Today’s guest blogger is Aasim Rizvi from Sugar and Fluff - a company that combines their expertise of fine art and graphic design to deliver your with unique services such as invitations, print products, and event consultation!

First of all we would like to give a big thank you to Planning Elegance for allowing us to blog for their readers!

You might be wondering what Sugar and Fluff is really all about. We started this company with a goal: to offer brides a whole new experience to wedding design, by incorporating different elements that are seen in everyday use but in a new way. We constantly like to challenge our clients to step out of the box and try something new!

Part of our mantra is to incorporate the bland and make it into something special. What’s so great about that is you tend to use overlooked items and form them into something beautiful for the eye to see. Often times events tend to lose their luster b/c people think that to flashy and gaudy is all grandeur. That isn’t necessarily true. Event “connoisseurs” take bold stated centerpieces and drown them with tacky embellishments and cliché ideas.

At Sugar & Fluff, we constantly challenge ourselves to think ahead and take beautiful centerpieces and themes even further. Always in the bride’s direction and approval, of course :).

Some examples include our Bollywood table scape. We tried to portray the essence of the culture by using the Taj Mahal as inspiration. Our three Votive centerpieces reflected the antiquity of the white walls and the intricate design through the lighted ruffled orbs, which became the focal point of our table. Because it was so detailed, we tried to soften the statement piece with soft colors of white and buttercream, complimented with sage organza with detailed geometric design, glowing frosted candle holders that held simple bundles of fresh tuberose and invitations based off of vintage bollywood posters. The color palette filled with light pastels along with the simplicity of the elements around the centerpiece helped compliment our centerpieces.

Our Steampunk shoot was a subtle homage to the creative fantasy of Steampunk culture, based off the industrial era in England and takes place in the early nineteen hundreds in terms of costume and interior design. It is complimented by highly detailed engineering and hard-metal architectural fixtures. Thus, our goal was to compliment the hard, tarnished metal and gadgets with the light and beautiful floral elements.

Always be on the lookout for inspiration. You never know if it’s lurking right outside your front door!

Sincerely,
The Sugar and Fluff Design Team

Some services we provide:

Event Consultation
Invitation and Print Products
Graphic Design
Web Design

www.sugarandfluff.com
info@sugarandfluff.com
Follow us on our sugar and fluff blog! Click here!

Planning Elegance would like to thank Sugar & Fluff for opening our eyes and minds to more unique and out-of-the-box designs for invitations, wedding decor, web design, and more…

Planning Elegance has received the 2010 Wedding Wire Bride’s Choice Award!

The Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by over 500,000 newlyweds. Being a recipient of this award means we are in the top 5 percent of all wedding professionals in the WeddingWire Community!

A complete list of this year’s winners is now available here - this can help you find other wedding vendors and see which ones Planning Elegance has worked with before. For more information on how to contact Planning Elegance, read more reviews, or to schedule a free consultation contact us today!

We would like to thank all of our past clients that have rated & nominated us for this prestigious award. Any other clients that feel inclined to write us a review and get a free gift card from Wedding Wire - thank you as well for your trust in our services. Executing Elegant Events!

Read all of our Wedding Coordination Reviews at

Knowing Your Theme

We all have different taste in music. When it come to your wedding it can be a challenge to pick the right music that you and all of your guests will love. Picking music that fits your style as a couple is very important because it can give your wedding a sense of uniqueness compared to the rest. However some music, no matter how much you love it, could bring the wrong tone to your wedding.

A good way to find the right music is to find compilation CD’s of wedding songs, these songs are typical wedding songs that have been used for years. However if you want to be different in your music finding songs that you both like that are similar is a great substitution. Songs by Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra are very popular at weddings and appeal to all ages. Try to stay away from songs that have a lot of profanity, because it could make some of your guests uncomfortable. As a substitution try and find the same song, but the edited version that way you can still have a personal touch without it being too much.

Songs that Make Them Dance

Picking songs that will get people out of their chairs and on their feet are great! Typical wedding songs that everyone knows and will dance to are songs like; The YMCA, Hokey Poky, and Don’t Stop Believing. sometimes the old songs can be the best. People love to sing along and join in when they know the song, so even if the rest of the music is your own personal taste, throwing a few oldies in there can be helpful!

Music for the Ceremony

When picking music to walk down the aisle to or for your bridesmaids and groomsmen to walk down to is another challenge. Music that is easy on the ear, very light and airy is a good choice. Classical music or hymns as well as instrumentals are a few good options. You want everyone to focus on the bride when she walks down the aisle, you don’t want them to be distracted by the words of a song or how “loud” it is. The music should be subtle just to give the bride that grand entrance she deserves. Songs with words are useful while the bridesmaids are walking down or the groomsmen. However there are some great songs out there with words that are good for walking down the aisle, just be very particular when choosing.

