Soiréebliss! Events is Flourishing!!

Over the past few weeks, you've heard the buzz and felt the excitement of something exciting going on at the Soiréebliss! Studio. We've expanded our space and have designed a well appointed Client Consultation space. Along with this, we are working to implement some innovative technology to increase productivity,  and am revamping our logo, website and blog.  If you can imagine the Soiréebliss! Team, me included, are bursting with excitement for the launch date of when everything will be ready to be revealed. 

Unfortunately, I'm the type of person that gets so excited by surprises, I have such a hard time keeping them to myself.  Seriously, it kills me to not tell my husband what I get him for his birthday and Christmas.  So, because of this, I wanted to share a sneak peak of what the future look of Soiréebliss! Events will be......

New Logo

New Blog

Inspiration for it all!

Welcome Our Associate Planner: Lindie Jones Sadykhov

This week, I am excited to introduce you to our Associate Planner; Lindie Jones Sadykhov.  Lindie joined our team shortly after Soiréebliss! Events coordinated her wedding a year ago.  She brings to the team a long history of corporate and social event management.  Lindie's true strengths lie within her care for each one of her clients.  She continuously looks for ways to go above and beyond to ensure her client's event is absolutely perfect and their needs are met in every way.
Please feel free to say hello to Lindie at lindie@soireebliss.com

My name is Lindie Sadykhov, and I am an Associate Planner for Soiréebliss! Events.  I could not be more blessed to be working for this wonderful company, and absolutely love what I am doing!  It came as no surprise to my friends and family when I started working for Soiréebliss! Events after Samantha Darr planned my wedding, as i was apparently a "natural" at planning my own wedding, and have always loved throwing parties for friends and family.

I graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas with a degree in Business Administration. During college I had the amazing opportunity to work for a corporate marketing team. I have been organizing events for every company I have worked for since college, and instantly knew this was truly my passion and what I wanted to do.

After college, I pursued my marketing/business career with an oil and gas company in Houston. While it’s been a fulfilling career, I found that it was still lacking. I have been looking for a career opportunity that would utilize my creativity and event planning skills. When Samantha Darr offered me a job with the Soiréebliss! Events I immediately knew it was the perfect opportunity I had been so patiently waiting for, and now couldn't be happier, as my passion truly turned in to a reality.

I have enjoyed every moment of working with the Soiréebliss! Events team. I love hearing everyone's individual stories, and how they envision their special day, then making it a reality. Seeing their vision and everything we have worked on, all come together in the end is the best part, along with making everyone happy and watching their big smiles at the end of the day.  It makes my job incredibly rewarding knowing that the Soiréebliss! Events team has made their event memorable, and in turn I could not ask for a better career! 

 

Welcome Our Newest Team Member: Natalie Shaw

In 2007, I took the leap of faith in myself and my dream to launch Soiréebliss! Events. Initially, it was just myself and two Event Day Assistants.  I set-up shop in the spare bedroom at my house and started plugging away.

Since then my vision for Soiréebliss! Events has grown even more successful than I could have initially hoped.  We beat the statistics for success/failure all small businesses face in their 1st and 2nd years or business.  We overcame the economic down-turn and evolved with the financial challenges.  Instead of working out of a 8x10 room in my house, we now have a large well appointed studio in the historic Heights. My team has grown to include one Associate Planner and five Event Day Assistants. 

The newest addition to the SB! team is Natalie Shaw; our Event Production Manager.  Her role is to facilitate planning and design of each event.  She plays a vital role in managing each client's event needs.  She brings to the team a fresh, vibrant personality and "mad" design skills.  

To welcome Natalie, please say hello at natalie@soireebliss.com

My name is Natalie Shaw, and I am the Event Production Manager at Soiréebliss! Events. I absolutely love my job.  It is the place where my passion and skills come together.  Every event is so different, and making them as amazing and stress-free as possible is my constant aspiration.

I graduated from Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina in 2007 with a degree in Business Administration.  For the first four years after graduating, I worked with a small oil & gas investment company in Houston as office manager and investment analyst.   I love the organization necessary to run an office smoothly, and continue to perfect those skills in the Soiréebliss! Events office.

My track record of event planning goes back to my childhood, helping my mother plan unforgettable showers for all our family and friends.  I honed my skills on the Student Activities Board in college, and cemented my passion while throwing over the top parties at my own home as often as I could find a reason.

