#TBT A New Year's Eve Backyard Wedding

I have designed weddings and events at chic hotels, luxury ranches, elegant estates, raw and industrial warehouses, large studios and Old Hollywood locales.  Sometimes I am asked to plan a party in someone's home in their backyard and this was quite the backyard transformation.  
We added a clear tent, plexiglass pool covering which became the dance floor, brought in sofas, additional furniture and draping by Revelry Event Designers, lighting by the fabulous The Lighter Side and of course, candles and roses everywhere.  
New Year's Eve at this house has never been so festive and full of love!

A Twilight Wedding in Weho

On April 12, 2014, Richard Merrill and Nerherly Rivas married on the rooftop of The London Hotel- West Hollywood under an incredible canopy of twisted willow, white roses, hydrageneas, orchids dripping from the ceiling,  and a touch of glamour with a Crystal Chandelier down the center.  This "Twlight" themed wedding was an event not to be missed.  Crystals dripped from an entrance canopy for the grand reveal of both Bride and Groom in their White and Black Shoulder embellishments.  Neherley wore Fox Fur with Black spikes and Richard had crystal spikes with white knee length fringing and a 9 ft chiffon train encrusted with crystals.
The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles started the ceremony by singing Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors."  Then they sang a medley of "Just the Way Your Are" by Bruno Mars Going into "Stand By Me" as Neherley walked down the aisle.  They began singing "A Thousand Years" as The Bride made his way down the aisle.

After the ceremony, guests adjourned to the lobby of the Ballroom for fabulous Chef Gordon Ramsey's hors d'oeuvres and cocktails.  Everyone awaited their entrance to the gorgeous ballroom.

Nancy and her team at Mark's Garden outdid themselves with, not only, the incredible ceremony archways and canopies, but the ballrom was filled with tall and short centerpieces filled with glorious white roses, white lilacs, white hydrangeas, white lilies and small glass dishes with floating gardenias amongst the romantic candle light.  The large centerpieces were accented with crystals drizzling down.

 The tables were set with rose textured black linens from La Tavola, silver netted candle holders, and a regal black charger and black frame holding the name of each guest at their place along with a printed schedule created beautifully by Occasion to Celebrate.  Silver  satin napkins were folded into bow ties held by a bling square pin that each guest immediately chose to wear with their ensembles.  The lighting in the ballroom was, of course, done by the wonderful team at The Lighter Side.

The bride and groom dined at their sweetheart table underneath the crystal dripping canopy.  They sipped from crystal encrusted Champagne Flutes that matched their cake cutting set.

The cake was impeccable from the always fabulous and brilliant Kimberly  Bailey from The Butterend Cakery.  The cake was Chocolate Almond Cherry Cake with Cherry Cream Cheese Buttercream and Vanilla Bean Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream.  The cake was adorned with a stunning Vera Wang Rhinestone Applique


















I wish this wonderful couple all the happiness in the world, so glad I was a part of their Twilight Dream Wedding.

50th Luau Birthday Party

I had the great pleasure of being asked to design a very special client's 50th birthday party and I was so excited when she said she wanted a tropical Caribbean and luau celebration. I had such fun designing the bright and vibrant decor and lighting. Finding the perfect entertainment was also the icing on the cake. Fortune Entertainment provided us with  an amazing show featuring fire dancers, limbo dancers and dances from Hawaii to Tahiti! I loved finding the Tiki God heads from Bob Gail, he has some great props and also Lenny Marvin Prop Heaven had the wonderful Caribbean bar stools that we used as well. I just wanted to share some of my favorite photos from the event.

 

 

 

I love to carry through the decor design with the buffet as well. I complemented the fabulous food from Good Gracious! Events by wrapping the buffet table in thatching which also wrapped around the bar. Speaking of the bar, our most popular hang out during the night featured some delicious Tiki cocktails mixed up by Good Gracious' mixologist Dan Smith. It was very exciting to transform my client's stunning backyard into a Hawaiian paradise. Happy Birthday Terry!

Love,
Charley


Catering: Good Gracious! Events
Photography: Ben Hoffman from Two Sparrows Photography
Lighting: The Lighter Side
Rentals: Town and Country 
Flowers: Mark's Garden
Props: Bob Gail and Prop Heaven
Entertainment: Fortune Entertainment
Margaritas and Pina Coladas Machine: Margarita Man

James Bond Moroccan Birthday Party

One of the most exciting things about being an event planner is getting to work with a blank canvas where you can create magic. I was given the wonderful opportunity to create a fabulous Moroccan James Bond themed 50th Birthday Party for a client in Orange County. 

The dinner was taking place in the client's ten car garage, which we had to turn into a magical Moroccan tent. With the help of my fabulous vendors, we started layering the floor with Moroccan rugs from Rrivreworks and draped the entire garage ceiling to floor with fabulous pops of orange and gold from BAM.

 (Photography by Ari Perilstein, Custom Made Productions)

(Photography by Anthony Elgort)

One of the most exciting elements of the design was using the client's opaque garage door, which retracted to reveal a stage where the band played. We back lit the garage door to create a flame effect designed by The Lighter Side. We had sexy Bond Girl silhouettes attached to the garage door created by Pop Ink. This created a mystery for the guests during dinner as they weren't sure whether the silhouettes were real girls or not. When the garage doors opened, we in fact had Bond Girl dancers in same pose.

Starting with the blank garage canvas and turning it into my client's dream Moroccan palace was exhilarating. Our vendors are the most important people when putting a design together of this scale. Thank you so much to The Lighter Side, Signature Party Rentals, Fields Pianos, BAM, Rrivreworks, Mark's Garden, Salt Creek Grill Catering, DJ Keith Divel, Jack Rabbit Flash Dancers, The Cloth Connection, Pop Ink Design Studio, Casino de Paris, Badia Design and Roland at Water To Life.

Love,
Charley