Latest stories and inspiration from our team
Begin Your Experienceby Vrej Sarkissian, CEO of LA Banquets At LA Banquets, we strive to keep our venues looking fresh, modern and elegant. So even when we’re not actively changing or updating some aspect of the ballrooms, you can be sure we’re planning our next renovation. All this …
by Vrej Sarkissian, CEO of L.A. Banquets. We want to introduce a new feature on our blog and bring you real weddings from our L.A. Banquets reception venues. For the first post in this series, we have Ana and Grigor’s wedding that transformed Le Foyer Ballroom into a dreamy white wonderland. This was a particularly special wedding for L.A. Banquets as the bride, Ana, is the daughter of one of our vendors, CMC Party Rentals. We’ve worked closely with CMC Party Rentals on countless events, so Ana’s wedding felt like a family affair for us too. With anything she could imagine at her reach, Ana envisioned a classic, all-white wedding with gold accents. Our venue needed some extra touches to meet Ana’s requirements. With CMC Rentals, we hung up soft white drapes around the entire perimeter of Le Foyer Ballroom. Our red carpets disappeared under a blanket of white. And the hardwood dance floor was covered in pristine white tiles. We were all awed by how a few changes utterly transformed Le Foyer Ballroom to provide the setting for a glamorous, yet classic wedding. Ana’s dream wedding surpassed every expectation. Congratulations Ana and Grigor!
by Vrej Sarkissian, CEO of L.A. Banquets Browsing through the news a few days ago, I came across a story about moms who cite Pinterest as a source of stress in their lives. As a virtual place to share and find beautiful images of parties, food, and craft projects, Pinterest should be a haven for relaxation. But as moms try to replicate that level of fantasy perfection, and do it all themselves, they find the reality doesn’t often match their pinned perfection. And it’s not just moms. Every day I see brides who suffer from “Pinterest stress” too. Overwhelmed by all the “inspiration,” brides are driven to anxiety, or worse, jealous competition. Brides convince themselves they have to plan the most fabulous, unique, Pinterest-worthy wedding Pinterest has ever seen. Often without regard to what their budget allows. Many of these stresses stem from the sheer number of wedding related do-it-yourself projects brides undertake. From handmade centerpieces to home preserved jam wedding favors, wanting to DIY aspects of a wedding to achieve a uniquely personal look is a natural inclination. Not everyone has Martha Stewart skills and patience for crafts though, but Pinterest makes many brides feel that handmade and DIY is the true mark of a great wedding. For brides who aren’t naturally handy or creative, DIY can pose a real challenge and endless headaches. I’ve seen brides try out calligraphy for the first time with 350 invitations to hand-letter. The result is usually spilled bottles of ink and ruined sheets of expensive paper. And besides taking up a lot of time, DIY projects don’t always save any money. Especially if a frustrated bride or couple ends up finding a vendor to take over a failed DIY project. Wedding planning is difficult enough without adding the extra stress of trying to create a Pinterest-perfect DIY wedding. I say this to all the brides out there: There’s no shame in saying “I don’t” to DIY. Stand up to the Pinterest pressure and create the wedding you envision, not the one Pinterest says you need to have. Your guests won’t appreciate all the little handmade touches if you’re too exhausted to celebrate. Just remember Pinterest is a tool to help you plan, not the point of your wedding itself. Stay true to what you want and need, and be aware of time and patience limitations when it comes to DIY. Save the elaborate projects for your vendors and save yourself the headaches. Don’t worry if your wedding doesn’t match up to the Pinterest fantasy, because the real thing will be so much better.
Position Title: Administrative Associate Start Date: Immediately Compensation: Salary: commensurate to experience Hours: Full Time (6 days a week including weekends 10am – 8pm) Deadline To Apply: Immediately We are looking for an experienced administrative associate to join our team. Candidate’s responsibilities will be to assist in all aspects of the venue/catering operation. through multiple venues. Your key role is to be a liaison between our sales team and clients. Duties will include, but not be limited to: - Answering Phone & Email Inquiries - Coordinating calls/voicemails among sales associates - Maintaining the office space - Confirming Meetings with clients - Tracks incoming leads, assigns & follows up with sales associates. - Can qualify a client’s purpose for calling and forward to the appropriate personnel or department - Welcomes on-site visitors, determines nature of business, and introduces visitors to appropriate personnel - Monitors visitor access - Updates Appointment Calendars to ensure venues and staff availability Mandatories: - Fluent in both English and Armenian (additional languages a plus!) - Comfortable in both a MAC/PC environment - Quick on their feet and able to assist in any role - Isn’t afraid to speak up and address a situation in need ______ If qualified, please email resume and cover letter to hr@anoush.com No phone calls please.
