Pebble Beach is a Perfect Destination

  

   On the way to Pebble Beach I made time to drive beside one of my favorite walks in the world...the coast line of Pacific Grove.  The tiny pink ice plants were in full bloom creating a pink carpet which only lasts a few weeks in the area.  What a warm welcome to the area.

Recently I was fortunate to be one of the wedding planners hosted for 2 nights at the Italian-style Villa, Casa Palermo, which is the most recently added property of the Pebble Beach Resort located on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula.  

Because Casa Palermo is often used to host intimate weddings with all the guests staying on property, we as wedding planners were offered the chance to experience what our brides, grooms, their families and guest would experience if they chose to host their wedding at Casa Palermo, or at another of the incredible Pebble Beach venues.

 Upon check in to my suite I found this lovely welcome bag containing cozy Pebble Beach slippers to begin my relaxing 2 days.  This was going to be unforgettable, I could tell!

 The wood burning fireplace stocked with a pre set fire, guaranteed to burn for hours, or the concierge on duty will come to build it up for you again. :)

Just outside the comfortable living room was a private jacuzzi; now this is a luxury item to which I could easily become accustomed!

After a delicious dinner at the Pebble Beach Resort, all of us went back to Casa Palermo for a gourmet presentation of hand made marshmallows, house baked graham crackers, and 3 kinds of dark, rich chocolate...you guessed it, S'mores buffet with outdoor grills for our dessert and bed time snack.  We slept well and awoke to a beautiful ride from Casa Palmera to the Beach Club where breakfast was served!

This window table was my location for a leisurely breakfast getting to know fellow wedding planners, learning how weddings are hosted here at the Beach Club, and watching the sea otters and seals play just below us.  It was incredible!

After Breakfast, the Pebble Beach Resorts Shuttle picked us up at the Beach Club for a professionally guided tour of the Seventeen Mile Drive

The Lone Cypress has become the symbol for Pebble Beach. We were able to enjoy a private tour with stops for savoring the beauty and hearing wonderful stories by our experienced guide about the history and local color of Pebble Beach.

 When we returned to Casa Palermo for lunch, we were invited into the courtyard of the Villa which had been converted into a tea party with pearls and succulents creating a decadent welcome for already beauty sated wedding planners!

After we entered, none of us could sit down until we had taken photos of each and every detail Shannon and her team had put into the decor of the table settings.

 Our linen napkins were the menu...hand drawn and silk screened details from the succulent/pearl design created just for this luncheon. 

The menu included six kinds of tea sandwiches, and at least 10 different tea desserts...plus chilled rose wine and English tea with scones and lemon curd....sigh!

 Once we did stop taking photos, we were able to savor the delicious sandwiches, salads and desserts.  It was by far the nicest tea party I have ever attended.

Thank you so much to the amazing staff at the Pebble Beach Resorts for introducing me to the warm welcome, incomparable beauty and ultimate luxury of a visit to Casa Palmero, Pebble Beach Lodge, Spanish Bay Inn, and the Beach Club.

All in a day's work...

I would like to share a Day in the Life of this wedding planner to give you an idea of what variety goes along with my work...each day is different!

 This week one of my work days included touring venues for one of my couples who live in Boston, meeting with my wedding team who will assist me at my 2012 weddings, and visiting the Facebook offices in Menlo Park to have a wedding planning session with one of my clients who works there.

 When a wedding planner is hired to help a couple plan their wedding in SF from across the country, we often need to make site visits to hotels and other wedding venues to help them evaluate the options and advise them in making decisions which will be very important for their guests.  The first stop on our day in the life of a wedding planner is the Omni Hotel SF

  I took my 2012 wedding team with me for a site tour of the Omni Hotel where the bride and groom, who live in Boston, will be hosting their guests from all over the country who travel here to celebrate the September 2nd wedding.

 Elka Goldstein and/or Tony White will be my colleague/assistants for each of the weddings I have booked for 2012.  I like to work as a team, and am sure that the 3 of us will be able to provide the warmth and professionalism I like to provide for my brides, grooms, their family and guests.  What better way to prepare my team than to include them in tours of the locations where we will be working.

 The Presidential Suite at the Omni will provide an elegant and spacious location for the bride and her bridal party to get ready on the wedding day, and for the newly married husband and wife to spend their wedding night.

