It was a crazy, busy and fun Summer and now Fall is quickly passing us by! We’re coming up on the last wedding of the season this October 27th and it’s super special because it’s my brother’s 🙂 I will post pictures soon! I’ve also been working my tail off on launching my own online mini magazine! It’s for current and future clients, along with family and friends to give everyone an inside look at Constance Curtis Events. We’re scheduled to launch this coming week (eeeekkkk!!!) but due to my brother’s wedding :), the launch may get pushed back till the first week of November. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek of the cover!!!

xoxo,

I’m getting very excited for Kyle (my brother) and Heather’s wedding! October is right around the corner 🙂 Here are some pictures from their engagement session on Coronado Island with Aaron Young Photography. Aaron is also shooting their wedding!

I love planning any kind of event! Weddings are my first love but I jump at the opportunity to plan baby showers, kids birthday parties, and bridal showers. They are so much fun! Over the past couple months I put together a little something special for my sister and my niece, Lola Rae, who is arriving in March 🙂 It was fun and relaxed and more importantly, done inexpensively for those on a budget! Take a peek below and enjoy 🙂

Desserts were done by Sweet and Saucy! and Linens provided by Elegant Designs Specialty Linens. The rest of the decorations I made 🙂

XO,

I have a lot of favorite things from my 2011 weddings but here are my top 5 (OK, maybe 6 🙂 It was hard to narrow it down!!)

#6: Video shot on Super 8 Film. I had a few 2011 clients love this and even more 2012 clients! It’s so super neat! Unfamiliar with what I’m talking about? Check out some videos from Shark Pig.

#5: Lighting! It’s probably the number one thing that is overlooked which is such a bummer because it can change the entire look and feel of a wedding. I especially love this Violet/Chocolate brown lighting we did at our Big Canyon Country Club wedding!

#4: Coral/Peach! I cannot get enough of this color right now!! A few images of flowers from my 2011 weddings! I hope I get a few more 2012 clients that want to incorporate this color because I’m not quite ready to say goodbye 🙂

#3: Wood Tables! I love rectangular tables but I especially LOVE wood ones! Wood tables at our Malibu wedding:

#2: Vintage Furniture! Vintage furniture can be expensive so it’s not for every client but it’s so super neat to incorporate when you can! A picture of a shoot we did on the beach with vintage furniture from Ribbons and Rust!

and my #1 favorite thing from my 2011 weddings… I bet you can guess it… Dessert Bars!!! This is my #1 because I’m not a huge cake fan. I like to nibble on a lot of different desserts 🙂 and guess what?? This trend isn’t going anywhere! Yippe!! A couple of my favorite dessert bars we did this year:

Thanks and Happy Holidays!!!

If someone asked me a few months ago what would be the biggest trend in the 2012 wedding gown collections, I would have said long sleeves (thanks to Kate Middleton). I was definitely not expecting Vera Wang and other designers to push the envelope so far as to introduce a black wedding gown line. Yes, that’s right. Celebrity wedding gown designers such as Monique Lhuillier and Vera Wang have added blush and black dresses to their Spring 2012 Wedding Gown Collections!!

In 2011 we saw less and less traditional weddings as couples began personalizing their weddings with their own unique style. And now in 2012 brides are going to take it a step further with wearing black and blush dresses. Is it too much? Are there some wedding traditions we just shouldn’t touch? Or should we embrace the change?! I want to hear your thoughts!

XO,

It’s Halloween time!! Can you believe that? Where did the year go? Ready or not, holiday season is here! I’m actually not a huge fan of Halloween decorations because black and orange is probably my least favorite color combination. But I did manage to find a little inspiration 🙂 Enjoy! XO

Love how neutral these are!

The little girl is probably the cutest 🙂

These I DIE for!!!!!!! So my style!

Who doesn’t love lace?!

Thanks for reading 🙂

I apologize for the delay in these pictures! Wedding season is in full effect and the past two months have been extremely busy! As seen on Style Me Pretty, our June destination wedding in Cabo San Lucas Mexico! Here are some of my favorite pictures! I love this couple! Enjoy 🙂

Pictures by Aaron Young Photography

XO,

I recently returned from Cabo Mexico where I successfully planned my first international destination wedding!! My bride, Rebecca, was kind enough to draft up the below advice for other brides considering hiring a wedding planner. Read below to get Rebecca’s insight on working with a planner. Thank you Rebecca for taking the time to put this together for future brides! xx

“Eleven months ago, my husband and I got engaged and began the journey of planning our wedding. As we listed out all that needed to be done, we became overwhelmed and unsure of where to begin. That’s when a good friend of mine referred me to Constance Curtis Events. Within minutes of our first phone conversation I was at ease as she made wedding planning sound completely manageable. Days later my husband had the same experience at our first meeting. Constance assured us that she was there to help with each step, from locating our venue, to choosing vendors, to narrowing down décor. To get us started, she sent us a personalized month-by-month checklist of everything we needed to get done leading up to the wedding. Then, she took our total budget and created a detailed breakdown of her recommendations for how much to spend on each area so we knew exactly what we were working with.

