It’s the wonderful day of the week we all love so much, and time to welcome some of the loveliest of lovelies in California! So grab another cup of coffee, snuggle up to your computer and get to know some of these oh so fine folks. And boy do we have a lineup today! From gorgeous event design from Charmed Events Group and Concepts Event Design to swoon-worthy images from Linda Arredondo Photography to the lovely Sonoma venue of Ramekins. It’s a round up of pretty if I do say so myself! You will most certainly want to get to know each and every one of these lovelies! Don’t forget if you look closely there are some deals hidden in their introductions! Does it get any better?
From Charmed Events Group…Love is the most amazing feeling, experience, privilege and gift that we can have in life and that’s why we make it our personal mission to make your wedding day exude and burst with love and all the happiness that surrounds it. Our specialty is in personalizing each wedding that we do by letting its love story unfold through event design, flawless planning and distinctive details that show who you are as a couple. No visual detail is overlooked with us as we are design perfectionists, and no planning detail is overlooked as perfection and program flow is key to the most important day of your life. We act as a concierge service so that all the stress is eliminated for you and your family during the planning process as we want every moment leading up to the big day to be as fun, relaxed and enjoyable on your wedding day. We are romantics, we are design obsessed, we never get tired of being giddy over a good love story or receiving perfect invites in the mail, and most of all, we are in love with love. We can’t wait to be a part of your team and to begin building your dream wedding piece by piece!
About Ramekins…Nestled just a short distance from the Historic Downtown Sonoma Plaza you will find Ramekins Culinary School, Events & Inn – an exceptionally scenic venue with a European feel – a magical place to celebrate your most momentous occasion. Receptions may be in our Main Ballroom featuring oak beam vaulted ceilings and grand fireplace. The courtyard features an outdoor fireplace, an antique limestone fountain and imported world doors – the perfect backdrop for your wedding ceremony, cocktail reception or even an outdoor garden luncheon or dinner. The region’s climate allows us to provide the freshest ingredients in menus that reflect the season and the unique character of the Sonoma Valley. The culinary team at our nationally acclaimed Ramekins Culinary School will create masterpieces for your event. All wedding menus are completely customized, and the school sources produce from its own 5th Street Farms Garden and works with the best local purveyors. Organic, sustainable produce, natural meats and poultry are all the hallmarks of Ramekins. At the end of a sumptuous wedding day filled with wine, food, and music, the wedding party can slip upstairs into quiet, plush bedrooms adorned with rustic French antique furnishings. Also inquire about our Kenwood Ranch location, a rustic, elegant setting surrounded by 75 acres of rolling vineyards. We would like to offer the SMP audience a complimentary welcome bar when they book their wedding with us if they mention that they saw us on SMP California.
From Concepts Event Design…Concepts Event Design is a full service design company providing the ultimate in products and services to its clients throughout the San Diego area. Husband and wife, Federico and Haydee, have combined their talents in custom furnishing and linens to create one of a kind concepts for their clients that are truly awe-inspiring.
From Linda Arredondo Photography…Our approach with weddings and portrait sessions alike, is to create a collection of thoughtful images; integrating all the unique aspects of your day to craft an artistic narrative. We go beyond just documenting. We complement the natural movement and flow of your day by adding creative touches and soft guidance. Our editorial sensibility weaves style and emotion to create timeless elegance, with a touch of vintage romance. Ultimately, we take love stories and cure their ethereal condition with our cameras and artistic vision, turning them into something beautiful and precious that you can hold in your hands.
We are dedicated perfectionists of our craft, and believe everything should be of impeccable quality. It is an experience we share with you, one that we are honored and humbled to be a part of. Thus, we accept a limited number of weddings to develop personalized, collaborative relationships with our clients as well as to provide a hand-crafted, artisan finish to our imagery and designs.
We are so delighted about our new friendship with the lovely SMP, that we’re celebrating by offering a complimentary engagement session* to one devoted SMP reader! Leave a comment below telling us what would personalize your session to reflect your love story. It can be anything from the setting, to styling, props, wardrobe… Hint: keep it simple, but imaginative!
*(To take place sometime between Jan 15 and March 31, 2012 in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Winner will be announced Monday, Dec. 12)
How can you not love these California beauties? Welcome to the family, we are so happy to have you!
My fiance and I met as undergraduate students at the University of Southern California. Whenever we go back to the USC campus I'm reminded of how lucky we are to have been able to fill those three years with so much love, both for the Trojan family and for each other. We plan on using the beautiful USC campus as the backdrop for our engagement photographs. I cannot think of a more appropriate way to capture the beginning of our soon to be married lives together!
Our relationship can be described in two words: Road Trip.
Whether is driving up and down California's coast, a quick trip to Vegas, or traveling across the midwest states just because we can. We live for adventure in each others company. As a result we have put a lot of milage on his Jeep, but it is well worth it. On the road we are inspired by 1920s and 1940s music, where traveling by car was just beginning its heyday. We love experiencing the history of the U.S., especially California, where the majority of our road trips have been. Discovering Los Angeles itself has been a trip, to say the least, there is so much history here, we just can't get enough. I can't begin to describe the thrill of experiencing new places and people, while being with the man I love. Having road trip themed engagement photos would definitely sum up our relationship, as we soon embark on the next road together.
