Wedding Food Planned Perfectly

By Noelle Salinas owner of Fresh from the Kitchen LLC

Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life. Thus, when planning your special day, using professionals are a given, but finding the right catering company is a must. For one thing, the right company won’t just make your food; they’ll incorporate your theme, your colors, and your taste preferences into a custom menu that fits your needs and budget.

You may wonder, how does one incorporate a theme or even colors into their wedding food? By working with a professional that can think ‘outside the box,’ it can be done. Take for example a wedding catered by Fresh from the Kitchen LLC last October. The couple’s wedding colors were orange and navy blue. Further, many of the bride’s family had special dietary/religious needs that had to be met with the food. No alcohol, garlic, onions, seafood, or meat could be used in the dishes to accommodate the bride’s side of the family. How was this challenge approached?

“In wanting to make their wedding as elegant as the couple desired and incorporate their unique colors and fun personality, I looked for foods that were blue and orange and found ways to include them in the menu.” (Noelle, executive chef). For example, for the appetizers, we had little shot glasses of fruit salad that had mandarin oranges and blueberries in it. The signature drink was a Clementine orange spritzer and a blueberry one, both non-alcoholic and a great compliment to the meal. For the non-vegetarians there were staples like chicken saltimbocca (prosciutto wrapped chicken stuffed with provolone cheese), and shrimp scampi, and for the vegetarians assorted soups and salads and homemade butternut squash raviolis. These incorporated the colors and the elegance of the wedding, while balancing well with the whole menu.

Overall, your friends and family come to your wedding to share your special day with you, but a large highlight for them is the food and beverages provided. To plan your wedding perfectly, especially where food is concerned, call Fresh from the Kitchen LLC for a dream wedding that will be memorable for years to come!

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Blissful Blueprint Contest

Blueprint Affairs, a wedding and event planning business serving the Metro Phoenix area, would like to present three lucky brides with their own dream wedding. Due to recent struggles in the economy, more than ever brides are feeling the stress of their wedding day, and we are offering three lucky brides a wedding day gift. We will be selecting our Blissful Blueprint brides during Valentine’s Day weekend. The criteria will be based on your ability to describe your romantic proposal and how you envision your romantic wedding day. Bliss is in the air! You will be
entering to win a FREE Day‐of‐Wedding Coordinator for a stress‐free special day.

We will meet together at least 30 days prior to your wedding to review all your vendor contracts. During our meeting we can discuss a wedding day timeline, review the vendors for your wedding day, and go over your ceremony and reception needs.

As your personal wedding coordinator, we will bring together all the special details so that you and your family can enjoy your day. This also includes one (1) hour for rehearsal day to prepare the entire wedding party for your walk down the aisle. Handled with grace and full preparation, you will feel at ease with a stress‐free wedding you have always imagined.

Entry Information: To enter, email contest@blueprintaffairs.com with the following information, which must be received no later than February 12, 2010:
1. Bride Name and Contact Information
2. Groom Name and Contact Information
3. Wedding Date and Wedding Location
4. Describe your romantic proposal: (limit 300 words)
5. Describe how you envision your romantic wedding day: (limit 300 words)

RULES AND REGULATIONS
• One entry per couple.
• You must be 18 years of age and a resident of Arizona to enter.
• Winners will be posted on the blog and www.blueprintaffairs.com.
• Prize must be claimed within two weeks of notification.
• The prize is not transferable to any other person nor is it redeemable for monetary value.
• Blueprint Affairs reserve the right to use the winner's name and photographs for publicity purposes.
• The day‐of‐wedding coordination package is for a maximum of 125 guests.
• Winner will be responsible for tax and gratuity for all contracted wedding vendors.
• Your wedding must take place no earlier than March 15, 2010, and no later than September 30, 2010.
• The wedding date may not conflict with any pre‐existing Blueprint Affairs wedding and/or event booking dates.
• No substitution for the prize is allowed.
• Wedding and reception must be held within the Phoenix Metro area.
• Winners may choose to upgrade the wedding package with Blueprint Affairs at their own expense.

Please visit Blueprint Affairs for more details.

