{ideas | signature wedding cocktails to keep you cool}

Signature wedding cocktails are a fun way to personalize your wedding. It's also a good way to work around your budget if you're not able to do a full hosted bar.You can save on the drink tab by offering wine, beer, champagne, and just the signature cocktail, rather than a full bar.With the warm and sticky summer months upon us, I thought I should post some of my favorite signature wedding cocktails to keep you all cool.

Summer Fruit Sangria (courtesy of Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:

• 6 cups assorted fruits (such as mango, pineapple, cantaloupe, and apricot), sliced or cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced peeled fresh ginger
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups fresh basil or mint leaves
• 1/2 cup orange liqueur, such as Cointreau
• 1 bottle crisp white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
• Ice

Directions:

1. In a large bowl or pitcher, combine fruit, ginger, basil or mint, and orange liqueur. Mash gently with the back of a wooden spoon until basil is bruised and fruit releases juices. Add wine and lemon juice and stir to combine. Refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 1 day). To serve, fill eight glasses with ice and top with sangria.

Marital Bliss Cocktail (courtesy of Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:

• 2 parts gin (we used Hendrick's)
• 1/2 part St-Germain Elderflower Liqueur
• 1/2 part fresh lime juice
• 4 parts soda water to top off
• Lime slice or wedge for garnish
• Mint sprig, for garnish

Directions:

1. Combine gin, liqueur, and lime juice in a cocktail shaker with ice, and shake. Pour over ice in glass. Add soda water, and stir. Garnish with lime and mint.

Ciroc Lola (courtesy of Delish)

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce(s) Cîroc Vodka
• 1 1/2 ounce(s) pomegranate juice
• 1 teaspoon(s) elderflower liqueur
• 1  splash champagne
• 1  orchid blossom

Directions:

1. Stir all the ingredients over ice to chilled and strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass.
2. Top with splash of champagne and garnish with a Sonya orchid or, if unavailable, another food-grade edible flower.

Cranberry Kiss (courtesy of Delish)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 ounce(s) Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
• 2 ounce(s) collins mix
• 2 ounce(s) cranberry juice
• 1 wedge(s) lemon

Directions:

1. Add Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, collins mix, and cranberry juice to ice-filled highball glass and stir.
2. Garnish with lemon wedge.

Smirnoff Lemon Drop Martini (courtesy of Delish)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 ounce(s) Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka
• 1/4 ounce(s) triple sec
• 3/4 ounce(s) lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a shaker with ice, add Smirnoff No. 21 Vodka, triple sec, and lemon juice.
2. Shake well.

{bridal show | bridal show 101}

Bridal shows are a fabulous opportunity for you to meet hundreds of vendors in your area and beyond. Attending bridal shows can be very overwhelming especially for your first time.  I'm happy to announce that Premier Soirees is participating in a bridal show at The Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA. The event is hosted by Bridal Showplace and will be hosting over 120 exhibitors. Here's some info on the upcoming bridal show.

Sunday, August  12, 2012 

11:00 AM - 4:00 PM 

11126 Queens Highway Long Beach, CA

In order to take full advantage of your day there are some things you should do and keep in mind when you attend the show. I have listed several tips below to help you on your bridal show adventure:


Tip # 1:   Dress Comfortably but Cute - Depending on the size of the bridal show, it usually has a lot of walking from booth to booth to visit different vendors and lots of standing as well. You wanna be sure that you're dressed comfortably at the bridal shows with some comfy shoes. You also want to consider leaving the purse in the car and just taking your keys, wallet and your labels to toss in the tote. The less stuff you bring to the show, the better and more comfortable it becomes for you.

Tip #2: Bring a Tote - Most bridal shows now give brides/guests a tote bag as part of their registration/admission fee for you to put all of your loot and fliers that you collect throughout the day. You can bring your own tote if you wish - but I suggest bring a larger tote since there will be a lot of stuff -- giveaways, postcards, magazines, samples, and business cards -- available to you during that day. When you return home after the show, you can sort through the wedding stuff and organize it however you wish.

Tip #3: Bring a friend!! - it's always fun to walk through the bridal shows with someone else - your mom, your sister, your maid of honor, your best friend, your fiance!! You can share the samples, the giveaways and the notes after the show is done. You can dish on your favorite vendors and ideas on your drive home.

Tip #4: View vendors ahead of time - most shows will list their vendors/exhibitors online so you should look at them to plan which ones you're really interested in. You can map out your route to prioritize those vendors first and visit the others afterwards. Doing some research before the show will help you make the most out of your day.

Tip #5: Create an ID - now this doesn't mean come prepared with your "Hello, My Name is" label but make sure you do come prepared with some contact labels. Make some contact labels out of the Avery labels with your name, email address, phone # and your wedding date.  Some brides are comfortable sharing their mailing address as well so definitely add the information that you feel most comfortable sharing. Most vendors will ask for your contact information so this will make it much easier to not have to write everything down. As for the email address, I suggest creating an email specifically for everything wedding related. I can almost guarantee that you will receive countless of emails from different vendors and having a separate email will avoid the overflow in your personal email.

Tip #6: Bring a camera - if you can bring a separate camera outside of your cellphone so you can take as many photos as possible of cakes, wedding dresses, flowers, invitations and even the vendors that you really enjoyed so you can remember them. Sometimes having a visual image of their booth or set up will help you remember which vendors your enjoyed the best.

Enjoy your bridal show adventure and remember that planning your wedding should be fun and exciting!

{press | invitation featured on lifestyle crafts}

It's been pretty busy lately around the Premier Soirees' office with the launch of the website, upcoming weddings and bridal shows this summer, I haven't posted much about my most favorite wedding as of this year.

I wanted to share some sneak peeks though since my bride took on the project of creating her entire wedding invitation suite and all her hard work has definitely paid off. Her wedding invitation was recently featured on LifeStyle Crafts' website for all of her DIY goodness. Special kudos to the wonderful design work of Darla Marie Designs and to the wonderful Kelly Mendoza of True Bliss Photography for capturing such great images of the invite.

Click here to see the entire feature on the wedding invitation. Make sure to check back on the blog for more feature on this special wedding for Leah & Kevin!

{premier soirees website launch}

So thrilled -- beyond thrilled to share some awesome news with all of you. Our Premier Soirees website is here!!! It's been quite a journey that I took with a good friend who worked on the design and layout of the site and I'm glad that it is done and ready for all of you to see. Thank you to Donald Quitangon for his great work and patience working with me through this process.

Come visit us at http://www.premiersoirees.com/ and let us know how you find our new website. Happy Wednesday to all!!!

The "ONE"

I know this is probbaly the most randomest post I've posted so far but I just loved this photo when I saw it so I've been posting it on Facebook and Twitter. It reminded me of that feeling when I married my hubby 4.5 years ago and knowing that it was him - it's always been him that was meant for me. I think this is the feeling that everyone gets when they've met the ONE.

Happy Tuesday to all!