CWP...

I FINALLY did it! I am now an official CWP, which is Certified Wedding Planner! It's been a long time dream of mine, and I finally did it! Now I can finally make Gala-Amorous Events into a reality!

Easter basket help!

So, this will be my first Easter with my boyfriend's son, Aaron. I haven't celebrated Easter in like, 10 years. I want his Easter basket to be awesome, so I'm asking you for your help... what kind of cute things do you put in your Easter baskets??? I'm sure things have changed in the last 10 years- I got candy and kites- kind of boring now. Do you have any theme baskets or any cool toy ideas??? I wanna know!

Scrapbooking...

So I've started my very first scrapbook. I can see why everyone likes it. It's addicting! (But expensive!)

Since I'm a scrapbooking virgin, does anyone have any tips or ideas for me? I have all these supplies, but I'm freaking out that it won't come out how I want it to!!!

It's been too long!

Well, it's been a long time! Wedding season consumed my life, but it was a great one! We had some beautiful weddings! Here are some photo highlights of the year:

I am also very happy to announce that I have officially began my CWP classes. Finally took the leap of faith and started in. Hopefully by the end of the month I will be an official Certified Wedding Planner!

Two of my friends got engaged at the first of the year, so congratulations to my first two 2010 brides: Lindsey and Laura! Tommy and Nick are very lucky men!

I will try to update more often now, and if you have anything you would like advice on or would like me to talk about, feel free to leave a comment!

Wedding Season at the Four Seasons...

"What do you like better, Christmas or Wedding Season?"

"The answer would be, um, Wedding Season?"

"YES!" (from the movie Wedding Crashers)

Ahhhh the social season has begun. The smell of love, buttercream, and expensive floral arrangements is in the air. Especially at the Four Seasons hotel here in St. Louis. We've been having huge galas for several weeks now and last weekend we had our first of 28 weddings! I thought I'd share some pictures from the events we've been having lately!

Contemporary Art Museum Gala

Contemporary Art Museum

Lumiere Place "Fear No Ice" event

Fear No Ice sculpture

Loeber-Diemer Wedding groom's cake

Loeber-Diemer Wedding

Loeber-Diemer Wedding

Loeber-Diemer Wedding Cake

Ice Bar for Loeber-Diemer Wedding

We have two weddings this weekend, and I'll try to take pictures but we have a tight turn on Sunday so I probably won't be able to get pictures of that one!

New Ideas?

So I am curious as to how many people this blog gets out to. If you have any questions, comments, want any opinions/advice, have a blog idea, or whatever... please don't be shy and leave me a comment! I'm kind of looking for some new topic ideas!

Dresses that Impress us!

I watch every bridal show known to man (or at least broadcast in the US), and sometimes things really amaze me. One show I've been caught watching is "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC. I, myself, have worked in a bridal salon and know the ins-and-outs of dress selection and tuxedos. I just can't imagine walking into a dress shop and dropping $12,000 on a dress I'm doing to wear once. The truth of it is, you're probably going to be the only person who knows that's a Vera Wang or Monique Lhullier gown. As long as you look and feel fabulous, that's all that matters. And, if you can afford to drop that kind of dough on a dress, more power to you! But here are some fabulous and gorgeous dresses that only LOOK like you've spent a fortune! And since some designers have dresses that look like other designers' dresses, only YOU have to know how much you spent, and who it's by. Why, yes, Vera DID do this especially for me! (Shhh... we'll never tell!)

Designer: Paloma Blanca.

Style: Clean, classic, lacey (glamed down, little sparkle)

Similar to: Melissa Sweet, Monique Lhullier

Average price: $1300

Which dress is Paloma?

(Paloma is on the top! The other is Monique Lhullier)

Some of my other favorite designers? Mori Lee is my all-time favorite (I'm a sparkle girl) and Maggie Sottero is also gorgeous! They both range around$700, depending on the store. It pays to shop around!

Mori Lee dress style 2101. It has the best of both worlds- lace AND lots of sparkle!