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How to Pick a Wedding Day Color

Wedding colors are one of the biggest decisions a bride has to make when planning her wedding. Since the colors will be used in your bridal veil, decorations, flowers, clothes, invitations and table linens, among other things, it is important that the color both be one that looks good and is compatible with the season. Here are some ideas on how to pick a wedding day color.

1. Decide whether or not you want to have a wedding theme. If your theme is one that limits your color choices, you automatically have a range of colors you need to work within.

2. Consider the season you are having your wedding in. Autumn and winter weddings look best in warm colors like reds and oranges while spring and summer colors can be pastels or greens and purples.

3. Find out the color of your birth stone or your mother’s, if that color works for you, it might add another layer of meaning to your wedding day.

4. Go to your local nursery to get inspiration from the flowers that are in season. Since flowers play a large part in decorations you can choose a color based on the flowers you can easily get.

5. Keep your venue in mind when looking at colors. The drapes, seating and walls all need to go well with the color you end up picking.

6. Make a list of all the colors you and your groom like, and the ones you absolutely don’t want in your wedding. This will help you come up with a shortlist of colors to consider.

7. Look at color ribbon samples  to find colors that both look good on you (as an accent color on your dress or veil) as well as suit the theme for your wedding.

8. Talk to your cake designer, florist, wedding designer and wedding invitation printer about the colors that can be incorporated into all three things.

9. Go looking for bridesmaid dresses. Since you need to choose a color that looks good on all your bridesmaids, it will be helpful in narrowing down your list of potential colors

10. Look at having two main colors and an accent color that is complementary to these. Complementary colors are the ones that are opposite to each other on the color wheel.

11. Once you have your colors, get them incorporated wherever possible. Make a color wedding veil with your main color, while the other accessories, favors, invitations, linens and flowers can match to the accent color.

Tips

Limit the number of colors you use to two or three.

Talk to your wedding planner, if you have one, about colors they recommend. Sometimes they can mention colors you might not have considered before.

Talk to your veil and accessory designer to incorporate colors into the edging of your veil, your tiara and your jewelry sets with color ribbon, crystals or pearl accents.

Look at as many color samples as possible before making your first shortlist. Sometimes colors you may not see in your everyday life can look great in wedding decorations.

Warning
Try to stay away from colors that don’t look good on you, or in pictures.

Guest post from Iris D. Bridal.

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Sanctuary Dinner Choices

Since we are a preferred vendor of Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain, we work with them closely to create fabulously printed menus, table numbers and place cards for their events. Here is their selection of menus that are sure to tempt your taste buds. Along with Sanctuary 's beautiful views , they have excellent service, so it's a great place to have your wedding or corporate function.

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AZ Bridal Week is Almost Here!

This post is just a quick reminder that we will be participating in Arizona's first Bridal Week. Each day will be at a different venue and will center around fashion, food and fun! For more information regarding Arizona's First Bridal week, please visit their website here. We will be attending the events at MADCAP Theater, Lillian Lottie, Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain, and the Embassy Suites Biltmore.

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Let Guests Doodle on the Wedding Guestbook

I was recently asked by a bride if I had any ideas about a wedding guestbook that was fun and different. I instantly thought of what we did at our wedding - a photo guestbook.

We decorated a table with a poster explaining the process and also had the DJ announce it.

1-Have another Guest take your photo. (We used Polaroids to make it easy to print.)

2-Use double sided tape to apply photo to page. (Acid free of course. These are your memories!)

3-Have fun answering "predictions" and drawing photos on the guestbook page.

It was a big hit. Our guests took lots of goofy photos and had some funny words of wisdom to share with us. The best part was we now have a keepsake we actually look through once in a while (that's not just boring signatures), and we now have a photo of everyone who attended our wedding.

When making your table, be sure to include extra film, acid free markers and double sided tape, as well instruction on how to reload the camera. Customize your own wedding guest book today at the Guestbook Store.

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Wedding Planners: Friend or Foe?

