Last week I came across an amazing vendor whose work I fell in love with!

“Luke Sky-Walker Laser Engraving, created a new and unique way to invite friends, love ones, and the public to your special event.”

Frequently asked questions:

What types of materials do you work with? (engrave on?) laserable wood, acrylic, and glass

Do you work with us to create a custom design? Yes

How far in advance do orders need to be placed? 4 weeks prior to avoid the rush order fees from suppliers. But if the order is small, we may have some material at home. (we’re a home base business)

Can you create additional pieces to include with the invitation, such as a map/directions card and an accommodations card? Yes, we can do anything, but as of today we haven’t done a map or accommodation cards. It’s a lot cheaper in paper since guests usually end up throwing it in the trash.  The most popular are the RSVP cards, reception cards, and table numbers.

What other items do you create? Wow, where to start. We can personalized champagne bottles, cake sets, photo albums, picture frames, mugs/cups/shot glasses, mouse pads, t-shirts, cotton napkins, plaques, dog tags, tiles. We can also do cutouts of any shapes in wood and acrylic.  I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting a lot of things, but you can always email me or call me at 310-844-8104 my phone is on 24/7, unless I’m in the movie theater, parent mtg, or therapy with my sonJ

How long does the order take to make? 2 weeks is our norm after we receive the materials.  But if the client wants other items personalized that is not an invitation, we can do in a day or so.  For example, in August we engraved 105 shot glasses in 2 days.

What do the invitations start at? or a price range? Invites range from $3.00 – $15.00 depending on the art work and font style. Other items like RSVP’s or reception cards start as low as $1.00. The table #’s sometime can cost as much as an invitation, since the design and font are at a larger scale.

What is the average price for postage? We’ve had some RSVP’s with regular postage, but invite sets are more costly depending on how the client is shipping them.  I think the last time I mailed one for my own river center event, it was $1.75. It was a 4×6 invitation in a white shipping box stuff with colorful shredded paper.

Pictures of their work:

For more information: www.lukeskywalkerlaserengraving.com

luke@lukeskywalkerlaserengraving.com

Just in time for Halloween… Tuesday night, a few colleagues and I got all dressed up and  attended a fabulous networking event, that took place at Franklin Canyon Park. The perfect setting to host this “Vintage Halloween Bash”!

Here are a few detail shots from the event. Enjoy!

Vendors that showcased at this event:

Meg Perotti Photography, Yelena Johnson of The Stylish Soiree, Carissa Jones of JL Designs and Events, Nethanial Neubauer of Contemporary Catering, Melody Brandon of Sweet and Saucy Shop, Shay Scott at IS Vodka, Katrina of Calligraphy Katrina and Maison du Papier, Shae Mint Photo Lounge, Desiree at Wildflower Linen, and DJ Crash of Crash Entertainment

We couldn’t of asked for a more beautiful day for Joeleen and Miguel’s baby shower. We had the perfect weather, food, entertainment and company.  Throughout the day, guests played water balloon toss, ring toss, bean bag toss, and balloon dart throw. They also took home carnival Polaroid picture frames from the Carnival Picture Station and candy and treats from the Sweet’s Bar.

Here is a gallery of pictures from the day:

Pictures courtesy of : Forever True Photography

Please read this fabulous article written by the amazing author of “Inspired by this”,  Leila Khalil.

“For some reason I think its common knowledge… I mean haven’t we all heard from someone, stories at some point of things that didn’t go right at a wedding.  They happen at every single wedding no matter who is in charge. I know brides are working with a budget- especially these days but everyone seems to think they can save on costs by “doing it themselves”.  I have an idea… Lets invest in a great photographer to capture the moments and the details, lets hire a floral designer to make everything look pretty, lets spend money on linens, favors, and a dessert bar but when it comes to getting a professional wedding coordinator to pull together all the details I just mentioned so all of them work in harmony.. lets skimp on that? Lets invest all of that but then on the wedding day as a bride you can worry or pawn it off on an aunt, mom, or wedding party member (which lets be quite frank-they will be way more frazzled than you). Just to be clear.. I am not saying  I am against DIY. I’m not! I like that style BUT I am a huge advocate of bringing someone on board who knows what they are doing to put things at ease no matter the scale of the wedding.
After being in the wedding industry and planning or attending as many weddings as I have, I’ve seen it first hand time and time again.  However, the experience I had several weeks ago at a friend’s wedding was so unbelievable.

I now feel it is my duty to share. She got married at private estate and decided to go with the venue coordinator/catering liaison because they ensured her they would take care of everything she needed on her wedding day. Ummm…, NO!  I’m mean I was so upset with the way this catering /venue representative  treated the bride and the extreme lack of poise, class, and knowledge that I am going to list for you some specifics of the disaster that ensued:

You may want to hire a wedding planner or else:

1. Your “day of  stand in coordinator ” could forget to place an order which then leaves it all in the hands of the bride on the day of her rehearsal so that she and her  parents are 30 minutes late.

