Planning Your Destination California Wedding

Southern California is a premier destination for a wedding. The area boasts the Pacific Ocean, nearby mountains, picturesque wineries, and a modern dessert oasis. When choosing your perfect destination, the sky is the limit. Planning your wedding in another state is exciting and frightening all at the same time. With the expertise of an experienced planner, who acts as your agent ensures that the experience is fun and stress-free.

I've planned Southern California weddings for couples residing in Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Colorado, Portland, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Washington DC, and even London, England. Why do couples need the help of a planner you ask? With all the online resources you're thinking you can do it all yourself. This thinking couldn't be further than the truth.

Online planning sites only give you a short glimpse into their advertiser profiles. A profile won't tell you if the vendor is reputable, if they fit in your price budget, fit your wedding style, or if you will mesh with them. You can spend countless hours online and on the phone nailing down all of aforementioned details.

This is where your DESTINATION WEDDING PLANNER is the best investment you can make towards your wedding. Your planner gets to know YOU as a couple. She will have a consultation with you via phone or Skype. During that meeting, she'll find out what style of venue you desire, what design style you are aiming for, your guest count, and your budget. She'll also pinpoint your priorities. Maybe your priorities are food, flowers, lighting, entertainment....and the list goes on and on. The planner will take all of this information and put together a list of venues and vendors that work in your budget and style. The biggest value a planner brings to the table is her vendor list. By hiring us you can expect PRE-QUALIFIED vendors. I've worked with thousands of vendors over the last 12 years and I can pair you with your perfect team immediately after hearing your story.

Here is what you can expect Wedding Jeannie to do for you while you are far away:

• Create a detailed budget for you. This budget will become the road map for selection of venues and vendors in your budget range.

• Planning Trip: You can expect to make three to four visits to your chosen destination. We'll take you to visit 3 to 5 venues that meet your style and budget. We take the guess work out of choosing a venue. You could spend hours online researching venues that sound fabulous, only to find out when you arrive that the venues you fell in love with on the computer screen don't meet any of your needs. Wasted time = wasted money. Wedding Jeannie carefully assesses all of your needs, and recommends only those that are just right for you. We prepare the venue managers for your visit, by giving them all of your information and specifications.

• Vendor Introductions: In addition to visiting venues, we arrange meetings with florists, photographers, DJs/Musicians, etc. We make the most of your visit by bringing you to reputable and qualified vendors. By knowing your budget and priorities, you only meet with the professionals that can deliver what you need. You time is valuable...we make the most of it. Wear comfortable shoes because we'll be doing walk throughs. We may even have the opportunity to sample the cuisine.

• Skype Meetings: Just because you're not in town doesn't mean you don't enjoy the same service. We conduct progress meetings with you via Skype. Stay up to date, and feel comfortable knowing that all the details are handled.

• Accommodations & Transportation: It's our experience that DESTINATION WEDDINGS mean out-of- town guests. We set up room blocks for your guests at nearby hotels. Because of our relationships with local hotels and resorts, we can secure special pricing for you. Need transportation for your guests from hotel to venue? We've got you covered. Our shuttle and limo companies are ready to take care of you.

• Activities: Southern California has entertaining opportunities for your guests. This is where we live, and we have our finger on the pulse of the region. If your guests want to make a vacation out of their visit, we can assist in planning nearby activities for them. From amusement parks, to award winning restaurants, wine tastings, to beaches...we'll plan a great itinerary for you.

• Welcome Bags: When your guests arrive have a gift back for them filled with destination related items. Fill them with water bottles, sunscreen, a local sweet treat, entertainment and city guides, all along with a printed note from you. We offer an a la carte option for filling your bags and delivering them to the hotel.

• Rehearsal Dinner: We'll arrange for you to have the perfect rehearsal dinner at the best restaurants in town. We arrange a private room and a pre-fixed menu. All you need to do is show up.

• Project Management: We manage your vendors, floor plans, timeline and all the activities that a destination wedding includes.

I hope that you are excited about planning your DESTINATION SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WEDDING. Your choices here are limitless. I'm excited to assist you with the myriad of details required to make it memorable and stress-free. Let's SKYPE and learn more about each other. Our first consultation is free. You have nothing to lose. Still unsure if you need a planner? Read what a few of our out of state clients have to say...