You finally met your match. You might have met your true love on a love dot com dating site or passing through on an elevator. Now it’s time to make sure everyone knows this is serious. Of course, you say ‘yes’ and the planning begins, which is where you begin to wonder where to start? You could spend your time during lunch breaks, weekends, after work, and taking your sweetheart around to all the fun venues as part of your planning. But be honest, you might not have the time needed to plan a wedding, and it’s THE day to be remembered forever.

What does your wedding day look like in your mind? The real questions are: How do you get in touch with the best vendors? How do you still have your dream wedding with a budget in today’s economy? How do you arrive on your wedding day without family tears and frustration? Have you started to think about the budget for your wedding?

All of these thoughts seem overwhelming, right? Have you considered a wedding planner? For many brides, the thought of letting someone else control their day is unmentionable. You might know exactly what you want, plus, some believe a wedding planner will cost you money in which you did not originally budget for. Here are some truths you should consider.

Friend: A wedding planner is an expert at weddings much like a dentist is an expert with teeth. They know the remedy for all your ailments and setup a plan or remedy. It’s easier to imagine a painless day especially on your wedding day when you have everything planned out.

Friend: I’m sure you don’t plan on spending close to 200 hours researching venues, caterers, florists, photographers, and really the vendor list goes on. Truly, no one wants to spend all their days finding vendors and finding the wrong ones. A wedding planner has a network of reputable professionals in their trade readily at their fingertips.

Friend: The cost of a typical wedding is about $25,000 and this doesn’t include your honeymoon. A planner can help establish your budget, including the cost of a wedding planner, and network with other vendor’s part of the Association of Bridal Consultants to get an affordable vacation spot.

A wedding planner is your friend on the most important day of your life. Today’s economy only helps shape the perception of your reality and what you can afford. Let the expert help you plan your day that captures the best moments of your life.

Written by: Valerie Bolitho, Wedding & Event Planner, Blueprint Affairs, www.blueprintaffairs.com

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Current Catering Trends of Fall 2009

We had the pleasure of listening to Event Planner Drew Coleman, of Heidi's Events and Catering, speak about current catering trends this past weekend. Here are a few of the fun ideas that are making it's way to a plate near you:

• Soup Shooters continue to be popular, but now with a new twist. "Sip on a BLT." A shot of this sandwich is made with tomato soup that is sprinkled with lettuce and bacon bits.

• Short Plates, or fork friendly items on small plates, allow your guests to travel with their food and mingle.

• Another casual, conversation encouraging food idea is grazing tables. Roll out a cart of your favorite dish and allow your guests to wander and eat at their leisure. (No more being stuck at a table of people you don't know!)

• Make your guests feel special by giving them a surprise. At one event they did, they rolled out a pancake and crepe station towards the end of the night. What a great way to end an evening of drinking and dancing than with pancakes! (and just when the guests thought there was nothing left to look forward too.)

• Turn up the flavor and make it your own. Let Grandma's recipe be a dish. Use flavored salts and peppers. Give your guests more than one option of sauce. (Such as a chicken skewer station that they can "paint on" their own flavor.) Brand your steaks with your wedding logo.

All of these ideas can turn a plain affair into a memorable one. Happy eating!

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Brand Identity for The Bride's Breakfast Club

We are unveiling the new logo we created for The Bride’s Breakfast Club! The new logo is the first step in creating a solid brand identity that will appeal to all types of brides.

The Bride's Breakfast Club is an organization designed to help brides and grooms save hundreds of dollars on their wedding and future purchases. Many of the exclusive discounts and special offers extend well beyond the wedding and into building a new life together!

The Bride's Breakfast Club hosts monthly breakfast meetings on the third Sunday of each month from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm. Held at various locations throughout Phoenix, they feature guest speakers and give the bride an opportunity to meet preferred vendors while receiving additional discounts or special offers.

“Working with The Bride’s Breakfast Club was a natural choice for us. We were able to create a logo for them that was both elegant and cutting edge at the same time. This partnership allows us to showcase our talents of marketing and design, as well as convey the quality of vendors that will be involved with the club.” (Erin Burkhard, CEO, Be In Love Designs)

For additional information on The Bride’s Breakfast Club, please visit their website at http://www.bridesbreakfastclub.com/

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Arizona Bridal Week Partners with Get Married!

