Sweet Sixteen

The morning of April 9, 1994, I left my house in my friend Beth's car on our way to L.A. to get my hair and make up done for my wedding, as rained poured down on her little car. Before I left, I kept looking out, hoping God would see my sad little face in the window and send a little sunshine my way. Every chance I'd get, as I sat in the chair at the salon getting pampered, I'd look at the same puddle in the parking lot through the window, hoping it would start drying up.

Meanwhile, my fiance and his friends were trying to set up tables and chairs in the lawn of our little church, wiping away the water, doing their best to make it look the way I wanted it. This was long before I knew anything about coordinating weddings. We had no plan B, it was church lawn or ????

We continued to get ready, trusting that God would give us a beautiful day. Did He ever! He sent the rain just to wash away the smog and the dust. By the time we got to the church, the sky was a beautiful blue with just a few fluffy white clouds, the sun was out and the lawn was not even damp. 400+ people packed into our little church and watched as Young and I promised to love each other till death do us part.

That was 16 years ago. It was the beginning of a beautiful life together. God did see my sad little face in the window and while I thought about what we were going to do if it continued to rain, He was teaching me to trust in Him and to put my focus on the marriage, not the wedding day. God took care of that for me, I couldn't have asked for better weather. He is so good.

So as I look out the window this morning, the day, and my life, is even more beautiful than it was on our wedding day. Happy 16th Anniversary honey!


(Check me out rockin' the puffy sleeves!)

April Showers and Parties and Discounts

Baby showers, Bridal showers, graduation parties, birthday parties ~ we love them all!! If you'll be hosting one of these celebrations soon and would like to give your guests a little pleasant surprise, check out our online store. We're offering a 10% discount on all merchandise for the month of April.
Happy shopping!

Beachside Wedding

What a great day we had yesterday! Judy and Mike got married at the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa in Huntington Beach. It was a gorgeous day, the weather was perfect. The stylists from Salon 9 made the already beautiful bride, bridesmaids, moms and flower girl even more beautiful. The ladies had a great time in the parlor while getting ready. They needed a little help getting laced into their wine colored dresses that complimented each of them perfectly. Then we had the "take my breath away" moment when Judy got into her wedding gown. She looked exquisite. While the ladies were getting photographed by Mike's friend and co-worker Edgar Hoill, the guys showed up ready to go in their formal wear from Friar Tux, looking rather dashing themselves. They found a nice shady spot near the courtyard, enjoyed a few cold drinks while Mike tried to avoid seeing Judy before the ceremony. The lively ceremony was officiated by Father Charles Ara and one of our favorite string quartets with the greatest name ever, Fiddlestix, provided the ceremony music.

The staff at the Hyatt worked at record speed to turn over the ballroom from the previous event. I enlisted the help of my husband to transport the wedding party's personal items and set up the ballroom while Chrisma assisted the photographer to make sure he got all the shots Judy and Mike wanted. The flowers for the ceremony and reception were provided by Paradise Delight Floral and Event Design. I know I keep using the word beautiful, but I can't think of a better word to describe how beautiful the flowers looked. Not only did they do a great job, they were a really nice team to work with. Actually, all the vendors were great! The videography was done by Marc Lehman of Ashley Video. I met Marc one other time a few months back, but it felt like we had known each other for years. He just has a way of making people feel comfortable. Oh, I want to be one of the first to promote his new venture, check out iDocam - it's such a great idea! After cutting into the yummy cake from Tomgirl Baking Co., DJ Jason Wagers knew just how to get everyone on the dance floor and keep them there. The music was exactly what the crowd wanted to dance the night away. I couldn't resist a little moonwalking myself to "Billie Jean" and a short stint on the dance floor with my husband waving our hands in the air as we joined everyone in a little "Hip Hop Hooray, Ho, Hey, Ho" (Is that the title of the song?). As our daughter would say; good times, good times.

We had a wonderful time as Judy and Mike celebrated with their family and friends. The guests had a great time and we just know that Judy and Mike are so loved and cherished. Lots of hugs and kisses, laughter and smiles. We are so grateful to have been a part of this special day. Thank you Judy and Mike for giving us the opportunity. Thank you to the Santos and Karting families. It was our pleasure to meet all of you. A special shout out to the awesome bridal party and their significant others - what a fun bunch!

We'll be sure and share some images from their weddings soon. In the meantime, we're going to put our feet up and take the rest of the day off.

Julia & Eugene

When I think "Cute Couple" I think of Julia and Eugene. You can just see the love and the mutual respect they have for each other. We got to spend the evening with them a week ago for a meeting to go over, in detail, all their vendors' contracts. We had Italian food for dinner and got better acquainted with them. They also got a chance to meet Chrisma and my family. It was as if we had been friends for years. I love getting to know my clients over a meal, there's just something about breaking bread with people that brings them closer together.