Have Fun and Be Creative

There are many options to chose from when deciding on music for your wedding. There is the option of hiring a DJ or MC, hiring a live band, or having a friend create a playlist to play throughout the wedding/reception. Any of these choices is a great one, but no matter which one you chose make sure the person responsible for playing the music knows what you and your partner want. Make sure when picking a band or a DJ, that you pick someone that you feel comfortable with and that has the same kind of style that you do. Always audition your cortet, DJ, or band before hiring them, that way you can make an informed decision.

If you want your wedding to be fun, upbeat, and maybe even a little humorous, music is the best way to set that tone. Picking songs from movies that define you as a couple that everyone will get a kick at is a good way to bring everyone together through the music. It really comes down to how personal you want it to be or how comfortable you want it to be for the guests. Songs like, “Baby got back” is a fun dance song that most people from this generation would know, however, it could be taken offensively by the older crowd. You want your wedding to be memorable but just not in the wrong way and not because of the music choice. A good way to organize it is by themes. First the ceremony: think light, orchestra, string cortet with a touch of your own uniqueness. Second for the reception: think fun, lively, romantic, because people love to dance at weddings, so make sure the music is fitting for whether people are dancing or sitting down to eat dinner.

Music is the factor in your wedding that brings everything together so whether you are having a elegant sit-down dinner reception, or a fun funky wedding, make sure the music you chose fits your theme, as well as yours and your grooms personality. Your friends and family will dance and have a great time!

Image 1 via Michael Weinberg
Image 2 via Geoff White Photography
Image 3 via Brandywine Valley Talent Blog

Planning Elegance was featured on Groomasauraus for the following article - learn how to put the planning tools aside for a while and let your hubby take over…

Everyone involved in the planning process tends to act like the wedding is all about the bride and sometimes, we may forget about the groom. Often times we, as wedding planners, may not even meet the groom until the wedding day! Here are wedding duties that the MAN in the relationship, the soon-to-be-hubby: THE GROOM - this is what you should be handling throughout the wedding planning process.

The Bar and Beverages

The bar is the most common thing that brides will put their beaus in charge of for the wedding. Generally, the groom handles how much of their budget can handle the bar, what types of alcohol should be available, and how the bar payments will be handled. Hey guys, here’s some bar advice on how to handle this responsibility for your wedding reception. Don’t forget to have fun doing this - if there’s a theme to your wedding, maybe you can have some signature drinks. If you’re a tequila man, then see if your venue can offer a tequila bar, this will definitely add some heat to the reception. There’s also the option of a separate beer and wine station, or a full whiskey bar!

If you are having a non-alcoholic wedding - you can play around with what we call “Mocktails”. Your guests don’t have to stick to just plain old Sprite, Coke, and water - they can have apple cider, virgin cocktails/”mocktails”, smoothies, tropical juices, rootbeer floats…be creative! Guests enjoy creative and tasteful drinks and there are vendors that you can even hire for a fresh fruit smoothie bar or to create ice cream and beverage concoctions.

You can also make the the drinking options more interesting with an ice bar, martini luge, tray-passed drinks by servers, or different colored drinks for different tables. Colors are the best and most affordable way to play around with wedding beverages and creative a cool and classy atmosphere for your wedding reception. Spruce up the look by using interesting glasses, cute little umbrellas, fresh garnishes like oranges and cherries, even colored ice!

The Gift Registry

Okay, so you got dragged along with your beautiful fiancee through Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Crate & Barrel registering for kitchen and living room items - you just don’t care if you go with eggshell white or ivory colored sheets for your bedroom! So now it’s your turn! There are some great registries for the groom out there and you should register at more than one store to provide your guests with options. Best Buy is a great place for your wedding registry if your into electronics, music, movies, home theater, or video games. An original idea would be to add on your wedding website what your favorite sports team is, then your friends can all pitch in to try to get season tickets for you and your beau - best wedding gift ever for sports fans everywhere. Then there’s the all-too-popular The Man Registry! this site has all types of great gifts that men will love and things that are classy enough to give as wedding presents. Have fun with this because your wedding gifts are a great enjoyment after a long wedding day and night - look forward to opening up that George Forman Grill, that plasma screen TV, or the autographed baseball you’ve been dying for!