My husband and I live in Colorado and decided to get married in beautiful sunny Southern California near the beach! Jeannie Ward helped us make our dream wedding come true, it was more beautiful than we ever imagined it could be.We were a bit worried about organizing a destination wedding but Jeannie's correspondence made the entire process much easier. She was very good about emailing and calling us and our vendors. The vendors that Jeannie recommended were a hit and made our special day a success!

Hiring Jeannie was the best decision that we made throughout the wedding planning process. She was more than a wedding coordinator/planner, she was the glue that held everything (including me!) together. From meeting with me every time I was in town (even when it wasn't necessary to meet, because she said she could tell it made me feel better), to communicating with and managing all our vendors, being our fiercest advocate when it came to negotiating contracts with other vendors, having an incredible team around her that was always on top of it, responding to all my emails (sometimes 5-10 per day) within a few hours at the latest, and creating a gorgeous vision for my dream wedding and then executing it beyond anything I imagined - Jeannie does it all with a smile on her face. Her depth of knowledge, integrity and loving attitude were invaluable and allowed me to just be the bride.

Wedding Jeannie Knows

A new year has emerged. 2013 is on track to be one of the most exciting for Wedding Jeannie. I'm celebrating by creating a new series just for you. It's called WEDDING JEANNIE KNOWS. Knows what, you're wondering. When in comes to weddings Jeannie is a KNOW IT ALL! Every two weeks I'll tell you what I know about Fashion & Style, Wedding Gowns, Vendor Selection, Floral Design, Food & Beverage, Budgets, Savings....basically everything relating to weddings. If you want to know, you should subscribe to our blog and check back often. Why? Because you want to be IN THE KNOW.

Our first in KNOW feature will be GROOM STYLE, and you can read it tomorrow. If your groom is a fashion plate, and wants to know how to stand out when he's waiting for you at the altar, it's a must read. He'll learn about suit and tux styles, how to accessorize with ties, bow ties, cuff links, and even socks.

Come on by tomorrow and return every two weeks for more KNOWledge.. I'm looking forward to it, and you will to.

What's The Big Deal?

Wedding Jeannie is offering a really big deal! It's the Winter Wish Promotion. If you book any of our valuable services during December or January, you get a 10% discount. Piece of mind with a 10% savings. Now that's a VERY BIG DEAL.

Call us today and say "give me the Winter Wish Discount". Wedding Jeannie is always in high demand. We still have 2013 dates available. But don't wait! A deal like this means our calendar will be full in no time.

Happy Holidays form The Wedding Jeannie Team.

Wedding Jeannie Winner - Bride's Choice Award 2013

Los Angeles, CA – January 10, 2013 – WeddingWire, the nation's leading online wedding marketplace, is thrilled to announce that Wedding Jeannie has been selected as a winner of the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2013 for Wedding Planning in Los Angeles, CA!

The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism. Wedding Jeannie's selection as a Bride’s Choice Award 2013 winner was selected based on the positive experiences expressed by past clients on WeddingWire, the world’s largest wedding review site with over one million reviews. While many industry awards are given by the host organization, the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ winners are determined solely based on reviews from real newlyweds and their experiences working with Wedding Jeannie.

The WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2013 are given to the top local wedding vendors in more than 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on professional achievements from the previous year. Award-winning vendors are distinguished for the quality, quantity, consistency and timeliness of the reviews they have received from their past clients. As a Bride’s Choice Awards winner, Wedding Jeannie is highlighted within the WeddingWire Network, which is comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States, Canada and abroad.

“Each year, WeddingWire looks forward to celebrating the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Network,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Now in its fifth year, the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program continues to recognize the elite wedding professionals who exemplify a commitment to quality, service and professionalism. These businesses were chosen by our bridal community for their responsiveness and dedication to their clients over the past year. We are honored to recognize Wedding Jeannie for their impressive achievements within the wedding industry.”

 Wedding Jeannie is thrilled to be one of the top Wedding Planners in Southern California in the WeddingWire Network of sites, which include leading wedding sites such as WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. We value all of our clients and truly appreciate the positive feedback that helped us earn the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2013.

You're Engaged! Now What?

