If you don’t know Etsy, then you are missing out friends!  They have some of the swankiest clothes and accessories around, and many of them are handmade by the folks that are selling them!  As if that isn’t reason enough to steer your browser over there, they have a Wedding Category and a Wedding Gift Guide!  So if you are like many of the brides out there that are looking for something original that won’t break the bank, Etsy is the place to go!

ABC Orange County had another great meeting this past week at Jason’s Downtown Restaurant.  If you aren’t familiar with the venue, it’s truly is a hidden gem for small weddings, private events, as well as a fabulous weekend dinner with someone special.  The fabulous Marc Weisberg was kind enough to shoot the event for us, so please enjoy these few pics.  You can head on over to Marc’s blog to see all the lovely images!

As you web-savvy email invitation fans know, Sendomatic set the bar years ago by offering wonderfully designed, ad free email invitations for a small fee.  GREAT NEWS, they have now launched a free line of email invitations, although they are not ad free, and you can only sent them to up to 50 guests, they still offer the same great design and functionality of their standard email invitation line!  Personally, I say nothing beat a written or printed invitation, but if you are going to go the email route, Sendomatic is the way to go!

Last week found a group of us wedding planners at the lovely offices of Jay’s Catering.  Talk about a fabulous luncheon, and an even more exceptional group of people!  I was pleasantly surprised, actually that’s an understatement, I was totally bowled over by their staff and their overall operation.  They have years of experience behind them, and it shows!  The planners and I all agreed that Jay’s Catering is one of the best kept secrets in the OC!!  The highly talented photographer and cheeky gentleman Marc Weisberg was on hand to capture the event, so check out his blog to see the full photo story of our afternoon at Jays!  Thank again for such a great afternoon!!!

UPCOMING TRUNK SHOWS

May 1 - 3, 2009

Designers:  Jim Hjelm & Jennifer Leigh

May 8 - 9, 2009

Designer:  Renee Pawele

May 15 - 17, 2009

Designer:  Alvina Valenta

May 22 - 24, 2009

Designer:  Amy Michelson

May 29 - 31, 2009

Designer:  Augusta Jones

I feel it’s best not to avoid the obvious, so here goes, I have been a very bad blogger and for that I am sorry.  There are a million excuses I could give you, but it simply comes down to the fact that the longer I stayed away, the easier it became NOT to do it.   With that all said, I am back on the horse, so you can look forward to seeing me with some regularity once again.  Admit it, you missed me!

If you are getting married and you haven’t had a chance to check out The Nixon Library, now is your chance!  They are hosting their Weddings Open House on March 1st.  It’s a beautiful and unique venue, the staff is AMAZING, and you have an opportunity to choose your caterer from a short list of Orange County’s finest!  Don’t delay, click here, or on the image above to register!

Read all about the good news here!

I am very happy to announce that Mireya Navarro, New York Times Style correspondent and author, used one of my weddings in her brand new book, “Green Weddings: Planning Your Eco-Friendly Celebration,”!  Get yourself a copy {rated with 5 stars on Amazon.com!}, turn to page 94 , and have a look at how brilliant and mindful my bride Katie was in planning her eco-friendly wedding.  By working closely with The Spiraled Stem {Orange County’s ONLY truly GREEN floral designer}, Katie who once thought she would have to use plain old grass for centerpieces in order to be green, was able to create a beautiful flower-filled wedding without impacting our lovely planet.  Pretty awesome I must say!