Thursday, July 30, 2009

Looking For A Unique Groom's Gift???

As I was buzzing through my daily emails, I came across a great gift idea. This particular item caught my attention as it hit on one of my favorite memories from when I lived in Indiana. Nothing was better than a hot dog and beer, sitting in the seats behind home plate on a sunny afternoon at a Wrigley game. As a female, I thought that so many Groom's would share this memory as well.

So, if you have a baseball-loving Groom, this may be a perfect Groom's gift:

Offered by Red Envelope. These aren't just cuff links—they're a piece of baseball history. Crafted of salvaged seats from America's most famous and beloved stadiums, these cuff links are one of a kind. Coated in the original paint of the stadium seat colors, each cuff link boasts a deep patina collected from decades of home openers, double-headers and grand-slam ovations. includes hand-numbered and hand-signed certificate of authenticity

The best quality about these unique cuff links that make them truly special are their variation in color as they are truly from the salvaged stadium seats. Each cuff link is hallmarked with the name of the stadium engraved on back. The cuff links are being made from some of the most memorable stadiums around the country: Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, Dodger Stadium or Shea Stadium.

This would truly be a gift treasured for years to come!

Monday, July 27, 2009

Why I love my job......My clients!

As a wedding planner, one has to wear many hats, counselor, problem solver, negotiator, cheerleader, financial planner and time keeper. Sometimes those hats are worn all at once in some of the most in opportune times. All this is done is a calm, graceful manner, appearing as though everything is perfect, right on schedule and nothing is wrong and the event is going exactly as you planned. Even though you may be off schedule by 5-10 minutes. For someone like myself, I pride myself on my skill and ability to run my events down to the minute.

But, we push on for the ultimate goal of fulfilling our clients dreams to create one of their most memorable days in their lives. We set our own needs aside on wedding day, forget that our feet hurt, dieing of heat and possibly starving from our last meal having been several hours possibly before set-up began. Some may call us crazy. Others look at wedding planners as having the glamorous spotlight and others are surprised to hear you can make a living being a planner.

Ultimately, it's the rush of happiness I get at the end of an event when the couple leave glowing with joy. Knowing that I have helped to create an evening in their life which will be a lasting memory they will look back on with happiness. It completely washes away any fatigue, hunger or frustration I may have been feeling. This is a perfect example of why I love my job!!!

"Samantha! EVERYTHING was perfect! What an incredible day yesterday! Thank you so much for everything. All of our guests kept saying over and over how beautiful it was, how much fun they had, and how good the food was! I totally meant to say thank you and give you a big hug last night before we ran off with the parade, but I was so caught up in everything! So.... THANK YOU! *big hug*"

Megan & Greg Owen, Wed: 7/25/09

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Chic Affair at the St. Regis - Part II

As promised, I wanted to show you more from Abby & Ben's St. Regis Affair. Honestly, it's been very hard to pick and choose which pictures to post as Abby & Ben's wedding was so amazing. Every detail was so unique and personal to them as a couple. From several members of the wedding party singing songs during the ceremony and reception, family pictures adorning the cocktail hour space and cake table, incorporating the Bride's Mother's lace to create the "Something Blue" garter and ring bearer's pillow to the guests being entertained with Showtunes during the cocktail hour. As part of the Groomsmen's gifts, they were given a bowtie and cuff links to wear for the wedding which each were different to match their personalities. The entire ensemble of wedding stationary was a beautiful letterpress design from the New York designer Hello Lucky!. The guested were served an incredibly delicious four course meal, entertained with a 10 piece live band and enjoyed many memorable moments. For me, one of the most fun moments was watching the Bride & Groom part-take in the Hora. To see their excitement and joy made the day perfect!

The event was comprised by some of the best vendors:

Ceremony/Reception Venue: St. Regis Hotel Houston
Photographer: Studio563
Florist: Plants & Petals
Cake: Who Made the Cake
Ceremony & Cocktail Music: Divisi Strings
Reception Music: Commercial Art Band
Wedding Stationary: Hello Lucky
Hair & Makeup: Jordan Temple Makeup



More pictures to follow.............

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Chic Affair at the St. Regis

After 8 months of planning, many long distance phone calls between New York and Houston, Abbey and Ben's memorable wedding came together in the Grand Ballroom at the St. Regis with 150 of their closest friends and family.

Their wedding was truly unique with many couture details and personal touches. With so many truly fabulous pictures to choose from, here are a few sneak peaks:

(Photo Credit: Studio563)




Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Fun Reception Ideas....Series #1

In my experience, the best approach to any reception is to ensure the guests are fully engaged throughout the entire evening. To accomplish this, when planning any reception, I like to focus on something entertaining to happen every 30 minutes. This will ensure the guests have a little time to eat and mingle, but are being engaged. I like to mix the evening up a bit such as, have the Father of the Bride open the reception by introducing his daughter and new son-in-law and have them start their first dance. In between courses, have the guests get up and dance a few songs, bring in a special performer or have the Maid of Honor and Best Man give a toast. The last thing any Bride wants is for her guests to walk away from the reception remembering how boring it was or worst, for the guests to leave early.

