Featured Venue Aquarium of the Pacific for Bridal Showers!

Today we are featuring Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA.  This venue not only has facilities for elegant wedding and special occasion affairs, but it also offers unique party experiences.  It offers great educational birthday programs for kids, and our latest discovery is that Aquarium of the Pacific offers adult sleepovers.  This is a unique idea for a bridal shower party and it may even work for a mellow bachelor party.  Enjoy the tranquility and serenity of the Aquarium at night.  Unwind and relax with yoga and meditation, experience the excitement of animal interactions, learn through an informal lecture by marine educators, and sleep under one of the large exhibits.  This is a great idea for a bride who enjoys marine life or for a prelude to an under the sea themed wedding.  The event requires reservations for a minimum of 20 guests and includes gourmet pizza dinner, snacks, & continental breakfast.  Alcohol is available at this event to those 21 and over.

An Indian Wedding Celebration With A Peacock Theme

Preston Bailey’s one of a kind Peacock Floral arrangement inspired us to create an entire celebration with the peacock theme.  The peacock is the national bird of India and it symbolizes grace, joy, beauty and love.  There couldn’t be a better mascot for a wedding celebration and we spread the beauty of the peacock in our ideas for an Indian wedding or a celebration such as a sangeet or mehndi party.

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The giant peacock floral arrangement would be a perfect backdrop for the bride and groom during the celebratory ceremony.  With this enormous floral piece as the center backdrop, very little additional decor is needed.

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Rangoli is an Indian art form.  Traditionally Indian women would paint colorful art on the floors during auspicious celebrations.  Imagine these peacock rangoli paintings all over the floors of your wedding celebration.

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This lovely Easter Lily backdrop coordinates very well with the Peacock Indian themed Wedding celebration.  It will fit perfectly behind the giant Peacock display if naturally aesthetic background is not present.

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We love this Peacock themed floral chandelier that will beautifully hang above the bride and groom during the ceremony.

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It only makes sense that the bride would do Peacock Henna designs for her Peacock themed Indian Wedding celebration.  Inviting a Henna artist to do Peacock themed designs for all the ladies would be ideal.

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We love these paper lanterns to cluster on one tree that guests can pick off and take home as favors or use the paper lanterns to present wedding favors in.

2013 Wedding Trend: Colors

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Color is definitely the trend for 2013 weddings and rainbow colors are going to make an appearance in the spring and summer weddings for 2013.

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Decorate with color in every inch of your wedding.  It can be whimsical or elegant.  A splash of color in your wedding planning will bring vibrancy into your wedding.

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Hot Southern California Wedding Locations

Southern California has long been considered a premier destination for weddings and receptions.  These are top wedding planner choices for unique wedding venues in Southern California:

Wedgewood at Glen Ivy Trilogy Golf Club is located at Glen Ivy.  This is your premiere choice for an Inland Empire wedding.  This golf course location is nestled at the top of a hill with an enchanting ambience and a ceremony site that overlooks a waterfall. 

The Spanish Hills Country Club is located in Ventura County.  At Spanish Hills Country Club you will enjoy the friendly warmth and elegance of a gracious private club which provides a spectacular outdoor ceremony site to hold your wedding.   You can have your ceremony services in a lush garden setting on top of a Grand Terrace. In our Grand Dining Room you’ll be delighted by luxurious Spanish Mediterranean design.

For a wedding on the beach, La Palapa Del Mar is beautiful in its French Empire Style located in Long Beach.  The Del Mar Banquet room overlooks beautiful Catalina Island, the Queen Mary, Pacific Ocean and boasts a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and the City lights at night.  The wine, the cobalt blues and the antique gold lace create an elegant and charming background for any occasion. It reminds one of going back in time, when crystal chandeliers, crystal candlesticks and antiques were the fashion.

Rancho Las Lomas is one of the most elegant wedding venue and private estates in America. This restored early California rancho offers a private and intimate atmosphere, set amidst exquisitely manicured botanical and zoological gardens.  Located in Laguna Beach, this is one of Orange County’s best kept secret.

Located in San Diego, at Carmel Mountain Ranch, guests are of highest priority.  Set amidst panoramic views of the surrounding mountains, Carmel Mountain Ranch Country Club is the picture perfect setting for your much anticipated day.  For wedding ceremonies, the enclosed outdoor gazebo offers an idyllic setting only steps away from your splendid reception. This is a classic wedding setting with the graceful flavor of a country club.

