Citrus At Social Hollywood

I recently received a beautiful envelope and inside it a stunning card, sent as a generous invitation to preview Social Hollywood's phenomenal new restaurant, Citrus, by Michel Richard. The Chef De Cuisine being Remi Lauvand. And how could I refuse to see and taste these new wonders while enjoying an evening out with my business partner and husband, Jon?

Jon and I stepped out into the night knowing only to expect the wonderful care, concern and service always provided by Social and their excellent staff. When we got there, the atmosphere was abuzz with the new remodel and the famous comforts we're used to (the green room, the billiard room and lounge, and the banquet club). The restaurant has a totally new feel, while keeping the charm and style we're all used to from Social. The ceiling is now front and center in the design and the colors are fresh and warm. Every element was well designed with a lot of thought and love. Loving the previous space, I was a little sad hearing it was being remodeled, but the changes have just increased the beauty and accessibility of the restaurant. It certainly has the approval of Encantare!

We made our reservation for the sample dinner, and when we sat down, I'll admit I was a little apprehensive. The selection made by the Chef was a wonderful paring of foods, but nothing that I eat (being very picky about meats, growing up on a farm where animals were pets, not food...). However, knowing there would be culinary surprises that night, I took it in stride.

First on the docket, a beet and raw tuna salad. Now, I HATE beets. My dad, he loves em, LOVES EM! I HATE EM! And Jon doesn't care for them either. But that salad came to the table and I put my fork in and said I'd try one bite. Two clean plates later, Jon and I sat in shock and awe....we like beets (at least these beets). The salad changed everything. I even ate the raw tuna (no, I don't eat Sushi either). The parings in the salad were like nothing I've ever had before in my life, and I can't describe it, suffice to say, it's wonderful-go try it for yourself!

Second on the docket, lamb in a jalapeno sauce and an orange duck dish. Now I don't eat lamb or duck...I just don't. But the sauce on the lamb was so full of flavor without the overpowering heat of a hot pepper, it was just all FLAVOR. Jon enjoyed the dishes...and then we found out there was dessert. All I have to say is (and it's hard to say with your mouth full of chocolate mouse and mint malt ball filled meringue "eggs") WOW! Eat them all. But, remember the meringue is my favorite, but I don't think there was an option to go wrong with! I'm even dreaming of their desserts still, which means that we'll be making another trip very soon. Perhaps I can put the bug out there that I have a birthday coming up?! :)

Regardless of what you do or who you are, please make it a priority to visit and enjoy Social Hollywood's Citrus restaurant. Eat to your heart's content. And while you're there, make sure to make an appointment to speak with Ani Avanessian (Special Events Sales Manager) or Melissa Darpino (Director of Catering) about any upcoming event, large or small, you have coming up in your life!

Something Blue

I've heard many conflicting things regarding color trends for the new year, some say that brides have had enough of the bright hues and are going back to whites and creams, some say that light colors provided in nature will prevail, and some others say that the bright hues and jewel tones are in this year. So, who really knows where the trends will take us. But I've found a color that can be an accent or a bold color choice to build a wedding around.

The color blue has become quite a gem lately. I'm not talking about the lovely light blue hues you see in baby showers, find in true blue flowers straight from nature, or even the background color Encantare uses for it's website and print. I'm talking about the darker hues from aqua to royal blue and even deeper into Navy blue.

I recently took out different shades, tones and hues in blue color swatches and started playing with them against white, ivory, beige, silver, and gold. Then I put them against the lighter nature colors like lavender, peony pinks, moss and mint green...and the brown that has prevailed in popularity for the last couple of years. Then I made some more bold matches with bright yellow, burnt orange, fire engine red, fuchsia pink and chartreuse. The color blue and its many hues have a magic ability to accompany, accent or accentuate almost every other color combination that you can throw at it. It is also a color that can pull the weight of a wedding on its own.

As I continue to put new colors together to create more palates for clients to choose from, I will keep blue in my back pocket. Not only is it a great surprise for brides, but grooms are happy to have at least one thing that makes them a little more comfortable in the planning process...even if it is paired with a precious pink.

My Own Wedding News!

Forgive me please for the lack of blog posting. This has been a very busy time for me! I finally found time amid my clients' weddings, The Wedding Salon, the KTLA segment, upcoming holidays and all other work and life commitments, to make a life long commitment of my own to my best friend and now husband.