The Wedding Band

So maybe you’re not so keen on the jewelry and even though you may not want to wear a ring, at least you can pick your own style out. There are many different styles and metals of wedding bands that you can choose from. Generally, these rings aren’t too showy and have the same pattern all the way around the band. It can have one or two indented lines, grooves, have a hammered pattern, or be plain. Different metals have different colors and properties. There is yellow or white gold, which are both great quality and can be made to fit any size finger. Platinum is great because it’s heavy weight can make you feel like a man, but it’s a bit on the expensive end. Sterling silver is nice and affordable, however it is for a man that likes a shiny ring. Titanium and palladium are popular choices because of their colors and they are very light weight. While tungsten is great because it has a very dark, unique color. Any types of diamonds or gems are also available in wedding bands, discuss with you jeweler the qualities your want in a wedding band. If you are thinking about having a diamond, make sure you learn about how to select the right diamond for you so that you don’t break your budget. Decide on a budget or at least a price range - depending on the style, metal, stones, and design that you are looking for, you may even be able to custom-design your ring for an affordable price.

The Honeymoon

You can plan the honeymoon. While your beau is planning the wedding details and forgetting about the honeymoon, you can book the flight(s), accommodations, food, and activities. This is a great thing for the groom today because he can enjoy searching through websites for great deals and places to go. You shouldn’t plan the entire honeymoon without inquiring with your wife-to-be, get some tips on planning the honeymoon and ask your bride-to-be’s advice on where she wants to go and what she wants to do. You can book and plan all the details, which most women will find very romantic.

To all the grooms out there that think they have been forgotten: there are things for you to do and ways to contribute that you can enjoy. Signature drink taste testing, running around Best Buy with the registry gun, choosing metals for your wedding band, and looking up places to go snorkling and sky diving for your honeymoon can be your contributions to make your wedding unique and memorable. Congratulations - you are officially a groomasaurus!!

In our current market, it is very difficult to think about spending a lot of money on a wedding, but weddings are expensive and everyone wants their wedding to be beautiful. No one wants to have to worry about money, but it is an issue, especially now. Here are some ways to keep your wedding beautiful while on a budget.

Venues

When picking a venue, sometimes it can be less expensive to find venues that allow outside catering. There will still be corkage fees and cake cutting fees, but there is a good chance you can find a good caterer for a good price. At venues that don’t allow outside catering, find out if you are able to just serve appetizers (there will be a minimum fee that you have to hit, but it will still be less expensive than a sit down dinner). Bring your own wine and champagne because you can find a decent bottle of wine or champagne for a good price at beverage store and with the corkage fee it will still be less expensive.

Save the Dates

When sending out your save the dates; consider using a Wal-Mart or a Costco for picking out your border and for printing. By doing this you wont have to pay any delivery or shipping fee from another company.

Bridal Party

For beach weddings a good place to find bridesmaid dresses that are very decently priced and are versatile is American Apparel. They have a number of colors and styles that are very fitting for a casual wedding or beach-side wedding. When thinking about favors for your bridesmaids or groomsmen; consider items like jewelry that they can wear on the day of the wedding or cigars for the men.  Items such as these show that  care and appreciate their presence.  Also, the bridal party can look back upon these items and remember your special day.

Centerpieces

Making your own wedding reception centerpieces is another great way to save on costs. For beach or winter/outdoor type weddings there is a very easy way to make your own centerpieces, which will cut down on costs on flowers, etc. You can find inexpensive vases at your local Wal-Mart or Dollar Store and find some inexpensive candles to put in them. If you are having a beach wedding you can fill the vases with sand or shells, or if you are having an outdoor wedding, you could fill it will stones or flowers or put some neat branches around it. If you decide to do flowers, there are open flower markets that you can go to, or if you have a friend with a nice garden that could also be beneficial. Also finding small mirrors to go under the centerpieces adds a nice touch to any style centerpiece.

The Little Things

Cutting out things like name card for the tables or bows around the chairs are simple little expenses that can be done without. Having your pictures printed at a Costco is another way to cut down on costs for your photography, which is one of the more expensive parts of a wedding. However finding a good photographer is still very important and can be rather expensive, but this way you can at least keep the prints on the lower end. Remember you can have a beautiful wedding on any budget because your family and friends are there to support you. You can entertain on a budget and still remember how beautiful everything looked on your wedding day, and you didn’t have to spend an arm and a leg!

Image 1 via Organize Our Wedding

Image 2 Wal-Mart

Image 3 American Apparel

Image 4 American Apparel

Image 5 via Seashell City

Image 6 via Wedding Bee

Planning a wedding can be a very hectic time, especially when your working on a tight budget. One aspect that can really help things move along is doing things on your own. It can help save money on the wedding, and will allow you to be more creative. Some of the top 10 wedding DIY’s (Do It Yourself) are DIY Invitations, Bouquets, Place-cards, and Centerpieces.

DIY Invitations

Hand making your wedding invitations can be a great thing for you as a couple to do together. You can both decide on a design or look for your invitation that you would both like. Each of you could add your own style to the invitation. Making your wedding invitations is easy and simple. It gives you the opportunity to design them any way you want. It also gives your guests something that reflects the two of you–giving them something special to remember your wedding by. You can use ribbons, gems, or even special paper cut outs to design the paper with. Don’t forget when making your invitations that they might take some time to make them. You don’t want to leave them until the last minute to throw them together.

