Mexico or Bust!

We're headed back to Cabo San Lucas for a wedding. It's our third time in Mexico in three years - 7th time all together including site visits. This time, we're working on an 80 person wedding. A gorgeous chapel ceremony followed by dinner on the beach with fireworks and fire dancers...then all night dancing & debauchery in the Bahia room. I'm always asked about how much fun we have when we travel for a destination wedding...and anybody whose ever done a destination wedding where all the vendors are coming from the US can tell you... it's intensely stressful. The good news is our truck has made it over the border (12 hours after arriving at the border) and the flowers are on thier way to Tiajuana. The rough part is that the border agents often don't know the rules and make them up as they go along... so even the best laid plans can become rough. I'm so we're excited to have another opportunity to challenge ourselves. That's my biggest life goal...always be challenged (it helps with my ADD). I'll be sure to post some images once I have them!

Upcoming TV Shows

GREEN IS THE NEW BLACK... On Monday, we taped a piece for Fox News Channel on Green Weddings...it may or may not air on Earth Day (this Sunday) because of the tragedy in Virginia and I hope they don't choose to air a fluff piece just because of the day, so I wouldn't mind if it were delayed. But if you're not learning more about how to help the environment through your weddings, you should. The amount of waste at weddings & events is huge! My first wedding 12 years ago had elements of "being green" including an all organic menu... I also think it's the wave of our future and while we've had probably a wedding or two per year that we always called "Organic" we are happy now to have no problem talking to our clients about the benefits of caterers that use sustainable farms, organic produce & meat as well as full recycling programs. GET MARRIED ON WOMEN'S ENTERTAINMENT... Some months ago, we taped a piece for a new show called Get Married (Airing on WE, Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m.) We taped enough for three shows, including a sitdown interview & 2 pods (a short 1 - 2 minute piece with an idea or trend). Our first one is coming up! Epsiode 3: 4/29/2007, 9:30am on WE tv Mark Badgley and James Mischka show their elegant "old Hollywood glamour" wedding gowns, and David Tutera and Preston Bailey fill you in on some of the latest trends in bridal bouquets. Celebrity even designer Sasha Souza shows how to use color in your wedding, and learn how charity can be a part of your wedding. Edwin McCain performs his hit wedding song, "I'll Be" and dishes on his own wedding day, and our makeover bride Kelly starts getting in shape with her first day at the gym. Also, see how incredible Royal resorts in Mexico is for a destination wedding or honeymoon and even book it for your own getaway Very exiting stuff! Thanks for reading!! S

Exceptional News!

We were just notified that we have been nominated for FIVE International Special Event Society (ISES) WESTIE Awards -- the award show is in Denver, Colorado on November 2nd. In 1997, the Board Members of the ISES Los Angeles Chapter decided to produce a gala and awards show honoring special event industry professionals. This is such a huge honor, we couldn't wait to share it with you. There's so much talent in the categories for this award, our ISES Chapter alone has 9 nominations! Kudos to all who submitted and are nominated for their events.

We submitted the following weddings for consideration & are pleased to be nominated as follows:

Best Dining Tabletop

FIRE & ICE WEDDING: This wedding for 80 guests held in a wine cave utilized tones of grey & red for the wedding. The table was covered in copper colored mirror and had more than 10,000 carnations & roses and an arbor suspended inside the cave made of moss & florals.

Best Wedding - 2 Nominations!

WINE COUNTRY WEDDING: A wedding for 30 guests traveling from the midwest to Napa Valley created a unique opportunity to showcase a variety of beautiful tones such as apricot, copper & burgundy. The entire structure was covered in moss & dogwood branches, featured 7 hanging floral chandeliers & hundreds of yard of garland.

FIRE & ICE WEDDING: A wedding where the bride wore red created an amazing winter wedding in California Napa Valley for 80 guests. The ceremony was held in a tent & dinner in a cave which featured such fantastic decor touches as a flaming ice bar, miniature chip & dip hors d'oeuvres and an incredible dining table made from bronze mirror and hundreds of blooms.

Best Social Event (non wedding)

RECEPTION d'ART A unique barrel room was the foundation for a unique dinner reception for 60 guests in December 2005. When the couple was married in a private Scottish castle only months before, they chose to host a three day extravaganza weekend for their guests in the Sonoma Valley -- food & wine reigned the evening -- until the finale, an hour long private performance from Tony Bennett.

Best Floral Design NOCHE DEL FUEGO:

We first submitted this one of a kind table consideration as a nominee for Best Dining Tabletop, but it was transferred to the Best Floral Design category -- but that's fantastic also! This 60; long table was the main event for a wedding dinner held in Mexico and has fast become one of our signature events garnering the Best Dining Tabletop for The Special Event Show 2006.

Thanks so much for the nominations!!

Cheers!