Thursday, December 28, 2006

When Only the Best Will Do...


We have had the pleasure of working with so many wonderful professionals this year. Each brings his or her own creative talents and personality to the mix to enhance every wedding for which they are engaged. If you want the very best service and artistry, here are the best of the best in five categories.

Floral Designer
Edward Bellingeri
www.edwardbdesign.com
Edward designed and coordinated many celebrity weddings in Southern California before moving to Northern California. He was in great demand for his attention to detail which satisfied even the most discerning brides and mothers-of-the-bride. And yet, he is very warm, personable and thoughtful. He is the real deal, the whole package.

Couturier
Jin Wang
www.jinwang.net
A number of our brides have been 'Jin Wang' brides. Not only was every interaction with Jin personal and calm, but each dress was perfectly suited to each bride's personality. The dresses were so comfortable and flattering. We never saw a bride pull up the bodice or smooth a wrinkle all day. Not once. These dresses were perfectly fitted. And the dresses swished and flowed as you would imagine in a fairytale, looking as beautiful from the back and from the front. And now, Jin has added another bonus: no charge for alterations for her couturier gowns. That's Jin - adding a higher level of service before even being asked.

Caterer
Paula Le Duc
www.paulaleduc.com
I was at a reception held by Paula Le Duc to thank a variety of professionals for their support in the past year. Every aspect of the food and service was impeccable. If you ordered a drink from a waitperson, even if you moved around the very large space, they would find you and deliver your drink promptly and courteously. How do they do that? Every guest had a story to tell of how Paula and her staff surpassed all expectations. Her motto is so true, "Perfect will be just fine."

Cake
Shinmin Li
www.idreamofcake.com
I can't remember another professional taking their art to such a high level so quickly. Shinmin approaches every aspect of designing and creating cakes differently than anyone else. Just look at her showroom - it looks more like an exclusive shoe salon than a bakery. Her look is fresh and hip, elegant and classic, . If those adjectives sound contradictory, just take a look at her designs.

Floral Designer
Nicole Sillapere
www.sillapere.com
When people attempt to do two things well, they usually come up short. Not so with Nicole Sillapere. She is one of the freshest, most creative minds in the business AND she treats the planet gently by using biodegradeable and recycled materials wherever possible. Nicole produced the most recent Global Green event at the Bently Reserve, attended by Leonardo diCaprio, Salma Hayek, and Orlando Bloom among others, raising over $250,000 for smart solutions to global warming. But let's go back to Nicole's designs. They are crisp, contemporary, stylish. In fact, she is a trend setter. And when Nicole designs an event, she takes into account as far as the eye can see. This keeps the florals, the furniture and the accessories in proportion rather than having just one element screaming for attention which visually throws everything out of balance. Her crew are a cohesive group of talented individuals who, despite tight deadlines, are always calm, have fun with one another, and seem to be both at play and at peace.

Friday, December 22, 2006

YouTube


This was the year of YouTube. Video was everywhere. Some of it good, most of it not. No single photo would be able to convey the sense of movement, fun, surprise, or emotion that these videos do. Here are our Top Favorites:

Kiwi:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdUUx5FdySs

OK Go:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINJQ5LRh-0

Free Hugs:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

Come Into My World:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTrO6LYSHQQ&eurl=

Talk Talk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcQIwbvGRKU

Can:
cjcphoto.com/can/

Urban Ninja:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2kJZOfq7zk

Tony vs.Paul
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJzU3NjDikY&eurl

Where is Matt?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNF_P281Uu4

9/11 Truth
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsMgYgpyQjI&mode=related&search=

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Early Christmas Gift


We awoke to an early Christmas present. Our movie trailer of Nissa & Tom's Ceremony is the very first featured wedding video on the Brides.Com website! The companion piece, The Veiling, which preceded the ceremony is also featured. Theresa DiMasi. the Editor in Chief of Brides.com and Condé Nast Bridal Media is an extraordinary woman. She was the visionary and the heart and soul behind the legendary websites Epicurious.com, Concierge.com, Style.com, MenStyle.com and YM.com. And now, she's making great things happen at Brides.com (online home of Elegant Bride, Modern Bride and Brides Magazines).