Villa Casa Bella is the perfect estate for destination weddings in Santa Barbara.  Located in the Ocean-front area of Santa Barbara and designed specifically with alfresco entertaining in mind, the stunning Villa Casa Bella has all the elements one would expect in the quintessential reception and wedding location.  The impressive bluff-top positioning of the villa affords the grounds with dramatic coastal and spectacular island views- perfect for an awe-inspiring wedding ceremony to unfold.

The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway provides a highly unique wedding and reception location in Palm Springs!  Located nearly 3 miles above the Coachella Valley with panoramic views of the desert and the Mount San Jacinto State Park, begin your journey into matrimony with a 10-minute ride aboard the World’s largest rotating Tramway and the only rotating Tramway in the Western Hemisphere.    There are outdoor and indoor locations with patios and private banquet rooms along with the backdrop of giant pine trees and majestic mountains.

Southern California is a perfect place for a beach wedding or for a venue wedding.  From beach bluffs and Pacific Ocean views to private, enchanting settings, and snow covered mountain top views in the winter, you can have it all in Southern California.

Cameo Wedding Theme

A cameo wedding theme brings back the ambiance of the Victorian era.  When a cameo wedding theme is planned it exudes European elegance and old world charm.  However, the idea of antique cameo pins and jewelery as classic as it is also may seem old-fashioned.  When wedding planning with this quintessential theme, the colors that are chosen to compliment black silhouettes and cameo are what will determine whether there is a modern flair or a very traditional old world tone to the wedding.  If black and white is used, it can be very striking and modern.  The classic wedding color pink can be very traditional, but when various shades of pink and different styles are used with the cameo wedding them it can be very modern.  Other nontraditional colors that may be used with this theme are blue and green.  Lavender on the other hand is a very traditional wedding color, but deeper tones of purple can bring across a very modern element to a very traditional theme as the cameo.

Black and Pink Cameo Wedding theme with European Baroque charm that exudes old-fashioned elegance.

Black and White Cameo Themed Wedding for the modern bride.

Old traditional charm to the Black and White Cameo Wedding theme.

A spectacular Black and White Wedding Cake for a Cameo themed wedding.

A Wedding black wedding cake that will please the modern bride.

Traditional Soft Blue and Cameo wedding theme.

Blue and Cameo wedding with a modern look.

Shades of Green and Cameo Wedding ideas.

Authentic Indian Wedding Favors

To keep up with the spirit of India and the Indian wedding theme it is important to really delve into ethnic traditions.  Focus on common practices and aspects of the Indian culture to find the most unique Indian wedding favors.

One of the oldest practices of the Indian culture is tea or chai.  Indian’s have been drinking specialty tea for centuries and including a special tea as part of your Indian wedding menu will be great.  Not only can you serve special Indian tea but you can offer it as a wedding favor as well.  Create a special blend of Indian tea and package it in little jars or tins.  Embellish the packaged tea with personalized labels and include the recipe for your guests to take home as wedding favors. 

Mango chutney is another Indian favorite.  Mango is the national fruit and a revered part of India.  Mango leaves are used to decorate homes for Indian weddings and celebrations.  So, serving mango chutney as part of your Indian wedding dinner condiments and then offering miniature jars of the chutney as wedding favors for your guests to take home is a truly ethnic Indian Wedding idea.

Indian Wedding Mehendi Celebration

A mehendi celebration is one of the oldest and most celebrated rituals of an Indian wedding.  Indian wedding planners pride themselves in elaborate décor for mehendi celebration rituals.  Mehendi also called henna signifies strength and power of love in a marriage and there for a very good omen for the bride.  It is also one of the 16 must have adornments of an Indian bride.  At a mehendi ceremony skilled henna artists are invited to apply the henna or mehendi to the bride.  It is an old belief that the darker the henna color turns out to be the more her husband will love her.  Indian wedding mehendi ceremonies are colorful and traditionally set apart from other Indian wedding celebrations with the color green.  When planning a mehendi ceremony it is ideal to use green in the decorations, cake decorations, Indian sweets, etc.  Give out green wedding favors like henna candles or bookmarks with henna designs.  Traditionally the mehendi party is mainly for women, so bangles or jewelry as wedding favors would also be lovely.