 

After touring the guest rooms as well as evaluating the mezzanine for a farewell brunch the day after the wedding, Tony Elka and I left to drive to the Flood Mansion where my Boston clients will host their ceremony and reception, Since Tony and Elka have not worked at the Flood Mansion before, I wanted to be sure they were familiar with the venue.  I had some questions  to go over with the venue manager, and I wanted to time the drive from the hotel to the wedding venue for my transportation scheduling.  This is all part of how I like to prepare myself and my team for the service we will be providing on the wedding day for my clients, their families and guests.

 The ceremony and cocktails will be held in the Courtyard just off of the Ballroom where the guests will have dinner.

 The entrance to the Flood Mansion where guests will be invited in for dinner after the ceremony.

 The dancing and dessert buffet will be located in this lovely room off of the main ballroom.

 With a 180 degree view of the SF Bay including the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower, this beautiful alcove will be the location for the wedding cake.

 The ballroom will be filled with elegant tables, bathed in warm up-lighting, and will be seen first by the guests through an elegantly draped entrance inviting them in to enjoy delicious food and wonderful music among friends and family rejoicing with the bride and groom.

One more photo of the JMW team before we head down the Peninsula for a meeting with Alison who works in Menlo Park for Facebook.

Walking across the campus of the new Facebook headquarters, we felt right at home with all the Facebook symbols and signs in the windows and on the doors--who doesn't see those symbols each day of their life as they check in for messages from friends!

We met in the Facebook Cafe to enjoy a healthy meal with Alison, who will be married this September at Nestldown. Since we have been working together since August, most of the main vendor decisions have been made and the ceremony planning is being finalized.  In this review meeting, we discussed wedding favor selection, design meetings, first dance songs, hotel welcome bags, etc.

  I had particularly wanted Alison to meet the two people who will be working alongside me on her wedding day;  having Tony and Elka come to the meeting was in part to introduce them to Alison as well as to review wedding planning progress at this point.

 

Finally, after a long day, our Facebook security name tags still in place, the 2012 JMW wedding team calls it a day....another day in the unique and varied life of a wedding planner.

And I say Thumbs Up to the life of a wedding planner.

Season 2012, Here We Come!

Lake Tahoe Wedding, Sharon and Jason

Sign at the entrance to Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe, near Truckee, California

Working with couples from across the country to plan their weddings here in California is not unusual for me, but it is seldom that I plan a wedding for a couple living across the world!

Jason and Sharon are just such a couple! Since they both live and work in Hong Kong, they hired me in November of 2011 to help them select a venue and plan the details for their September 2012 wedding celebration here in California.

As Sharon and Jason described the naturally beautiful, family-reunion type of resort setting they imagined for both the guest lodging and wedding venue, I was able to enthusiastically recommend the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe.
(My strong recommendation was based on the Wedding Planner FAM, or FAMiliarization Trip I was invited to last Fall where I was introduced to the world-class service and amazing beauty of RCLT.)

After speaking with Catering Sales Manager Andrea Daly several times from Hong Kong to discuss the details for their wedding, Jason and Sharon booked the venue, sight-unseen, in early January.

This view greets guests as they enter the Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe for the first time. The massive stone fireplace is made of stones hewn directly from the mountains surrounding the hotel; the stairs lead up to the cozy living room/lobby which is definitely the hub of the hotel.

Just last week I was able to meet Sharon and Jason in Truckee when they flew in for just 3 days for their first visit to their wedding venue, The Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe! Finally they had a chance to personally experience the location where they will welcome their 120 guests, who will be traveling to California from six continents to celebrate Sharon and Jason's wedding.

Here Sharon and Jason are seeing for the first time where wedding ceremonies are hosted at RCLT. Andrea Daly and Erica Henninnger were wonderful hostesses pointing out and describing the venues from which Sharon and Jason could choose for the wedding ceremony, cocktails, dinner, dancing and s'mores afterglow.

The Fireside Terrace will be the location for cocktails after the ceremony in the Meadow; in September there will be green instead of white in the background, but seeing it with snow was a nice treat.

As one of the many surprises during the visit to the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe, Jason and Sharon were greeted with Gummy Bears and an assortment of house-made cookies during our hotel tour. Many of the surprises were put in place because I secretly wrote Jason's mother to ask what special treats might make Jason and Sharon feel particularly welcome during their visit here; one of the answers was Gummy Bears which I brought up for the occasion!