by Vrej Sarkissian, CEO of L.A. Banquets Imagine getting married on the sandy shores of Puerto Vallarta...or beside Mexico City’s ornate Spanish style architecture...or next to the crystalline waters of Cancun. Sounds like the backdrop for a wedding out of a dream. But if you have 300 of your closest friends and family to consider, a destination wedding begins to sound like a nightmare. When cutting your guest list isn’t an option, bring the best parts of a Mexican destination wedding across the border. Setting a South of the Border Scene with Mexican Decor & Music From turquoise beaches to bustling markets in the big cities, Mexico bursts with vibrant color. String up multi-colored papel picado (seen above) — intricate papercut banners — to decorate your ceremony or reception venue. Crafty brides can try their hand at cutting their own and enlist their friends and family to help for a fun wedding shower activity. Extend the theme and use papel picado lattice designs to decorate invitations and wedding cakes. Good music will fuel your fiesta, so consider hiring a mariachi band. Their elaborate charro suits and the infectious music will get everyone up and dancing la vibora del mar — an energetic alternative to the traditional garter and bouquet toss. Dulce Eats, Sweet Mexican Desserts Weddings run on food, especially desserts. Mexican Wedding Cakes — the crumbly butter cookies with chopped nuts and dusted with powdered sugar — aren’t actually a staple in Mexican weddings (a misnomer if there ever was one). Known in Mexico as polvorones, these little cookies would still make a great addition to a pan dulce (that’s sweet breads) dessert station. A traditional Mexican wedding cake made with dried fruits and nuts and soaked in rum would serve well as a groom’s cake. And on the subject of sweets, don’t forget flan. Ceremony and Family: Mexican Wedding Traditions Familia and amigos come together in the most meaningful Mexican wedding traditions during the ceremony itself. Part godparents, part sponsors, padrinos and madrinas play roles similar to the best man and maid of honor, but have much deeper significance. They guide the couple during the engagement and wedding, not only providing advice, but purchasing items for the wedding and performing specific roles during the wedding ceremony. Couples can have several padrinos and madrinas, so choose from your family and friends to knit everyone closer together. During the Catholic wedding mass one of the padrinos or madrinas oversees the important arras ceremony. The groom gives 13 gold coins in an ornate box or tray (purchased by the padrino or madrina and blessed by the priest) to the bride as a pledge to provide for her and their future family. In a nod to more financial equality, the words exchanged during the arras ceremony indicate that the bride too will be providing for her family. Incorporating Mexican wedding traditions to your own nuptials will add just the right amount of color, culture, and heritage...and save the expense and headache of a destination wedding. At L.A. Banquets we recognize that whether familiar or not, at the core of Mexican weddings are warmth, family and tradition: values cherished and celebrated in all cultures and destinations. Photo By: timlewisnm, http://www.flickr.com/photos/gozalewis/4533466093/
by Vrej Sarkissian, CEO of L.A. Banquets “Can’t repeat the past?…Why of course you can!” --Jay Gatsby, in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby And who wouldn’t want to repeat the refined yet thrilling, high-living lifestyle of the Roaring 20’s? It’s certainly an era I would want to experience, which is why I can’t wait to immerse myself in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of The Great Gatsby, due to hit theaters in a few weeks. Art Deco style plays as big a starring role in the film as headliner Leonardo DiCaprio. The period’s clean elegance and focus on fine details keeps the style looking relevant today, and between The Great Gatsby and BBC’s Downton Abbey, we’re in the middle of a 1920’s revival. So it’s no wonder to see it inspiring wedding and event design choices this season, in everything from fashion to drinks. With a few smart choices, you can inject Great Gatsby glamour into your own wedding or party. Spirited Celebrations It’s a good thing we’re only recreating the past, and not reliving it. Because of Prohibition, the boozy drinks Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan gulped down were bootlegged liquor. Fortunately, since Prohibition ended in 1933, you won’t need to know the name of your local rumrunner to include celebratory drinks at your nuptials. But you can still set the speakeasy scene with handcrafted cocktails, which became an art in the 1920’s since bartenders often needed to mask the taste of rough homebrewed liquor. Provide guests with a few signature drinks made with strong spirits (gin was a big favorite) infused with bitters, herbs and fresh fruit syrups. Or forgo a traditional champagne toast in favor of a French 75 or Gatsby’s favorite, the mint julep. You can’t go wrong, though: many of the classic cocktails we still love today, including Manhattans and martinis, were first shaken up in the 1920’s. Looking Dandy Sharp, exquisitely tailored suits defined men’s fashion in the 1920’s. To recreate this look, you can search secondhand shops for vintage dinner jackets with peaked lapels, or simply turn to the Brooks Brothers Great Gatsby collection. The black tux paired with the onyx and gold cufflinks is certainly a set I could see in my wardrobe, and an easy choice for a black-tie event. For the more sartorially adventurous, consider Jay Gatsby’s signature pink suit. Future grooms, I suggest deferring to your bride before selecting this one! As equally important as sharp suiting is extravagant jewelry for women. Think long strand pearls, diadems, feathers, and rhinestones. Tiffany & Co. has released a Jazz Age inspired collection, but for more budget-friendly pieces, seek out vintage costume jewelry on eBay or Etsy, or local flea markets. Setting the Scene Add authentic vintage appeal to your event by selecting a historic location. But with Los Angeles’ tendency to replace old structures with strip malls, this can prove a bit tricky. LA Banquets is lucky to have its own special connection to the Jazz Age. Our Brandview Ballroom spans the upper floors of Glendale’s historic Huntley-Evans building. The 1921 structure features original Art Deco era styling and was home for many years to the Famous Department Store. Today, a large spiral staircase, with filigree gold rails winds up from stained glass french doors, to the grand ballroom above. At the time of construction, the building was called Glendale’s most “pretentious” structure, owing to its ornate detailing, installation of the city’s first elevator, and $150K construction bill. The Huntley-Evans building evokes the true elegance of the era, and if the walls could talk, I’m sure they’d lend us a few more tips on recreating the spirit of the Roaring 20’s.
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