implement it in the floral arrangements. We also had temporary tattoo’s made and put them in the bathroom.  Beth & Susie recommended “StrayTats.com” where you can upload your own images and funny sayings. While it was a lot of fun getting to help our parents throw an awesome engagement party, we are so relieved that we have Beth Helmstetter to help us with our wedding plans! I can’t imagine doing it all on my own.

So right now we are forging ahead with wedding to do’s.  This week we met with a catering company and had a taste-test, which I absolutely love.  For some reason going to meet with caterers makes me feel like we are officially getting married. I think about all of the wedding movies I’ve seen and remember how I’ve always pictured getting to do it one day, and here we are.

Grant and I are also in the process of getting ready to mail out our save-the-dates, which we’ve found to cause a bit of tension.  I was convinced that Grant’s guest list had 50% more people on it than mine.  So, we finally sat down and divided the list in to two: Jacey vs. Grant.  Being an extremely competitive person, I was a sore loser when I found out my list had 45 more people on it than Grant’s.  Needless to say, we are making some adjustments before we start the addressing.

Planning status:
Wedding coordinator - Booked
Venue – SmogShoppe, deposit made
Photographer – Secured. As you can by the above pictures, we love our photog. Friend Lauren Ross
We have a few bands, a videographer and other things in mind but haven’t made deposits.  Stay tuned!

If you would like to get to know us more, you can visit our wedding website: www.grantheartsjacey.com where you can watch our “Save The Date Video,” read the story of us and see more pictures. 

 

xoxo

Shipping for your Destination Weddings

I think we all know how much I love destination weddings. There are definitely a lot of pros such as a more intimate experience overall. They last several days typically than the average wedding and I could go on and on and on. But, there are obviously cons too which we'll cover all of them another day, but today, let's chat about shipping. Shipping for a destination wedding can literally add hundreds if not THOUSANDS of dollars to your budget. Depending on the location, how remote it is and your level of taste, be prepared to leave a little room for shipping many items you need. It might be the perfect vases you want your local florist to use or just something as simple as the items for your welcome bags or even just the personal decor that you spent hours upon hours perfecting. In the end, I, of course, it's all worth it if it means creating a day that's unique to you, but just be sure to pad those numbers a bit so you're not shocked in the end. Also, if you are planning to keep any of the items you shipped to the destination after the wedding, leave a little room in your budget to ship things back. That tends to be an even bigger surprise to many destination couples as it's an easy expense to overlook. Often we actually donate many of the items to the venue, florist or even good will following our events, but on occasion our clients will spend hundreds, if not THOUSANDS to get those same items back to their hometown...

Planning a Destination Wedding Weekend

I'm gearing up for a four day destination wedding celebration next week on the Big Island at the amazing Four Seasons Hualalai (that's it above...literally one of my favorite hotels on earth), which put me in the mood to share some tips for all of you destination brides out there starting to plan your multi-day celebration. If you’re just getting started with the planning, you are already thinking of the obvious: Who will do my hair and makeup? Who is the best photographer? What will my bouquet look like? If you are like most destination brides, it isn’t until a little further in the planning process that you realize you have not only invited guests to your wedding but you have invited them on vacation. You have suddenly taken on the roles of bride, travel agent, concierge and event planner. This can be tons of fun but also a lot of pressure. Here are my top six tips to get you through hosting a destination wedding celebration:

1. Allow guests to enjoy their vacation. While they are there to celebrate your union, there is also a part of each guest that is looking forward to some down time. Because of this, don’t feel obligated to plan every minute for them. Let guests have enough time to relax and plan activities on their own.

2. Use the culture of your destination to shape events. Your guests will want to explore the activities that can only be done at the destination of your choice. Take your guests to a wine tour rather than a traditional rehearsal dinner when in Napa, or introduce them to the Caribbean with a welcome party consisting of Mojitos, steel drums and a sunset sail.

3. Create an itinerary and list of recommended activities. Outline for your guests the events they are invited to, as well as some additional activities that they may enjoy. The itinerary can go out with your invitations or they can be sent separately one month before traveling to allow your guests to plan their down time. Don't forget to put another copy in their welcome bag along with a map of the area.

4. Don't feel obligated to pay for everything. If hoping to extend your wedding celebration throughout the week with a welcome party, morning after brunch, etc. but have a limited budget, do not stress. Discuss with your families who will be hosting each event. Have his parents pay for the welcome party if your parents are hosting the wedding and reception. For other activities that you would like to arrange but can't afford to host, put out an "optional" invite letting them know the expense affiliated should they decide to go. Not everyone will join, but if you arrange an activity that the guests were likely going to do on their own anyway, then you should have a good attendance rate.

5. Have all of your guests stay in the same area if possible. The beauty of a destination wedding is it allows you and your fiancé’s families to come together for an entire week. If everyone is staying all over the island or city you are in, your guests will not have as much opportunity to get to know each other. On the other hand, planning accommodations for all your guests can be a logistical nightmare. Solve this by providing accommodation information in your invitations or save-the-dates. Include information only on hotels and condos that will keep your guests near the party. After the wedding, if you and your fiancé want privacy, consider sneaking off to another city or even just another hotel.