DIY Bouquets

To make your own wedding bouquet there is a few things that you will need. Your going to need roses or flowers of your choice, which can be either your favorite flowers or maybe flowers that accent your wedding colors. Your also going to need flower cutters, ribbon, and pins to hold them together. Most likely, a more heavier flower like a rose would hold together better. Don’t forget to make sure that the flowers will hold. You don’t want to be walking down the aisle with your bouquet falling apart. You can go plain and simple with the bouquet or you can go all out. It all depends on your style and the colors of your wedding. It’s quite simple to do and only takes around 30 minutes to an hour. You could even make your own boutonnieres for the groomsmen.

DIY Placecards

Designing and making your own place cards can help save a lot of money. It may take up some of your time to make them but in the end it’s worth it. Place cards are a piece of a cake to do. All you need is a folded piece of paper or card. You can choose from either hand writing all the guest’s names or printing them onto the paper. Make sure to be careful when doing this. When you hand make them yourself it can be easy to write down the wrong table number or mix up the guest’s names. Making your place cards yourself show the guest that you care for them to be there. It can also add a personal touch to the occasion.

DIY Centerpieces

Doing it yourself centerpieces is a huge money saver. They are consider the most important element in decoration for a reception and what better way to set the mood than to put them together yourself. By using flowers that are in season you can save a lot more instead of paying for expensive flower arrangements.  If you choose to make center pieces with flowers in them, make sure that the flowers will last. An interesting idea for a center piece is dried flowers. You don’t have to stress about the flowers wilting or dying and its something unique that not many weddings have. There are lots of other ways to put together a gorgeous center pieces without even having to add flowers. You can use fruits or candles as an alternative.

DIY Programs

Do it yourself wedding programs are similar to the invitations. There’s so many things you can do with home made wedding programs. You can explain your ceremony, tell a story of the two of you, or give thanks. The programs are what guests take home as a souvenir so it should be something to resemble the two of you and your love. You can add a picture of the two of you with decorations that remind you of each other. Don’t forget to add in the names of the people in the ceremony on the programs or if you are deciding to have something in your wedding that’s unusual it may be good to include that as well. You will probably want to write your wedding programs in your own words and have your personality stand out in them. There a great way to make your guests feel more involved in the wedding and helps allow them understand what is happening in the ceremony.

DIY Decorations

Decorations are a huge aspect of any wedding. They are what give the wedding ceremony and reception a setting and mood for the guests. Decor allows you to let your mind run wild. Depending on the style of your wedding most couples want striking and romantic decorations. Just by hanging up lights and adding candles around the room can add to a romantic feel for your ceremony or reception. With theme weddings there’s many ways to decorate coordinating with the theme. For example, with a beach themed wedding you can have small bowls filled with sand, shells, and small candles. Even little things such a napkin rings can be designed hand made to add to the decoration of your wedding. When shopping for decor supplies, seasonal sales are helpful to save money.

DIY Favors

There are so many directions you can go in with wedding favors. Ideas such as cookies, rocks, CDs, and matches are easy to do yourself. To make sure your favors aren’t just forgotten and thrown away, make them cookies or candies for your guests to eat. Simple and easy, all you need to add on them is your names or the wedding date. Beach rocks are cute and creative to have as favors. Their not expensive and you can hand write on them yourself. CDs are also a simple favor. They can be easily made at home on your computer with a picture of the two of you on the front. A box of matches is an unique idea for a wedding favor. You can design them to any color or want and add any design or writing to them. They are different from the average wedding favors and that’s exactly what you want. You want your guests to leave your wedding with a memory.

DIY Bridal Veil

Wedding veils can cost you up to $100 to $300. Making your own can cost you only $25 which saves you a whole lot. The great thing about making your own is you can choose everything you want. It will look exactly the way you want it to. The materials you need to make a veil is fabric, thread, a comb, and trims. You can choose fabric from tulle, organza, chiffon, silk, etc. The thread on your veil should match the color of the fabric. The trim on your veil can be anywhere from crystal beads to ribbon. You can even decide yourself on how long you want your veil to be. No one wants to spend hundreds of dollars on a small rectangular piece of fabric so do it yourself and create your perfect veil!

DIY Bridal Bags

There’s no use in going out and spending money on bridal bags when there so easy to make. Bridal tote bags are perfect for giving to your bridesmaids. They are bags that come in different sizes that are used from beach bags to purses. You can put a personal message, name of the bridesmaid, or date of your wedding on each bag. It makes a great gift to your bridesmaids. It also adds a personal touch to each bag and lets them know that you appreciate their help through out your wedding. You can even make one for yourself! They’re cute for “bride” bags or “just married”.