Arizona Bridal Week Partners with Get Married! (and we are apart of Bridal Week)

Phoenix, AZ—July 10, 2009— Planning a wedding in Arizona just got easier and a lot more entertaining. Arizona Bridal Week is proud to announce the recent partnership with Lifetime’s TV show Get Married. With the collaboration of the only eight-day bridal event in Arizona and the ideas from the highly resourceful wedding show “planning is a piece of cake.”

About Arizona Bridal Week

Arizona Bridal Week will debut in the Valley from September 26, 2009 to October 3, 2009. The upscale, eight-day event will not only provide brides-to-be with direct access to top local vendors, but will also benefit the Phoenix Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Arizona Bridal Week is devoted to premiering the more fashionable side of the wedding industry by featuring exciting themed events, unique venues, and a fast paced atmosphere. For more information, visit www.arizonasbridalweek.com.

About Get Married

Get Married is a national, integrated multi-media wedding planning destination, and the only resource that reaches couples through a highly synergized, tri-media platform: a TV show on Lifetime Television, a highly-trafficked website and a glossy print publication. Whether brides watch, read, or surf, Get Married is making wedding planning a piece of cake.

ON TV: Get Married’s show airs on Lifetime Television weekday mornings and streamed daily on GetMarried.com. Hosted by world-renowned wedding and event designer Colin Cowie, Get Married’s series includes interviews, ides and inspirations from the most sought-after industry experts.

ONLINE: The robust website – GetMarried.com - offers brides unique video content, image galleries, informative articles, local resources, planning tools, and interactivity with other brides and wedding professionals.

IN PRINT: Get Married magazine, the “new shopping & trend guide for the savvy bride,” will introduce and translate the latest wedding trends while offering a fresh perspective, in a new, uplifting and edgy voice for creatively-innovative and inspirationally-driven brides.

Get Married’s three-pronged wedding platform offers brides the most informative and personalized wedding planning experience.

Blogger Brides
Blogger Brides, is an online blogging community brought to you by GetMarried.com. In addition to offering brides in-depth content, ideas and resources, Get Married’s Blogger Brides provides unique digital components including the ability to post video online. Brides and wedding professionals can view video clips from Get Married’s TV show as well as video blogs from our host, renowned celebrity event designer, Colin Cowie, as well as co-host and TV star DeAnna Pappas.

From the real bride to the celebrity blogger, Get Married’s Blogger Brides community offers its bloggers an assortment of wedding insights and trends:

· Star Bloggers: Industry experts offer the latest trends and insights from high-profile – and often celebrity - weddings. Follow star bloggers including celebrity wedding experts such as: photographer Robert Evans who shot Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding, as well as Get Married’s host and co-host, wedding extraordinaire Colin Cowie and TV star DeAnna Pappas.

· Blogger Brides: Real brides discovered by Get Married who share their wedding planning process, everything from choosing the perfect dress to walking down the aisle.

·Community Bloggers: Anyone! All members can blog and share ideas, photos, videos and wedding related information with their friends and family.

For more information on Get Married, visit www.getmarried.com

For more information, interviews or photos for the Arizona Bridal Week, please contact info@arizonasbridalweek.com or visit www.arizonasbridalweek.com for more vendor / partner links.

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Arizona Bridal Week Partners with Get Married!

Arizona Bridal Week Partners with Get Married! (and we are apart of Bridal Week)

Phoenix, AZ—July 10, 2009— Planning a wedding in Arizona just got easier and a lot more entertaining. Arizona Bridal Week is proud to announce the recent partnership with Lifetime’s TV show Get Married. With the collaboration of the only eight-day bridal event in Arizona and the ideas from the highly resourceful wedding show “planning is a piece of cake.”

About Arizona Bridal Week

Arizona Bridal Week will debut in the Valley from September 26, 2009 to October 3, 2009. The upscale, eight-day event will not only provide brides-to-be with direct access to top local vendors, but will also benefit the Phoenix Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Arizona Bridal Week is devoted to premiering the more fashionable side of the wedding industry by featuring exciting themed events, unique venues, and a fast paced atmosphere. For more information, visit www.arizonasbridalweek.com.

