When you think of the California Wine Country, usually people’s first think of the Napa and Sonoma Valley, which are both beautiful destinations for wine country weddings but can often be busy and hard to reserve venues due to the popularity of the area. When Megan & Steve, who live in Brooklyn, NY, wanted a Wine Country Wedding, unfortunately all the venues and wineries that they were looking at  in the Napa and Sonoma area we already booked. We I first met with Megan & Steve I could tell they had a deep love and enthusiasm for wine and the California Wine Country and when we looked at the Alexander Valley close to to the quaint town of Healdsburg as an option for their wedding Megan & Steve fell in love with the area instantly.  The Alexander Valley and especially the Dry Creek Road Area are known for their incredible Zinfandel’s and unique wineries. We booked Trentadue Winery in the Alexander Valley about 10 minutes away from downtown Healdsburg, which captures the true essence of a wine country wedding venue. Not to mention the Event Staff at Trentadue were extremely helpful and flexible thoughout the entire process, which was ideal for me as a wedding planner. Trentadue has beautiful grounds with blooming wisteria and rose vines that creep up the front the large reception hall. We then brought on the “Dream Team” of wedding vendors to make Megan & Steve vision a reality. The Photographer one of my favorites, Joel Flory with Flory Photo, captured every exquisite moment of the day. For flowers, the best in the biz, Nicole Ha with Nicole Ha Designs, whose flowers and creative input makes every wedding magical. The delectably eye-catching cake from Kelly O’Brian with Glass Slipper Gourmet was exactly how Megan dreamed it would be and to “top” it all off, their own personally custom cake toppers to salute their favorite NFL Teams.  The cocktail hour guest filled their bellies on freshly shucked Tomales Bay Oysters and tasty bites from Park Avenue Caterers while pairing their Hors d’œuvre with Trentadue wines. At the reception Park Avenue thrilled the guests with a fabulous locally grown sustainable scrumptious dinner. On to the dancing, DJ Jeff Torres with Amos Productions wow’d the crowd with a compilation of exciting dance music throughout the night! What a wedding!!

Jay and Karen are the couple that ever wedding planner dreams about, full of enthusiasm, extremely creative and wanting to do a modern edgy wedding. When they told us that they had chosen the De Young Museum in San Francisco we were elated and with a venue like the De Young Museum we knew the wedding would be phenomenal down the littlest detail.

Jay and Karen are true artists at heart; they even created their own character logo that they used on their invitations, programs, and menus and even as a label on the bottled water. The character logo was a different spin on a monogram and Karen & Jay’s personality shone through in all aspects on the wedding.

The Ceremony took place on the lush green Sculpture Garden behind the De Young Museum Café adorned with one of a kind metal sculptures. Grandi-flora, LLC set the stage with two georous flower arrangements that framed Karen & jay perfectly.  Karen with Grandi-flora, LLC took the vision and brought it to life in the most incredible way.

Guests moved inside the De Young Museum’s Café for dinner, where lollypop shaped colored lights glowed from the ceiling.  Guests could barely contain themselves when they caught sight of the scrupulous colorful cupcakes on three cake-tiers and one giant cupcake in the middle…Willie-Wonka eat your heart out…literally!

The joyous night continued with an amazing four course dinner from Grace Street Catering and dancing with tunes from Fantasy Sound. While feasting on delectable cupcakes the Bride and Groom partied the night away with family and friends. It was truly a magical night!

Karen & Jay – We cannot begin to thank you enough for all of your kindness, for entrusting us with your beautiful wedding day and allowing us be a part of something so unbelievably special. We feel forever changed by knowing you both and we wish you all the joy in the joy in the world! Congratulations! – Simply Sparkling Events Team

A big thanks to all our incredible vendors, without you the day would have not been as amazing as it was!

Venue – De Young Museum, San Francisco
Photography – Lilia Photography
Catering – Grace Street Catering
Flowers – Grandi-Flora, LLC
Lighting – GotLight
DJ – Fantasy Sound
Cupcakes – That Takes the Cake

 How lucky can one wedding planner be? I had the pleasure and honor to help coordinate Samantha & Jon’s wedding at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. Not to mention an all star line up of vendors. Nicole Ha did an incredible job on flowers as always and Joel Flory as you can see took amazing photos of the special day. We had such a fun time working with Sam & Jon and seeing their vision become a reality and their wedding be such a memorable event; no one deserves it more than Sam & Jon. Thanks guys!!

Venue:  The Four Seasons, San Francisco, CA
Photography:  Joel Flory Photography
Florist:  Nicole Ha Floral Studio                                                                          
Lighting:  Enhanced Lighting Company
Cupcakes:  That Takes The Cake

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that Simply Sparkling Events has won the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards™!

