It’s always cause for joy when two people find each other and fall in love, not always an easy thing to do in this world. Now that laws are changing with the times, and marriage in California and other states is available to same-sex couples, we’d like to help you celebrate. To begin, we have a staff of wedding planners committed to making your wedding everything you want it to be. Our collaborative team and hand-picked vendors will work with you to get every detail just right, from flower arrangements to table settings, from food to décor, from the lighting to the music. Creating new traditions or honoring the old, we will move mountains to make sure your special day is flawless. We Can Help You Plan the Wedding of Your Dreams For smaller events, our modern Legacy Lounge and lavish Le Foyer Lounge each accommodates 70 guests, and the new open air Patio at Brandview accommodates 100 guests and is ideal for daytime or nighttime weddings. For larger events, consider the Legacy Ballroom, Glenoaks Ballroom, Brandview Ballroom, or Le Foyer Ballroom. Look through our image gallery for full 360-degree tours of each space. If you don’t have the picture of your perfect wedding in mind yet, our planners will listen to your ideas and use their own experience and expertise to bring them together in the most creative and cost-effective way possible. It’s Your Special Day — Make the Most of It Many same-sex couples want to put their own spin on what’s always been the typical wedding reception, breaking away from the routine that calls for a first dance, a dance with parents, a cake-cutting, and a bouquet (or boutonniere) toss. We say go for it! Your wedding should reflect your own taste and personalities, and should be a day made to order for the two of you. You may want a cocktail reception followed by a formal dinner, or decide to have a lavish cocktail buffet instead. Our catering and bartending staff will be delighted to create a custom menu that suits your style and is presented with impeccable flair. We’re also happy to help you locate entertainment that will keep your guests engaged without the traditional wedding formula. As you know, the Los Angeles area has many fine professional musicians and performers who can add a special touch to the festivities. For example, you may not want to hire the entire 250-strong Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles, but members of the chorus are available to perform for you in groups ranging from a dozen to one hundred voices and are certain to bring the house down. At the other end of the spectrum, there are wonderful solo pianists, cellists, and classical guitar players, as well as anything else you can imagine. Same-sex couples are forging new territory and making new traditions, and L.A. Banquets is eager to make the experience an authentic expression of your commitment and a true joy for you and your guests.
By admin
November 24, 2014
Once only for the tech-savvy, wedding websites have become so popular that 75 percent of engaged couples have them. Also known as “wedsites,” they have evolved from “just the facts” one-pagers to multimedia, interactive productions filled with original art, slideshows, videos, bios of the entire wedding party, countdown timers to the wedding date, quizzes, polls, guest books, wedding vendor credits, and blogs. If you’re having an intimate wedding or just want to keep your personal stuff to yourself (an increasingly rare proposition these days), there’s no need for a website. However, if you’re inviting a lot of people, if you’re expecting a number of guests to be traveling from elsewhere, or particularly if you’re having a destination wedding, a website can be very helpful in terms of disseminating information and posting any changes to the plans. Even at that, you can designate a password for your site so only friends and family can enter or access certain information. Setting Up Your Wedding Website There are many dozens of online services offering templates and other help in building the websites. Some are free, and some are pricey because they include custom design and content production. Hosting services charge about $40 to $80 to maintain your site for a year; you may also choose to keep it active longer for an additional fee. Deciding on the URL for your site may be tricky if you share popular names with the rest of your generation; there are more than two million weddings a year, and an awful lot of people named Jessica or Michael. Try combinations with your nicknames, initials, wedding date, dots, dashes and underscores, whatever will set you apart, but at the same time don’t make it impossibly complicated or too long to fit on your save-the-date announcement or other places you may want to use it. Another option is to buy a domain name from GoDaddy and set it to redirect to your wedding website. What Should You Put on Your Website? To make it easy for visitors, the first page of your site should contain all the basic information for the wedding: date, place, and time. Don’t make people scroll through everything else to find those things out. Do have clearly labeled navigation to other parts of the site so that someone looking for your registry can find it without having to listen to a playlist of the songs you danced to on your first date. A mainstay of wedding websites is the “meet-cute” story of the bride and groom, the ups and downs of their relationship, and the wind-up to the proposal. While romanticizing the story a little is understandable, making a novel out of it is going too far. The two of you are endlessly fascinating to each other, as you should be, but be aware of the gag factor. Also be aware that the site may be read by employers, future employers, exes, your parents’ friends, and, maybe most importantly, relatives who may never have met one of you. The Things to Avoid Don’t include personal narratives that are appropriate for only your closest friends to read, or that cast anything either of you has