2. Your “day of stand in coordinator” could decide to make a change on one of your vendor contracts leaving you to pay the difference for their error and then when the vendor calls you the morning of your wedding to tell you and you verify it with your “coordinator” they may say, “you are ruining their day?” Really?? Who says that to a bride?

3. Your “day of  stand in coordinator” may forget to send the shuttle to one of the hotels and leave 30 guests behind minutes before your ceremony is about to start. Then when confronted with this situation may say “ I don’t give a f***k. Tell them all to take cabs! I am not starting this ceremony late!” OMG!!!!

4. Your “day of stand in coordinator” may not really know how to run a real ceremony and forget to cue wedding party or heaven forbid the musicians to know when the bride should walk down the aisle! What a disaster that can be as the guests all wait while nothing happens but the same song plays over and over again. Oh also they may forget to remove the ribbon that blocks off the center aisle so guests don’t go through it, but when its time for the ceremony procession to start its wise of them to remove it so that a guest from the second row doesn’t have to run in her heels sinking in the grass all the way to the back of the aisle and remove the ribbon seconds before the wedding party walk through while photo and video are rolling.

5. Your “ day of stand in coordinator” who in this case is also the venue coordinator and caterer- might run out of certain types of food and wine because of poor planning AND not even offer a certain dish that is listed on the menu and just tells guests “ Oh, we don’t have that tonight- I’ll just give you a plate of mashed potatoes and veggies instead”.

Can you believe that these elements really did happen all at one wedding? And these were just the highlights? Do you have any stories of your own?

One piece of advice: You get what you pay for! SO when you don’t pay for a friend who is helping you out as your “day of stand in coordinator” OR you find one that is only a couple hundred dollars…. guess what- it may not be that good of an outcome.

I have written this as an ode to all the professional wedding and event planners out there. There is a huge difference between a venue coordinator and a legitimate wedding planner. They have their responsibilities and strengths and wedding planners that actually service brides as a business and not as a hobby are indispensable. Do  your research OR you can also check out some of these blogs who have credible vendor directories and recommendations for wedding planners in your area.

Hollar to all planners who know their stuff. You are fabulous and deserve  big props but most importantly you deserve to be paid and respected. You help facilitate one of the most memorable days in a couples’ life.
Thank You!!”

Back in August, I was asked to create flowers for Misa’s intimate, 40 guest wedding, at the Westlake Village Inn. Here are some pictures from her beautiful wedding in the Wine Cellar.

Pictures courtesy of: Kimberlee Miller Photography

This post is in honor of one of my girlfriend’s who recently got engaged. Congratulations Karina!!!

You  just got engaged and now what? You’ve probably just hit up the local Barnes and Noble and Borders for a stack of wedding magazines. Am I right?  While you’re there you have to pick up a fabulous magazine called, “The Bride and Bloom” it’s full of wedding ideas and inspirations. Your next step is to get organized.  I highly recommend creating a notebook with the following:

A 2  inch binder

A Notebook  Hole Puncher

A mini RSVP pen, by Pentel, that you can attach to your binder

A mini calculator

Dividers labeled with specific categories (caterer, rentals, florist etc)

Clear Protector Sheets for important documents

Extra lined paper, for notes, in the back of each section

Once you have your notebook in order, the next step would be to discuss your budget and guest count with your family members and your fiancee. Once that step is completed, it’s time for you to hire a wedding planner, so she/he can assist you in finding a location and amazing vendors.

Good luck and with your wedding planning and please know that I am here for any questions that you may have!

This is one of my favorite linen companies and I had to share their amazing promotion with you! Such a great deal on beautiful chiavari chairs! Book fast, the offer expires at the end of the year!

Cindy and Alex recited their vows at St. Finbar Catholic Church in Burbank, CA. After their ceremony they took pictures at the ahhmaaazing City Hall in Pasadena.  (I had no idea it had such great picture spots. I highly recommend it for engagement sessions.) Then off to the Calamigos Equestrian Center where they danced the night away in Victorian Elegance. Here are a few pictures from their memorable wedding day. Enjoy!

 Roll call of their vendors:

Venue: Calamigos Equestrian Center www.calamigosequestrian.com

Hair and Makeup for bride:Tara Dowburd-Luftman  http://www.makeuptherapy.com

Hair and Makeup for bridesmaids: Kiss the bride makeup www.kissthebridemakeup.com

Photographer: www.forevertruephotography.com

Videographer: Hernandez Video Productions  818-263-3529

DJ: First Choice Entertainment marcel@firstchoicedjs.com

Cake: A Sweet Design www.asweetdesign.info

Florist: Jackie Combs Floral Design www.jackiecombsfloraldesign.com

Transportation: West Coast Transport diaz.mauricio@hotmail.com

Photo by the amazingly talented: www.forevertruephotography.com