We married on Sunday, November 11, 2007 (Veterans' Day) after a weekend of joyous events and reunions, surrounded by family and friends, amid the misty morning fog. Saying vows high atop the clock tower at the Historic and majestic Santa Barbara Court House was an unforgettably tearful, happy and peaceful event.

I wore a simple dress, wrapped in a pink silk pashima to quell the cold and damp fog, and he wore a gray suit, silver shirt and tie to match my dress. Mark, our florist (please contact me for his information), created a beautiful bouquet for me full of hand panted roses and a handle of wrapped pearls. He also made each and every guest flowers of their own, as we wanted them all to feel as though they were our "wedding party"...which, looking back on it, they all were.

The ceremony was presided over by Judge Clifford Anderson, who did a wonderful job of helping our dream come true. And as we took photos on the Court House steps and in the hallways, the sun started to peek out from the clouds (giving us a hint of what the next day would bring). With the morning's formalities out of the way, and our tummies rumbling, the group headed down to share a meal, memories and joy together.

We spent only a few hours planning our weekend of wedding related events, but that didn't mean it had to be bare bones...Disneyland, the Griffith Park Observatory, Ribs USA, Stella Mares, a night-time pier walk and light evening meal were all a part of the four days we spent with our various guests.

We had a very small, intimate group of guests, including only our main family members, and two sets of friends that have become family over the last decade. We even made things more intimate by asking one of our dear friends to take our wedding photos (he is a still photographer by trade). By having such a limited amount of guests to share our moment with, we were able to convey their meaning in our lives and spend time with each and every guest. Because we are a couple who is very faithful to one another and to our friends and family members, it was certainly important to us that each guest feel like they were a welcomed part of something unforgettable and will always be in our hearts.

While there was no dancing, no music, no cake...we did have a very special ceremony that included each and every guest in a very subtle way, we had an afternoon meal at the fabulous Stella Mares restaurant there in Santa Barbara, and spent a lovely night in a hotel on the water-recalling every second of our most precious day. Everyone enjoyed themselves, enjoyed each other, and enjoyed the smells, tastes, feelings, and other people around them. The experience there will leave me searching for this for all of my clients, even in larger venues.

We walked that night, Veterans' Day, on the pier looking at the crosses set up on the beach symbolizing the lives taken in our current conflict overseas...and we prayed for each family member, each friend, each mother, father, son, daughter, and each and every soldier that has ever served our country in the name of freedom. We pray for a soon and safe return for the soldiers still serving. Our wedding day will not only be full of our own memories but it will also serve as a memory for the serving and for the fallen.

Weddings Can Go Green Too

As I've been investigating carbon-credit programs for my new "Green Storage" project over at Vino Veritas, it's interesting to find TerraPass listing a carbon offset program for weddings!

So here's a link to a page from Terrapass where you can (guess)estimate the carbon footprint of your wedding (and conveniently buy a carbon offset for it).

Relationships & Trust

As I mentioned in a prior post, it's an Encantare policy that we don't accept kickbacks or "commisssions" from vendors we send clients to for portions of their event services.

However, there are vendors with whom we have established relationships that we do like to take client to because we have a history of work with them where they have delivered on their obligations creatively & professionally.

Good business is very much driven by relationships and the amount of trust, or distrust within that relationship.

Building trust between human beings (and therefore companies) takes time, and is only proven by the level of work done over that period of time. There is no other way to obtain trust.

That being said, that trust is also one of the reasons that I'm happy to work with Brynn's business. It's not just that I'm her husband "being supportive."

This is also one of the primary reasons that I'm glad to have Brynn's support with Vino Veritas. She has contributed much to the space and resource planning that will help make the event spaces at our facilities highly functional and easy to use for events.

Most people who know me know that I tend to be pretty black or white about whether something is actually good or not good and it's because I think Brynn & her staff are very good at what they do that I support and try to help Encantare continue to grow.

The Time It Takes

For brides wondering why it is that coordinating and design packages cost what they do, a recent article (linked above) puts the time of planning a wedding at approximately 250 hours of work.

Now, hiring a coordinator with some experience, will hopefully trim that number by maybe 50 hours, but it often still does clock in at 250 hours, sometimes 300 hours to provide full coordinating services to a client.

So for anyone who's thinking they're overpaying for their coordinators services, even at a lower range budget of $20,000 for a wedding, and a 15% fee for your coodinator, that means you are paying your coordinator $12.00 per hour.

Even at a $40,000 wedding, we're still talking about only $24 per hour, and if a wedding coordinator was booked year round at that rate, that's less than $50,000 a year for a business owner that still has to pay for their own office, travel time, gas in running clients around to locations, and paying their own healthcare expenses.