DIY Cake Topper

Cake toppers couldn’t be easier to put together! A cake topper could be anything from a picture of the two of you to two little plastic dolls. There’s always that traditional bride and groom cake topper. Mix it up and add something to make your cake stand out. You could hand make two little dolls that look like you to add to the top of your cake. It adds personality to your cake and it’s unique and different. You could also use ideas such as bows with wire around them. You can slip pearls or beads onto the wire to hide it and they look like you went out and spent hundreds of dollars just on a cake topper. Even just adding your initials is an easy and cute way to decorate your wedding cake.

Its your wedding, do it the way you want! By doing things yourself you can save a handful of money and have fun while doing it. They can leave your guests with a lasting memory and it adds both your personalities to your wedding day. Don’t forget to not leave any do it yourself item until the last minute. Some can take some time and remember to stick with the theme and color of your wedding.

Image 1 via  Dan & Briana

Image 2 via SJB Wedding & Events

Image 3 via Intimate Weddings

Image 4 via Wedding on a Dime

Image 5 via Intimate Weddings

Image 6 via Intimate Weddings

Image 7 via Melia Spring Weddings

Image 8 via I wan A Gown

Image 9 via Advantage Bridal

Image 10 via Vintage Indie

Today’s guest blogger is Saman Bangloria Shah, who is the owner and designer of 2Create Designs - a contemporary decor company whose goal is to create your vision and bring it to life!

As we approach the start of 2010 and you begin to realize you have about 6 months till “I do” you ask yourself, where and how to start with your wedding décor? Every bride wants guests to have an exceptional time at her wedding. Wedding decorations dictate the vibe, and—let’s face it—sterile tables, stark white walls and hard backed chairs don’t always cut it.

The DIL Philosophy

2Create Designs is here to help turn every bride’s dream into a reality by using our DIL philosophy. 2Create has built its DIL Philosophy to be aspiring thoughts that revolve around three unique design ideologies.

The DIL Philosophy stems from dil, a word derived from the South Asian culture, which translates to heart. 2Create nurtured this philosophy through personal experience – heart, emotion and feeling is put forth into the creation of every event. The ideals behind this philosophy are:

Dreams: 2Create embodies the dreams of each event owner, translating them into a compelling visual conception.

Imagination: 2Create instills imagination into every facet of an event to ensure that the experience is unlike any other.

Life: 2Create breathes life into all productions by giving them color, charisma, character, and a vibe that visually stimulates and pulses with energy.

Check out just a select few of our jaw-dropping designs from this past year:

This stunning stage backdrop is from a featured wedding of 1200 guests with Planning Elegance wedding coordination that took place at The Disneyland Hotel in August 2009.

2010 Wedding Color Trends

Spring/Summer: turquoise, platinum, coral, pale yellow, and champagne
Fall/Winter: deep red, teal, violet, mocha, and sage

2010 Reception Decor Trends: Peacock Feathers

We’ve been tracking the trend of peacock green and peacock feathers in weddings. It’s a beautifully rich wedding theme that is also very unique. Carrie Bradshaw’s bird headpiece in her Sex and The City wedding shows an extreme of the feathers idea. But there are many understated ways to accomplish a boho-chic or royal-bold peacock wedding.

2010 Reception Decor Trends: Candy Bars and Candy Buffets

An increasingly popular trend is the candy buffet or confection bar. This consists of a variety of candies or treats placed in various sizes of glass containers and grouped on a table. Pretty silver spoons or scoops in each container allows guests to fill small boxes or bags as take-home favors.

2010 Reception Decor Trends: Photobooths

Photobooths are a fun and unique way to make your wedding more memorable. Unlike the photo booths that some remember seeing at places such as arcades and carnivals, today’s photo booths use the latest technology to make wedding more fun, unique and memorable.

2Create is the ideal design studio for a variety of special events; be it a large corporate event, wedding or a very intimate gathering of family and friends. Our creativity ensures that the dreams and imaginations of our clients are brought to life every time.

Located in Southern California, 2Create is not just your event décor company…2Create is your road to-creating a vision you behold in methods that will leave lasting impressions for years to come. Schedule an appointment with us and together we’ll embark on a journey to-create an event that will resonate your dreams and imagination.

2Create Designs
www.2createdesigns.com
www.2createdesigns.blogspot.com
dream@2createdesigns.com
888.865.4940

Planning Elegance would like to thank Saman Bangloria Shah from 2Create Designs for submitting these very helpful tips about where to start and where to go with wedding decor.

