Parker Palm Springs Wedding
A Colorful Modern Palm Springs Wedding: Part 1
When you have the opportunity to work with a client that A) Wants to go BOLD with color! B) Has a love of traveling as much as you do, and C) Gives you carte blanche to just ‘go for it!” It was truly a magical combination. After touring with with Jenn & Chance in person and showing them how cool a Parker Palm Springs wedding would be the rest of the planning was done from afar. With Jenn and Chance living in Florida and me traveling in Europe for the previous summer, we worked off of Skype calls from cafes in Ibiza and Monaco with wine in hand. Making working with them a true pleasure!
JP + Chance’s Love Story….
From Jenn:
When Chance and I met we quickly bonded over our mutual love of food, travel and the west coast. I had just moved back to Florida from San Francisco and Chance moved to Florida from LA the previous year. We chatted for hours about our fondness for the Golden State and how we both ended up in Florida to be closer to our families. From the moment we met, we were completely inseparable. Our first year together we traveled to Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Tulum, Napa Valley and NYC. Through endless food-a-thons, hiking, exploring some of the world’s most beautiful beaches and even one case of Montezuma’s revenge, our love grew stronger with each trip.
We both wanted a destination wedding and California was an obvious choice. We were bringing together friends and family from all over so we wanted everyone to make a vacation out of it. We fell in love with The Parker as soon as we toured the venue. The property is the epitome of an instant vacation: the mid-century modern vibe is unreal and grounds are beyond gorgeous! Vanessa Van Wieren, our wedding planner, urged us to think outside the box and suggested we have our dinner on the bocce ball court and our reception in the Palm Springs Yacht Club, which is the Spa. We immediately loved both ideas and they turned out to be stellar moves!
Design, Planning, & Invitations: Alchemy Fine Events and Invitations / Photographer: Scott Clark Photo / Videographer: DP Weddings / Venue, Cake, Catering, & Rentals: The Parker Palm Springs / Floral Design: Arrangements Floral & Party Design / Hair: Jose Neira Salon at The Parker / Makeup: Makeup By Keturah / Linens: La Tavola / Cigar Rollers: The Cigar Guys / DJ: Chris Cote / Bride’s Dress: Anne Barge from Malindy Elene in Tampa, Florida / Shoes: Valentino / Wedding Band: Tacori / Engagement Ring: Designed by Groom / Groom’s Suit: Hugo Boss / Shoes: Allen Edmonds / Tie: Ted Baker / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Jenny Yoo, Adrianna Papell, & Donna Mizani / Groomsmen Suits: Banana Republic / Flower Girl: Ava Madison Boutique
Read More »Colorful Spanish Fiesta Dinner Party
Spanish Fiesta Birthday Party
For a recent client’s birthday in Rancho Santa Fe we created an intimate Spanish fiesta dinner party with a colorful and bold Spanish flair. We started by laying down a beautiful periwinkle linen and and created tile placemats out of hand painted tiles. We featured super colorful florals with bright warm fall colors including yellow sunflowers, orange mums and deep red roses. Eggplant purple tapers glowed above the table in vintage brass candlesticks and delicate light patterns were cast onto the table from the rustic ornate lanterns featuring glowing tapes. Mismatched aqua and purple goblets helped to lend even more pops of color on the table offset by an eclectic set of wooden farm chairs and stunning wicker peacock end chairs. 
Making a warm entrance into a party, even home entertaining, is alway important to set the tone from the minute the guests arrive. We did so with a bold spray of bougainvillea in an amber blown glass vases and scattered the table with glowing tapers and wooden balls. 
More colorful Spanish glass was featured at the bar with accents of Spanish stars and glowing candles. We created a beautiful collection of Spanish wines and sangria for guests to sip on while they nibbled on tapas from our cheese and Spanish bites tables.
We created a backdrop of colorful Spanish glass, terracotta tubes and glowing pillar candles to display a wide array of Spanish meats, olives, oils and cheese for guests.
For a backyard birthday party no more than a simple cake a few bites are required but why not dress it up with a beautiful presentation? We did with a fun array of Spanish glass, tiles, mirrored stars and votives.
Guests dined under the glowing bistro lights on freshly made paella while listening to the tunes of flamenco guitarist David Maldonado. Even with an intimate party of 20 this goes to show it’s all about quality over quantity, even in the comfort of your own home.
Event Design & Planning Alchemy Fine Events
Music David Maldonado
Photography by John Newsome
Vintage Rentals by Pow Wow Vintage Rentals
Lighting by LG Productions
Catering San Diego Paella
Read More »Luxury Wedding Workshop in Lake Como Italy
Italian Photography & Design Wedding Workshop in Lake Como
With much excitement we are proud to announce L’Arte del Martrimonio, a luxury photography and design workshop being help November 11- 15 on the shores of Lake Como, Italy. Brought to you by Alchemy Fine Events, we are offering photography students the chance to learn under the talented shutterbugs Jana Williams and Mike Larson and designers and planners to learn under the direction of Vanessa Van Wieren of Alchemy Fine Events with beautiful styling and florals by Krista Jon and Archive Rentals. In addition to these creative talents we are also very excited to announce that Rebecca Crumley, photo editor of The Knot Magazine will be there to critique, trend forecast and talk about how to get published in this competitive market.