About Get Married

Get Married is a national, integrated multi-media wedding planning destination, and the only resource that reaches couples through a highly synergized, tri-media platform: a TV show on Lifetime Television, a highly-trafficked website and a glossy print publication. Whether brides watch, read, or surf, Get Married is making wedding planning a piece of cake.

ON TV: Get Married’s show airs on Lifetime Television weekday mornings and streamed daily on GetMarried.com. Hosted by world-renowned wedding and event designer Colin Cowie, Get Married’s series includes interviews, ides and inspirations from the most sought-after industry experts.

ONLINE: The robust website – GetMarried.com - offers brides unique video content, image galleries, informative articles, local resources, planning tools, and interactivity with other brides and wedding professionals.

IN PRINT: Get Married magazine, the “new shopping & trend guide for the savvy bride,” will introduce and translate the latest wedding trends while offering a fresh perspective, in a new, uplifting and edgy voice for creatively-innovative and inspirationally-driven brides.

Get Married’s three-pronged wedding platform offers brides the most informative and personalized wedding planning experience.

Blogger Brides
Blogger Brides, is an online blogging community brought to you by GetMarried.com. In addition to offering brides in-depth content, ideas and resources, Get Married’s Blogger Brides provides unique digital components including the ability to post video online. Brides and wedding professionals can view video clips from Get Married’s TV show as well as video blogs from our host, renowned celebrity event designer, Colin Cowie, as well as co-host and TV star DeAnna Pappas.

From the real bride to the celebrity blogger, Get Married’s Blogger Brides community offers its bloggers an assortment of wedding insights and trends:

· Star Bloggers: Industry experts offer the latest trends and insights from high-profile – and often celebrity - weddings. Follow star bloggers including celebrity wedding experts such as: photographer Robert Evans who shot Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding, as well as Get Married’s host and co-host, wedding extraordinaire Colin Cowie and TV star DeAnna Pappas.

· Blogger Brides: Real brides discovered by Get Married who share their wedding planning process, everything from choosing the perfect dress to walking down the aisle.

·Community Bloggers: Anyone! All members can blog and share ideas, photos, videos and wedding related information with their friends and family.

For more information on Get Married, visit www.getmarried.com

For more information, interviews or photos for the Arizona Bridal Week, please contact info@arizonasbridalweek.com or visit www.arizonasbridalweek.com for more vendor / partner links.

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Personalized Wedding Gift Bags

When your family and friends are coming from all across the country – or even out of the country, you may want to consider doing something special to welcome them to your home town or place of celebration. Personalized wedding gift bags are a great way to thank your guests for making the special trip.

Gift bags for your guests are usually a big hit with out-of-towners, but it’s normally the last thing on a bride or groom’s mind. Who has the time to run all over town, get the perfect items, find a cute bag to put everything in, and deliver it to your guest’s hotel rooms before they arrive? Ragan Grossman of Perfect Gift Bag, that’s who!

Ragan Grossman has been working in the event industry for several years and saw the need for this valuable service. She had seen too many gift bags that were poorly executed. One of the biggest problems? The bag itself. Many gift bags are actually baskets, which are not easy to travel with. Most guests actually end up leaving the basket behind, and many times, it’s the most expensive part of the ensemble. So Ragan created a patent-pending design that works well with travelers. It is a cloth bag that comes in a multitude of patterns, and has a collapsible plastic base. This base allows the bag to stand nicely when displayed in your quest’s rooms, but easily folds into a suitcase when it is time to go. Plus, the bag is reusable (perfect for pool time!) and is machine-washable.

Ragan’s attention to detail is also used with the items she places into the gift bags, and completed with your specifications and chosen price range. The gift bags are then hand delivered to your guest’s hotel and will be waiting in their room when they arrive.

The Perfect Gift Bag, “Think outside the box…and inside the bag.”

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Arizona's First Bridal Week Coming Soon!

We are happy to announce that we will be taking part in Arizona's First Bridal Week! It is 8 glorious days of wedding events, at the end of September.