Whether your getting married in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Orange County there are many venues to choose from. Planning Elegance has compiled our 3 favorite wedding venues in the 3 major areas that we work in.  In the San Francisco area (the Bay Area) we have chosen Carmel Valley Ranch, The Julia Morgan Ballroom, and The Palace of Fine Arts. Our favorite venues in Orange County are Pelican Hill Resort, The Richard Nixon Library, and Laguna Niguel’s Ritz-Carlton. Our favorite venues in Los Angeles are The Langham Hotel, Long Beach Hilton, and Vibiana.

San Francisco and Bay Area Weddings

Carmel Valley Ranch is known to be an exquisite retreat to host any sort of a celebration. You can have a beautiful outside wedding surrounded by expansive mountains and flower gardens. They offer a golf course, tennis courts, and vibrant gardens. You can exchange vows on their tennis courts or dance underneath the stars. It’s perfect to add a bit of nature  and elegance to your wedding.

The Julia Morgan Ballroom is located in downtown San Francisco. It’s known to be a historic gem with a grand ballroom, lounge, and bar in a high-rise building. Julia Morgan was one of America’s most important architects and designed the Julia Morgan Ballroom, which offers your wedding a historic and unique feel. The elegant ballroom has light that flows through its windows where you can enjoy complete privacy and a view of the city at the same time.

The Palace of Fine Arts is a building that was built back in 1913.  Although the have held many concerts and events, it’s an increasingly popular venue for all kinds of weddings. The large theater allows more guests than most facilities with a capacity of 962. If you are a couple that loves art, theater, or the city - what could be better than getting married on a beautiful stage in front of all your guests. The Palace is undergoing renovations all of 2010 and will be unavailable for weddings - so if you’re planning on getting married in 2011 - you better jump on reserving this gorgeous facility!

Orange County Weddings

Pelican Hill Resort is located in Newport Beach. It is a unique and gorgeous resort located next to a golf course that has a 180 degree view of the Pacific Ocean. You can get married on their event lawn and enjoy your reception in one of their ballrooms. There are various ceremony locations on the property that will have you captivated by century-old olive trees and rows of lavender that surrounding you.

The Richard Nixon Library is a stunning replica of the historic White House. You can have a rose garden wedding with their 1,400 rose bushes that bloom in the spring. Their ballrooms include chandeliers, fireplaces, wood floor, and decedent ceilings. You can host your reception in the White House East Room and have one of the most talked about weddings in Orange County because this venue gets booked up way in advance.

The Ritz-Carlton is located in Laguna Niguel and offers breathtaking wedding ceremonies and completely unforgetable receptions. Your wedding ceremony can take place on the edge over-looking the never ending ocean. This venue is extremely flexible and can accomodate your sustainable green wedding dream, outside catering for cultural cuisine, and other facilities to hold wedding-related events or prayer needs.

Los Angeles Weddings

The Vibiana is located on South Main Street in Los Angeles. It’s known interior and grand proportions make a one of a kind wedding venue. It features high ceilings with white marble everywhere and beautiful architecture that take your breathe away. For a traditional wedding ceremony, they have many long rows with an old-style altar and classic confession stands. For an elegant reception - they have a completely unique ballroom that can be transformed to meet your style and needs.

The Langham Hotel is located in the city of Pasadena, right outside of Los Angeles. It was awarded one of the best hotel spas and has award winning dining. It offers 380 guestrooms, suites, and cottages near surrounding mountains and garden views along with stunning amenities. You can experience the timeless elegance of the landmark with the 50,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor facilities they offer. One of the most infamous things about the Langham is getting married in their Japanese Gardens with terraced ponds and waterfalls.

The Long Beach Hilton is one of the most accommodating venues in all of California.  From their excellent staff to their well-maintained facilities to their delicious food - you will feel completely taken care of if you have your wedding here. The Hilton ensures that their attention to detail and gracious hospitality combine to produce a wedding ceremony and reception that will be memorable and enjoyable for all your guests.

Any of these locations would be a wonderful place to host your wedding ceremony and reception. They are all different from each other and are known to be some of the most top rated venues in each area. Where ever you are looking to get married, ensure that you know how to find your perfect wedding venue. All wedding planners will suggest to look at several wedding venues before selecting your wedding site.  Enjoy searching for your dream wedding location!

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Image 1 via Matthew May Photography

Image 2 via Geoff White Photography

Image 3 via Justin Jones Photography

Image 4 via Wedding Venues

Image 5 via OC Weekly

Image 6 via Lan Bui

Image 7 via AAcreation Photography

Image 8 via Langham Hotel

Image 9 via Samson Productions

No wedding is complete without a wedding cake and there are so many options to choose from. You have the flavors, decorations & design, and shape to decide on - you can be creative and express yourselves as a couple through your wedding cake. Whether it’s a huge cake or small one - you can have it made and designed to exactly the way you like it.  You can use these tips if you are planning a bridal shower too!

