As I write this, I can’t help but reflect on the weddings my team and I were honored to be an important part of this past year. 

One of my favorite things:  I love delving into my Bride and Groom’s brains (flashback  zombie movie) in order to get a good sense of their personalities as individuals, as well as a couple.  From these discoveries, we come up with fun and unique ways to create a wedding that’s a reflection of who they are. 

I’ve been planning for over 15 years and am always amazed with the creativity of the wonderful couples we work with.  The quirkier, the better.  I tell my couples that the sky is the limit, as long as it’s not offensive, immoral or illegal then let’s go for it!

Some of the coolest personal touches we saw this year were:

Jessica & Jonathan: They were total foodies and had a love for all things caliente’!  so we had Chef Todd of www.ChefToddFisher.comcatering create the best salsa bar I’d ever see.  From mild to “melt your face off” hot.  I suggested an accompanying Pepto Bismo bar but we decided to let the guests take their chances.  This idea carried through to the favors which were tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce and fit in perfectly with the Old California ambiance that La Mirada www.montereyart.org provides.

They also love riding around Monterey on their tandem bike so we incorporated that by dressing up and displaying their bicycle-built-for-two at the reception as well as using that motif on their escort cards.

Emily & Ryan: Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a HUGE animal lover so when Emily and Ryan decided to give a wag to their own 4-legged fur-baby Charlie, you just know I’d be excited as well.  With the magnificent Naval Postgraduate School www.nps.edu/Services/MWR/Services/DiningServices/ClubDelMonte.html as their venue, they displayed an engagement photo showing  just their hands and a whole lotta Charlie’s head.  Under that was a silver bowl containing “doggiebags” with Milk Bone dog biscuits for guests to take home to their own Fido.  On the tuxedo folded napkin at each place setting, each guest found a homemade shortbread cookie in the shape of a dog bone as well as a card indicating that a donation had been made to the ASPCA so that other “Charlie’s” could find their forever home.  How awesome is that!?!

Joy & John: It was all about the spirit of Aloha and Ohana when they celebrated their reception at the Cocoanut Grove at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk http://www.cocoanutgrovesantacruz.com/weddings.  Special touches included displaying one of John’s surfboards to be used as their “guest book”, offering baskets of “slippa’s” so that guests would be encouraged to kick off their shoes and dance the night away, as well as a super-cool Groom’s cake by www.butterybakery.com depicting replicas of John and Joy’s own surfboards. 

There are many more examples I can give but these ones definitely stand out as personal favorites.

Chances are your guests will attend more than one wedding this year.  Which aspects of your personalities do you plan to share with them to make your wedding day stand out?

Give me a call.  I’d be happy to pick at your brain (here we go with the zombie reference again!)

Wishing you magic!

Patty