By Your Side Events Blog

Inspiration Station: Candle Decor

2009-11-12T10:36:00.003-05:00

Adding dim natural light to your event is a surefire way to get the intimate feel if that is the look you are going for. You are not stuck with the traditional votive look for your table decor. There are many option available to make the candle light apart of your decor. Here are some wonderful ideas from Wrapables:

Loving the bamboo votive holders. These can be used for your beach theme affair handing from large bamboo infused arrangements or even lining the your aisle.

Thinking of doing a holiday themed wedding? Already plan to give out ornaments as favors? Why not sprinkle these candles throughout the space to heighten the experience?

Loving these lantern candle holders!!!

These grass candles can be a great way to line the aisle as well. Don't forget that you can use electric candles if you have fear that flame can cause a fire.

Source: Wrapables

Necklaces that layer

2009-11-11T10:21:00.004-05:00

They are back! Necklaces that layer and add depth to your evening attire. There has been an emergence of layered necklaces paired with coctail dresses or even bridesmaids gown.

We are loving this necklace by designer Malene Birger

Source: Net a porter

Below you will find a collage of some great ways you can wear and style your layered look. If you think this would be too much for your wedding day or your black tie affair, think about wearing the style to your less formal events like your rehearsal dinner of bridesmaid luncheon. This will also be your chance to wear your family heirlooms. Grab your grandmother's necklace to update your new modern and fashionable look.

Here is some celebrity inspiration for you. Straight from the red carpet.

Source Eretz Elana

Loving this dainty look on Kim Kardashian.

Source: Style that Work for You

Soothing message in the little things...

2009-11-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

How adorable are these bandsaids?

I have put the keep calm and carry on slogan on my daily mantra list. Nowadays it has been so easy to get all riled up when things don't go your way or as planned. Now you can be reminded in your bandsaids.

Source: Urban Outfitters

ATL Trunk Show Alert - Heidi Elnora

2009-11-09T13:21:00.002-05:00

Don't miss your change to go to the trunk show featuring Heidi Elnora's new Silhouettes Collection and the opportunity for girls to work one on one with the very talented designer, Heidi. The trunk show will start on Thursday the 12th and go through the 14th. Brides receive a 10% token of appreciation off the base cost of their gown when they order it during the show.

heidi elnora - atlanta gallery
404.903.4263 office
www.heidielnora.com
1545 peachtree street suite 112
atlanta, ga 30309

BYSE Real Weddings - Vicky and Jose

2009-11-03T11:27:00.004-05:00

Vicky and Jose was married on a beautiful summer like day this past September in Carle Place, New York. One of the exciting elements of this wedding is that the couple are huge Met's fans! Vicky and Jose were able to elegantly incorporate the theme throughout their entire wedding. From the flowers to the girl's dresses the Met's signature colors of power blue and orange were present. Here is a sneak peek from their wedding photographed by the talented 12th Night Photography.

Monday's Tips and Tricks Vol. 5 - Hire Professionals

2009-11-02T15:40:00.002-05:00

I am sure we all have family members that have done some event planning on the side or even DJ on the weekends, but it is important to make sure you hire professionals for your big event. Let me tell you why, they will be EXPERIENCED. Chances are they work several times a year on several events. They will have the experience needed to make sure they can tackle any unforseen incidents or have a back up plan when things can go wrong. They will have a slew of options for you to make your day special and unique.

Instead of using your family and friends for day of resources, ask them for recommendations on past professionals they have used in the past that have done a great job. Let them sit back and enjoy your event!

Will you be there? Southern Weddings Magazine Launch Party

2009-10-30T14:00:00.002-04:00

The lovely ladies over at Southern Wedding Magazine has decided to host their launch party of their second issue here in Atlanta! Not only will it be here in Atlanta but it will be at the Bridal Bar. Here is your opportunity to not only meet the Southern Belles; Lara Casey, Emily Ayer, Whitney Davis and Katherine Waterman in person, but you can check out Bridal Bar where all things wedding related happens here in Atlanta.

If you plan to attend please leave us a comment so we be sure to meet you.

Don't forget to RSVP.

Inspiration Station: Glasses as a Vase?

2009-10-28T20:58:00.003-04:00

I love the look of being different. Anything that takes away from the norm of cylinder vases or even pilsner vases makes me excited. If you remember my post on Bud Vases, I came across this picture and was very glad to see that shot glasses work just as well!

Just think, you are having a gathering or even a shower and you or the recipent collects shot glasses or you and your fiance has collected shot glasses from every place you have visited, wouldn't this be a great way to include those personal items?