My fiancé and I have a love for adventure travel and the outdoors. I grew up in wisconsin and my fiancé grew up in LA. A big city boy and a small town girl who now live in San Diego. We live near the beach and a perfect engagement session would be at the beach or cliffs with our dog Fred. Some of our best memories are from the three of us at the beach watching the sunset talking about our life and dreams for the future. Something artistic, serene and beautiful at the water would be amazing!
My fiance and I met at UCLA 7 years ago when we were undergrads. I was NOT looking for a boyfriend since it was my freshman year, but of course, he had to come along and sweep me off my feet! We would love to have the beautiful campus of UCLA and Westwood as the settings for our engagement photos! There is such a variety of settings (modern, woodsy, etc) that it would give us a lot to play around with.
My fiance and I shared our first kiss on a park bench at the Orange Circle in Old Towne Orange. We would love to recreate that moment for our engagement session. We would also like to bring along our rottweiler Brandy and our new eurocruiser bikes to showcase the essence of what makes us the happiest - lazy Sunday afternoons spent together.
Lucas and I met over 4 years ago at the University of Georgia through the Model United Nations team (haha). A year and a half ago he began a PhD program at Stanford, so when I graduated a year later I relocated to Silicon Valley to be closer to him. We are loving California and taking every opportunity to take day trips (Napa, Tahoe, Santa Cruz, Muir Woods etc.) to enjoy it as much as we can during our time here, but we also feel nostalgic for the South. Our engagement session will definitely have to highlight both of our homes - the South and California and also the thing that brought us together - Model UN :). We will probably wear boots and southern garb to showcase our Southern roots and somehow include maps into the mix, while also including gorgeous California backdrops. XO Jill
My fiancé John proposed in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle at Disneyland. We are passholders and have been going often for a couple of years now. We call it "our place" so it was nothing short of perfect that it happened there. We would love a chance to go back to the parks to capture us at our favorite places. We adore the movie UP and would love to have elements of the movie recreated: grape soda pins, balloons and a lot of love.
Topanga !!! Definitely our place.... We used to live there and would go back in a heart beat ! Also where we're getting married :) Hippie, casual, artistic, fun... Like us ;) I'm an extraverted photographer who grew up in Paris, France, he's an introverted musician from back East. We're opposite but we complement each other and Topanga is the perfect reflection of our two personalities.
Linda Arredondo is so talented
Jason & I actually met at our 5-year high school reunion that someone had put together on Facebook. We'd graduated the same year from high school, and found we'd been in school together since 5th grade (oh, & we lived 5 minutes from each other), but had never known one another. He was the football player & track runner, while I was the theater kid and the honors classes book nerd, and I guess the timing just turned out perfect to finally meet each other years later! I think a vintage, nostalgic back to school theme throughout a session would be so fun and fitting, and really play to the story we get to laugh about each time we tell it.
My Fiance and I met during the very first course in medical school almost 4 years ago. He randomly and magically kissed me on the cheek during the first "post exam party". After that, we started studying together for each classes, and of course passed all our board exams.
In 2012, we are finally graduating and getting married! I still cannot believe I am about to finish this medical school journey, after all, it's NOT THAT BAD =). Before we are giving all our medical school books and supplies away to charity, we would like to have a session with all our babies, the bible of boards the First Aid of USMLE steps, the Netters, the "will not missed" SHORT medical student white coats, etc.
What would represent us and our 8 year (and counting!) love story best would be a setting that combined the outdoors and movement (a swing, a carousel, even a baseball diamond!). We are California natives who enjoy as much time as we can smiling, laughing, and experiencing the beauty of the outdoors.
Overall, we want to show our family and friends that we are just as in love as we were so many years ago and can't wait to share this special time with them at our wedding.
BALLOONS help down by knots of chocolate.
when he realized he loved me, that's the first thing i was given. LOTS of balloons and chocolate. It is a bit cliche. but that'ts now our "thing". when things seemed to go wrong or be a bit too stressful. he would buy me a bunch of balloons, not flowers,tide down with chocolate! id walk up the streets with it like a 4 year old: giddy. Then in the end, we would let them go and watch them drift away. [We'd eat the chocolate first of course! ;D] It seemed to always make us appreciate the smaller things the quiet moments.
My fiance (I keep calling him my boyfriend by accident...we've only been engaged for two weeks!) and I met playing the leads opposite each other in the musical The Pajama Game in college. We've been together for almost eight years! We were so young when we met, and I feel so lucky that we've been able to grow together instead of apart. We met in a theater, so I think that would be the perfect setting for our engagement photos! A beautiful indoor theater or even an outdoor amphitheater like the one at the Getty Villa would be such a wonderful representation of our story. I'm so excited to (finally!) be engaged and can't wait to be married to my best friend.
We are excited to announce the winner of our giveaway! There were so many great entries, that we had to resort to narrowing down our favorites and then picking a name from a bowl (as seen in the link below). The complimentary engagement session goes to Jill!
Thank you to all the SMP readers who submitted an entry. To show our appreciation for those who participated, you will receive a 15% discount for your engagement session. Please email us directly at linda@lindaarredondo.com, we would love to collaborate with you on your ideas!
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[...] Linda Arredondo Photography selected one lucky SMP California winner to receive a complimentary engagement session. Congratulations to Jill! [...]