Wedding Cake Flavors

There are many wedding cake flavors to decide on. The best way to go is to both agree on a flavor that you both like or you could even have the flavors mixed. Multi-tiered cakes usually allow 3 different flavors!  First, you start with picking the cake flavor. These are just some of the cake flavors that you can choose from; Vanilla, Chocolate, Marble, Lemon, Orange, Coconut, Red Velvet, and Banana. Once you decide on the flavor you can agree on adding a filling to your cake. If you do agree on having a cake with filling these are some of the fillings to mix & match: Vanilla, Chocolate, Raspberry, Strawberry, Caramel, Lemon, and Mango. You can also add flavor syrups such as lemon or raspberry or see if your bakery can make unique cream fillings like mint chocolate, peanut butter, or cappuccino.

Wedding Cake Decor & Design

For a unique wedding cake pick a decor or design that’s going to stand out. Instead of going with the original cake topper with the little, plastic bride and groom you can replace that with a picture of the two of you. It makes your wedding cake different from the usual and your guests will appreciate the uniqueness. If you don’t want just a picture you could get miniature dolls of the two of you specially made to put on top of the cake as a cake topper - this can demonstrate your occupations, hobbies, how you met…anything! To spice up your cake you can add flowers to it or an interesting design - fondant cascading flowers has seemed to be the most popular in 2009 - we’ll see what you choose to be popular for 2010!

Tier Shape on Your Wedding Cake

Cakes come in different shapes and sizes. Some of the most common shapes for wedding cakes are round, square, hexagonal, petal, or Topsy-turvy. Round cakes are thought of as being plain but they actually give you a perfect backdrop for designs and colors. You can add a lot of colorful flowers or just a pleaded pattern. Square cakes are usually the alternative to round cakes - this is a great off-set if you are placing it on a round table. A good idea for square cakes is to outline the pattern with a colorful ribbon on each tier. A hexagonal cake is a six-sided creative square cake that you will want to keep simple. This can save you money because the shape of it is enough decoration to where you don’t need to add too much more decor and design. A petal cake has a flower like appearance to it - what looks best with these cakes is colored flowers and simple design around the cake, just elegant. A Topsy-turvy cake makes a bold statement and is incredably creative and unique. It has each tier made to look as if it’s going to fall. Bold colors and funky designs are best for this type of cake. You can always mix shapes by having a different shape for each tier and be creative to make the tiers look asymetrical as wel - have fun with your cake shape.

Saving Money on Your Wedding Cake

Of course you want to save money on your wedding! We have 2 easy wedding planning tips to cut costs when is comes to the wedding cake.  1.  Cupcake towers have been VERY popular - cupcakes can save you money because it usually costs less per cupcake than per slice of cake and with cupcakes you don’t have to pay a cake-cutting fee at your venue.  2.  If you want a beautiful cake, but still want to save money - another option is to have a small 2 or 3-tiered cake and then sheet cakes in the kitchen.  After you cut your beautiful cake, it will be rolled back into the kitchen with alongside the sheet cakes and guests won’t know whether they are getting the beautiful masterpiece, or the less expensive cake!  Your wedding planner can help you find a bakery that will work with either of these options.

Your wedding cake can be one of the top essentials for your wedding. When choosing your wedding cake make sure it’s something you both are going to enjoy together as well as your guests. It should be a cake that your going to look at and love that when it comes to the time to do the cake cutting you won’t even want to ruin it!  Happy Cake Tasting!

Image 1 via NYC Cake Decorators

Image 2 via Brenda’s Wedding Blog

Image 3 via Cean One Photography

Image 4 via Harvard Photography

Today’s guest blogger is Jeff Kear, who is the co-owner of two sites providing online wedding planning software for engaged couples and wedding consultants - My Wedding Workbook and My Wedding Workbook Pro.

In this highly digitized era, it’s no longer odd to do a fair amount of your wedding planning via the Web; in fact, it’s commonplace. Brides have been announcing their engagements on Facebook, sharing tips with other brides via forums, fishing for ideas on various websites for a few years now, and these methods are only picking up momentum. With every passing month, there are more wedding-focused websites, more online tools, more blogger brides, and it will continue to build up.

I myself just got married in November and must admit that I relied heavily on the Internet for my wedding planning (I even sent out e-invitations instead of paper ones so as to make our wedding a bit more green). So, for those brides new to the wild and wonderful world of web-influenced weddings (couldn’t resist the alliteration), here are a few tips as you dive into this digital arena of bridal bits and bytes.