Over the next few days, I will share with you some options for keeping your reception engaging, memorable and moving.



Idea #1

One of my favorite venues in Houston is the Houston Aquarium. This is a venue that is alive with sensory experiences as it is a joyous place for kids and adults alike. From the colorful fish to carnival rides and amazing views of downtown Houston. One of the most fun and unique ideas about hosting a wedding reception at the Aquarium for a couple’s guests would be the carnival rides they could take part in. As a favor to the guest, the Bride and Groom could place ride tickets inside of each of the guest’s seating card. This would allow them something fun and spontaneous to do during the cocktail hour and possibly when dancing started.

At this particular venue, the ballroom has floor to ceiling windows and a wrap-around balcony which overlooks the carnival rides. To enhance the guests' experience, it would be ideal to have the photographer bring a third shooter to take pictures of the guests as they are enjoying the rides. Once the guests are back upstairs in the ballroom, the photographer can upload the pictures to a slide show for guests to view throughout the evening.

During dinner, the Bride and Groom may want to find a way to entertain their "younger" guests by hiring a clown to make balloon animals. This could be a station set up in the corner of the room or even in the foyer (this can be useful as children have a tendency to get restless during meals).

As a last detail, the couple may serve fresh cotton candy as a mid-reception sweet or have decorative bags available for guests to take home with them.
The amount of details that can be Incorporated is endless based on the couple's taste.


(Photo Credit: Clint Shuttlesworth)

Monday, June 22, 2009

"Best Of Project Wedding 2008"


The soireebliss! staff is so thrilled to announce that we were recently awarded "Best Of Project Wedding 2008". This award is received solely based on client feedback. Receiving this award is truly a great compliment and testament to all of my team's hard work, dedication to a high level of quality service and passion for events.

Thank you to all those who have supported us, worked with us, cheered us on and chosen us to plan their weddings. Without our clients our success would not be possible.

With great sincerity and thankfulness to my past clients, it has been a great honor and privilege!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Wedding Highlights: Laura & Iman's Wedding 3/28/09

Laura and Iman exchanged their vows 49 stories above downtown Houston in the Petroleum Club, amongst 250 of their closest friends and family. To continue the celebration, guests enjoyed cocktails, 5 course meal and dancing with music provided by the Klockworks band. Not a detail was missed with Laura's tiffany blue and white themed wedding. Each centerpiece was custom designed on-site with hundreds of crystals adoring every stem. With Laura's deep love for our 4-legged friends, she provided a monetary gift to the SPCA in honor of each guest. Such a meaningful favor!

What a memorable wedding!

Event Ingredients:
Klockworks Band














































































































Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Wine, Camera.....ACTION!

Over the past several weeks, the soireebliss! staff has been hard at work with all of our Spring Brides. As a result, my blogging has suffered.

No more I say!!!! : )

So, in honor of my renewed commitment to my blog to rid it of it's loneliness, I thought it best to start off with some wonderful pictures from one of my favorite photographers; Clint Shuttlesworth.

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to hang with him and his assistant Clair at an engagement shoot. They are shooting one of my couple's destination weddings in June in Cancun. Clint scouted out some incredible backdrops to shoot Paige and Dillon's engagements in Downtown Houston. We started the afternoon off with a little wine at The Coffee Groundz (which I have to say is an incredible fun, eclectic place to hang on a sunny Sunday afternoon. You should try it) and kicked back with some laughs. After all these months of planning, it was great to finally meet Dillon.

Without further suspense, here's a sampling of Clint's fabulous pics......





Thursday, February 5, 2009

2009 Bride’s Choice Award by WeddingWire

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that soiréebliss! 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 soiréebliss! is one of the very best Wedding Consultant.

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.”

soiréebliss! would like to thank our past clients for speaking on our behalf and helping us win the 2009 Bride’s Choice Award!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

DIY Project: Airline Ticket Invitation/Save The Date

Being a lover of all things paper, I'm so drawn to very bold colors, unexpected textures, letterpress printing or taking a standard item and formating in a unique shape.

While scouting new ideas that are cost effective, I found the most amazing invitation that I had to share. This is especially helpful for Brides who are interested in amazing details without amazingly big prices.

