Taryn + Greg | The Bently Reserve | Aug 1

Back in August we were able to celebrate the wedding of one of my long time wedding assistants, neighbor and good friend, Taryn and her now husband Greg. We planned the wedding with her for exactly a year, and it came out just beautiful. She has such great style and grace, and she looks absolutely stunning in her Monique Lhuillier gown. I am loving the images that Joel & Cara Flory were able to capture of the day, and I'm so happy to be able to share this wedding! These are some of my favorite images, and you can also check out the entire slideshow here.

The good (but also sad) news is that the day after the wedding, Greg was offered a baseball coaching job at the University of Washington, and he moved to Seattle shortly after they returned from their honeymoon in Greece. Taryn is moving up this Saturday, and we will deeply miss her!

The other vendors that helped make this beautiful wedding come together were:

Church: St. Ignatius Church

Venue: The Bently Reserve

Caterer: Thomas John Events

Florist: Passiflora Designs
Invitation Suite: Cardgirl

Djay: Patrick from Denon & Doyle

Rentals: Hartmann Studios

Lighting: Elle Lighting & Events

Cake: Jill Branch of Branching Out Cakes

Transportation: Coach USA

Looking forward to sharing many more of our late summer and fall weddings soon!

Happy Planning!

Wedding Firsts

I have had quite a few "wedding firsts" this year, (maybe I will share those in an end of the season wrap up post, as there are some doozies!) and this weekend surely added another one. While enjoying dancing and good times near the end of the wedding on Saturday night at the Legion of Honor, all of a sudden the smoke from the djay's fog machine set off the fire alarm at the museum, and we were all forced to evacuate. It actually turned out to be a great photo op, and the photographer, F. C. Wong, didn't hesitate in getting some great shots. I will be sharing many more images from this amazing wedding, but this one was a classic shot in front of the fire truck outside. The couple totally took it in stride, and were such a blast to work with, I will miss them!

Oh, and btw, that is not the groom she is shoving away in the photo!

Happy Planning!

Come Meet Me at The Dream Wedding Giveaway Mixer | Oct 6

DATE: October 6, 2009

TIME: 6:00-9:00 pm

PLACE: 1 Fort Mason, San Francisco

MAP:

http://www.1fortmason.com/graphics/MapofFortMason.pdf

WEBSITE INFO:

http://www.sfweddinggiveaway.com

WHAT: Meet the Dream Team Mixer

We would like to invite anyone wishing to get married in the bay area to attend this fun and informative evening.

Music from Spintronix.

Flowers from Branch Out Floral and Event Design.

Hors d’oeuvres from Spring Loaf Catering.

Wines from Franciscan Winery.

Lighting from North American Theatre Technology.

Fashion Show featuring Bella Mia Bride, Bliss Bridal Shoes, Natural Images Skincare, One World Designs, and Get Your DO Up!

Photo Booth from The Laugh Box.

Special Display from Nancy Liu Chin Designs.

Rentals from Williams Party Rentals.

Cupcakes from Freedom Bakery & Confections.

Photography from Lilia Photo.

Limo from Lone Star Limousine.

Featured Special Guests: Haute Horticulture, Balloons Equal Fun, Jon Casey Caricatures, and Blue Water Party Rentals.

Come meet the couples vying for the title of “San Francisco’s First Dreamy Couple”.

You’ll learn more about the vendors responsible for this community-driven project and how you can enter for a chance to win a $100,000.00 Dream Wedding!

We hope to find a hard-working and deserving couple who values the impact of giving back to the community around them.

Happy Planning,

Skin Prep For Brides

I wanted to share a few tips about prepping your skin for your wedding day because, as everyone knows, makeup can only go so far if your skin isn't prepped. There are a few products that I use that I will share, but my biggest suggestion is to get on a facial program and skin care regime with your favorite local spa or esthestician. This will cost some money up front, but will truly get your skin ready for the big day so you will look fabulous and flawless!

Most spas will offer a discount if you prepay for your series of treatments. The main goal would be to incorporate one that includes a few peels or lightening treatments. Straight facials will be great for upkeep, but to get your skin going, a few light peels can really make a difference.

Some will also include a bevy of products that they want you to use under the course of the regime. Make sure it is a product line that you trust, and if possible, take home a week of samples to make sure that you don't have any reactions to the products. If you don't like it, don't buy it. There are many other regimes out there, and even shops like Sephora have great ways to purchase a sample system so you don't have to purchase a full product line until you are sure.

With all of that said, I wanted to share a few of my favorite finds that I feel really help with prepping the skin and making one look their best. Here are my picks for some of my medicine cabinet favorites:

Exfoliating Cleanser - Murad AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser. This is a great cleanser to use 2-3 times per weeks to give your skin that extra exfoliation it needs for makeup to be able to glide on and look smooth throughout the day. Make sure if you are doing any peels that this is put away for a week or two!

Serum - Bliss Peeling Groovy Facial Serum. One word for this serum - bomb. It is absolutely crazy how this serum works so well on all sorts of issues; dark spots, fine lines, blemishes and uneven skin tone. It battles them all, and hard! I have been using it for about two months, and my sun damaged skin has made a huge recovery and has simply never looked so smooth.

Moisturizer - There are so many out there that are great, my only standards are that it has an SPF 15 minimum and that it doesn't clog your pores. I personally use a tinted moisturizer from Murad, and I really like it, but it is oil free, so not for everyone.

