Anna & Frank Tie The Knot!

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had an amazing holiday season with family & friends!
I'm so excited to start off the new year with Anna & Frank's wedding images captured by He & She Photo.  They were a dream to work with and so thankful for Anna's generosity, kindness, thoughtful heart as we developed our friendship throughout the planning process.  Anna was one of my hardcore DIY brides and she managed to make 300+ paper flowers, handmade all of her stationery designs; including 5-8 page story book wedding invites and even built a custom chalkboard/escort card display from scratch! The wedding ceremony and reception took place at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with Patina Group by our side (yum!) while our staff managed over 310+ guests. It was a big celebration but glad to say everything went well without a hitch.  Here are some lovely photos captured by He & She Photo. Enjoy!

Absolutely love these two images of Anna. Looking back these photos makes me miss her so much!

Flower Allie did it again by creating the most beautiful white fluffy bridal bouquet! It matched Anna's dress perfectly!

I put these two images together because the BM bouquets and Anna's BHLDN shoes were almost identical! Allison
should be proud for making these gorgeous bouquets because she didn't even see the shoes Anna was wearing! ;)  

A huge props to the bridal party for making this wedding so memorable and fun!

Since we had over 300+ guests, I didn't want to stick with all floral arrangements for every table. Plus we were on a tight budget for decor so I came up with an idea of adding Anna's delicate flowers onto clear vases with a help of super hot glue.  Who knew these paper flowers can look so classy and elegant, not to mention budget-friendly? ;) A typical ballroom setting doesn't necessarily mean go all out on flowers and linens. This wedding is a perfect example of keeping things simple and clean.

We even had a silhouette artist come to keep the guests entertained!

I think almost 50+ paper flowers were pinned in to their bridal party backdrop. It wasn't easy transporting 300+ flowers,
these babies were carefully stored in my SUV & Anna's dad's moving truck the night before the wedding!

Hopefully these images will make you want to have crafting sessions with your bridesmaids. :) It was a true labor of love but watching these two love birds fully enjoy the day, not caring about anything else was a pure joy on my end.  Here's a glimpse of their special day captured by Cloud 9 Cinematography.

Anna + Frank from Jason Kim on Vimeo.

So Magical & Inspiring

via food+flower+style
This is why I love weddings! Happy Wednesday!

Church Reception gets a Make Over

I posted a few posts (here and here) on why lighting & draping make a world of difference.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Can I get an Amen? :)
Here's a before & after shot of the church reception hall.
BEFORE (FRONT VIEW)

AFTER (FRONT VIEW)

BEFORE (BACK VIEW)

AFTER (BACK VIEW)

Major thanks to Luna Party Rentals for their draping & G2 lighting for their awesome lighting.
About 7-8 crew members (including myself) stayed until 10pm the night before the wedding to set it all up. Talk about dedication & commitment to completely transform the space!
More photos will be up soon..

A peak into a working mom's life

Hello to all the loyal readers out there!
I know a lot of you may be wondering what I’ve been up to lately, I’m truly sorry for the lack of blog posts. It’s been so hectic and crazy with the back to back weddings that we have lined up from this week to the end of March and my in-laws have also been here from Korea to celebrate Grant’s 1^st birthday party. I’ll put a blog post up this week dedicated to Grant’s birthday- I can’t wait to share the pictures with you all because everything turned out so cute!
To make up for my lack of blog posts lately, I thought it would be fun to share with you and give you a peek at what goes on in a planner’s daily life. I also want to write this post to let all the readers know that being a business owner, mom, wife, and everything in between is do-able. First, a major shout out to all the hard working moms out there!! Honestly I still don’t have it all figured out yet but I think that I’m getting better at it. Things I learned over this year: Motherhood requires a lot of structure and scheduling. No messing around or wasting time.

