Jay's Catering - A Storybook Baby Shower

Mary over at Jay's Catering in Garden Grove, CA has got a mean, kick-@$$ blog of all the awesome events they service including weddings, private parties and everything in-between. Not too long ago, Mary's post of a Storybook Baby Shower caught my eye and I seriously can't stop thinking about it! Here's a sneak peek but you'll just have to check it out for yourself!




Super cute food-on-a-stick + mini-books in the floral arrangements = Utter Fun!

Emergency Bone Marrow Match Needed for Nicole Szeto

We need your help in finding a bone marrow donor match for Nicole Szeto! She is 22 years old with Stage 4 cancer. The doctors have given her a 2 month diagnosis to live.

Here's how you can help. "Be the Match" is the National Marrow Donor Program.
1. You can join their registry via mail in which they will send you a packet. All you do is swab the inside of your mouth and send it back along with your information. Click here to register online and get the swab packet by mail.
2. You can join by going in person to a bone marrow drive where they take the swab for you. Click here to find a drive happening in your area.

To my understanding, the registry is well organized so new registrants are matched against the current list of people who are in need of bone marrow on a daily basis. If, however, you could state that you are registering to see if you can be matched for Nicole, that would greatly appreciated!

We are on a race against the clock. It takes approximately 6 weeks to process and get test results of each new registered donor. So, if we get a match, Nicole will have 1 to 2 weeks to get the bone marrow transplant. Please pray for her so we can get a match for her in time.

Check back for updates.

For more understanding on the process of bone marrow matching and donating, feel free to check out marrowdrives.org and marrow.org.

Planning a Green Event - Part 10: The Trash

Ah, the final posting to our Planning a Green Event series ends in dealing with the trash. If you haven't noticed already, all the posts leading to this one has dealt with reducing unnecessary waste on each aspect of planning for your event. Often times, we do things in our daily lives without thinking about the consequences until the end and we have a pile of trash to deal with. I guess you could take that metaphorically too. But the reality is, in order to control the amount and type of waste we will have, we have to think about the effect our current decisions will make. Is it possible to have a 'zero-waste' event? I truly believe so but that decision lies within you. I hope that this little series has helped you in gaining some fun, creative ideas for your event planning.

As always, Happy Planning!

Invisible Touch Events in Irvine, CA

Meet Invisible Touch Events, a leader in Orange County's event industry providing a plethora of services including DJ, Emcee, Live Entertainment and Lighting.

But the truth is, if you're familiar with the event scene around here, you've probably already heard of them. And you probably already know of how great they area. In fact, here are some of my favorite snapshots of their gorgeous work.




However, after chatting with Robert Arthur, the owner of Invisible Touch, I was pleasantly surprised to learn a few new interesting factoids about them:

1) Robert offers a DJ/Emcee school for aspiring DJ's and Emcees at their corporate office in Irvine. The course is for 3 months, offered once a year, and students have the opportunity to learn directly from top professionals off-site and on-site at actual events. For those who want to start on this career path, what better way than to learn from the best!

2) Robert is very involved in an exclusive "think tank" business group of the top 40 entertainment companies in America. In fact, this past July, Robert and his colleagues met in South Beach Miami, Florida for their annual meeting involving business discussions and product reviews. And the best part? "Its a business sharing group but also a family." Robert tells me this after giving me the best story of how his sons came along on the trip and joined in on a karaoke night singing Michael Buble. And of course, the boys' singing act was followed by a roaring applause!

Here's a little food for thought that Robert took away and brought back to share:
"Every human being has the same amount of time in a day as Gandhi, Dr Martin Luther King, Edison and Einstein. What will you do with your time?"

Chew on that for a while! Cheers!

Planning a Green Event - Part 9: The Leftovers

So, you're throwing a grand event with lots of amazing food, fabulous drinks and stunning decor. But what do you do at the end of the night with all the leftovers?



Chrissy Gray, the talented event planner of Green Events, has some great suggestions so I asked her for some help on this one:

"For food waste there are a couple of different options:
1. This sounds obvious, but almost always does the trick, give leftovers to your staff. At the end of a long night, almost everyone will want something to munch on or to bring home for a snack the next day.
2. Donate the leftovers to a food bank, such as the Second Harvest Food Bank in Irvine. They are happy to take food donations of any kind, whether packaged or already prepared.
3. Compost anything else. Home composting is relatively easy to start, or nearby farms (yes they still do exist in OC! :) can take your compost as well.

For decor, donating to hospitals and nursing homes is what I always suggest, unless your guests want to take the arrangements home."

Thanks so much for sharing your words of wisdom!

Wish Upon a Wedding Southern California Gala

The latest announcement from Wish Upon a Wedding Southern California:



Blissful Wishes Ball will be held on November 4, 2010 at Ebell in Los Angeles.


"The Ebell of Los Angeles is a women's social club housed in a historic 75,000 square foot facility of Italian Renaissance design that includes a 1,270-seat theatre, 200 seat auditorium, three ballrooms, garden/courtyard, an executive chef, and full service catering." (Ebell website)
And it is gorgeous! View their website for more beautiful photos of their venue.

Tickets go on sale August 17th! Purchase them here.

Planning a Green Event - Part 8: The Transportation

The transportation to and from an event can easily be accommodated to reduced carbon footprint alternatives. And it doesn't mean that you and everyone else needs to show up with a horse and carriage (although, that might be fun). For all you car lovers, you can have a lot of fun picking out a fancy hybrid fuel efficient car to drive for the night.

There's the Mercedes S400 Hybrid:


Lexus RX 400 Hybrid:


Personally, I would love the chance to drive around Fisker's Four-Door Karma Hybrid.


'Sigh.' I can dream in the meantime.

And if you end up falling in love with the car, it just might be a great time to make the vehicle switch.
But if you prefer to just carpool in a bunch of minivans, there's nothing wrong with that.
But come on, its a special night. Go wild!

All images released press photos.