Think about that for a minute in the context of all the other money being budgeted for your wedding, where you are paying your DJ $1000 or more for 6 hours of work, or the photographer & videographer thousands above that for many hours less work.

So for anyone who thinks that an event coordinator is an extravagant expense, try to think about it in context when you're budgeting for your special event or wedding.

We try very hard to craft packages for clients that are fair, and save brides time and money, and often times doing that while keeping a real business afloat means that I work extra hours for the company that are never billed, and Brynn works many extra hours so that we can keep providing the service that she's passionate about.

In fact, our full coordination packages don't even bill for hours unless it goes over 500 hours in our full package. On top of that, we do not, and will not ever accept kick backs from vendors. Your $1500 coordinator may only take you to two or three vendors for your location, and they may very likely get money paid back to them by those vendors for taking their clients there, and that's how it works.

Encantare does not engage in this practice in any way as we believe it can only lead to limitation of our clients choices and has the potential to create conflicts of interest.

One of Brynn's recent clients was taken to over 17 different sites before choosing one. This just comes with the territory, but we have to package and bill fairly for these kinds of things.

It's important that we keep our "interest" in our client's event the first and foremost consideration in every transaction and appointment.

We hope that those hours spent result in a memorable and stress-less event for our clients.

Advertising in the 21st Century

As a big Cluetrain believer, I can't help but agree that marketing today is a conversation, and I would rather learn about a companies services and products through something constructive, than from a traditional "pushed" message.

That said, Brynn and I have both checked out forums around the web where we could contribute knowledge and experience to and in those forums we continue to find ourselves moved off the boards for advertising (because our signatures have links to our website or blog) instead of being engaged in active conversation that can either help clients to make their own event go easier for them, or may help them decide to get help with their event or wedding.

We never, ever visit boards and say "HEY, USE OUR SERVICES BECAUSE WE'RE THE BEST." That is a push message. We do not do that. We care for our clients the best we can, and we are here to serve them, and only they can tell us how good we are at providing those services.

We don't have to share tools and knowledge with the brides and grooms out there - we can certainly choose to act like many other "magical" design & coordination companies where we obfuscate everything and tell you "there's no way you should worry or concern yourself with anything, just give us the money and we'll 'make it happen.'"

We share these things because whether or not you are planning your own event or wedding, or you have a coordination company working with you, knowledge is empowering and allows you to make better decisions about your event.

I believe that contributive knowledge and conversation is important and Encantare will continue share as much as we can here on our blog.

The Wedding Salon @ The Four Seasons

To all the brides-to-be and other folks at last weeks "Wedding Salon" at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills, we're glad to have met you!

Personally, I was really excited and encouraged by the responses to Brynn's design of the booth and we wanted to thank the vendors that helped her make it rock! Ginny at Ginny G Floral Design, Lucy at Saraphina Collection, Lisa at Inkbox, Brian at Bob Gail Events and Susan at Cloth Connection - thank you all for helping us with your talents and products!

I also managed to get a bit of video at the event, and here it is:

The Business of Dreams

This is my first post contributing to Brynn's Blog, and as Brynn's general partner at Encantare, it's a pleasure to be invited to jump in and do guest posts from time to time about the business side of her company.

As Encantare has grown the last year, it's been an honor to add to the development and direction of the business side of things with this startup. Brynn's vision and dedication to her clients never ceases to amaze me.

As far as the design & coordination goes, she's the force behind those services here, but from time to time, you'll see business-related posts pop up from me as I can.

Thanks for inviting me to chime in Brynn, and I look forward to contributing!

Encantare's KTLA Feature

Encantare was featured on the KTLA Morning Show on Wednesday September 26, 2007. I created an "Over the Top" table top design at the request of 4pm Events for their annual Wedding Salon Event at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills (which we later showcased at).

After noticing that many of the couples getting married today want to integrate old world traditions and elements into their weddings, I based my table top design on textures and colors from around the world. I wanted to showcase new ways to incorporate standard elements (like chairs, place settings, menu cards and candles) into an unconventional table top design, so I scoured and searched to find great colors and textures in the fabric and glass elements from authentic sources like Persia, Thailand and India.

I was able to bring in some of my trusted vendors and want to say "Thank you!" to Saraphina Collection (Menu Design), Cloth Connection (Linens), and Town and Country Rentals (Place Settings and Chair Rentals).

