Alexandra and Tyler, published on 7X7SF

Happy Tuesday!

We were so excited to hear that one of our beautiful weddings was published on 7x7SF last week.

Go on over to see Alexandra and Tyler's beautiful wedding at The Seymore Center in Santa Cruz.

Gorgeous photography done by our buddies Dori and Jeff of Sun and Life Photography

Also, we had so much fun working with:

Darcy and Laurie and the amazing team at Seascape Flowers
Our BFF, Edith Meyer of Edith Meyer Wedding Cakes
Catering by Feast For a King
Transportation and always amazing, fun drivers The Santa Cruz Experience
Accommodations, The Dream Inn

And of course, Coastside Couture did the planning!

Christian and Deidre, a Holman Ranch Wedding

We are excited to share this wedding our Associate team did at Holman Ranch last season! It's unusual but can be done to have a Catholic Ceremony performed at an outside venue. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by Mike Danen Photography

 

 

Vendor Team that made it happen-

Rentals: Chic Event Rentals 

Hair/Makeup: Katie Brooke Callahan

Venue: Holman Ranch

Caterer: Paradise Catering

Photographer: Mike Danen Photography

Floral: Christine Cater Wedding & Event Design

Videographer: James Cohen

Guitarist: Gabriel Nava

Cake: La Plaza Bakery

Reception Musician: Rich Martini Orchestra

Transportation: Arrow Transportation

Coordinator: Coastside Couture

Wedding Industry Experts Awards

 

We Just found out we won the following through Wedding Industry Experts.

 

Winner: Best Event Designers - Monterey Bay 

Winner: Best Event Designers - California 

Finalist: Top 10 Best Event Designers - United States - Ranking: 4 of 10

Finalist: Top 100 Best Event Designers - Worldwide - Ranking: 16 of 100

 

Wow! Thank you all for your support!

Shoes For Thought Thursday, Perfect for a Beach Wedding!

 

 

Crystal-embellished glitter-finished leather heart sandals by Miu Miu

Wedding Traditions : Breaking the Glass

Source 

Hello! Welcome back to Wedding Tradition Wednesday. Today we are going to discuss a tradition that is often done at Jewish ceremonies (which, by the way, is one of the coolest ceremonies I have seen), breaking the glass. What happens is a glass is placed on the floor wrapped in a cloth or napkin and the groom breaks the glass with his right foot. It is often the sign the the celebration can begin. There are many interpretations on why this is done, and we are going to explore them in this little blog post! 
1) The Temple:  The breaking the the glass is supposed to be a reminder of sadness and suffering that was caused destruction of the Temples in Jerusalem.
2) Sadness and Joy: The act can serve as a reminder that life will bring sadness as well as joy ( That's a little depressing)
3) Superstitions: Loud noises can help drive away those evil spirits (Those pesky suckers again) 
4) How Fragile a Marriage can be: Since glass is extremely fragile, it represents that the relationship can be fragile as well. The relationship must be cared for and respected, for it can be easily broken. 
5) Babies!: The little pieces of glass represent the hope that you will make tons of little babies. 
6) "Put His Foot Down" : Often times, many people will joke that this is the last time the groom will be able to "put his foot down" .

After the glass breaking, all guests are to shout " Mazel Tov!", which means congratulations, and everyone can now begin the party! 

When things don't necessarly go the way you planned

Happy Monday!
I hope you all got to enjoy a beautiful weekend.

So I have been struggling with blogging about my situation because it's hard sometimes to admit that things arent going as planned. You can be the best planner in the world -not that I am at all claiming to be (I think Heidi is) and things just may not go as planned. Now I am not talking about your wedding or a birthday party or your parent's 50th anniversary renewals, I am talking about life in general. You know the real day to day stuff, like parking downtown, buying a new water heater, moving houses, going to dinner, having babies...

