We had such a great time getting creative with Ella & Sam’s Movie Awards Themed wedding! To tie in with the wedding theme, movie posters were made using Ella & Sam’s studio engagement photos. Since Ella & Sam lived in Shanghai, we thought Old Shanghai would be fitting! For couples who LOVE movies, this is a great idea for you!
It’s no secret that we absolutely LOVE Gossip Girl, and tonight’s Gossip Girl is the Royal Wedding of Blair & Prince Louis of Monaco. Whether it happens or not, we won’t spoil it, but watching the show the last couple of months with preparations of the wedding, that introduced some of our favorite wedding icons such as Sylvia Weinstock for the wedding cake, and Vera Wang for the gorgeous gowns that Blair, Serena and her bridesmaids would wear. Here is a behind the scenes video by E! Online with Eric Daman, Gossip Girl’s costume designer, with Vera Wang – one of our absolute favorite wedding gown designers. ALSO, one of our lovely brides will be wearing Blair’s same wedding dress. We can’t wait to see her in the dress in July!
We are excited to share Jane & Frank’s Modern (and Gossip Girl Inspired) wedding at the Ritz Carlton-Laguna Niguel is featured in the latest issue of Smitten Magazine. To see the full magazine, click here. Photography by Christine Farah. We will be sharing more photos from this wedding soon!
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Ana & Eddie’s wedding took place at the beautiful Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes , with the most breathtaking ocean views. The style of the wedding was elegant, romantic, opulent, yet also relaxed which the location lent itself well to. The wedding colors were light turquoise blue, creams and golds with accents of lavender violet purple to exude the style. To pay tribute to their Korean culture, we incorporated traditional Korean dancers, along with performing the Korean Pae Baek Ceremony, in front of all the guests. Photography: by Aaron Delesie, Videography: by Elysium Productions, Floral Designer: The Mille Fiori, Linens: Wildflower Linens, Hair/Makeup: Joyce Luck Style. The wedding was also in Style Me Pretty as 4-part feature.
As we have shared with you before The Special Day’s Biggest Fans are posts of real testimonials from our real clients. We want to bring you true and honest perspectives through their eyes… the couple, the bride, the groom, the family, the bridal party, the guest.. really, it can be anyone that considers themselves our biggest fans. Thank you Karen & James for being our guest blogger and for being one of The Special Day’s biggest fans!
We first found out about The Special Day because Carolyn was the planner for Karen’s sister’s wedding. Upon meeting Carolyn, it turned out that she had also worked on another close friend’s wedding the year before. Talking to our family and friends, we learned more about The Special Day and the services they offered. It was really important for us to find a wedding planner because we felt the vendor relationships, the insight, the experience and most of all, the day of coordination would be difficult to do on our own.
Throughout the entire planning process, from the initial meeting to the wedding day, The Special Day really showed their expertise. They found us incredible vendors who were professional, accommodating and easy to work with. The planning schedule we put in place really helped take a load off our minds and limited the amount of stress that we’ve seen with so many of our other friends during their wedding. The styling and innovative ideas proposed to us really helped make our wedding unique and memorable, while maintaining the classic/traditional feel we were shooting for.
The Special Day was a crucial part in making our wedding so successful and memorable. After the wedding, all of our guests were so impressed with everything. We got countless compliments on everything from the unique table set up, the lighting, the flowers, the food… a lot of friends and family telling that it was simply “The best wedding (they had) been to.”
We are so happy with our decision to go with The Special Day and think it was invaluable in so many ways. They really shined in all the areas we were looking for in a wedding planner and would highly recommend them. Thanks for everything Carolyn!~
Wishing everyone a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR in 2012 ! ! !
Nancy & Ed just celebrated their wedding anniversary at the Pelican Hill. The day before their wedding it was raining cats & dogs, and then on the day of the wedding it was bright & sunny. This year on their anniversary it was the same – pouring rain the day before, and on Dec. 13th, it was a gorgeous day in Newport Coast.
Nancy & Ed were such a fun couple to work with, and always enjoyed whenever they would come down from San Jose for our meetings. The wedding theme was based on the blending of 3 cultures – Korean, Chinese and Mexican (since Nancy’s Korean and Ed is Chinese/Mexican). We carried this theme in every way from food, to signature drinks, to wine, to the decor, and the attire. The color scheme was a beautiful amethyst jewel toned purple with emerald green. Absolutely gorgeous Asian-inspired emerald green linens & chair covers with gold knots were custom made by Wildflower Linen. The abundance of orchids and candles galore were by Nisie’s Enchanted Florist. The ladies were prettied up by Joyce Luck Style. The A M A Z I N G photographs were by Ray and Erwin of Apertura Photography, and none other than the talented team from Elysium Productions produced the Same Day Edit!
To keep the spirit of Nancy & Ed’s fun personalities, they had a hip hop dance choreographed for their entire wedding party, which during the reception they changed into Adidas suits and rocked it out!
It’s also fun that we get to brag that Ed was part of the Ipad project (he works for Apple), and Nancy is our foodie guru in NorCal that we always defer to for best & delicious food! Needless to say, we enjoy a lot of time spent together eating the most amazing food!
Enjoy the deliciousness of their wedding!
As we have shared with you before The Special Day’s Biggest Fans are posts of real testimonials from our real clients. We want to bring you true and honest perspectives through their eyes… the couple, the bride, the groom, the family, the bridal party, the guest.. really, it can be anyone that considers themselves our biggest fans. Thank you Ella & Sam for being our guest blogger and for being one of The Special Day’s biggest fans!
How did you find out about The Special Day? Carolyn was the planner for my brother-in-law’s cousin’s wedding. My sister was a guest and said the wedding was beautiful so she suggested we contact The Special Day.
