Orange and purple wedding canopy at the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point

Most friends usually pick up the phone and call (or these days, text) when they see something that reminds them of a friend. My friends break out their cameras when they see a wedding.

This wedding took place at the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point. It is actually overlooking the ocean, which you can’t see from here — if the photo had been taken with the ocean in the background, the image would be completely washed out.

From what I hear, and as you can see, everyone who came upon this wedding thought the colors were gorgeous and they appear to be quite vibrant. Orange and purple don’t generally come to mind when I think of a traditional wedding — either it was an Indian wedding, or it was simply a very non-traditional bride. Very bright colors like orange and red are often used at Indian weddings, as are the orchid garlands, but Indian weddings also tend to have more wedding accoutrements than a simple canopy.

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Preview: Wedding at the Huntington Beach Hyatt

My brother the budding florist decorated a wedding this past Sunday and it turned out splendidly. I don’t quite have time yet to do a comprehensive post on the event, but I wanted to give a sneak peek at what it looked like!

Long head table decorations

Decorating a long head table for a wedding reception is tough. Trust me, when I was still decorating, I preferred a small sweetheart table to long head tables any day. However, they’re usually a necessity, because its probably cheaper and many couples want to put their bridal party and sponsors in the spotlight with their own especially designated tables.

Above, you’ve got a combo — two long-ish side tables uncomfortably close to a sweetheart table, decorated with lavender, silver and white draping. I’m not sure who put the bridesmaid bouquets at each point where the draping is gathered and attached to the tables, but its a nice touch. You can click on the above picture for its full size, or keep reading for a closer look at an angle.

Forgive me, I can’t remember the name of the hotel pictured here, but — it was a hotel! Anyway, you see the silver draping was used to accent the lavender (one of my favorite color combos). The sweetheart table is set apart with lights underneath the table, which makes a pleasing glow through the silver and white draping.

I’m positive that this set up is at the Pacific Palms in the City of Industry. This is a double long table set up — a long table on the floor and a long table on a raised tier. If I remember correctly, most long tables seat about 15 or 16 people. However, they are not easy to decorate. You usually need several yards of draping, like 20 to 25 yards, plus, making all those loops symmetrical often takes a lot of pinning and unpinning and pinning again, plus, when you’re working with two long tables, not everything will line up, as you can see from above. (Above, things probably line up from a certain view, but it doesn’t look lined up to me from this picture!) When I first started draping it would take me an hour to do each table. I can do a long table in 20 minutes now.

This reception was at the Courtyard in Baldwin Park, but don’t ask me if it was called a Courtyard at the time — its undergone several ownership changes over the years. This set up was unique. If my memory serves me correctly, this was a big U-shaped table. I’ve done a couple of those setups at this hotel. Anyway, you don’t see the U-shape here, but when it comes to a looooong head table that angles, all you can do is create a big visual impact and try to get everything mostly even. Pink helps a lot in that sense.

Yellow and silver for a silver anniversary celebration at the Glendale Hilton. This long table was not as difficult to decorate, since it was not excessively long — it appears to seat 10. There is a sweetheart table setup behind the long table, and its flanked by two medium sized tables which seat four each. If I must recommend a set up for a lot of people at a head table, this would be it.
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Wedding at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute in Simi Valley

I cannot for the life of me remember all the places I’ve decorated for weddings, which spans all the way from Santa Barbara County to San Diego County — no kidding. So when my buddies Josh and Nicole said their wedding was going to be at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, my interest was piqued — a place I’ve never been for a wedding? Incidentally, those geekier than myself might recognize the spot — its been the site of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, one Star Trek: Next Generation episode and as the power chamber for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, according to Wikipedia. Shamefully, I think I remember this building from the Power Rangers.

