Jimmy Choo for H&M!!! 2009-11-22

So, one of the great things about flying is that you get to catch up on your important reading...you know, Us Weekly, Life & Style, and of course In Style Magazine! I almost fell out of the plane when I read the exciting news...I may finally get to own a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes! That's right, I am around them all the time..they tend to be a shoe of choice for many of my brides and photographers shoot them all day long in my industry. But...I have never been able to throw down the $5-600 for a pair. But now Jimmy Choo is selling a line of their shoes on H&M http://www.hm.com/! Prices as low as $79-99!! Check them out! (more...)

Baby It's Cold Outside!! 2009-12-04

A vintage neck warmer from www.ilovelowie.com! How darling is this?? I love this time of year...Christmas, crackling fires, hot cocoa, boots, scarves and my new favorite-fingerless gloves! They used to be so biker, but now they are vintage and darling. Take a look at these from http://www.etsy.com/ and a new favorite find http://www.ilovelowie.com/! (more...)

Happy New Year! 2010-01-08

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy 2010! I am so excited for this new decade to begin. I apologize for not updating my blog over the holidays...it was a very busy holiday season!

One of the most exciting parts of my holiday was helping a very special local family in need. I took it upon myself this year to see how I can help one local family in need this holiday season and with the help of my good friend, Pastor Jon Ireland (who officiates many of my weddings including my own vow renewal), I was introduced to a gentleman that works with the Turner Foundation http://www.theturnerfoundation.com/. He introduced me to a local family that was in dire need. Their story (and they) touched my heart and I wanted to do whatever I could to help them. I knew I couldn't do much alone, but I felt that if I were to reach out to my friends and colleagues and basically everyone I knew (which happens to be a good amount of people I found!), we could make a difference together. In just a few weeks, I was able to raise over $4000 and was able to get them out of their slum apartment into a new home complete with new furnishings and household items (and a Christmas tree!) before the holidays! It was such a gift to me to see the response I received from everyone that offered to help and I was so happy to see this family get a new start in 2010. That truly is what made it a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year for me (and for this family). I want to thank everyone that helped to make this happen with me. Your donations and efforts were truly felt and made a huge difference in one family's life. On Jan. 19th I will be interviewed on www.nickandpaulshow.com, an AM radio talk show in Santa Barbara, for a segment called the Year of Living Generously and will discuss this venture I undertook in hopes to encourage others to do the same. You can go to their website to listen to the show afterwards if you'd like if don't hear it on air.

My Christmas was spent at my new home (see photo) with my family in Santa Ynez, CA. Then I had a 3 day Destination Wedding Weekend Extravaganza over New Years Eve! It started with a welcome party on New Years Eve at Bacara Resort, a New Years Day Rehearsal Dinner BBQ at Gainey Vineyard and then the wedding at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Montecito followed by the reception back at Bacara Resort. All for 200ppl each night! It was a lot of fun but I am exhausted to say the least. I look forward to posting Jose Villa's amazing photos soon!
In the meantime, stay tuned for more blog updates as I get back into the swing of things. I am so excited about the weddings I have coming up this year and can't wait to post images of some of my favorites from last year as well. Best Wishes to everyone this year!! (more...)

Dramatic, Romantic Bacara Resort 2010-01-15

One of my favorite weddings of 2009 was this intimate 50 person wedding at Bacara Resort http://www.bacararesort.com/ between Heather and Chad. I absolutely love it when a wedding becomes an absolute reflection of the couple. This is a clear example of exactly that! Heather had such a unique, clear vision of what she wanted...dramatic, artistic, darkly romantic, theatrical, mystical forest feeling. With the help of Nico Designs http://www.nicosb.com/, we created exactly that for her. Heather is an artist actually and comes from a family of artists as well. She designed her own invitations, her sister designed the amazing necklace she is wearing (loved the skull and cross bones going down her back!) and her mother is an artist that designed the centerpeices at the rehearsal dinner. It's no wonder there was such creative design to this special weekend. And Joy Marie's photos ww.joymariephoto.com captured it all in the very same way. I love them! Hair and makeup was by the ever-amazing Cathryn Van Breene http://www.cvbmakeup.com/. Cathryn is so great at capturing this sort of Old-Hollywood, glamorous style...Heather was stunning!
One of my favorite moments was when Heather (the bride) came to the rehearsal dinner venue with me, Birnam Wood Country Club in Montecito, to help me decorate the table. Here it was the night before her big day, the moment when many brides start to really get nervous and families and friends begin to come in and take up your time, and her mom was home napping (which meant she really was not stressing at all, which is Wonderful for a mother of the bride at this point!) and Heather decided she wanted to come and spend time helping me set up. We had such a nice time together..just the two of us! And she used to be a florist...so that Really helped! Thanks for having me be a part of such a wonderful wedding weekend! (more...)

Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine Tabletop! 2010-01-29

I was so excited to be invited to create a tabletop design with two of the most talented people and such good friends: Camilla Svensson Burns, the amazingly creative florist behind www.camillaflowers.com, and Youngsong Martin, owner of www.wildflowerlinens.com. We went to the beautiful St. Regis in San Francisco www.stregis.com and spent the day designing tabletops to hopefully be selected to go into the 2010 Winter issue of Grace Ormonde's Wedding Style magazine. Well, our creative efforts paid off and I am attaching the photo (the one on the left is our table) from the publication. Our design was meant to fit the space of the St. Regis...modern, clean, contemporary design with an Asian influence. We used a combination of animal print and solid linens with a touch of whimsy in the chair flower sashes, the modern square and round place settings and ruby red glasses were from Classic Party Rental's Unique Tabletop collection www.classicpartyrentals.com, the chairs were from Chameleon Chairs www.chameleonchair.com and the highback sofa and end table from www.blueprintstudiocollection.com. Camilla of course designed the floral as well as the beautiful lamp on the side table to give the setting a loungy feel. Add a few of these tables in to your rounds or feasting tables in your wedding layout and you will create an environment that makes guests feel they have entered a stylish modern home! The rest of the tabletops in the issue are also amazing, so pick up an issue if you'd like to see more. (more...)