Jul

HOT Summer Trends {An Update by Event Pros LA}

We all think of ourselves as “In the Know” regardless of what the topic may be. We want to have the newest thing, the hottest trend, the right fashion “it” color and of course when it comes to your wedding, we all must know what are the trends regardless of the season.

Here I am, to help you out and give you a quick recap and what’s the moment’s HOT Summer wedding trends.

Trend #1 – Bright Hues

A fun way to celebrate your day, but be careful of not using too many colors in one space and ending up with a carnival

Super Hot: Go with sophisticated bright colors and stick to two hues (and one accent). Make strong statements with your color. Think all pink centerpieces with bold orange table linens. The boldness should be stated especially in your centerpieces. Stay away from multi color arrangement and make a statement with a single color center piece that will pull this look together with little effort.

Trend #2 – New Themes

Going back to the basics — beach or garden thesmes are one of the hot summer trands. This allows for a more personal feel to your wedding.

Super Hot: Think of your honeymoon destination. If you’re having a garden wedding but honeymooning in Hawaii, add orchids to your bouquets or fill the bottoms of your centerpiece vases with black lava rocks.

Trend #3:Surprising Invitations

Letterpressed invites in ivory and black are still as popular and elegant as ever. But if you want to go for something a little more edgy, surprising and ultra-creative wedding invitation — go for fun color printing options.

Super Hot: Use colors in a new and unexpected way on your invites by reversing the typical invitation color scheme. rather than using fuchsia lettering on a cream-colored invite, opt for cream print on fuchsia paper. Or mix it up — do the cream-colored invite with fuchsia writing, and then a bright pink reply card with a cream-colored font.

Trend #4 – Eco-Friendly, Natural Centerpieces

Citrus fruit is a tried-and-true favorite for summertime centerpieces as well as my favorite (see my previsous blogs ), but if this is not for you, other options out there are more unexpected and just as visually appealing.

What’s hot now: Use hollowed-out watermelons as a centerpiece container for a casual look that’s fun and seasonal. Another option is to go natural and green with your containers. Incorporate wooden vases or pedestals with grass or moss to give centerpieces a textured, natural feel.

Trend #5 – Beyond Wedding Cake

White wedding cakes are popular for every season, but with bakers offering so many delectable flavors and fillings, why not try a seasonal selection?

Super Hot: Get inspired by the summer flavors you loved as a child. Think fresh strawberries and whipped cream filling for a strawberry shortcake-style wedding cake, or a citrus-infused filling like Key lime, lemon, or orange vanilla buttercream that honors a summertime fruit. A big-hit idea that I love: Hire an ice cream truck to arrive at the end of the night offering summertime favorites — the perfect nostalgic, late-night snack for your guests.

Trend 7: Eco-Friendly Favors

Classic summer favors like flip-flops will always satisfy, but why not give back to the planet? After all, she has done a lot for us.

Super Hot: Eco-friendly favors are bigger than ever. One idea: Give guests locally grown herbs planted in recyclable glass jars or tin cans. Dressed up with ribbon or paper in your wedding colors, they’re gorgeous and good for the earth. Beyond plants, you might also consider donating to a local charity for a wedding favor idea that never goes out of season.

Jul

Do You REALLY Need a Wedding Planner?… {Wedding Advice from Event Pros LA}

The question comes up more often than not… Do you REALLY need a Wedding Planner?

I say HECK YA and OF COURSE!

In the current era, one which has made us all cut back and count our pennies, it’s only natural for brides to check the “to do” wedding list to see what items they can take off the lists to save some money. And since most of us have been planning our wedding since we were, oh I don’t know …… FIVE…… we tend to think “oh, what’s the big deal about planning a wedding? I can throw it together!” So it’s also natural to think a wedding planner is just an extra expense.

Do you want to know my thoughts about all of this? Well, I’ll tell you regardless.

“In today’s economy” (a phrase I’ve come to hate more and more each day), it is more important than ever to have a wedding planner. Whenever Event Pros is in a meeting with a client, we simply explain to them the economics of how to save money by hiring us as their wedding planner.

The planners are the people who actually SAVE you money:

— Planners look and review your contracts and make sure that what you think you are getting is in fact WHAT YOU ARE GETTING

— They have a Rolodex of wedding vendors and long established contracts so they can pair you with the perfect vendor for you that both matches your desires and request and your budget at the same time. At times, they can even get the vendor to give you a reduced price because of their established relationship with the vendor.

–When viewing different venues, often the bride focuses more on how the palce will look with her flowers and linens, yet the planner, with less emotion is able to look at crucial items such as parking space, bathroom condition and location, size of the room and design layout and if there is enough power for the DJ, lighting, band and kitchen for the entire evening.

–When a bride is talking to the caterer, the bride is having a hard enough time trying to decide between chicken and fish let alone the rest of the menu. The planner is asking what the server/guest ratio is and how much is the cost of each server?

Let me share some stories on how planners have helped brides.

– Bride hires wedding planner after selecting the venue but before signing the venue contract. When planner reviews the contract, she finds the bride has contracted for the use of the building ONLY. Bride thought she was getting tables, chairs, linens and lots of other things that the bride thought “were always included” at a reception. The planner saved the bride over $6000 on a bad contract. Well worth the $2000 the bride paid the planner.

–Planner told him this was not a “gig”, this was a wedding, the wives were not on the guest list, and there would be no wives table because there would be no wives. Band member began to argue the point. Planner fired the band and hired a professional DJ. Bride was relieved.

When times are good and people have good jobs, they don’t worry about costs as much. I’m not saying they don’t comparison shop, but they tend to buy bells and whistles instead of staying in a budget. It’s easy to plan a wedding when you’re not paying attention to every penny.

When times are tough, a couple just can’t afford last minute surprises. But they’ve never planned a party for 200+ people before and there are questions they just don’t know to ask. An event planner knows those questions and when he/she asks them, the bride saves money.

Caters are always happy to see a professional planner walk into the room. They know the details are going to be handled, things will run on schedule, and it will be a very pleasant event for everyone.

If you have a tight budget, you NEED a wedding planner. Today, more than ever, it’s the best investment you can make in your wedding.

Remember, it’s your wedding. You have ONE SHOT to get it right. Get a professional on your side who is going to be looking out for you on your very special day.

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Event planning/Uncategorized/Wedding coordinator/Wedding ideas

Event Pros LA

Jul

Summer Inspired Weddings

When we think of Summer, we think of bright, fun colors that make us smile. For those Summer brides who love the colors that come with the season, why not try some fresh lemons into your wedding pallet?

In a rescent wedding Event Pros produced, we went crazy for lemons and used it creativly in decor, center pieces, and accents to tie in the Summer theme into all aspects of the wedding.