But the place is AMAZ-ZA-ZING. (Sorry, Benchwarmers reference there.) Driving up to the place was an adventure in itself — the road up to the institute is a barely two-lane meandering dirt road along the sides of a hill. At night, on the way down, there were no lights. It was much like our drive up Mt. Haleakala in Maui last year. Except this one isn’t 10,000 feet up and a dormant volcano. The day was perfect for a wedding. The sky, which had just been cloudy a day before, was perfectly clear, and the place had an amazing view of Simi Valley’s hills. In this spot, it was hard to believe we were in metropolitan Los Angeles.

Inside, the layout was actually quite cozy — there weren’t too many tables that you felt lost, and everything was very laid back. Each of the tables was named after a tree and the colors brown and purple surprisingly went well together. (It so happens I was wearing a plum dress while my husband wore a brown shirt and tie — go figure!)

Tall centerpieces are always nice — they help keep the flowers above the heads of the seated guests, so as not to impede on conversations. I liked these arrangements — the colors, the flower choices and the stands themselves. I knew Nicole would not disappoint me in this department. Heheh. Nicole’s flowers were done by Ginny G Floral Design in North Hollywood.

The cake table, carrying precious cargo. That was some yummy cake, yo. Not too elaborate, although, I think that’s a petal stuck to the side, there.

The requisite sweetheart table. ^_^ I don’t think my mom or myself can take credit for the sweetheart table concept, but it sure has caught on.

For more pictures on this wedding, see my Flickr stream.
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Color indecision at the Ramada Suites in Covina

Look. Do us all a favor. If you’re having a big party, choose one color. If you like pink, go with pink. Or, if you like baby blue – go with the baby blue. Both are great colors. But the two should never be paired together outside of a nursery, but maybe not a personal nursery, since that baby may not know if s/he is supposed to be aligning him/herself with the pink or the blue. Anyway, just choose one, especially since the hotel may not have napkins that are your exact color of pink or blue.

This was an 18th birthday party/debut, but I could’ve sworn it was a baby shower for boy and girl twins.
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Holiday Inn Monrovia

This is the Holiday Inn Monrovia, right off the 210 Freeway at Huntington Drive. Strangely, while the weather today was mostly gray and overcast, the sky in this picture looks strangely blue. Sorry, I guess I’m not that great of a picture editor. Anyway, I was here Friday to do another 18th birthday party (for someone I knew as a baby – man, how time flies!). This hotel seems to be popular for the debutante parties – last time I did a party here, it was also an 18th birthday party. This is not a bad hotel to work at anyway – the catering staff is generally easy to work with and they oblige us when we need several hours to set up and decorate.

However, we got one of these guys – a picture taker. We actually wouldn’t have known he was there, taking pictures, if his flash hadn’t gone off. The dude just walked in with his wife (I presume) and, I guess, thought, “sure, I’ll just take pictures of everything you guys are doing…..” He didn’t even try to chat us up or say hello or anything – just came in and started taking pictures. I even tried to push the point to the guy by saying, “hello, how are you? I’m good, how are you?” He didn’t get the point, so I got down from the chair I was using to decorate and stopped until he left.

Sometimes, we’re OK with other people taking pictures, but usually I have to get the signal from my mom – it is her business, after all. But it’s not cool when people just walk in and start snapping away at another person’s hard work – c’mon, at least say hi. Some people do get real sensitive about other taking pictures of their work – I remember once, when I was maybe 14 or 15, I was at a trade show, helping my mom out. My mom told me to wander around and take some pictures, so I did. I happened to take pictures of what I think was a balloon display, and the lady who did it went after me – yelled at me, said there was a sign that said “No Pictures” (I didn’t see it), then even wrested my camera from me and tore my film out. I was so steamed – I mean, we were at a trade show, what did she expect? – but what could I do. I was a little teenager at the time.

Anyway, thank God that dude left before I finished up – here’s the finished product. Well, at least the front. I had to leave early to go to work, so not everything was finished. I kinda don’t like the colored lighting, but hey – it’s what my mom wanted.

Here’s a picture of the backdrop, closer, without the colored spotlight.

And here’s the front entrance arrangement.
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