How many shot glasses do you own and how could you incorporate them in your next event?

Source: Duet-Weddings

Monday's Tips and Tricks Vol. 4 - Keep true to your style

2009-10-26T20:38:00.002-04:00

I cannot stress this enough. The event will only be what you imagined if you make it personal and unique to you and your style. Yes peruse blogs and magazines for inspiration, but take it just for that, inspiration. Start with a vision/inspiration board that is close to what you would like to have, then close your eyes and imagine in the perfect world what your event would look like. Would the flower choices be the same? Would the colors be the same?

Maybe you have saved pictures from the wedding you have seen on Southern Weddings or Weddings Unveiled, what elements would you like to keep and what could be changed to represent your persona?

I wish I knew how to sketch (actually I think I may take a course), I would love to sketch each phase of the planning process for my clients then later frame that for keepsakes. If you can sketch think about jotting down some ideas and drawings on paper and sit back and watch it come to life.

Monday Tips: Limited seats left for Sean Low Event Atlanta

2009-10-26T13:47:00.003-04:00

Monday Tips and Tricks will follow this evening. We wanted to let everyone know that there are limited seats available for the Sean Low workshop taking place on November 19, 2009 at the One Ninety One Club here in Atlanta.

Here is some background information on the event in case you missed the previous post.

Sean Low, former president of Preston Bailey Designs will be joining a selective group of Atlanta area wedding and special events professionals for an intensive all day business building workshop.

Please join us Thursday, November 19, 2009 from 8:30am to 4pm at the 191 Club. Registration is $195 for Atlanta Occasions VIP Guests and that includes you!

The workshop will focus on identifying the core principles and philosophies that should drive every creative business (which all wedding businesses are). Once we review the principles, we will work together to see how they apply to the particular business of the attendee. The end goal to be sure that the business platform each attendee operates under is the one that best supports his/her art.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this event. Registration increases to $210 after November 1st so don't forget to register before then.

To Register, please visit...

https://www.123signup.com/register?id=jssbc

A bit about Sean Low......
Sean Low is the Founder and President of The Business of Being Creative LLC. The Business of Being Creative provides practical business advice to those in the business of being creative. Prior to starting The Business of Being Creative, Sean served as the President of Preston Bailey Design, Inc., representing Preston in all of his business endeavors throughout the world. His client roster includes event industry legends such as Vicente Wolf, Marcy Blum and Sylvia Weinstock to name a few.

Through his work with Preston Bailey and other creative clients over the last six years, Sean has discovered his own creative passion: thinking about creative businesses - how they run, how to make them run better, helping them know who they are and then be the best at what they do. Armed with law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and experience ranging from law, investment banking, financial executive to small business owner, Sean has an uncaning ability to help artists build their businesses in a way that most honors the art that is behind them. Hope to see you there!

M.A.C. 2009 Holiday Collection

2009-10-21T10:00:00.000-04:00

True Confession - Christmas is my favorite holiday. I remember as a little girl all the toys my father and mother would give me. It would take months just to open them all and play with them for about two minutes. My mother used to stand on the cold NY sidewalks online at the cabbage patch hospital just to get me a few. My father paid three times the amount of the first Nintendo just to make sure I had it at the debut time. I have passed these traditions on to my son since once again Christmas is my favorite holiday.

Now as a grown up there are other things that makes me excited about the holiday at that is to see all the M.A.C. collection color palettes that comes out. I love these and it usually lasts me throughout the year. They make great gifts and would be a great idea for your bridesmaids or just to play with colors so you can have an idea of what look you want for your special event.

The NOT Wedding 2010

2009-10-20T10:18:00.004-04:00

We are so excited to announce that we will be participating in The NOT Wedding 2010 as the event planner. Atlanta Occasions will is now the executive producer of the NOT wedding. The NOT Wedding will take place at the Foundry at Puritan Mill for their third addition. This event will guarantee to be larger and better than the previous ones. Not only will we be in a larger space, but some of the teams lined up, plan to bring inspiration tablescapes like never seen before.

If you are new to the NOT Wedding, here is a little bit of background information:

Recent magazines and websites in the wedding industry have done a fabulous job keeping up with trends and offering inspiring new ideas to brides, but there's still something to be said about experience. Sometimes you just need to see, smell, touch, hear, taste... and that's where we saw a void.

As members of the wedding industry ourselves, we definitely had opinions on which vendors were the best of the best, and we were looking for a way to share that with other brides in a totally new way. We dreamed of just planning the perfect wedding featuring our favorite vendors, thus allowing brides to see everything live, in action. So in the end, that's just what we did- we planned a wedding. A big fake one. And we called it The NotWedding.

