Gentry Gala Pics Continued

More pics

Gentry Gala

In conjunction with La Honda Winery, Silver Creek Country Club, Hunt Littlefield Floral Design, and Marlowe Berglund Events, we presented a wine tasting dinner last night at the Gentry Gala at the Sheraton in Palo Alto.  The event was well attended by over 600 people.  Our table looked awesome and we raised some great money for local Peninsula Charities with our presentation of a Winemaker dinner.  

Thanks for all those that helped make this possible.

Silverado Country Club

I went to a networking event last night at the Silverado Country Club in Napa.  I hadn't been there in quite some time.  It is really an awesome and unique venue for Napa, with the grove setting under heritage oaks with a patio reception illuminated with paper lanterns.  Truly gorgeous.  Site fee is a bit steep, but it is made up for with really great menu prices.... Making this a very reasonable Napa Valley site.  Plus they have capacity for parties over 300 making it an even rarer gem.  Check out the pics.

Mod and Retro Cake Design

I met Krista from Sugarcoat it Studios at an ISES event last fall. I was lucky enough to see her work in the flesh a few weeks ago and taste her delicious work and I want to pass on her information. She works mostly in fondant and produces mid-century, retro, and modern design cakes that are amazing to look at and taste wonderful.

If you have a uniquely modern style you should definitely visit her and see her work.

http://www.sugarcoatitstudio.com/

On Vacay

The Alchemist Bride will be offline until the end of February.  Enjoy the rest of the month!

Shower Etiquette

Alright, 

I feel that in this modern world, sometimes we need to remind ourselves of what social etiquette is all about.  Most of it is based on solid ethical ideas about what is right and wrong and what is just plain tacky.

Bridal Showers-

Bridal showers should NEVER be thrown by members of the bride or grooms immediate family.

REASON- a member of the immediate family throwing a shower is tantamount to your brother asking for gifts for you, or your mother telling your friends to give you stuff.

EXCEPTIONS-

an immediate family member may provide the location or funds to support the shower but should not be the formal host of the event.

HOSTS- invitations should always clearly state who the host of the event is at the top of the invitation, another person may be the recipient of the RSVP.

NEVER! place where you are registered on the invitation

NEVER! insert those cards they give you telling people where you are registered

THE ONLY APPROPRIATE PLACE FOR REGISTRY INFORMATION-

is on your website or provided to people RSVP'ing to an event by phone or email upon their request.....

NEVER- have a shower with gifts of a different nature presented to you.  i.e. if you are getting married and having a bridal shower the only acceptable registries are those of a honeymoon, domestic, or lingerie nature.  If you plan to have kids soon you can' t ask for kids stuff.  That is what a baby shower is for once you are actually pregnant.  You cannot ask for stuff to pay off your student loan debts.  You should not ask that people pay their way to the wedding by buying items for the wedding itself.

More than one shower is acceptable if thrown by different groups, etc.

Bridal party members of the same sex regardless of the side of the aisle they are on and regardless of their ability to attend must receive invitations to EVERY shower.  Also parents and grandparents again regardless of their ability to attend should also be invited to EVERY shower.

Statements that no gifts are to be received are appropriate where requested on an invitation.  Offers of charity donation in lieu of gifts are marginally acceptable on invitations, but should really be placed on a website instead. 

BABY SHOWERS-

YOU ONLY GET ONE

Yes really, this is the rule.  Same as above, immediate family cannot host the shower and regardless of what sex child you have first last or anywhere in between, it is only appropriate to have one baby shower.  O.k. I mean one baby shower per friend group and only for the first child.

Reasoning- if everyone had a shower for every kid it would be ridiculous.  Showers help you get established with the basics, these are functional regardless of the sex of the child, enough friends without you asking them will provide you with opposite sex gifts if you have a second child of differing gender.

FORM OF INVITE

Invitations to showers etc. should really be on paper by formal invitation.  I know, it is the modern era and email rocks, so does saving paper and stamps.  However, this occasion occurs rather infrequently so it is worth paying a few bucks and making formal paper invitations if you can.

Award Dresses- and inspiration for gowns

Most of us can't afford a truly custom designed gown, but we can take inspiration from the designer gowns worn during awards season.

This year we have seen lots of interesting necklines on dresses and I think this trend is definitely transitioning into bridal.

So fashion forward brides, look at one shoulder, one shoulder on, off the shoulder, and other more unusual necklines. Necklines that are asymmetrical are surprisingly flattering on most people with the exception of women with very large chests which lead to them spilling out the sides.

Check out Anne Hathaway's gown in Bride Wars for an awesome neckline,
also note Christina Applegate's SAG Gown, Evan Rachel Wood's SAG Gown

See link for photo slide show.

http://www.accesshollywood.com/2009-sag-awards-red-carpet_gallery_1731

Target Alert- Visual Design Elements

Target has their Design Studio items currently heading out the door in the seasonal section of your local Target.
In the design section they have some great items for event decor.
Check them out!