Ok, maybe some of that is a bit dramatic, I mean it's isn't everyday you have a baby. And let me tell you I certainly wasn't planning on getting pregnant but low and behold kids, mother nature will play tricks on you so be prepared! ;)

The best laid plans can often get a wrench thrown in them. No matter how hard you try to work every angle there is always that one little chance something could go wrong. You can buy your dream house, schedule the moving vans, label the boxes perfectly but a storm could hit and your plans get delayed two days. Your wedding dress could be altered two inches two long because you decided to wear flip flops last minute and you had decided on wedges at your last fitting. Your aunt who is the most amazing baker in your family offered to make your wedding cake (although she never had done something so big before) shows up on the wedding day totally unprepared and gives your cake a massive hack job, in the meantime not realizing there are no sinks to clean with so she inadvertently clogs the sinks to the high end portable restrooms prior to the ceremony....

I could go on and on but I am sure you get what I am saying, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" this can be something to be said about all aspects of life.No matter how carefully something is planned, even though we plan to the best of our ability, something may still go wrong with it.
You can do some things about that of course; hire great, trustworthy vendors, ask for help from friends and family, try not to make too many last minute decisions, etc.. Just remember if something doesn't go exactly as planned, timing gets thrown off, a storm rolls in, a tire goes flat, whatever! It's life and the very best way I have found to deal with it is to laugh and roll with it. As long as everyone is ok, at the end of the day life will go on and you just have to sit back and laugh with it.  



 Of course, I am applying this particular blog post to my life situation right now. No matter how well you plan something, "stuff" happens. So relax and get over it and know that you will look back and someday have at least a good story.

Oh ya and hire a really great event planner!

Wedding Traditions: Bridal Veil Lengths

Source

Hey everyone! Happy Wednesday and welcome back for another traditions post! We are going to do something a little different today and talk about the different lengths of the bridal veil.
Blusher veil: which a a short, single layer veil that is worn over the bride's face until the end of the ceremony when the groom will lift it up to kiss her. Sometimes the father of the bride will lift the veil as they get to the end of the aisle. The blusher creates a lot of drama and buildup to the entrance of your face at the wedding! It can be worn with all length of veil.
Shoulder length and flyaway veil: This is a common veil length that is good when brides have a lot of details on their dress around the bust and back. The flyaway veil is a multi-teared and shoulder length, and is a little bit more of a "fun" veil. It goes well with less formal dresses and emphases he back of dresses.
Elbow Length: The elbow length veil obviously goes down to the elbow and can be paired with a blusher veil. They look good with ballgown dresses because they end right where all the fullness of the dress starts.
Fingertip Length: This is one of the most common veil lengths because its pretty much flattering on every bride and dress style. You know who wore a fingertip length veil? Kate Middleton, so you know it has to be a great length for a veil is she wore it.
Waltz/Ballet Length: This length of veil falls somewhere between the knee and the ankle, and is good for brides with fitted dresses without long trains.
Chapel Length: This veil goes all the way down, and should extend 6 inches to 1 foot beyond the train of the dress. This length is great for very formal dresses with trains.
Cathedral Length: This length of veil can only be worn in a cathedral... Just kidding! The cathedral veil is the longest of the veils ( think Princess Diana, except she wore a Regal Cathedral length veil,which is even longer!)  and is for the formalist of dresses. The length is perfect is you enjoy the dramatics, and have a long aisle to walk down.

You can also add any of the different lengths of veils together to make the ultimate tired veil as well. There are many tings to consider when choosing a veil length: style of dress, hair do, how dramatic you want to be, where you are getting married, what kind of statement you want to make, layers, and fabric. Put into consideration all of those things and you will come up with the perfect veil length for you!

Coastside Couture's Cover Story in ISS Magazine

 

This past Friday was our season opener for Coastside Couture with our first wedding of 2013. We are thrilled to get started. Probably the coolest thing that has happened since last season is that we were features on the cover of ISS Magazine! The photo shoot was done by the amazingly talented Carlie Statsky who we adore and always feel blessed to work with. Being use to operating behind the scenes made it a bit of a challenge to be front and center, but Karissa and I always have fun so that is what we concentrated on. Here is what came out of that insane day-

 

 

 

photos by Carlie Statsky Photography

 I am so blessed to do what I love and with someone I love even more! Huge thank you to Stacie Francome for believing in our story and knowing that sharing it with our industry may inspire others. We are inspired by ISS every day and were honored to grace the cover. Thank you to our Couture Girls who always stand beside us to support our work. Thank you to the lovely Carlie Statsky! Viva la wedding season!