Complete with a cocktail hour, ceremony and reception, The NotWedding has become a killer alternative to a bridal show. Our hand-selected vendors perform their services as they would at a real wedding, and our "wedding guests" get to hear the music, taste the cakes, touch the dresses... while enjoying food, drinks, dancing and loads of free stuff.

This year I would like to do things a bit different this time around. Stay tuned as I bring "behind the scene" footage and coverage of what it takes to pull off this event. We will cover inside information to show you what's in store for the NOT Wedding 2010.

Gearing up for Rachel and Brian's Wedding day

2009-10-16T10:21:00.003-04:00

I am so excited for this weekend's wedding since every aspect and element of the wedding is totally outside of the box! Both Rachel and Brian work in the culinary industry so the entire ceremony and reception will be based on food items. Another element that the couple wanted to convey is going GREEN.

Some of the elements will include:

Salt and Pepper Sand Ceremony
Tomato seed packets as favors (more on this story later)
And a pizza groom's cake!

Here is a picture from their engagement session shot by David Christensen photography. True to the couple's nature, their engagement session locations were outside of the box thinking. They went to a fruit stand as well as a laundry mat!

BYSE Real Weddings - Whitney and Tony

2009-10-14T15:28:00.001-04:00

Whitney and Tony were married on a beautiful day in Atlanta, Georgia. The day before their nuptials we almost made the mistake of moving the ceremony inside. The week before Atlanta was faced with severe flooding and we were for sure that we would not get a beautiful day.

The day could not be any more perfect than it was. The couple was blessed with beautiful skies to begin their journey.

Amy Aragon was such a pleasure to work with for Whitney and Tony's wedding day. Here is the teaser collage that Amy just sent over.

Thanks to all of the vendors that made the day spectacular:

Photography: Amy Aragon
Wedding Planner: By Your Side Events
Venue: Hazle Hurst House
Florist: Amy Osaba
Cake Design: Celso's

Our table from the Atlantan Brides Evening of Luxury Event

2009-10-13T10:07:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, we participated in the Atlantan Brides Evening of Luxury event. The brides were treated to various tablescape designs, a slew of delicacies and a runway fashion show. Unfortunately I was unable to attend since we were at the wedding of Whitney and Tony. Here are a few images of my group's tablescape.

Thanks to...
Robert Long
Nadine Lynn Weddings
Laura from Ink and Paint
And Jaxon Photos for being a great team with great images.

Colin Cowie brings entertaining to your home

2009-10-09T14:46:00.003-04:00

Celebrity planner Colin Cowie has teamed up with HSN to bring you the fab of event entertaining to the comfort of your own home. With items ranging from flatware to fireplaces, you will be sure to find something that will fit your style.

One thing I must stress is to think about using these items for an upcoming event such as a wedding, birthday party or an anniversary. The beauty of making a quality purchase is that you will be able to reuse these items in your home.

New E-zines hit the market

2009-10-07T09:27:00.003-04:00

Many magazines are now taking the opportunity to have their magazines produced as an online magazine affectionately called a E-zine. There are two great ones out there right now that offer great eye candy and content.

First up is Utterly Engaged which I believe is the only wedding e-zine available right now (I am sure we will see many more in the future). Filled with tons of wedding eye candy UE is not only brings you cutting edge up to date content, but also has links to their back issues.

Next up is Lonny. With many major home interior design magazines now defunct. Lonny will serve to fill that gap with their e-zine. What I love about this one is that there are so many items in there that ignites creativity that I can use for future events.

This does not mean PRINT is dead. There is still some serious real weddings and decor that I must have in my hands to fully enjoy!

Sean Low is coming to Atlanta!

2009-10-06T16:08:00.002-04:00

PSA for all Event Professionals in the Wedding Industry:

Atlanta Occasions Magazine with Elly B Events presents....

The Business of Being Creative
An all day intensive business conference for Event Industry Entrepreneurs and Executives.....

given by Sean Low, former President of Preston Bailey Designs.

Discover the Foundation of Running a Widely Successful Creative Business.

Thursday, November 19, 2009
8:30am to 4pm
$195 per person
Seats extremely limited
Light breakfast and lunch will be served.