The weather could not have been more beautiful for our visit to the Lake Tahoe area; here we are about to board the gondola from Ritz Carlton Lake Tahoe down to North Star ski resort where we would meet with Brett Sneed for a tour of potential rehearsal dinner locations.

Brett Sneed, Sales Manager at Northstar Resort, shows Jason and Sharon the Overlook venue site where they might host a casual barbecue the evening before the wedding for their family and friends.

When a couple from Hong Kong has a chance for a snowball fight, there is absolutely no way to stop them...Sharon had only seen snow a few times before this trip; since Jason grew up in New York state, he thought he had an advantage.


However, once Sharon got the adrenalin rush from being hit full force with a snowball, she was ready to fight in earnest! This snow drift was outside the hotel, on our way to the Gondola and was just too tempting to pass up. I stayed dry to take photos of course!

River Grill could be a venue for Sharon and Jason's rehearsal dinner; it is located directly on the Truckee River, just where it flows into Lake Tahoe.

-After our visit to Northstar Resort, we were picked up by Tae Kim of
North Tahoe Executive Shuttle, for a personal tour of the northern part of Lake Tahoe. I had set up appointments with other potential rehearsal dinner venues, and asked Tae to provide the transportation we would need; as we traveled together that afternoon, Tae acquainted us with both the geography and the history of this part of Lake Tahoe, which are fascinating.

We also visited Gar Wood on Lake Tahoe as another possible rehearsal dinner location; it's upstairs banquet room with floor to ceiling windows and lovely deck provide amazing views of Lake Tahoe.

Ahhhh, I love the Living Room at Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe!

We used several of the cozy spaces in the Living Room at the hotel for the many meetings which I had scheduled during our 2 whirlwind days together. Here Jason, Sharon and I met with our florist, photographer, the hotel's Audio Visual director, Andrea Daly and Erica Henninger, the Catering Sales Managers for RCLT, as well as the Director of Restaurants, the Food and Beverage Director, the Spa Sales Manager, the Director of Meetings and Special Events, and even the General Manager of the entire hotel.

When the staff at the RCLT found out that a couple living in Hong Kong had booked their wedding at the RCLT, sight unseen, the response was overwhelming. Each Department Head made it a point to personally welcome and congratulate Sharon and Jason during this their first visit to their wedding venue.

I was on hand at the Ritz Carlton to say goodbye to Jason and Sharon as they headed back to the Reno airport; we will see each other again this summer when they make one last pre-wedding trip to the US for their menu tasting with the Ritz Carlton. I returned home to Palo Alto where I am busy following up on planning decisions that were made during this visit, and preparing a report for our next Skype call after they return to Hong Kong.

I am thoroughly enjoying this across-the-world wedding planning adventure, and am grateful that Jason and Sharon have trusted me to be their US representative and partner here in California. I am honored and excited to be planning this international celebration of their commitment to each other.

Many thanks to the amazing staff at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe, to Brett Sneed Sales Manager at Northstar for her gracious tour of the rehearsal dinner venues there, and to Tae Kim of North Tahoe Executive Shuttle. Each of you provided truly 5 star service and sincere hospitality to Sharon, Jason and me during our visit to the North Lake Tahoe area.

Rosewood Sand Hill FAM trip

There are some wonderful educational and social opportunities folded into the career of a wedding planner, and one the nicest ones is called a "FAM" trip. "FAM" is an abbreviation used for a "FAMiliarization visit" to a wedding venue where the management team want to provide planners with a first-hand experience of how they would host a wedding celebration at their location. This is where the educational and the social parts of the FAM come together...we as wedding professionals are treated like wedding guests and pampered the way our clients and their guests would be during a wedding weekend.

Therefore, attending a FAM event usually involves enjoying gourmet meals, luxury accommodations, superb decor, the best amenities the hotel can offer, relaxed time to socialize, and of course the necessity of experiencing the spa services! I am sure you are imagining what we say to each other...."tough work, but somebody has to do it!" Yes, and I am so grateful to be one of the hard-working planners given these assignments occasionally! :)

I was grateful to enjoy the FAM trip to Rosewood Sand Hill with several of my closest friends in the wedding profession. Tony White, Morgan Doan, Jubilee Lau and I have been colleagues as independent planners for over 8 years now. We are usually the ones enabling our clients and their guests to relax and enjoy a cocktail with friends, but in this situation we are the guests being served. We savored every moment of it!