Congratulations on your engagement! You're in love, and you're embarking on a life as soul mate. Right now you're on cloud nine. On your finger rests the promise of the future. I bet you've never felt so alive. What should you do next? Here is my best advice:

• LIVE IN THE MOMENT: Enjoy the feeling. Revel in the joy that you and your fiance are feeling AT THIS MOMENT. For now, simply enjoy the outpouring of LOVE from all of your family and friends. Show off the beautiful engagement ring on your finger. You're still staring at it....aren't you? Good, that's what you should be doing.
• DREAM: Once the dust has settled and you've shared the big news with everyone, start dreaming. Buy magazines, surf the web, imagine yourself as a bride. Two of my favorite websites for inspiration are http://www.projectwedding.com/ and http://www.weddingwire.com/. They both have great ideas and photo galleries to get you started. Another great resource for inspiration are wedding blogs. My favorite is http://www.styleunveiled.com/ 
• ORGANIZE YOUR IDEAS: Make an inspiration binder. Use the tabs for categories such as gown, venue, decor, music, food and beverage. Pull pages from the magazines, and print photos from websites. Now start filling your binder. Having your ideas organized and in one place will save your sanity. There is no reason to keep stacks of magazines filled with inspiration you don't need. Only keep what you do need and discard the rest. When you get rid of the clutter, you avoid confusion. With so many decisions to be made, confusion is your enemy.
• START A PINTEREST PAGE: Start a page just for your wedding. This is a page you will share with your planner and floral designer. Knowing exactly the look you're trying to achieve will save you and your vendors precious time. Worried your friends and family will see all the top secret details of your wedding? Never fear...Pinterest allows you to create a secret page that you can share with only those who need to see it.
• BUDGETING: Next step is setting a budget. Not fun and pretty, I know, but it's necessary. Get the money issues out of the way and let the fun begin. Before you can start planning your dream day, you must know what you can and can't afford. The budget will be the roadmap for every single decision you make. Whether you're paying for your wedding yourself, or getting support from your family members, you must decide what the overall budget is. Only then, can you begin choosing venues, vendors, and even your wedding gown. Don't blindly think you can begin spending, without knowing if you can afford it. Once contracts are signed, there is no turning back. Especially where venues are concerned...they often require food and beverage minimums. You don't want to figure out later that you can't afford your dream gown because you've gone over budget at the start.
• HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER: The earlier the better. By getting a jump on the planner's experience, you'll avoid costly mistakes. Her fee will pay for itself when she helps you to make every penny of your budget work for you. As a planner I know how to take your budget, your priorities, your individual style and theme, and break down your budget. This means you get the absolute BEST for your hard earned dollars. Allocating your dollars to the proper categories, shows me which vendors are "right for you". A planner's years of experience and respect in the industry will also garner YOU preferred pricing and extras, you could never negotiate on your own.
  
  Don't trust a budget tool on a planning website to know what YOU want. Thousands of other brides, using that tool are NOT YOU. You're an individual. While your priority may be food and beverage, another bride may be more focused on floral decor.  Planning websites use a standard formula based on the national average to break down your budget. Are you average? I doubt it. I haven't met one couple yet, who's budget is the same as another.
  
  Rely on a planner's hard earned resources. Sure planning websites have vendor directories. The best of those even have real reviews. But, have you looked at any yet? In just the category of photography, one site listed over 75, in Los Angeles alone. Orange County has 60! Do you have time to visit countless websites, make dozens of phone calls and attend meetings to figure out which photographer is right for you? Of course you don't. Now imagine doing that with venues, gown salons, florists, bakers, DJ's, caterers...and on and on.You shouldn't have to waste time and be frustrated. After all, time is money. Planners work hard to know "who's who" in the industry. She'll save you time and money by streamlining the process for you. She'll only send you to vendors who are reputable and capable, which prevents stress for you. Half of a planner's VALUE to you is her database and resource list. The other half is the ability to execute those resources into a magnificent, and stress free day.

These are just a few tips to get you started. I offer you a FREE CONSULTATION to determine your needs and explain how my expertise can be of VALUE TO YOU. My heartfelt congratulations to you and your fiance.

Now....go stare at that shiny ring some more, and shower your fiance with love and kisses. Then call me to set up your consultation. It would be my honor to become your partner in planning.

Foodie Wedding

Lobster Claw served on a Corn Cake with Chili Verde by 24 Carrots Catering.