REGISTER NOW

One Ninety One Club
191 Peachtree Street
Suite 400
Atlanta, GA 30308
770-595-6911

Workshop Name: What Lies Beneath
The topics discussed will include:

KNOW WHO YOU ARE
GO ALL THE WAY THERE
CHANGE THE WORLD
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT CLIENT
PRICE FROM THE TOP DOWN – WHAT DO YOU WANT TO MAKE?
HAVE MORE THAN ONE REVENUE STREAM
EXTEND YOUR CLIENT BASE
GO AS FAR AS YOU CAN GO
BE THE BEST IN THE WORLD AT WHAT YOU DO

ABOUT SEAN LOW
Sean Low is the Founder and President of The Business of Being Creative LLC. The Business of Being Creative provides practical business advice to those in the business of being creative. Prior to starting The Business of Being Creative, Sean served as the President of Preston Bailey Design, Inc., representing Preston in all of his business endeavors throughout the world. His client roster includes event industry legends such as Vicente Wolf, Marcy Blum and Sylvia Weinstock to name a few.

Through his work with Preston Bailey and other creative clients over the last six years, Sean has discovered his own creative passion: thinking about creative businesses - how they run, how to make them run better, helping them know who they are and then be the best at what they do. Armed with law degree from the University of Pennsylvania and experience ranging from law, investment banking, financial executive to small business owner, Sean has an uncaning ability to help artists build their businesses in a way that most honors the art that is behind them.

PS. Register now! Seats are limited and pricing will go up on 10/20

Sad day in the wedding world...

2009-10-05T13:42:00.002-04:00

Conde Naste has just announced that they will cease publication of the ever so popular Elegant Brides and Modern Brides. These magazines have been a staple in our industry for many years. They will surely be missed.

Essence and Jaime Wedding Pics

2009-10-02T09:24:00.002-04:00

We just had to share these delicate and romantic wedding pictures from Essence's and Jaime's wedding day. You may remember Essence from the TV show Half and Half .

The couple met on Match.com and made sure their wedding celebration was a reflection of their union.

For example since none of them eat cake they decided to do cupcakes instead with a mix of peach cobbler and arroz con dulce as a nod to the groom's heritage. They also eliminated having a bridal party to keep the feel a bit more intimate.

Lucite Invitations

2009-09-30T16:55:00.002-04:00

I am a lover of all things lucite because I believe they take your event to the next level. When I saw these lucite invitations on Etsy I knew I had to share.

I love how this seller added the nice touch of using the silk boxes for this invitation set.

Inspiration Station- Jolly Rancher Margaritas

2009-09-29T14:05:00.003-04:00

During the summer on one of my many trips back home to New York, while at my best friends barbeque she told me I just had to try her concoction of a Jolly Rancher Margarita. I thought she was joking that she actually puts pieces of candy in her mixer and not a drink syrup, surely those hard candies may break the blender!

It was one of the best margaritas I have ever had. How much fun would it be to have a party, have your guest pick their favorite childhood flavor and blend it with their adult liquor?

Here is the receipe:

20 oz prepared margarita mix
10 - 12 candy jolly ranchers
20 ice cubes

Monday's Tips and Tricks Vol. 3 - Put Valuables in the hands of those you trust!

2009-09-28T10:51:00.000-04:00

At one of our recent weddings, the bride gave her locket with a picture of her deceased father to her florist for him to secure down the aisle so that her father would be present on her wedding day. The bouquets were beautiful when they arrived but the locket was LOST! Our bride was completely heart broken. We were able to save the day with an alternative but our client was devastated, even if only for a minute.

Here are some tips to make sure this does not happen to you:

Give your valuables such as heirlooms to your wedding planner. They will have the goods needed to get the job done and will make sure that it gets back in the hands
Have multiple options of including loved ones during your special moment
If you must drop these things off to other vendors, discuss what reprecautions there may be in case of an incident such as above

Christine Gallagher offers Portraits in the Park

2009-09-25T12:10:00.003-04:00

Christine Gallagher is offering mini portrait sessions in the park in October and November. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of the wonderful fall here in Atlanta with your family or loved one right before the holidays. There are only 30 spots available and they will fill up quickly.

BYSE Real Weddings - Theresa and John

2009-09-24T10:17:00.004-04:00

Theresa and John were married in Brooklyn, New York this past July. They made sure to incorporate all things that were personal to them. For instance, they were married in the same church where John was an Alter server for over 12 years. The reception took place at Rivieria in Brooklyn.

Theresa was a true beauty with her one of a kind head dress.

Can't have a New York wedding without a visit to the hot dog stand (side note this will make a great impression on your guests to have a hot dog stand at the end of the evening while they are leaving with hot pretzels for them to take home).

This picture of the flower girl and ring bearer is absolutely priceless.

The couple went to the pier by the Brooklyn Bridge for their formal shots.

Photos Credit: Hot Shot Photography