Materials (per set)
2 80lb cover stock 8.5×111 open-end envelope 4.125×91 28lb or lighter cover/cardstock (for template1 pocket) or1 60lb cover/cardstock (for template2 pocket), adhesive

Tools
cutter, ruler, scissors, perforator, scoring blade, computer, printer, round-corner puncher (optional)

Template
Three passes can be printed on one 8.5″x11″ 80lb coverstock. Each pass is approximately 3.25″ x 8″. The left part is about 0.70″ and the right part is about 2″. The template file has four pages. First page is the introduction. The second page has only the outline of the whole pass. You can add any content you want. Third page has some contents that I had such as those you see in the picture below. Fourth page is for the back of the passes that contain the text “NOT A VALID TRAVEL VOUCHER.” This can be changed.

Place your cursor on the first page, below the introduction. Add your image by clicking INSERT from the top menu then PICTURE. You can either insert a clipart or an image file. Select your image by clicking on it. Right click on the image then click FORMAT PICTURE. Click the LAYOUT tab and select BEHIND TEXT under Wrapping Style. Click OK. Now you can drag your image to anywhere you want it. Notice that your image appears behind your texts.
To add text on the first template (2nd page), use the Drawing toolbar. Click INSERT > TOOLBARS and make sure Drawing is checked. The Drawing toolbar usually appears at the bottom of the window. Click the TEXT BOX button. Draw your text box on the template. Right click on the text box, click FORMAT TEXT BOX. Click the COLORS AND LINES tab and select NO FILL under Fill and NO LINE under Line. Click OK. Now you can type in your text on the text box.

Click to download template: Word Document

Directions:
Before cutting the individual passes, perforate the passes separating the three parts using a perforator. If you’re willing to spend more, I suggest using a perforator with a base.For perforators without a base, use a ruler to connect the red crop marksand run your perforator. Run the perforator 2 or 3 times WITHOUT lifting.Practice doing this to perfect your perforating technique before doing them onyour final passes.

Cut on gray solid lines. You may cut the passes with cutter or X-acto knife for the straight lines; round-corner cutter or scissors for the four corners; scissors for the part between the small left part and the middle.

Next step is making the pocket. I have two available pocket templates. The first template is a little harder to make than the second one.

Making the pocket
Template 1

Click template link above to download

Directions:
Print the first page. Turn the paper, the top must go in the printer first. Print the second page. Cut on solid lines using scissors or cutter. The slit must be cut with a cutter. Score on dashed lines then fold towards you. Unfold then apply adhesive on the bottom flap. Fold to glue all parts together.

Template 2
Click template link above to download

Directions:

Print the first page. Turn the paper, the top must go in the printer first. Print the second page. Cut on solid lines using scissors or cutter. The slit must be cut with a cutter. Score on dashed lines then fold towards you. Apply adhesive on Area A to adhere the bottom part to the middle part of the pocket.

After making your pocket, all you have to do is put your passes in the pocket, put them in the envelope and you’re all set!

(source: Aylee - Bits About Me)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

soireebliss! took TheKnot's January Budget Challange!

A Wedding in Houston, Texas for $10K (and not a dime more!)
Posted Monday, January 12, 2009 5:35 PM

Samantha from soiréebliss! events & weddings based out of Houston, Texas put together our $10K wedding of the week feature. Here's the plan...
A $10K Wedding in Houston, Texas


It was a fun opportunity to work with the Anja with theKnot.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Most Amazing Engagement Session.....The Wedding!

In honor of the Most Amazing Engagement Session Post, I have to share the couple's wedding pictures. Tanja Lippert Photography captured the day in such an artistic way.

This wedding is truly one of the most original, creatively unique weddings I've ever seen. This couple has taken eco-chic to another level.



Tuesday, January 6, 2009

The Most Amazing Engagement Session Ever!

Tanja Lippert of Tanja Lippert Photography is an incredibly talented photographer in California. She recently posted on her blog an engagement sessions. Hands down, it's one of the most incredibly, rockin shoots ever. Each picture is truly a piece of art.

Warning: some pictures include nudity

Here's a peak of one of the many my favorites......


Friday, January 2, 2009

Sneak Peek: soireebliss! hits newstands nationwide


I'm so thrilled and excited to share soireebliss!'s recent PR good fortune and success.


Two or three months ago one of the writers at Bride's Magazine asked for some of my planning advice/insight for brides considering an afternoon reception. While this is incredibly flattering since I am still fairly new in the industry, I happily shared my thoughts on such an occasion.


While this happens to by my second opportunity working with this same writer on an article, I assumed my information was for an article for the Houston magazine as was the first. Much to my surprise, this article is hitting 16 of their markets: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Houston, Maryland, Michigan, NJ, New York, Northern California, Philadelphia, Southern California, South Jersey and Washington, DC.

So, take a look at the first sneak peak I recd of the article with the first cover.......