6. Don’t take everything on yourself. Planning a destination wedding and reception alone can take a lot of time and research. Depend on the professionals within your reach like your wedding planner, travel agent or even the concierge at the hotel you will be staying at to organize events and activities for you and your guests.

We're Hiring...

Sorry in advance to all my lovely brides out there, but today I need to use the blog for pure business...As I've said over and over, we are busy little bees over here and are in need of help to produce all of the amazing events we are lucky to be involved with. We are in search of an experienced event producer to serve on our planning team. Here are the details:

1. Must be experienced in event planning, specifically the logistical and production side of things. I love all of you ladies out there who are hosting fabulous personal events, however, we are looking for someone who is experienced at planning other people's events professionally. This is not an entry level opportunity and not negotiable... Please do not apply if you have never been been employed as an event planner...The ideal candidate will have experience with weddings, corporate events, meetings, smaller scale social events and overall have success in building and maintaining client relationships.

2. Be able to work three days a week out of our studio in Burbank on a contract basis and be flexible to meet clients and implement events on evenings and weekends.

3. Love what we do! At Beth Helmstetter Events, we truly believe we service a very special part of the wedding and event industry. Our clients are people who love entertaining, appreciate understated luxury, approachability and overall have an effortless sensibility and style. Our events are intimate, charming and overall just lovely...We want someone who loves to serve others and overall understands how lucky we truly are to be trusted with someone's wedding, vow renewal or even baby shower.

That's it...well, that's not completely it, but this should be enough information for you to determine if you think you would be a good fit for us. We can get into the nitty gritty later...If you would like to be considered as a part of our team, please send your resume and portfolio, if relevant to beth@bethhelmstetter.com. 

Surya + Nick Get Hitched : THE VIDEO

 Rembember THIS wedding...Well, we just saw the video clip from the day and were reminded all over again why this was one of our favorite weddings of 2010 so far...Caught by Brian at Shark Pig, this video couldn't have captured this couple and the essence of their day more perfectly...Enjoy!

Surya & Nick from Shark Pig on Vimeo.

Real Life Bride: The Honeymoon

After our picture-perfect wedding, Ryan and I whisked ourselves away to the beautiful and relaxing Esperanza Resort in Cabo to celebrate! It was 85 degrees and sunny all week long and we couldn't have been happier basking in our newlyweddedness (no, I don't actually think that is a word!).

{at the airport saying farewell to our chauffeur ~ my sister!}

 

Upon arrival we were escorted to our room and I immediately knew how wonderful our week was going to be. The balcony view was simply gorgeous and the doors opened up completely for an indoor/outdoor living experience. And no honeymoon is complete without a private jacuzzi spa on your balcony!

We decided to stroll around the grounds and couldn't believe just how quiet the place was. It was as if we were on our own private vacation! That night we had dinner out on the bluffs at sunset.

The next few days we spent lounging by the pool, eating, drinking and just being happy all around!

We decided to charter a fishing boat and headed out of the marina at 7am one morning (it was still dark). It was so peaceful being on the water at sunrise, but after three hours with no catch, we started to worry that our excursion might have been a bust. Fortunately, around 11am, Ryan caught a Dorado! On our way back to the marina, we dropped a line in a popular area and I caught a tuna - we were both very happy to have our catches!

Of course after that *exhausting* outing, we had to head back to our favorite spot - the infinity pool - and have more delicious food and drinks!

All in all it was a most memorable vacation and I was so glad to share it with my new husband!

Thank you all for following my yearlong wedding adventure. I hope it's been fun to keep up with our wedding planning and see it all from start to finish. I look forward to Beth sharing the professional photos!

Talia + Aaron Get Hitched THE VIDEO

We are big proponents of wedding cinematography on this end, and while you'll rarely hear me speak about my own wedding, this is the one area, if I could do over, I would spend more money on. Regardless of what I thought before the big day, I DO watch my wedding video at least once a year and I like to think some day my children may want to see the day too. All of this being said, we LOVE when we have video clips to share from our events. And, Curtis from Living Cinema is one of the best cinematographers out there. We were honored to work with him on Talia and Aaron's wedding and are even more thrilled to share this little snippet from the day...

Crushing on Ban.Do

We have a major crush on these miniature pieces of hair art from Ban.Do. These head pieces are the perfect blend of bohemian, playfulness and luxury. If I thought I could pull it off, you might catch me wearing one on a daily basis...They are perfect for all you rule breaking brides out there whether for your engagement party or even the big day! Check out Ban.do for many more of their oh-so-lovely accessories...

Talia + Aaron Get Hitched

We loved Talia and Aaron in a BIG way! The moment she stepped into my studio, I was utterly charmed by her amazing style, grace and playfulness. I had to work with this couple! They had been to their share of weddings...enough to know what works well and what never will. They had concerns about marrying in a ballroom since she loved more of a residential yet organic feel. They didn't want anything to feel stuffy or too formal, but still wanted a sense of timelessness and sophistication. Lastly, they wanted it to be fun, and the end result was just that...classic, approachable and a blast! Check out the images from Aaron Delesie below and if you want to see more, swing on by Style Me Pretty to see their feature of this lovely affair.