Students will be staying at the luxurious Hotel Imperiale and shooting at the incredible Villa Passalacqua, vacation home to Elton John, Victoria & David Beckham to name a few, in addition to outdoor and lake locations. Student’s will get to work with each teacher in smaller groups as well to learn not only technical skills but also how to communicate more clearly with each other as the designer photographer relationship is crucial. We also be offering specialized breakaway groups such as boudoir shooting with Jana and portraits with Mike while planners and designers will be able to talk about the details the clients love, styling tips and tricks and walking through the creative process with ultimate goal being client success and of course getting published! Students will get to work with an incredible level of talented models and couture fashion designers such as the swoon-worthy gowns by Galia Lahav and other beautifully crafted works of art.
While staying at Hotel Imperiale breakfast, lunch, aperitivo and dinners will be held in group settings for more one-on-one teacher time for Q&A over dining as well as glamourous styled dinners each evening with a black tie gala the last evening to wrap up the week.
What Vanessa will talk about…
With a plethora of creative details going into each of my events people always ask where do I even start this tedious process? The creative process is far too often taken for granted and really should be a methodical practice of starting with creativity and letting your visions soar as a whole before starting the smaller details. Approaching each event from a creative direction standpoint rather than coordination of smaller details not only will allow you to expand your creative vision but allow you to communicate visually with your clients and vendors.
In addition to the creative design and styling skills, I’ll be working with the photographers so that they learn to shoot with a design perspective while spotlighting each vendor involved in the wedding to ensure as much exposure for your work as possible to promote future collaborations for years to come.
What Jana will talk about…
Many people have asked me how I stand out in the wedding industry. Above all, it’s about the work. However, I have found social media and precise branding to be one of the biggest catalysts for my success. I am very excited to share my insight about developing, cultivating, and living your brand as well as specific way to use social media to get noticed and book jobs in the wedding industry.
What Mike will talk about…
Mike will have presentations and then open discussions for each topic section. We’ll chat about these concepts: “how to be different in a sea of photographers”, shooting right the 1st time, the power of specializing & unique positioning, designing your business to fit your life (with freedom), how to brand yourself, well, walk through the images a full real Mike Larson wedding, Review top mistakes most photographers make. Why and how to wow your clients.
Then we will go into the details: Lighting - Curating - Personal Style Development - Marketing/Branding - Specialization - Presentation/Perception - Simple Album Design - Pricing - Building Client Relationships - Getting published & Submitting to blogs & magazines - Advertising - Lightroom, packaging, assistants, associates - yay or nay , speedy systems for editing in Lightroom, simple workflows. How to keep having fun.
What Rebecca will talk about…
Editors and designers have tricks and needs to what gets published. In our sessions, I’ll reveal how editorial content varies from what your clients want to see. Particularly, we’ll cover telling a story with your images and the subtle differences to get your shots noticed. We’ll go behind-the-scenes analyzing photo variety and necessary data to deliver a strong submission. I’ll also share my favorite tips for perfectly styled shots.
The chance to shoot inside of the famous Villa Passalaqua is like non other.. With masterpieces hanging on the walls and the history of famous composers in its past this is truly an opportunity like non other and would be in invaluable addition to any portfolio. Please view more images of this historic gem below and visit L’Arte del Matrimonio for more details.
Ci vediamo in Italia!!!
Read More »
Parisian Style La Jolla Wedding for CBS Lifestylist
A Chic Parisian Inspired La Jolla Wedding at Hotel Parisi
I was so honored when my beautiful friend and coordinator extraordinaire Catherine Bachelier Smith of CBS Lifestylist asked me to help bring her vision of a fabulously chic Parisian style La Jolla wedding to life. A wedding planner herself (who comes on board team Alchemy when her seamless skills are required!), Catherine had the vision of a evening cocktail style reception with a candlelit ceremony that immediately flowed into their first dance. Together with Isari Flower Studio, we created this candlelit affair full of rich ruby, gold and jewel toned hues inspired by Catherine’s love of Paris.
Catherine, also a fashion stylist, had a very specific look in mind. Inspired by her love for Paris, fashion, her favorite color red, and all things fabulous, she brought in touches of each of her passions for these gorgeous photos. For this cocktail style La Jolla wedding reception guests were treated to an elaborate cheese and dessert bar we created with an abundance of fragrant cheeses, nuts, honey and fresh fruits along side sugar sweets and confections. Guests nibbled, sipped and danced into the wee hours celebrating this wonderful couple’s I do’s.
In addition to being a wedding planner and stylist, Catherine is also an author! After experiencing a divorce, Catherine penned an e-book titled Love Never Goes Away with journal entries about how to not give up on love.
Wedding Planning by CBS LifeStylist
Event Design & Invitations by Alchemy Fine Events & Invitations
Flowers by Isari Flower Studio
Photography by Wedding by Kumar
Venue Hotel Parisi
DJ & Lighting by Tim Altbaum Productions
Desserts by Michele Coulon Dessertier
Day of by Weddings by Nahid
Beauty by Team Nicole
Catering & Bar Panache Productions
Officiant Bob Stevens
Videographer Classic Film Works
Read More »