I can't wait for their wedding. Their ceremony is going to be at Trinity Baptist Church in Santa Monica and their beautiful reception is going to be at Hotel Casa Del Mar. The church is totally in tune with their light pink color scheme and it's a quick drive to the hotel from there. The wedding coordinator at the church is a dream to work with. When I met with Jeanine a few months back, we hit it off right away. Our catering manager at the hotel is also a great part of this awesome team. We had a great time with Michael at the tasting, which made the yummy food even yummier! Julia's mother especially enjoyed herself because the view was just gorgeous!

Check out some of their engagement photos, taken by the talented Taek from Taek Photography. And be sure to check back to see this stunning beauty and her handsome prince at the wedding of their dreams.






Photographer: Taek Photography
Julia's Hair & Make up: Joyce Luck Style

Leaving a Legacy

This weekend my family and I visited my dear friend Susan and her girls.
We had such a great time playing with, and holding her little girls. They are the most beautiful mix of Korean mommy and Texan daddy. The cutest little Texoreans you'll ever see. Susan and her husband Cody are leaving the best love gift to their daughters. Here's what they did:

"My husband and I wanted to keep some sort of documentation on the growth of our daughter and a blog seemed to be the perfect way to do it. We know lots of friends who have done the same, but then I stumbled on the website blurb.com that allows you to easily download your blog into a printed book format! Each entry is placed on a single page automatically by the blurb bookmaking software, and you can then add as many photos as you like onto customizable pages. It was fun to relive the first year of our daughter's life thru the blog and photos. After we finished, we ended up with 160 pages! And then we had the book printed as a hard bound book. It is definitely one the best things we've done!"





They've started one for their new little one who is just 3 weeks old. I wish I would have done something like this for my kids. It's never too late to start.

Our kids together

Let's Celebrate Marriage!

We're not just in the wedding business, we're in the marriage business. The wedding is the official first day of the marriage but the mindset of being committed to your husband starts when you realize he's the one.

My husband and I met when we were 18, freshmen in college. We started dating our junior year, 2 years later we were engaged, then a year after that we were married. Actually, today is the 17th anniversary of the day he proposed. This April will be our 16th wedding anniversary. If you bothered to do the math, that makes me 40, I don't feel 40, but every time I open my wallet and see my ID, there it is.

In our 15 years, 324 days of marriage, we've really enjoyed being married to each other. Through the years we've matured as individuals and as a couple. It's funny how the habits that annoyed us about each other, we've now adopted. It's the whole "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" mentality. We balance each other out, sometimes I'm "Lucy" and he's "Ricky" and other times we're like the couple from "Everybody loves Raymond". We strongly believe that the glue that holds us together is our love for God, each other, our kids, and our families.

One of my past clients had this shirt and I had to get one for myself. I found this great online store that sells apparel that promotes marriage and I love their story. Union28. I not only got a shirt for myself, I got one for my husband too.

Since the writing on his shirt is bigger, I think it means that he means it more.

My day with Christina, Kris and Chrisma

I met up with our current bride, Christina and our past bride, Kris at The Wedding Day in Fountain Valley Monday afternoon to order the bridesmaids' dresses and her wedding gown. Christina and Kris are the most awesome, walking, talking advertisements for Pleasant Surprise Events. Kris got married in September of '08 and Christina was one of her bridesmaids. During the planning of Kris' wedding, the two of them referred 4 clients to us and now Christina is getting married this July. We're so excited! 3 of her 6 bridesmaids are our past brides! It's going to be a great reunion. The ladies at The Wedding Day were super helpful and we had a great time. We were there about a month ago, and the bridesmaids brought coffee and donuts and we camped out (pictured above)while watching Christina try on a dozen dresses. She looked beautiful in every single one of them. We'll be sure and share the pics of her gorgeousness after the wedding.

After another fun time at The Wedding Day, the girls went off to celebrate with some well deserved fries and I embarked on an almost 2 hour long journey to Encino to meet Chrisma, my left handed, Philippino twin. Encino happens to be halfway between North Orange County, where I live and Oxnard, where she lives. If you think she lives far now, she used to live in Pennsylvania!! That's a much longer drive, but I've driven there too.

We hung out at Jerry's Deli for hours talking and laughing before we started going over some details of our upcoming events. I'm so glad we started having our monthly meetings. I know Christina and Kris and their friends make it a point to meet regularly as do some other ladies I know (A shout out to the Palace Girls). With everyone's busy schedules, it's hard to make time for everything you want to do, but if you've started meeting up with your girlfriends because of a wedding, keep it going even after. The wedding is just the beginning of all the wonderful things that will be happening in your life. You'll want your closest friends around to share those pleasant surprises with!