One of the most valuable aspects of hiring Constance Curtis was having someone to locate venues and vendors within our budget and narrow them down to the best options. This prevented us from spending countless hours of our own research and teasing out vendors who were out of our price range or couldn’t provide what we needed. Since my husband and I both work full time, this was monumental! We found it tremendously helpful having someone navigate and compare the many contracts. My husband is a businessman, so he could have easily taken on this task, but what we didn’t know was what we didn’t know! For example, how many weddings does the venue allow per day? Will there be a coordinator that the venue provides on the day? Does the venue refuse or require outside vendors for certain things? Do they have a site fee or just fees for what is used? Furthermore, when all the contracts are finally compared, how in the world do we create a spreadsheet when they all bill things in different ways? The answer was that we didn’t have to because our coordinator did the job for us!

After sorting out the venue and the main vendors, it was time to start tackling some tricky projects. When I showed Constance a photo of my dream dress that was far beyond my budget, she linked me to a dress maker who gave me excellent advice to purchase an inexpensive, basic dress that was the frame of the original dress and then have a tailor reconstruct it into the dream dress. It turned out perfectly and was a tenth of the price of the original gown! When I let her know about my challenge finding the perfect bridesmaid dress, she sent me several links to bridesmaid dress designers I had never heard of before which helped expand my search. When I explained my thoughts for our table décor, including handmade table cloths from my mom, antique vases I had collected, and various flower arrangements, Constance took all of these ideas and made it come together perfectly. When we faced transportation issues in getting our guests from the airport to the resort and from the resort to both the welcome and rehearsal dinners, Constance arranged for a concierge company to set up a private website for us so guests could arrange their own transportation from the airport to the resort and we could arrange buses to the dinners. These were just a few of the countless situations in which we were able to rely on our coordinator to find the best solutions.

Once the wedding weekend arrived, we were not surprised to find that every detail was taken care of. When we arrived at the rehearsal, Constance handed out printed out instructions for each person to follow, including a detailed timeline of the wedding day, locations and times for family and bridal party photos, the ceremony outline, seating and standing charts, and reception outline including speeches and dances. Our family and friends held onto these like road maps for the next 24 hours, which saved me from hunting guests down and answering their many questions. Beyond leading the rehearsal, Constance acted as a guide and point person for our guests throughout their stay.

On the wedding day, she spent the entire day monitoring the vendors and making sure they followed the specific instructions for the table arrangements, reception setup, placement of décor items, specific lighting instructions, and so on. In between all of that, she was checking on my bridesmaids and I in the bridal suite, making sure we had lunch, advising me on what to tip the hair stylists and make-up artists, coordinating with the photographer, passing off payments to vendors, and making sure that everyone kept on schedule. She even handled details I hadn’t considered. When I was ready to change into my reception dress, she went to my room to get it, brought it down for me to change, and then returned my wedding gown to my room so that I wouldn’t miss any of the reception. After the receptions, she meticulously packed up every item we wanted to save and took it to our room so that we could immediately continue onto the after party. She even arranged a meeting for the day after the wedding so that she, the resort’s wedding coordinator, my husband, and I could review the bill and make sure everything matched our contract.

Of the million decisions we made surrounding our wedding, the best decision, hands down, was hiring a wedding coordinator. I looked in my “wedding” email folder just before the wedding and found over 600 emails from Constance in response to those that I had sent to her over the last year. These emails provided us with a wealth of information and meant that we didn’t have to spend our time researching things that we knew nothing about. We were continuously impressed with her knowledge of vendors and professionalism in working with them, her timeliness in responding to our calls and emails, her determination to make our wedding work within our budget, and her ability to quickly locate answers for us so that we could keep checking things off our list. After the last eleven months with Constance, I would recommend to any friend of mine going through the wedding planning process to hire a coordinator right from the start. Having Constance allowed us to relax and enjoy our engagement and provided us with a great sense of security that we were making educated decisions, saving money where possible, and making our dream wedding come to life.”

Thanks for taking the time to read!

XO,

My new love of the day 🙂 A wine barrel chandelier! Kind of obsessed…

Found here on Restoration Hardware!

🙂

We are super excited Cinco de Mayo is almost here! I will be celebrating in Las Vegas with a skinny girl margarita, chips & guac!! How will you be celebrating? Planning a party? Here is a little inspiration to get you in the fiesta mood!

From the one and only Martha Stewart:

Ran out of time to play Martha?? We know how it is!! So here are some fun items you can download and print yourself! They are super easy, just make sure to allow for extra time 🙂

From Blush Printables:

From Paper and Cake:

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Cinco de Mayo!! Ole!!!