Floral Design was provided by a Wedding Salon vendor, Flora Boutique from Santa Barbara.

Here's some of the video from the morning show and the shoot!

CAKE!! The icing on your BIG DAY!

My Encantare team members fell in love with a line of t-shirts at the show "A Soolip Wedding" at Social Hollywood this year. I later met face to face with the woman that designed the shirts, and we found out very quickly we have a common love. Soft fabrics (I've been called a connoisseur of soft!) and custom, detailed designs. I now open the floor to the passionate and creative Lisa Tse (pronounced "See"):

When I was getting married 2 years ago, I searched high and low for fun, hip gifts for my bridal party that weren’t (for lack of a better word) cheesy. Being a designer, I was really particular about details & style and didn’t want to give them something that I wouldn’t wear or buy myself. After being a graphic designer for the fashion industry for many years, designing my own wedding invitations and hearing many of my guests say “Hey, you should do this for a living!”, I decided to start my own design studio called, INKBOX DESIGN BOUTIQUE, specializing in custom, high end invitation design. Building on the idea that if I couldn’t find what I liked out there, I’d create it myself, I added a product division, called CAKE (the icing on your BIG DAY!) and got to work creating the first product I’ve launched...a line of bridal party t-shirts for modern, fashion-savvy brides.

I started by using my experience in apparel graphics, print & packaging design that I got while working for Abercrombie & Fitch, Paul Frank Industries, ROXY & Hard Candy and created a sophisticated looking graphic that (from afar) looked like a cool, fashionable tee that any stylish woman would wear...Then, when you got closer, you’d see that it’s a bridal party t-shirt with cheeky attitude. The MISS BRIDE tee has fun phrases like, “Sorry Fellas, This One’s Taken”, “Soon To Be Hitched!” and “Technically Still Single.” The BRIDESMAID tee says, “The Bad Influence” and “Homegirl To The Bride” and the MAID OF HONOUR tee says, “Partner In Crime” and “Bride’s Personal Cheerleader” (among other fun stuff!). I chose colorways so that all of the tees coordinate together so they can be mixed and matched to suit each bride. My screen printer was nice enough to let me stand over his shoulder as he mixed custom ink colors to get the exact shade that I wanted (which not many will do!)...

Next, I searched for the perfect t-shirt to screen print on. Quality and comfort is everything! I inspected and tried on many tees and fell in love with the super soft, luxurious 100% combed cotton tee that I chose. It’s made with extra length and has a flattering fit. (I even sleep in mine!)

The final step in making this a bridal party gift like none other out there was creating chic, girly packaging for it. I LOVE PACKAGING!!! So I had a beautiful box made with a die cut window that displays the tee graphic inside. I thought about how they would be displayed in boutiques...It was important to me that this looked like a gift you would give someone, not just a t-shirt hanging on a rack or folded on a table. I even designed a space on the back for the gift giver to hand write a personal message to the recipient. I chose to hand write the tee size on the box, which gives it a more one of a kind, hand crafted feel. Details, details!

Then, I hired the photographer who shot my wedding because he did such an amazing job, hired models and had a full blown photo shoot that I styled and art directed. It was really important to show the tees in a real environment, so we staged a bridal shower in the park by the ocean and we got some great shots (which can be seen on my website www.inkboxdesign.com).

The tees are great for many occasions-----I want people to know that they’re not a 1-time use tee. They are perfect for the obvious; bridal showers, bachelorette parties and group events like spa day with the girls, but they are also great for anything you do around town like dress fittings, shopping excursions, hair-do trials, cake tastings, rehearsal dinners, mani/pedi’s, engagement photos and brides can take it on their honeymoon, too...oh yeah and once the BIG DAY has passed, as I mentioned before, they are so soft, you’re gonna want to sleep in them!

I recently sent these to a celebrity who just got married. She put them in gift bags she gave to each of her girls and I just received a thank you note from her saying “They are sooooo comfortable! It was such a perfect gift!” Then, her wedding coordinator who saw them on all of the girls at the wedding in France said how cute they all looked. (Believe me, I’m dying to tell you who it was, but I was sworn to secrecy! Hollywood!)

I carry my love for details and packaging throughout every invitation ensemble I create, making sure I really show the personality and style of both the event and the person throwing it! The themes or color schemes really inspire me and drive the design. I incorporate unexpected materials and really try to do things you don’t see everyday. The best part of my job is seeing my clients’ faces when they see the finished product and hearing about all of the wonderful comments they get from their guests. One bride received lots of emails & voicemails the day her invitations were received. Some were crying, some were screaming and most were surprised at how the invites captured her personality so perfectly. The thing I hear the most is ‘I’ve never seen anything like this before’, which means I did my job.