Do: Look for ideas on blogs and other wedding websites

The bridal blogosphere is simply bursting with tons of great been-there-done-that advice and insights, and you’d be remiss not to check it out. On blogs as well as more familiar bridal websites, you can get some great ideas about color schemes; bridal fashion and wedding gowns; wedding decor and centerpieces; do-it-yourself projects; wedding photography (and photographers); and so much more.

Don’t: Get overwhelmed by all that’s out there

There’s so much wedding information online that I hear from many brides that they actually stop checking out blogs and bridal sites simply because they are overwhelmed by all the choices available. I feel that this can be said for pretty much any topic or subject online; if you try and devour too much of it too fast, you end up getting sick of it all. This is true with food, booze and even weddings. So find a handful of sites that seem to speak to you and offer ideas that are up your alley, and surf the Web in moderation. Another go

od idea is to sign up at a bookmarking site like delicious.com and bookmark all the pages and sites that hold valuable information that you would like to consult at a later date. Also another good idea from my wife … create a file or folder on your computer where you can store images (JPGs, TIFs and the like) that you can either print out and show to vendors or send to them electronically (as in “see this really cool bridal bouquet I found online; I want something like that but in pink”).

Do: Sign up for tools and resources

Right now the Internet is certainly the place where “free” is king, and engaged couples have a wide variety of choices when it comes to free wedding planning tools and resources (as well as those that you pay for). There are free wedding worksheets and calculators, free planning tools (personal plug here … on our wedding website we offer some really helpful free wedding software tools to engaged couples), free educational e-newsletters, free forums, free wedding websites … the list goes on and on. What I would recommend is to first do a rundown of what tools or resources would help you in your wedding planning and then go to the Internet to find products and services that can meet your needs. You may actually have to end up paying for a few things (for instance, some of the free websites are pretty limited in what you get), but in the end they may be what you really want.

Don’t: Give them your “real” email address

When you sign up for anything free online, there is usually a hidden cost in all that fine print, and the hidden cost is often your privacy. In exchange for free tools and resources, many sites require you to opt-in to receive email solicitations and e-newsletters from them and vendors (and some will even send vendors your contact information). Sometimes all this is worth using the tools (and sometimes it is also worth getting the e-mail blasts because they have useful info and discounts on stuff), but make sure you know what you’re getting into first. When you do decide to sign up at your selected sites, first go to Gmail or Hotmail or some other free email service and create a special email for your wedding. This way, when your wedding is over and you no longer want to receive e-mails from wedding sites, you can either shut down your wedding-specific email or ignore it.

Do: Shop around online for bargains

Take it from a guy who loves to shop and bargain hunt … the Internet is a fabulous place to browse for hard-to-find items and comparison shop for prices. If you are buying most of your wedding items (such as invitations, decorations, etc.), you should compare items online and get a sense of the prices before you really plunk down money on anything.

Don’t: Buy it unless you know what you’re getting
…and don’t get too impulsive

The one problem with buying items on the Internet is that you often don’t know the quality or condition of a good before you pay, and although most sites are honest and reasonable about returns, it’s still a time-consuming hassle to ship stuff back. The Web is great for buying CDs and books because you pretty much know what you’re getting and what to expect. But when it comes to glass centerpieces made in China and shipped from the Philippines by slow boat, you don’t have the opportunity to really inspect the merchandise before you buy. So I would recommend finding some items online that your local retailers carry and inspecting them personally. An added note: My wife just reminded me that, when she was shopping online for our wedding, a few times she bought a wedding item only to find something better a week later. Granted, if you’re buying stuff on eBay, it might not be around tomorrow, but her advice was to spend more time shopping and browsing until you’re pretty sure that you’ve found what you want.

Do: Get ideas for vendors on the web

The main people who will be responsible for the final outcome of your wedding are of course you and your mate, but after that comes your vendors, and they can either make your life so much easier or a living hell. So picking the right ones is pretty important, and browsing around online is a good way to start collecting some names. Dozens and dozens of sites have wedding vendor directories that you can run through, and here you can more easily evaluate more visual vendors like photographers (because you can view their work on their sites and get a feel for their craft). However, for venues, caterers and other vendors for whom you can’t get a good feel for via pixels, you will certainly need to pay a visit and see their goods and talents in the flesh.

Don’t: Take online vendor recommendations as the final word

Many online vendor directories have ratings systems, and although these may be helpful to some extent, you should always, always look to friends, family and local word-of-mouth for the final say when it comes to vendor recommendations. Put it this way … would you trust spending $10K on a venue just going by the word of “Mary J. from Denver” who said in her online blurb that she absolutely loved the place? I’m a pretty trusting person, but it would take a lot more than Mary J.’s brief praise to plop down that kind of cash.

Planning Elegance would like to thank Jeff Kear from My Wedding Workbook for submitting these very helpful Do’s and Don’ts that can aid any bride - especially going into 2010!