The one thing that has been pervasive throughout all my life is the desire to bring people together for those extraordinary moments.  I love the planning of every detail, starting with the initial brainstorm, to designing the invitations and decor, to orchestrating the event production.  This is my passion, and I am so thankful to be a part of the amazing Soiréebliss! Events team that shares my passion.

Planning My Wedding: From the Perspective of an Event Planner

As an event planner, it was extra special for me to plan my wedding.  I make it my career to plan memorable events and weddings for my clients and now it was my turn.  If you can imagine, I had a zillion ideas of what to do for our wedding; destination wedding in Colorado on top of a mountain, destination wedding in a tropical location over looking the ocean, a New Year's Eve bash, the options were endless for me as I knew all the possibilities.  The ideas were endless, more than the average bride as I have seen and done it all. It was quite the task for my fiance (now husband) to make me pin down just one location and wedding concept.

After experiencing a few bumps along the planning process, we opted to host an intimate affair at the Omni Woodway Hotel for a 100 of our closest friends and immediate family.  While a destination wedding in Colorado was our favorite option, we knew that not everyone would be able to go.  We felt it was more important to share the day with those who meant the most to us vs. the location we were in.  For me, I spent little time choosing vendors as I had the inside scoop.  This cut my planning time greatly in half. 

Now on to the fun part, planning and designing the look of the event.  This is truly one of my most favorite parts of planning. This is where you can see a couple's true personality shine through. We choose a classic vintage theme with touches of modern details with a black and white color scheme to fit the evening affair. When choosing the details and colors, I advise every couple to imagine their wedding pictures 20 years from their wedding date.  Do they want the classic, timeless look or will their choices make their wedding/event look dated by trends and fads?

Like most Groom's my my hubby didn't quite share my excitement in the paper thickness for the invitations, or how the napkins would be folded or what type of guest book we would have.  He was happy knowing that we would serve good food, have an open bar with a quality selection for our guest and have fun.

I do want to share that while the planning process was easier for me than possibly the average bride due to my experience and insight, I too had a few hiccups and bumps in the planning process.  It wasn't anything I could have avoided or anticipated. I won't lie to say it wasn't frustrating or upsetting.  I did experience stress caused by the hiccups. But, I knew it wasn't caused because the vendors involved were bad, unprofessional or lacked ability, it was simply a misfortune random occurrence.  The difference for me is how I handled it.  I kept a mindful perspective that the importance of the day was for us to be married and celebrate with our friends. 

One of the continuous questions I was asked by most vendors was; "Who would be my Day-Of Planner to manage the wedding day?".  Imagine, me an event planner, hiring an event planner?! This question baffled me greatly. How could anyone do it better than I? This was a great misconception of mine.  While I enjoyed my wedding day, it was truly very hard to shut off the "planner" in me and enjoy the day as "bride".  Looking back, I know I should have had one of my Associate Planners or professional colleagues oversee my wedding as the Day-Of Coordinator.  I caught myself numerous times asking to know the time to know if we were on schedule or going through the mental checklist of what needed to be done still or over-seeing the set-up when I could have spent the time relaxing and socializing with friends and family.

My make-up artist (Pink Palette) snapped a picture of me in my wedding dress while they were putting finishing touches on my hair and I'm scanning over the timeline just before going down stairs to shoot the "first look" pictures.  This is the complete opposite of how I should have been enjoying the last few moments before starting the whirlwind of festivities.

I want to leave you with a little wisdom I learned as a bride myself:

1. Stop and smell the roses as you're planning.  It's a once in a lifetime experience that you will want to remember with happy memories.  Going into your wedding day with this mental state of mind will increase your enjoyment that much more.

2. Know that if you have a few bumps through the planning process that it's not going to make or break your day.  The most important thing is that you're marrying the man of your dreams and have a lifetime of memorable moments to later share with your grandchildren.

3. Hire a Day-of Planner!!!  This is one of the most important investments you will make.  It is equally important to the photographer you choose.  Without a Day-of Planner, your wedding day has too many moving parts for you to leave them to chance that they will go just right.  The last thing you will want to do is think about it on your wedding day. It will absolutely detract from your enjoyment.  As a planner myself, I know first hand.