We are the only wedding videographer to have wedding videos featured by the two leading wedding magazine websites, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine (another great visionary in the bridal media world) and Brides.com. You can view our movie trailers at www.brides.com/videos and at www.weddingstylemagazine.com/featured/. We are glad that there is a forum for us and our colleagues to show brides that the field of videography has changed. At its highest level, it has morphed into an art form that could more accurately be called cinematography.

No need for gifts this year, Santa Claus. We've already received ours.

Friday, December 08, 2006

Best Movies of 2006


Everyone's a critic! Now's our turn. Here are our favorite movies of the past year based upon how impactful they are, how well they tell a story and how well they are crafted (technical considerations), regardless of political outlook, lifestyle or likeability of the key actors.

1. Flags of our Fathers
2. The Queen
3. The Departed
4. Letters from Iwo Jima
5. Lucky Number Sleven
6. Perfume: Letters of a Murderer
7. Volver
8. Akeelah and the Bee
9. Mrs Henderson Presents
10. Deja Vu


Honorable Mention
Lake House
Cars
Happy Feet
Casino Royale
The Good Shepherd
Munich
Brokeback Mountain
Devil Wears Prada
Match Point
Walk the Line
Inside Man

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Second Best Wedding Investment in the World


"Frightened Girl" by Roy Lichtenstein

We have observed a fair number of weddings. Many with excellent wedding coordinators. One or two with poor ones. Some without any at all. What conclusion can we draw? Almost every wedding can benefit from the services of a great wedding coordinator. Why? Most brides or the friend/family member she designates as the coordinator for the day, have little experience in hosting parties of the size, complexity and importance of a wedding. It is difficult to anticipate what can go wrong or how to deal with the challenges.

How bad can it be? Not to scare you, but here are a few things we've personally seen, in as random an order as they happened:
1. Cake arrived and looked like a disaster.
2. Bride forgot her veil.
3. Hair dresser locked photographer and videographer out of the house and refused to let them in during bride's preparations.
4. Florist's delivery truck was in a car accident on the way to the ceremony.
5. DJ played songs from the 'do not play list' and did not play songs from the 'cherished favorites' list.
6. Parents of the groom got lost, delaying the ceremony by an hour.
7. Power failure at the venue, so no hot food could be served and lights were out during entire reception.
8. Public address system did not work; guests could not hear the ceremony.
9. Limo broke down between church and reception.
10. Chair cushions were soaking wet from being left out overnight.
11. Bride's changing room was so distant from the reception area, that it took 45 minutes for her to change and to walk back to the reception. During that time, more than half the guests had left.
12. No one could find the toss bouquet.
13. No one could find the lanterns to be hung from the trees.
14. Officiant was one hour late.
15. Photographer and uncle of the groom got into a fist fight at the bouquet toss.
16. Band leader had a heart attack the day before the wedding.
17. Bride's gown arrived very wrinkled from the salon on the morning of the wedding.
18. Hair dresser left bride in half-done state because 'she had a more important bride to get to'.
19. Ring bearer started to relieve himself during ceremony.
20. Family dynamics of all kinds in blended as well as in traditional families.
21. Mother of the bride's surgical stitches started to open and bleed.
22. Drapery structure blew over in the wind and crashed into the string quartet 15 minutes before the ceremony.
23. Bride's aunt, who had made a half-hearted attempt to commit suicide the night before, tried to crash the wedding.
24. Disgruntled ex-boyfriend of bride called vendors the night before the wedding and told them the wedding was called off.

A Shower of Babies

We just received the picture of an adorable set of twins recently born to one of our lovely couples. So we thought we'd take a look at how many babies our wonderful brides and grooms have had since their wedding days. Over the last four years, 25 sweet babies have been born! A veritable shower of babies. Some babies we know through photos enclosed in Christmas cards. Others, through thoughtful emails. Here is a gallery of the little cuties who arrived this year:

Thuy and Robert welcomed their new son
Drais on December 10
6 lb 6 oz, 19.10"


Lisa, Albert and big sister Kira welcomed
Elena on November 19, 2006
6 lb 13 oz, 19.7"


Jocelyn & Jerry welcomed Martine & Noah
in November, 2006


Claire & Son welcomed Sean in June, 2006


Laura, Andy & big brother Patrick welcomed Kyle in April, 2006


Cindy & Tony welcomed Ryan
on February 25, 2006
5 lb 15 oz, 19.25"