To order Cake Tees or to see samples of my Invitation Design Work, go to: http://www.inkboxdesign.com/

ABC's of Printing (And Turning Text into Art)

I hope you enjoy this informative "guest appearance" on the Encantare blog from the ever creative Lucy Kozozian, owner of and designer for Saraphina Collection.

It was not long ago that Lucy and I got to have a discussion about the printing options in today's stationary business, and I asked if she would mind my putting that conversation into something brides and grooms could also look at to help them on the road to creating their wedding invitations. Lucy kindly obliged, and we're happy to share it with you!

A century ago printing on wedding invites served one purpose-to inform your guests about the upcoming nuptials. This was often done by hand and ink through a calligrapher. If it was done in print, it was done by formal script engraving.

A century later we live in a time where anything goes as far as wedding invitations. You can even have coconuts hand painted for your fun loving, tropical destination wedding. With the custom invitation craze sticking hard and fast, learning more about the options and actual processes is important as well as fascinating and will help you make an informed choice for creating invitations and stationary that reflects your own individuality.

Die cutting, embossing and de-bossing, engraving, letterpress, lithography, and thermography are just some of the options available to you as a consumer today. Below find these terms defined and a brief history to help you along the road to your own custom invites needs (and don't forget those "Save the Date" cards, your wedding announcements, "Thank You" cards, and personal stationary!)

• Die Cutting: The process of die cutting is a fairly new trend, and it cuts shapes into or out of your actual invitations. Many "scrap bookers" are already very familiar with this process, with their own small, at home die cutting machines. This can make your invitations into any shape imaginable, or cut a shape out of a (come to the Wedding Salon event at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons in September and pick up a sample of a "Bridal Doll Chain" at Encantare's booth!).
  
  TIP: This process is especially fun for themed wedding, making pumpkins or oak leaves for fall, hearts for a Valentine's celebration, star fish or sand dollars for the beach, parasols or fans or an Asian inspired theme...the possibilities are endless.
  

• Embossing/De-bossing: An embossed print is raised, while de-bossed is recessed. This process, particularly embossing, has become a more cost effective version of letterpress (more on that later). And it is also a process "scrap-bookers" and "stampers" are familiar with! Both embossing and de-bossing creates a dynamic effect with it's outstanding texture on paper.
  
  TIP: Some people use de-bossing to recess a rectangle around the edge of their invitation and print inside that, using more than one method.

• Engraving: The process of engraving has been, historically, most widely used process for printing wedding invitations. Etching words deeply into a steel or copper plate, begins the engraving process. Ink is spread over the plate and wiped down so just the inked recessed wording remains, which then gets transferred onto paper. This is what creates the wonderful raised texture of the printing. Because of the time and labor intensive process, engraving remains the "gold standard" in wedding invitations.
  
  TIP: It also takes several weeks to create, so if your budget allows and you're set on engraving, start early!

• Letterpress: Along with engraving, letterpress is a time intensive (and therefore costly) process, but the outcome is absolutely breathtaking. It is truly a bit of renaissance.
  
  Created by hand setting one raised letter at a time, or by making a plate, it then the inked letters get pressed deeply into the paper. Because of it's versatility, the printing looks amazing in just about any font a person could choose. You can even use light inks on dark papers. Remember again, plan in advance for this technique because it can take many weeks!
  
  TIP: If your budget is limited but you're set on letterpress, try just having your monogram in letterpress at the top of your invitations.

• Lithography: Known for being economical and readily available, lithography is also known as "offset" printing. It is cost effective because you can use portions of the large plate it is created on for different parts of you invitation suite, such as RSVP cards, programs, menus, etc. The limitation? You can only use one color for all of the different portions of your suite and the printing works best on smooth surfaced papers.
  
  TIP: Find a beautiful paper with a light texture, and with your savings on printing, add a fun or exquisite embellishment.

• Thermography: This technique has been recently created to be a cost effective printing option to engraving because it also has a raised surface. Beware though, the printing can (and most often does) bleed on the edges creating a little blur in the words and the ink has a high sheen to it.
  
  TIP: To save money on all the printing you'll need for your wedding, save thermography for your engagement party, wedding shower and thank you notes!

For more information and to create your custom invitations go to www.saraphinacollection.com, or call 818-653-0391 and let them know that Brynn sent you!