Arizona's Bridal Week was the brainchild of Jennyvi Dizon and the gals at Lillian Lottie Couture, Meghan Lawlor and Jenny Pinto, who wanted to hold events with Arizona's top wedding vendors and best designers.

These events will be much more intimate than a regular bridal show and will give engaged couples the opportunity to really talk to top professionals and see what they have to offer. The whole week is filled with fashion forward events that are sure to please.

There will also be several prizes given throughout the week and one lucky bride will win the gown of her dreams! If you pre-register for the event, you will receive a free gift bag of products from participating vendors.

We will post more information about these wonderful events, including locations, dates, times, and participating vendors in the future, so please check back often.

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Top 5 Reasons Limos, Party/Mini Buses, SUVs & Sedans Are Actually Economical - Not Luxurious

Luxury has become a ‘dirty’ word in today’s economic crisis. So certainly for this Arizona limo company, based in Phoenix, AZ, it is something we try to steer our clients away from thinking – that getting a limo, or party bus for your wedding, graduation or just a night-on-the-town is just an extravagant waste of money.

1. Getting a limo or party bus for a night on the town can be as little as $18.85 per person for 4 hours of service on any Sun-Thu – you cannot get a cab for as inexpensive. And you can actually bring your own cocktails on-board the vehicles and save money over buying expensive drinks at the club.
   
2. If you are going to drink at your wedding or special event, you must have a designated driver to get your home or your hotel. Our chauffeur can be your designated driver! It is your special day and a DUI could absolutely ruin your fun and cost you between $3,000 to $8,000 minimum.
   
3. For busy executives flying in and out of Sky Harbor airport, the hassle of self-driving and paying for parking almost outweighs the cost of getting a sedan or SUV to transfer you from home or office to the airport. Then add the convenience of the extra time spent in the back of the vehicle taking care of business phone calls, checking your blackberry emails or working on your laptop.
   
4. Group transportation for your business, association, church or family – everybody getting in their separate cars (renting vehicles if in from out of town), driving separate instead of car pooling, possibly paying for parking if you are going to an event or meeting. It is wasteful of fuel, time and money. We do point-to-point transfers in our larger vehicles Sun-Thu. To give you an example – picture 14 people in a limo bus instead of 14 separate cars at $7 dollar parking each. That is $98 in parking – and instead we would charge as little as $112.20 complete for a transfer! Only $14.20 more and much less wasteful of our fossil fuels!
   
5. It’s fun and actually more affordable than you might think to get chauffeured transportation – be it in a sedan, SUV, limo, party or mini-bus! It shows you care about the safety of your group, actually costs less per head, and can be a party or productive business meeting on-board!

by guest blogger Rachel from In The Scene Limousine

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Perfect Pictures

If you are in the market for a photographer, be sure to check out Matt Wheeler with Still Life Studios. Yes, we are a little bias toward Matt: he not only did our fabulous engagement and wedding photos, but he is also a photographer of some of our products. (Check out the home page flash for some examples.)

This really says it all:

"Our team can get a little extreme in delivering the best quality once the photo shoot is done. We incorporate original designs, superior production processes and we work like crazy to get each picture processed, perfected and posted on a secure web site so you can share with friends and family as soon as possible. We guarantee the craftsmanship of our work so we can be your photographer for Life." - Still Life Studios

Be sure to check out Still Life Studios at http://www.stilllifestudios.com/ and let them know that Be In Love Designs sent you. Also, check back on the blog as we will be featuring more of their work from time to time.

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Illuminate With Color

Last night we attended the ISES AZ Chapter meeting at Kool Party Rentals in Phoenix. We were blown away by the awesome set up they had and wanted to pass on some of their great ideas for making any event really stand out.

By using funky furniture and creative lighting, you can create a cost effective event with punch. The colored lighting effect dramatically can change a space without the need adding additional props. One example of how color can change a space is by hiding unwanted details. Don't like the carpet at the ballroom of your reception? Turn down the lights, and light up the space in an all over hue, such as pink. We know no one will be busy looking at the floor!