I consider myself a FOODIE. How about you? I'm not sure where the term "foodie" came from, but I imagine it in the dictionary with a picture of you and me.

Beef Short Rib on a Bed of Lentils with Baby Carrots by Ebell of Los Angeles

If you're reading this, you found your way to my blog and website, and my passion for weddings is obvious. My second love is food. I love cooking and eating. I'm constantly searching for new flavors and wine pairings. My TiVO is always set to The Food Network, The Cooking Channel, and Bravo. If I buy another cook book, my husband is going to kill me! Can you guess my favorite show? It's Top Chef. Tom Coliichio is my idol. I've even eaten at his restaurant Craft Steak in Vegas. I told you, I'm obsessed!

Executive Chef Louis Pecan of The Ebell of Los Angeles

My chosen profession, and my obsession are a marriage made in heaven. I have the luxury of working with the best caterers and chefs in Los Angeles, Orange County, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, San Diego and Las Vegas. They love to entertain wedding planners, and unveil their latest cutting edge offerings. Many of which are interactive. Both Jay's Catering and TGIS Catering offer an exhibition PAELLA. The smell of the garlic and threads of saffron cooking while guests watch, is a religious experience to me. I love this image of Chef Wende Gavin of Jay's Catering, making Paella. Have you ever seen a pan that big?

One of Many Vegan Options by Summit Event Catering

Of course, food is personal. Everyone has a different palate, favorite dishes and sensitivities. Chefs are more aware than ever of VEGETARIAN, VEGAN, and GLUTEN FREE needs. The Chefs at Summit Event Catering are proving that Vegan can be both delicious, and appealing to the eye, by creating dishes that are tailored to this emerging trend.

Love in the form of Empanadas by TGIS Catering

My favorite recent trend is to treat your posse to LATE NIGHT SNACKS. I lovingly call it Drunk Food. Before you send them home, sober them up. Tray pass Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Sliders, or Flat Bread Pizza Bites. Don't forget the Vanilla Bean Milk Shake Shot. If your guests are foodies, they will appreciate delicious food as a send off.


I have to stop writing now, because I just made myself hungry. And, it's time to rub my salted turkeys and flip them. Tomorrow we'll fry them in Canola oil, flavored with Rosemary and Garlic.

May the holidays bring you joy, peace and love.....and delicious food. If you became engaged over the holiday and want a wedding planner that loves food as much as you...call me. I'll pair you with the perfect venue and caterer that considers food an art.

P.S. Stay tuned and we'll soon talk about food and wine pairing. I can't wait!

Chevron Chic

One of the hottest wedding trends for 2012, is the CHEVRON pattern. There are so many ways to use chevron. You can use it in linens, paper products, and floral treatments. I've yet to find a client who has asked me for a this design.

When I got the call from California Wedding Day Magazine, inviting me to design a set for  their latest show called The Look of Love in Orange County, I got my chance.

Here is a sneak peek of what I came up with. The entire set I designed will be featured in the magazine next year, so I can't share all the images. It was my idea of an endless summer with bright colors and a playful look.

I hope you like my idea of CHEVRON done in a CHIC way. My creative partners in creating this set were Floral Designer Jenny B Floral Design, Paper & Invitation Specialist, Jill Velez of the swank Copper Willow, specialty linens were custom made for our set by Designer Specialty Linens, sexy tabletop rentals were provided by Classic Party Rentals, and our modern luxe furniture was provided by Luxe Event Rentals.

Don't you love how bright and filled with sunshine our table is? It's bright, fun and just a bit cheeky. Wait until you see the entire set! It was photographed by Christopher Todd Studios. Oh they are stunning. They make me want to be sitting on the sand drinking a lemon martini. If you like what you see, call me. Let's go CHEVRON together.

Another Great Review

Here at Wedding Jeannie we are constantly humbled by the reviews we receive from our clients. Only a few weeks ago, we worked for Nicole and Nate. What a fun and I must say...flexible couple. Their wedding was held at the magnificent Serra Plaza in San Juan Capistrano.

We had a surprise and uninvited guest on wedding day. RAIN! I have a great memory of Nicole and Nate sitting down, watching their slide show and eating their dessert while the rain fell on them. They were so happy nothing could dampen their spirits.

Enjoy the wonderful review and thanks they gave us on Wedding Wire. It's filled with sunshine!