{birthdays | jonah's first birthday | walnut}

Happy 2015 to all of our readers! We hope that everyone had a wonderful 2014 and had some time to reflect on the past year and ready to tackle what life has in store for all of us in 2015. We have so many plans and ideas in store for all of our Premier Soirees followers, supporters and clients that we cannot wait to share with all of you. In 2014, we mentioned that we really want to make it a goal to blog more often. Well, here I am again in 2015 stating that we will make it a goal to blog more often. We are even making strides and working on a blog schedule to help us in getting blogging to a more regular schedule. Our hope is not only to share the events and weddings that we have been blessed to be a part of but also to use the blog as a platform to share our ideas and inspirations for all things party related.

With that said, we are excited to share a special first birthday party that we were grateful to have planned for a family that is very close to Premier Soirees. The Valdez Family has always trusted us in planning the special birthdays for all of their boys so as soon as Mom Joyce gave birth to Jonah, their 3rd addition to the family, she told us to save the date! You may remember the race car party that we blogged quite a bit ago for Adam and Noah, Jonah's older brothers. Joyce did not have a theme or inspiration in mind except for a color palette of blue and green tones which gave us the opportunity to plan away.

Some of our favorites from Jonah's first birthday party included:

- the dessert & candy table filled to the rim with various kinds of candy and sweet treats. We made sure that Jonah's guests enjoyed his party with enough sweet treats for them to take home including some mini Krispy Kreme donuts, dulce de leche & chocolate chip cookies and brownie bites.

- a popcorn bar with 3 different flavors of popcorn. We also provided different seasonings that guests can top their popcorn with. We filled bushels that we found from Michael's with regular, cheese and caramel flavored popcorn to give the guests a wide range to choose from.

- a chalkboard sign that included Jonah's favorite things. I know we've all seen these chalkboard signs all over Pinterest but we found the perfect design on Etsy. the design we chose had a whale which then reminded us of the story of Jonah the Whale.

- an ice cream truck that visited the party as a surprise treat for everyone. Since the party was in the middle of a California summer, we wanted to offer a refreshing treat for everyone.

- giant balloons of course! You know I LOVE these giant balloons and if I could I would use them everywhere. Even my own husband (who is part of our Premier Soirees team) who is deathly terrified of these balloons drove with these lovelies inside his car. The kids loved them too!!

All the photos are courtesy of Cattura Event Photography.

Thank you to the Valdez family for always trusting us with these special events. Thank you for believing in our vision for all of your parties and the passion and love we have for this business.

{shanelle + daniel | married | yorba linda}

When I met Shanelle and her younger sister Sheryl during our first consultation, I just remember how much they remind me of me of my sister and I. They had the same Ate-Baby relationship that Leah & I have. The more we talked over boba, I realize how many similarities I share with this very special bride. She was so sweet in sharing their proposal video and as soon as I watched their proposal, I fell more in love with both Shanelle and Daniel and knew I had to work with them. I truly believe that God purposely places people in your life to play important roles and Shanelle is definitely one of those individuals for me. Working with Shanelle has definitely felt like working with a close girl friend - she has made every conversation & meeting fun and she truly shows you how compassionate she is towards other people. 

Shanelle & Daniel celebrated their July wedding at St. Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Church in Walnut surrounded by the out pour of love and happiness from their families and friends. The mass was celebrated by a very close family friend to the bride’s family which added a very personal touch to their day. After their ceremony, guests gathered at The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Residence for cocktails and reception. The property served as the perfect backdrop for the bridal party to take their photos. The photos in front of the presidential helicopter was definitely a favorite. This wedding had lots of surprises in store not only for the guests but as well as for our bride Shanelle.

Some of our favorites from Shanelle & Daniel’s wedding included:

-         Bride & Groom’s first dance where they had their first surprise for their guests – a choreograph salsa number at the end.

-         The video montage that was directed and produced by the bride’s brother. You can tell how much love and thought went into this since it told the story of the bride & groom.

-         Personalized table numbers with different “Love is” cartoon images in each table. The groom used to clip these from the LA Times and would share them with his bride. My favorite “Love is” from the bunch is "love is someone who will never let you go."

-         Customized cake toppers that our groom painted to match him and his bride’s personalities.

-         The maid of honor’s speech which completely brought tears to my eyes

-         The groom’s surprise song/dance performance for his new bride just before their garter toss.

-         Our guests was surprised with yet another element towards the end of the night with a late night snack. King Taco truck served delicious street tacos to all of our guests just in time to watch the same day edit video. What a yummy treat!

-         The bride and groom’s sparkler exit that was done right outside the library with the Disneyland fireworks in the background. Talk about amazing timing!

You can watch their SDE video by AMT Productions here.

Shanelle & Daniel’s wedding was truly a reflection of their beautiful relationships with their friends and families. I am beyond grateful to get the opportunity to work with people like you two who warm my heart beyond words. Thank you for your friendship, your love and most of all your trust.

Vendor Credits:

Event Planning & Coordination: Premier Soirees Event Design & Coordination

Photography: Lin and Jirsa Photography

Florals: Flower Allie

Videography: AMT Productions

Caterer: Ali Contreras of Jason's Catered Events

Cake: Simply Sweet Cakery

Entertainment: Eric Ventura and Jay Bermudez

Late-night Snack: King Taco

Ceremony: St Lorenzo Ruiz Catholic Church 

Reception: The Richard Nixon Presidential Library

{a week of features}

Last week was a week full of features for our Premier Soirees team. Two of our special events - both were first birthday celebrations were featured in Kara's Party Ideas and The Little Umbrella. I'm so excited to share with all of you the features but before I do, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients who have entrusted in us to make their weddings and special events happen. It truly means the world to us that you trust our team with such special times for you and your families. We love all of our PS families and brides and grooms.

Kara's Party Ideas
Click here for the full post on Kara's Party Ideas and here for our full post on this celebration.

The Little Umbrella
Click here for the full post on The Little Umbrella and here for our full post on this celebration.

{birthdays | amber's french inspired 16th birthday celebration | pomona}

During the early part of 2014, I was very fortunate to have spent a lot of quality time with some special families who were planning different birthday celebrations for their loved ones in the summer. Connie and her family was one of those families that I really enjoyed working with in preparation for Amber's french inspired 16th birthday celebration. Connie wanted to to make sure to take time and celebrate Amber with all of their family and friends in tow.

The backdrop for this fun event was at the Mountain Meadows Golf Club in Pomona and it's lush grounds make the perfect background for photos with Amber and her family. We created tablescapes for each of the guests' tables that included a small floral arrangements, table names, white lanterns and candles. For the table names, we asked Connie to choose words that would suit Amber best - intelligent, beautiful, creative were a few of the ones we translated in french.

Some of our favorites from Amber’s party included:

- The almost 20 foot dessert station filled with over a dozen different mini desserts from Merengue Bakery and 16 of Amber's favorite candy.
- Mini dainty favor boxes filled with sour patch watermelon candies (the birthday girl's favorite)
- The ribbon garland that served as the backdrop for our yummy dessert station
- Table centerpieces that included roses, ranunculus and dahlias.

Thank you again to Connie and Amber for choosing us to be a part of this special event and for the trust they gave us to create a vision for Amber's party.

Vendor Credits:

Event Planning, Design  & Centerpieces: Premier Soirees Event Design & Coordination

Photography: Vikki J Ceja Photography

Mini desserts & cake: Merengue Bakery

Venue: Mountain Meadows Golf Course