Kool Party Rentals is Arizona’s "koolest" source for event furniture and illuminated decor. From seating, tables and bars to lighted centerpieces, lamps and lighted accent decor, Kool Party Rentals provides the products that create the scene. If you are interested in learning more about Kool Party Rentals, please check out their website at www.koolpartyrentals.com

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Event at Sanctuary Photos

On our last post we mentioned we have partnered with Lillian Lottie Couture (ya!) and would be participating in a Bridal Reception at Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain. We thought we would share some photos from the event since everything was so beautiful.

While I don't have pictures of the dresses from the events, I do have one of myself (in the middle in purple) and the two owners of Lillian Lottie Couture, Jenny Pinto (left) and Meghan Lawlor (right.)

We will be publishing several posts for you to showcase their wonderful designs and upcoming events we will be involved in. These two are really great ladies that can help in creating your dream wedding gown and wedding jewelry.

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Couture Bridal Reception at Sanctuary Camelback Mountain

We are very proud to announce that we have partnered with Lillian Lottie Couture and are now a preferred vendor of Sanctuary at Camelback Mountain! We will be joining the Sanctuary staff and other preferred vendors at the Couture Bridal Reception on Tuesday, March 3rd, from 6-8 pm. There, they will be showcasing the perfect wedding at the Sanctuary On Camelback Mountain, including the latest in bridal fashion, food, and of course, invitation and wedding stationery design.

Sanctuary is the perfect place for beginning your life together...with catering by an award-winning culinary team, romantic suites, tempting recreation for out-of-town guests, and bridal pampering at the spa. No matter when you hold your wedding, your guests will appreciate the exclusivity of knowing that it's the only one at this mountaintop resort.

Spectacular settings for groups of 15–150 range from an intimate patio or verdant lawn with panoramic views to a private home nestled against the mountain. For a personal tour and more information about your perfect wedding, contact Victoria Michael at 480.607.2306.

http://www.sanctuaryoncamelback.com/

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Ever After Flowers: Orchids

Through mutual friends, Be In Love Designs had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful florist named Jennifer Colvin. She is the owner of Ever After Flowers here in Phoenix, Arizona. We met while attending the Wedding Merchants Business Association after communicating through emails.

Jennifer started Ever After Flowers several years ago, but has decided to take her floral design to the next level. She is very detailed oriented and only chooses the freshest, best looking flowers for her clients.

She recently completed a wedding at Troon Country Club using Orchids. The results are amazing and we thought we should share them with our readers. There are some great ideas for the many uses of flowers and the dramatic impact they can make at your affair. If you are interested in using Jennifer as your florist, please visit her website at http://www.everafterflowers.com/. She is available to both in-state and out of state weddings, but please contact her for more details.

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Peter Merry

In September, Be In Love Designs attended the Wedding Business Merchants Convention in Phoenix. One of the speakers there was a DJ by the name of Peter Merry. We were OVERLY impressed by this man’s presentations (he spoke twice) AND his personality. He is one of the top Wedding DJs in the industry and we could easily see why.

Why were we so impressed? Both of his presentations had a few of the same underlying themes: think outside of the box and be positive.

Now, I know these presentations were for wedding vendors, but I think they apply to all brides and grooms as well. Things are going to happen that you just can’t control. All Bridezillas and Groomzillas will try, but it is almost impossible. That is why we agree with carefully planning all the details to help avoid possible catastrophes. Yet if you focus on all the positive aspects of the wedding, you really won’t look back in regret.

Also, thinking outside the box (and on your feet) helps deal with those pesky situations to possibly turn them into the most memorable moments that weren’t even planned.

But don’t just take our word for it. Please check out Peter’s new book, “The Best Wedding Reception…Ever!” He not only helps you plan a fabulous reception, but gives you a heads up on possible situations you might not thought of. He also gives you timelines that correspond with the stories of real weddings he has been a part of. Best of all, his joyous personality really shows through in his book. This DJ truly knows the meaning of having fun.

Lessons of the day:
• Think Positive!
• Plan ahead to avoid problems.
• Think on your feet.
• Have Fun!

For more information on Peter Merry and his book “The Best Wedding Reception….Ever” please visit:

http://www.thebestweddingreceptionever.com/
http://www.petermerry.com/

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