A great idea is that they have large wall murals and wall paper that are very chic, graphic, and modern. Placing these large murals at your event on walls, or use them as screens to create more intimate spaces.

You can use the wallpaper as table runners, place mats, or as screens hanging from the ceiling, draped, or on basic frames that you can make out of 1x2 inch molding and assemble on site with relative ease. The wall paper is running around 20 dollars a roll which is a screaming deal. Check out your local store though, they have much more than is available online.

http://www.target.com/Wallpaper-Floral-Trail-Chocolate/dp/B001D4OROC/sr=1-14/qid=1232929916/ref=sr_1_14/181-0438450-0640533?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Awallpaper%20chocolate&page=1

Letterpress invitations make a statement

Letterpress for those of you who don't know is actually one of the oldest types of printmaking. Back in the day people would hand scrape lettering on metal or wood blocks, ink the blocks, and press them into paper under pressure in a "press" hence- letterpress. The image yields a highly textured bold print technique that has been seeing a resurgence in popularity for the past 10 years or so. Letterpress is for the most part still a cottage craft run by smaller local print shops. The process has changed so that now high grade plastic press sheets are often molded by machine instead of the hand scraping, and it makes the process significantly more time efficient, and over the years it has come down in price some. Letterpress however remains the most expensive in general of the paper invitation types.
In addition to the labor intensive and highly custom nature of making the plates, the paper remains hand pressed, each by hand (generally) and in addition, letterpress is produced on a higher grade thicker paper stock which is also more costly.
The results however are spectacular. While I often comment that the additional cost will not yield the wow result for everyone, if you are picky about paper invitations, letterpress should definitely fit into your consideration.
Note however that the nature of letterpress is such that highly detailed multi-tonal prints are not available, feasible, or appropriate for the letterpress process, much like screen printing, minimal color changes make the pressing process much more economical. In fact most invitations are a single or two tone process, as each color requires the creation of a separate plate.

I want to draw your attention to a few local (SF Bay Area) presses that are producing excellent commercial and custom products at reasonable prices:

1. Hello Lucky! www.hellolucky.com

2. Milkfed Press www.milkfedpress.com

3. Sky of Blue Design www.skyofbluedesign.com

Good luck!

Modern Trends in Floral- Clumps

The newest trend in floral is a modern take on zen and Asian inspired floral themes.

The floral material is arranged by type, arranged into groups and then placed into a mixed container which displays impactful texture, color, and style.

This isn't for everyone, but if you like fashion forward, modern, and bold floral statements consider this look.

Check out.

http://www.floral-sense.com/portfolio.html

http://www.birchsf.com/flowers.html

http://huntlittlefield.com/home.html

Dress Fit and Finish- very important

Dresses should be tailored properly to your body. A well tailored dress either for the bride, the mother of the bride, celebrant or attendee, a good fit makes everyone look thinner, more shapely, and much better in pictures. Here are a few tips to tell if your dress fits you right.

1. Strapless height-
Everyone has a different breast shape, size, placement, and height. Strapless dresses still constitute a statistical majority of all bridal gown sales. Just because the seamstress says the dress should fit a certain way does not mean that it should fit YOU that way. Here are some tips.
a. comfort- if you aren't comfortable with the height, hit, and cut of the strapless line, ask that it be altered, you should adjust, shift or ask that extra material such as a detail strap be placed in the area of concern.
b. shapeliness- many peoples breasts topple under or over strapless dresses. If the dress is too large in the top it should not be adjusted just at the sides (which is the easiest and hence most common approach). The dress should be taken in at the front seams as well to accommodate a smaller bust. Similarly large busted girls should order a dress a size larger than you normally would. Then take the center over the bust seams and contour them appropriately over your bust taking it in at the top of the bust so that the dress cups the breast rather than causes it to spill and prop over the gown.
This may alter how the dress sits on your waist, but again a good seamstress should be able to make these modifications.
Please note that I highly recommend that if you have a disproportionately large bust that you try and find a gown that makes dresses in cup sizes, see Augusta Jones, for a moderately priced range of exceptionally crafted gowns ($2000-$4000)

2. Waist- The waist of your gown should be fitted so that you are snug when standing and even snugger sitting, but never too loose. Loose waists begin to stretch and pooch after some wearing, creating an appearance of waist fat on even the thinnest woman.

3. Hem- a properly hemmed dress should be adjusted to your shoe height and your interest in showing your feet. Regardless, a dress should never puddle on the ground nor sweep the ground in the front to avoid stepping on the gown.

Those are my best tips for dress fit.... Make sure you find a good alterations specialist, and make sure that you have good communication with them, many alterations can be made to a gown and they will turn an average dress into extraordinary.