Recently I was privileged to be among a dozen or so planners invited to spend a day and night at the beautiful Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel in Menlo Park; we were each treated to a luxurious stay in one of the deluxe king guest rooms, an off-site wine tasting/lunch at the newly opened AutoVino, a spa treatment in the Rosewood Sense Spa, an over-the top dinner in the Rosewood Ballroom, followed by a dessert buffet with cordials and coffee in the Presidential Suite. Wow!

Vero Suh was with us during the dinner portion of the FAM to capture images of the elegance we experienced; I have included a few of her fantastic images, but please take a look at her blog for a more complete visual feast of what Rosewood Sand Hill can provide for a wedding or event hosted at their lovely venue.

Dinner was a work of art from the elaborate table setting to the incredible flavors and presentation of the 4-course meal to the multi-level Dessert Buffet served for us in the Presidential Villa.

The Dessert Buffet was as delicious as it was beautiful...I was there late into the evening with my colleagues doing a bit of personal research on dessert/after dinner cordial pairing!

Below are a few photos taken during our visit to Rosewood by my friend Duncan Reyes, who is both an excellent photographer and wedding planner; I am pleased to say I was too busy relaxing to keep up with photo coverage of our non-stop activities!

The Rosewood Sand Hill pool, surrounded by the guest cottages, as seen from the Veranda just off the Library/Bar on the lobby level at Rosewood.

This lovely fountain is at the center of the circular drive (below) which is the starting point for guests as they arrive at Rosewood Sand Hill.

I want to thank the Rosewood Sand Hill for providing me with a personal taste of the luxury they provide on a regular basis for guests at their resort. I have seldom felt so pampered and cared for as I did during my stay at Rosewood. I am now very "FAM"iliar with exactly how they will serve any wedding couple who chooses to host their celebration at Rosewood Sand Hill. It was a magical visit, and I hope to be with you again soon, either as helping to plan and execute a wedding for one of my couples, or perhaps I will book a luxurious over-night stay with my own groom of 30 years! Either way, I will be back!

Our fabulous hosts for the FAM visit to Rosewood Sand Hill and their sponsor team include:

Shari Clenard, Catering Sales Manager
Todd Outhouse, Catering Sales Manager
Michael Casey, Managing Director
Executive Chef, Peter Rudolph
Executive Pastry Chef, Melisa Root
Sense Spa at Rosewood Sand Hill
AutoVino
Madera Restaurant
Lone Star Limousine
Ornamento
Classic Party Rentals
SWANK Audio Visual

Grace and Henry on Style Me Pretty

It is always such a treat to see my couples weddings in magazines and on blogs; the memories come rushing back, and I remember once again why I love my work! It is all about the love between the couple, which is shared and reflected by the loving family and friends surrounding them on that day. Please enjoy with me the details and photos by Lisa Lefkowitz as seen today on Style Me Pretty.

Vanessa and Matt-Villa Montalvo

Villa Montalvo in Saratoga is very popular venue for weddings in the Bay Area; I am grateful to be one of the preferred wedding planners for the Villa, so I have become very familiar and at home at Villa Montalvo. I want to share a few images by John Kaemmerling from Vanessa and Matt's Spring wedding celebration at the Villa. John was successful in capturing the playful joy of Vanessa and Matt's wedding celebration, as well as the elegance of the Villa and the beauty of its extensive, well-kept grounds.

After the ceremony in the garden behind the Villa, Vanessa and Matt walk the inviting paths of Villa Montalvo to have some carefree romantic portraits with John.


I love the balcony on the second floor at the Villa where I can look down on the entire reception set up, and enjoy the beauty of what I was able to help Matt and Vanessa create for their guests.

Vanessa and Matt chose blues, cream and purples, with accents of silver, to make a bold statement against the cream columns and off-white stucco walls of the Villa.


In the ballroom of the Villa Vanessa and Matt used their first dance to set the tone for an evening of "foot loose and fancy free" dancing to be enjoyed by all!

A delicious stack of presents---the wedding cake designed by Butterfly Cakes was as yummy as it was beautiful! After a short break to enjoy the cake, Vanessa and Matt's guests continued to dance the night away!

Vanessa and Matt were fortunate to have a warm evening for their wedding; guests who weren't dancing could enjoy the candlelight and warm ambiance of the lighting outside at Villa Montalvo.


Villa Montalvo is lovely from every angle, but this long view from the end of the lawn is especially striking and one Vanessa and Matt will always remember with joy.