Eye Cream (day) - L'Oreal Advanced Revitalift Double Eye Lift. With all the eye creams I try (and trust me, there are many), I found one that really is affordable and does a great job at keeping the fragile under eye area moisturized without being sticky. The best part is that this is a two part system, with one side being the under eye cream, and the other is the upper eye lifting gel. It is a pump, so no wasted product either, a big plus in my book.

Eye Cream (night) - Ole Henriksen Virtual Truth Eye Cream. This eye cream is super rich with African red tea, vitamin C and a bunch of fun ingredients I can't pronounce, but is so great to slather on before bed at night. One disclaimer though, make sure it is only used at night, it is so thick that it can ball up which is not so pretty under makeup.

Once a Week Treatment - Origins Modern Friction. This is a great scrub treatment to use about once a week (or more if your skin is tough) to eat up all the dead skin cells sitting on the top layer of your skin. It is also great to use right before a big event or if you just want to look extra nice, as it works almost instantly to make your skin shine.

My other tips for great skin is to keep hydrated, wear a hat when in the sun, and never sleep with your makeup on. It will really wreck havoc on your skin, and no matter how tired, try to get that late night wash in if possible.

I hope these tips help will help you get ready for your big day and all through the year.

Happy Planning!

Happy Weekend!

I am heading out for a day of working, and then a day of playing. It is my first Saturday without a wedding in quite some time, and I am ready to enjoy this beautiful weather in San Francisco!

But before I do, I wanted to quickly share the engagement photos taken by the wonderful Janae Shields of my NYE couple, Bari & Justin. They started at City Hall and the went to the Palace of Fine Arts. She caught their playful nature, and I just love the way their photos came out! Really cannot wait for their wedding taking place at the Omni Hotel. What a party it will be!

Happy Planning (& weekend!)

Bridal Tour No. 3 Recap

We had our Third Dream Bridal Tour this past Sunday, and it was such a fun day. The tour started with the group meeting at our studio on Fillmore Street. We then loaded into our shuttle from California Wine Tours and headed to our bottomless mimosa brunch at Circa. This was a nice time to get to know everyone and talk about specific issues they had run into during their planning.

After we were full from brunch, we walked a block to Habit and Pin the Tail. Habit is a wax studio in San Francisco, and is just the sweetest spot ever. Carrie Maxwell, the owner, was a client of mine for her May 2007 wedding at Bimbo's. This is the place to go for anyone preparing for their wedding day. Plus, their new boutique, Pin the Tail, has the cutest stuff around.

We hopped back in the bus for a short ride up to Pacific Puffs. This is a cream puff only shop, and they are to die for. It is a family run business, and the two grandson's used their grandmothers' cream puff recipe to start their shop. This place is great for any event for a dessert bar or for favors. We then walked right across the street to Nick Brown Photography and Bella Bridesmaid. This husband and wife team have a space that they share where they can both showcase their work.


After looking at dresses and pictures, we walked to Haute Bride to look at their goodies. They have everything from hair adornments, jewelry, veils, shoes and even dresses. It is a must check out place for those little things you need to make your look complete. The girls even got a pair of earrings to take home with them!

We then got back on our shuttle, and traveled down to SOMA to visit the darling Hello Lucky shop. We got a great presentation about all different options for print styles, what type of custom work they can do and got to take home a little pack of letterpress thank you notes. This shop does all of their own press work, and it shows. It is absolutely a haven for anyone that loves paper products and day of details!

Did I mention how hot it was that day by the way!? The city is rarely even warm, and we got a hot one. Good thing the shuttle had a great AC system! Anyway, we then shuttled ourselves to Hayes Valley to visit Birch's new floral studio. She is a complete creative genius, and anyone that can check out her studio can see that. She can take your vision, and make it a masterpiece.

After Birch, we were starting to slow down, and made a quick stop at Paper Source before heading back to our studio to meet with Gabby from Cake Coquette. She talked about cake design and let the participants taste red velvet and chocolate ganache cupcakes. Yum! Then Kathy from Well Rehearsed talked about the importance regarding the events surrounding the wedding. We talked about how to invite guests that have traveled from afar without busting the rehearsal dinner budget or offending anyone. We then got to see a beautiful slide show from Andrew Weeks Photography, my office mate.

We met so many fun people on our tour, and I truly enjoy doing them. I heard some great feedback along the way, and most commented on how great it was to meet and visit with 14 vendors in a five hour period that were hand picked by a planner. In the end, the particpants all walked away with new vendor information and a swag bag full of goodies and discounts valued at over $2000.

Plans have already begun for the next tour happening in early 2010! We have great new additions to our tour, and will be able to take more participants on the next one. Look for information coming in November!

Happy Planning!

Custom Jones Soda Bottles

We had so much fun on our bridal tour yesterday, and I'm getting ready to post a review of our day and a very limited amount of pictures, since I wasn't very good at keeping up with that. Oops!

In the mean time, we did these recently for a wedding, and I thought it was a really fun idea that I would share. You can make your own custom Jones sodas for your non alcoholic drinks through myJones now. They look really nice in galvanized buckets to welcome guests to a ceremony on a hot day, behind the bar for the reception or even in your out of town gift bags. They have a lot of choices available, and they are great for all events.

Happy Planning!