In its inaugural year, the Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and honors vendors from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. This year’s recipients represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community, which includes over 100,000 wedding vendors from across the US. That means Simply Sparkling Events is one of the very best Wedding Planner.

Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews.

“We are excited to launch this annual award program to honor high-performing vendors based solely on the experiences of our WeddingWire community,” according to Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “This year’s recipients have set the bar high, exhibiting excellent service and expertise in the wedding industry.”

Simply Sparkling Events would like to thank our past clients for speaking on our behalf and helping us win the 2009 Bride’s Choice Award! We couldn’t have done it without you!

We spent this past Saturday “Night at the Movies”, helping Noelle & Alberto celebrate their wedding day! During our initial consultation, the bride & groom told us that they didn’t want a traditional wedding. Because of their love of the cinema, we came up with a great theme, “A Night at the Movies”. We worked the theme into every detail of the event. The black & white color scheme was accented with red, starting with the red carpet aisle runner! The guests were then treated to freshly popped popcorn during the cocktail hour and the signature drink, a Dirty Shirley Temple. As they waited to be seated, guests took pictures in a fun photo booth and made scrapbook for the bride & groom. Elle Music & Events lit the white tent in reds and golden accents with a star patterned ceiling wash. As the guests were seated, they found their movie ticket escort cards in black trays filled with popcorn kernels. Cards De Luxe did a fantastic job making mini-movie posters for each table, named after one of the Noelle & Alberto’s favorite movies, including the Godfather, Pulp Fiction and Office Space. Nicole Ha’s floral centerpieces were white flowers accented with black feathers in mirrored vases with crystal embellishments. Guests feasted on a delicious meal and danced the night away on a black & white dancefloor to the tunes spun by one of our favorite DJ’s, Denon & Doyle. The night wrapped up with the most amazing cake by Glass Slipper Gourmet. The 3 tier cake featured film strip details and black and white feathers. We loved planning this event with Noelle and Alberto and the opportunity to work with some of our most favorite vendors!

Venue: The Lodge At Sonoma, Sonoma, CA
Officiant: Rev. Peadar Dalton, Your Ceremony Matters
Florist: Nicole Ha Floral Studio, San Jose, CA
Cake: Glass Slipper Gourmet, Martinez, CA
Paper: Cards De Luxe, San Jose, CA
Lighting: Elle Music & Events, San Ramon, CA
Rentals: Wine Country Party Rentals, Sonoma, CA
Photo Booth: Partybooths.com, NationwideDJ: Denon & Doyle, Walnut Creek, CA
Photography: Bella Picture’s Heidi Huber, Lake Tahoe, CA

Simply Sparkling Events is listed in the Little Black Book section which is a must see for every Bride; it lists some of the cutting edge and top notch vendors. Style Me Pretty has a help section called ‘Real Weddings’ which showcases a new wedding daily; it is a fabulous resource for Brides who hunger for creative ideas.

In the debut of San Francisco Brides magazine which hits stands in December, Simply Sparkling Events will be mentioned along with one of our favorite photographers – Joel & Cara Flory a husband and wife team with Joel Flory Photography. San Francisco Brides Magazine will be showcasing a wedding we all worked on together – Brandon and Monica’s wedding at the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts. You can click here to sign up to receive a free copy of the magazine when it hits the stands in December.

A Special Thank you to Joel & Cara Flory!

Monica & Brandon were married on a beautiful clear day at the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts which is a component of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Building itself is quite unique, with its grand high ceilings and artistic feel it makes the perfect setting for rustic intimate wedding with close friends and family. All the vendors we had the pleasure of working with for this joyful event were extremely friendly and at the top of their game. Joel and Cara with Joel Flory Photography are the perfect combination, personable and professional not to mention their photos are stunning. Katie Powers and her team contributed to the evening a whimsical vibe and a truly delicious organic dinner. To end a perfect evening of dancing and laughs guest enjoyed the sinfully sweet cupcakes by That Takes the Cake which gives a new meaning to the phrase “sweet tooth”. As a wedding planner it is always a delight to participate in a couple’s special especially a couple who are genuinely happy and caring people such as Brandon and Monica.

Photographer: Joel Flory Photograpy
DJ: Chocolate Sound
Florist: Loop – Art Events & Interiors
Caterer: Katie Powers Catering
Cupcakes: That Takes the Cake
Venue: Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito CA

A special thanks to Joel Flory Photography for allowing us to use his photos on our blog and COMING SOON on our website as a feature gallery!