Here’s my weekly schedule. During the weekdays, I send Grant to daycare on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am-5pm. So I usually take 2 days out of the week for appoints I meet with clients, vendors, visit venues, attend prototype meetings and food tasting. I literally try to jam all my appointments, so when I’m out I make sure to try to book 3-4 appointments in one day. It sounds crazy, but this is the part I enjoy the most, meeting with people- well, minus the driving.
Other days, I respond/check e-mails, take care of logistical matters, create timelines, floor plans, make phone calls, update my blog and etc. It’s not the best part of the job but I get about 70% of the ‘real’ work done. Grant is up by 6am so I make sure to give him plenty of attention by playing with him in the morning until he takes his 1^st nap. (Thanks Courtney for the advice! It's going great!) Oh how I wish my son can sleep until 9am… I’ve tried everything but I think his internal clock is 6am. My husband comes home from work around 5:30pm so I get dinner ready in between, but we do go out occasionally. :) Grant is in bed by 8pm which leaves the rest of the evening for me and my hubby.
I could use my evening times effectively like read a book (sure), spend quality time with my hubby, go out for a jugging or SLEEP EARLY but I end up browsing through twitter, facebook and other wedding blogs. It's so hard to shut down the computer! I definitely need help in this area. To think that I'm constantly busy for an exercise is a total excuse.

On the weekends, I either have weddings or have family time on Sundays. I purposely don’t take wedding on Sundays because I promised my husband to make Sundays family day. Occasionally I’ll meet with clients (2 hours max) who aren’t available during the weekdays. On weekends, I try to clean up the house, do laundry, cook some home cooked meals and hang out with friends/families OR recharge by taking naps while my hubby watches the baby! :)
As a mom working from home, I realized I need more discipline, training, and need to make sure that I make the most of the time that I have. Trust me, I'm not as disciplined as you think I may sound. In college, I couldn't wake up on time for my 11am class and I could definitely sleep in for 12 hours straight without feeling guilty! My friends who are reading this post will crack up because you know it's true!!!
Balancing family & career isn't easy but I always tell myself that life won't get any easier with baby #2 or #3! Better get used to it or else I'm gonna be one complaining mother who whines all the time.
Anyways, here are some photos to show you what I’ve been up to for the past month.

Here are some venues I visited during the last month or two. I swear, I feel like a site inspector.

Adamson House in Malibu, this is one of my FAVORITE locations!! It's a pain in the butt following all their policies and restrictions, but it's definitely worth the work.

The Langham Pasadena, a beautiful venue and I am so lucky that I have two weddings there this year.

St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Lomita. This place is a hidden gem. The sanctuary has the prettiest stone aisle with stain glass art work.

Greystone Mansion- LOVE LOVE this venue too! Greystone is definitely a hidden treasure in Beverly Hills a quite place with great views of the city. Again, a lot of work because they don't provide anything but space but so worth the pain!


Rancho Del Cielo in Malibu has a spectacular ocean view, an acre of gardens, oak trees, rustic trails and an old California cottage. LOVE! LOVE this place too! I'm SO SO excited to be working here this August!


Last but not least, the Montage at Laguna Beach. Just simply breathtaking!


I've been also attending LOTS mock up meetings too.

Mille Fiore's prototype session back in January.

Flower Allie, love collaborating ideas with Allison! She's such a sweetheart!

I went to downtown LA with one of my clients to do some fabric shopping. I normally rent linens but for this wedding coming up in March, we had to custom made our runners.

Design meeting with Kristine for upcoming weddings. She works HARD to find these fabulous items that we can't reveal just yet but my crafty assistant, Christine made these paper ornaments and dyed each page to give it the vintage look. Isn't this awesome?! I give her a project and she gets it on TIME to me. Thank you Christine!


My favorite part- meeting with clients and hearing the stories of how they met! It's like a breath of fresh air.

Hope this post will make up for my absence because it took me a while to write it all up. I honestly don't know how I make it through the each day but seeing Grant's smile definitely brightens up any bad days.
Announcements: I am completely booked until July 2010 but feel free to send me inquires about your weddings. I would love to refer you to some fabulous coordinators and associates that will best suite your wedding. I do have openings from August to December, so hurry and reserve your date! Grant's birthday photos come up real soon. So stay tuned!

Bridal bouquets should reflect your personality and style

While I still love the white, fluffy peonies for a classic bridal bouquet, I must say I love these bouquets with a bit of personality and style.
Meg of La Partie Events continues to blow me away with her creativity & skills in coming up with the most original bouquets & floral designs ever! She's an extremely talented woman and you need to bookmark her blog for some serious inspirations.

Probably one of my favorite bouquets I've seen in the blog world. Simply loving how she incorporated the feathers!

Photos by Stephanie Williams

Photos by Erin Hearts Court

Who says all bridesmaids should hold matching bouquets? Simply all gorgeous!

Photos by SDK Photo

Photos by Sweet Monday

Photos by Erin Hearts Court

KLK Photos