My first hilltop-turned-warehouse wedding

Where do I even begin to describe what I've been busy with for the past couple of months, only to have the plans come to fruition in a completely different way than I expected...

A couple of months ago, I met with a couple from Central California who was looking to have their wedding at a family-owned property here in the Bay Area. They had a clear vision of what they want their wedding to be like; a celebration with family and friends lasting from the afternoon till the wee hours of the morning, with elements of surprise here and there. Ok, so here we have a site, which is just mainly land on a hilltop; we will have to bring in generators, lighting, tents, water, portable restrooms and all the rentals among the more than twenty vendors we have to secure (think mariachi band, Spanish guitarist and DJ for musical entertainment, Pinkberry and taco cart for late-night snacks, babysitters and magician for the kids, a photo booth and cigar roller for other activities), plus make it all happen in about two months? Why not, I love a challenge as much as anyone else!

Transportation was also a major issue as we needed to shuttle guests up the hill via a dirt road for the wedding and down the hill at the end of it. So, after much time and effort spent on finding, coordinating and planning details with about twenty four vendors, we were supposed to have an outdoor ceremony, tented reception and an outdoor cocktail hour and lounge area. Lo and behold, the June 4th weekend was the first rainy weekend we had in weeks and that threw a MAJOR kink in our plans.

The dirt road got really wet, muddy and slippery, making it difficult for non-4 wheel drive vehicles to get up the hill. The vendors were the first to arrive at the site and one of their vans got stuck! The property owner had to tow it up with his bulldozer, that is not a good sign. As the rain poured on, a decision has to be made as to whether the wedding was still going to be held on the hilltop or moved to a different location, and if so, where can we move it to in such short notice?

To make a long story short, a relative of the couple offered his warehouse for their wedding so the caterer, lighting designer, floral designer, my assistant and I scrambled to have everything set up in about three hours. Picture a Costco-style warehouse, with aisles of products on one end and large loading/unloading docks on the other. Natti and her staff, our lighting designer from North American Theatre Technology, Inc., added as much pipe and drape as possible to make the open space as attractive as possible.

Even though the schedule was delayed, we still had the ceremony and the reception still lasted till 2am. In the end, the bride and groom were happy with the way things turned out, they still had a great time celebrating with their family and friends and even though the view was not what they had in mind, it turned out to be an unforgettable wedding for them after all.

That is thanks in part to all the vendors who banded together to make it happen. Personally, I'm grateful for the team of vendors we assembled for this wedding, they showed professionalism in their service that day, especially Stuart Rental, Catered Too!, North American Theatre Technology, Inc. and Chic Designs.

To all you brides and grooms out there, the lesson to take away from this is make sure you hire quality vendors; all vendors can do a good job under normal circumstances, it's what they can do in extreme circumstances that separates the good from the great. How do you go about hiring quality vendors, well, start off by hiring a wedding planner! They will be able to help you distinguish the great ones. Stay tuned for more photos in a future blog!

Fire Safety, Anyone?

Last Tuesday night, I attended the Silicon Valley NACE meeting at the Stanford Faculty Club in Palo Alto to hear Natti Pierce-Thomson give a presentation on fire and electrical safety in the events industry. She is the President and Senior Lighting Designer of North American Theatre Technology. (You may recall that Natti also provided the lighting at the ACPWC meeting in February.) One of the first ETCP Certified Entertainment Electricians, Natti is also a member of the NFPA (National Fire Protection Association). Who better to teach us on fire and electricity safety than Natti!

She gave plenty of useful tips and information to teach us about how to use extension cords properly, what kind of extension cords to use and not to use in different situations and how to check if a piece of fabric is flammable, among other things. She also showed us the latest in LED lighting technology. Lots of useful information! I also learned that there is a product that is essentially a single-use fire extinguisher about the size of a water bottle. Guess what I'll be adding to my bridal emergency bag from now on!

If you look closely at the centerpiece, you can see that different kind of extension cords have been incorporated and would later be used in Natti's presentation, how clever!

For dinner, we started with an artichoke carpaccio and mâche salad with shaved Parmesan, tomato concassé and balsamic vinaigrette.

The entree was a duet entree consisting of Painted Hills Natural Angus petit filet mignon topped with frizzled leeks and filet of halibut with lemon thyme beurre blanc with white and green asparagus and Gruyère potato strudel.

After the entree, we were treated to a cheese course; various Cowgirl Creamery cheeses with lavender honey, quince paste and herbed flatbread.

Last but not least, the dessert was an Opera cake; layers of almond sponge cake with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache.

All in all, good food, excellent presentation, getting to meet new event professionals and catching up with old ones, what more can one ask for?

ACPWC Installation Meeting

Last Wednesday evening, I attended ACPWC's Installation Meeting at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I love attending ACPWC meetings! All of us wedding consultants get to catch up with one another and it's a great atmosphere of inspiration and motivation. Especially the Installation Meeting, it usually takes place in February and because it's been a couple of months since we had all gotten together, there's so much to catch up on!

After the cocktail hour, Jennifer Dahlen, Director of Sales at the Santa Clara Convention Center, introduced herself and her staff to us and proceeded to give us a tour of the venue. They recently remodeled their ballrooms and now it has a modern look and feel to it. The carpet has neutral tones so it will be very easy to match it with other colors.

After the tour, we proceeded to a meeting room to continue our meeting. The room had lighting provided by North American Theatre Technology and beautiful floral centerpieces provided by Floral Design Studio.

Before dinner was served, our new Board of Directors for 2010 was sworn in, here is a picture of the  swearing-in:

The delicious dinner was catered by Aramark; we had a cucumber and lettuce salad and the entree was a filet of beef with shrimp, with roasted tomato and asparagus and creamy Yukon Gold mashed potatoes. The beef was so tender that I finished my whole plate (which is usually not the case since I am a small eater)!

Let's not forget about dessert, my favorite course... This evening, the dessert was a personal, two-tiered mini wedding cake provided by Cake Expressions. How cute is this!! It is chocolate cake covered by white fondant. Yummy! Again, polished off the entire cake!

The other reason I love attending Installation Meetings is because we get informed of all the events and educational programs that the Board has in store for the members this year. 2010 will be an important year for ACPWC as we get ready to prepare for a very SPECIAL event next year (to be revealed soon). I am very excited about my new responsibilities within ACPWC this year and cannot wait to start!