Did you already know the value of having a wedding planner prior to hiring one or you were somewhat skeptical? What changed your mind? I knew I needed a planner since I wouldn’t be able to handle everything myself from Shanghai. I knew you can hire wedding planners that can do everything from start to finish, and to what extent I wasn’t sure, but I had no idea just how much stuff comes with planning a wedding!
What do you believe is the main purpose for hiring a wedding planner? To bring the wedding vision to life; to speak with all the vendors, to make sure everything is done, but most importantly, take care of all the little annoying things that the couple doesn’t want to do or forgets about.
What did you learn most about the planning process? That some things are out of your control and you just have to trust that everything will work out in the end. But most importantly have fun planning, it goes by so quickly
What exceeded your expectations? My wedding completely exceeded my expectations! I knew Carolyn would create a beautiful wedding, but the way everything came together left me completely speechless.
What was the most valuable piece of advice? I actually read an entry by a guest blogger on The Special Day blog and the bride said that she was worried about how the budget was being spent and in the end she should have just trusted Carolyn from the beginning. I really believe that. I was concerned that the budget was getting out of hand but from the way everything turned out, I should have just trusted the way Carolyn was allocating everything. And she truly will get you the best value for your money. It was all worth it when my dad told me after the wedding that the money was well spent.
What was the best memory you had? I had two. One was when they showed Sam and me the ballroom for the first time, before everyone got to see it. We got a chance to take it all in, and I just looked at Sam and said wow, can you believe this is our wedding? The second moment was when I woke up the next morning, I saw all my shoes lined up, all my dresses hanging neatly in the closet, a note from Carolyn telling me where all my valuables were, and a goodie bag with our wedding favors, two slices of wedding cake, etc. I couldn’t believe just how much thought was put into all of it. It feels so great waking up and not having to worry about where is my jewelry and did I misplace this or that, because The Special Day team already prepared for everything! And they really took care of every single thing you can think of.
What was the toughest decision you had to make? Allowing the budget to go way overboard because we ended up getting about 100 more guests than we planned for.
What was one of your main concerns and how did The Special Day help you through it? We thought there were going to be a lot of guests showing up without RSVPs and The Special Day team made sure there were extra linens, chairs, etc. to accommodate these guests if they showed up. Luckily this didn’t happen!
After the entire planning process, how did you feel after your event? I feel relieved because it was all worth it =)
Did your vision of the event come out to what you expected it to be? It came out way better! And way cooler.
Do you have any suggestions for improving our services? NO
Were you satisfied with the team of The Special Day’s service? YES
Did we satisfy your needs and visions? YES
What was most important to you in the planning process? To have someone extremely on top of it so I wouldn’t have to be, and Carolyn definitely was!
What did The Special Day help you with most? Everything. From the overall planning, to dealing with vendors, to designing our invites/save-the-dates, everything.
What stood out about The Special Day from others? I knew Carolyn had excellent taste. From the first meeting, I already fell in love with her and she already started throwing out different ideas from what we could do with our save-the-dates, to the afterparty, etc. And just from talking to her, I knew she would take the things I like and really create a unique event for us.
What did you want or need most when you came to The Special Day? I had a bunch of ideas but not a cohesive vision. I needed a planner to put everything together and I could just show up for the important meetings. I needed someone I trusted and believed in to take control of the entire process since I wouldn’t be able to do everything from Shanghai.
Throughout the entire planning process, did you encounter any problems? The guest count kept increasing! And some of our save-the-dates were sent back, but that was because the Post office gave us the wrong information.
Was attending meetings and appointments with you beneficial? Yes. Since we were in China most of the time, Carolyn made sure we made the most out of the few times we were in town. So every meeting/appointment was action packed and Carolyn made sure no time was wasted.
What are your overall feelings about the event? It was such a magical day/night, and I wish it didn’t fly by so quickly. People are still talking about the wedding! I feel like it really showcased us as a couple; it was so different, so unique, and so much fun.
What part of the planning process was most enjoyable for you? Watching all the pieces come together. It was exciting every time we met with Carolyn because she always had something new to show us.
Why would you recommend The Special Day to others? Hiring Carolyn and The Special Day was the best decision I made. Carolyn knows what it takes to plan a wedding and she knows just how important the wedding day is to a couple. She’ll make sure to create an event that’s extremely personal- she’s so good at connecting with people and finding those special elements that she can incorporate into the event. And she keeps everything new and fresh so no two events turn out the same. If you want an event that people will keep talking about, an event unlike any other, an event that you thought you would only see in magazines or television- then hire Carolyn. You won’t regret it.
If you were to list 5 reasons why to hire The Special Day over other competitors, what would they be? 1) Excellent taste and unique ideas, you will end up having an event that no one has ever seen before 2) Best Value for your money, Carolyn was worth every penny and more 3) Attention to detail 4) Going above and beyond the job description 5) You can trust The Special Day. They are truly professionals!
Hello Gorgeousness! As we are in Engagement Season, thought it would be nice to share all the loveliness from Ann & Nick’s engagement session in Santa Barbara with Jose Villa! It’s sweet, natural, no gimmicks, just Ann & Nick .. in L O V E !
Can’t wait for their wedding this President’s Day weekend at the Parker Palm Springs!
One of our cutest weddings with Katherine and Terence, and their doggies Peanut & Butter featured in the latest The Knot Southern California issue! Loved this wedding with Katherine being escorted by her Grandfather down the aisle, and the doggies wearing a tux, birdcage veil (like Mom & Dad). Gorgeous images by Chenin Boutwell, hair and makeup by Joyce Luck Style, florals by The Mille Fiori, and the sweet cake by Sweet & Saucy Shop.