ever done in a less than flattering light. Revealing that you were too intoxicated to remember each other’s names after you first met, even if it does make for a funny story, is probably not the best way to introduce your future spouse. Keep things private that should stay private; don’t fall prey to TMI syndrome. You’re certainly going to include some photos of the two of you, but edit carefully so your gallery isn’t overwhelming. You might have so many great pictures that you simply can’t decide, but make the effort. Regarding photographs of other people in love, most people think less is more and will be grateful. Include Practical Information The guests who will find your website most useful are the ones coming from out of town or joining you for a destination wedding. Be specific about logistics like travel routes and maps, available accommodations, expected weather, and local sights to see for anyone who’s staying longer than a day or two. If you’ve put a hold on hotel rooms, make sure people know pricing and reservation deadlines. Include a link so that people can download and print a document with relevant maps and directions, contact phone numbers, and any other important details. If you’re including information about the rehearsal dinner and any itinerary you’ve planned for out-of-town guests, be very clear about who is invited (“members of the wedding party” or “our families from the East Coast”). You might want to see if you can arrange a password-protected link to those details, or just send the information separately via email. By all means include a link to your wedding registry, but some people also include a note with theirs along the lines of “What we really want is just to share our special day with the people that matter most, but if you were thinking about gifts, we’re registered here.” One honest couple’s site said, “What we want most is to have you at the wedding to celebrate with us. That said, we also could use some dishware and a shiny new four-slice toaster, so here’s where we’re registered.” The Final Review Before you go live with your website, make sure to double-check for spelling and grammar. The very last thing is to sit back and read it as if you were just meeting yourselves. Does it sound like the two of you and represent the kind of people you are and the kind of wedding you’re having? Yes? Then let it fly!
By admin
November 12, 2014
Weather doesn’t get much better than what we’ve got here in Southern California. Even in December, it’s likely to be sunny and warm. However, if you were raised on the classic winter images from magazines, greeting cards, and the movies, the holidays just don’t seem right if it’s not snowy, hot-chocolate weather. You can’t change the temperature outside, but you can create a winter wonderland inside to surprise and delight your guests. Whether it’s a year-end company party or your annual holiday event, here are some tricks that will have people believing that Jack Frost is nipping at their noses. Set the Mood Conjure winter in a Los Angeles event venue with decorations in white, tones of icy blue, and lots of shimmery, reflective surfaces. Tall birch branches sprayed with fake snow and lit with chilly blue uplights can form an arbor as guests enter, and more can be arranged in clear glass cylinders on the tables with crystal icicle ornaments hung from them. Clear Plexiglas tables and chairs are the ultimate in frostiness, but sparkling white tablecloths and silver accessories will also provide the right look. Lots of white candles are a must for their holiday glow and warmth. Pillars and tapers massed on dining and buffet tables in heights high and low, votives hanging in clear glass bubbles and tucked next to place settings in holders that look like snowballs, wherever and however you can place them. The scent of evergreens will take guests right to a winter forest, so use them in the décor, too. Arrange pine cones amidst sprigs of fragrant fir, pine, or spruce, and dust them all with snow. With the room lighting low, white twinkle lights strung across the room will add to the feel of being outside on a nippy night. Add to the effect by hanging snowflakes from the ceiling on clear filaments. Serve Winter at the Bar The offerings at the bar can also continue in your wintery theme. Snowball martinis in stemmed glasses rimmed with crystallized sugar feature whipped cream flavored vodka. Velvet snowflake martinis are decadent with vanilla vodka, white crème de cacao and white chocolate Irish cream. White Russians are a luxurious blend of vodka, coffee liqueur and cream. Try a holiday favorite: egg nog with bourbon, rum, or brandy and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Sparkling apple cider is a festive non-alcoholic choice, with candy canes as swizzle sticks. After dinner, hot chocolate with marshmallows is the perfect winter treat. Have an Abundant Holiday Buffet You can’t go wrong with the traditional turkey, ham, and all the fixings. You could also do a spread based on the holiday traditions of other countries. Or you could just serve whatever delicious food you think everyone would like. Abundant, beautiful platters of it. When it comes to dessert, there is almost no end to the choices. It might be fun to have a French bȗche de noël or towering croquembouche, an Italian panettone, an English plum pudding, or an Australian pavlova. To keep the wintry theme going, serve trays of the German pfefffernüsse, Greek kourabiedes, Mexican wedding cookies, and Russian tea cakes that are all rolled in snowy white powdered sugar. And don’t forget the white chocolate truffles and coconut sno-balls. A delectable array of any holiday cookies is always a crowd pleaser. Fruitcake? That’s up to you. Make It Musical Music brings every party to life. You probably planned to have a DJ or a band, but you can also hire a group of carolers, a choir, or an exceptional local musician (a classical guitarist, for example) to put on a performance. The Los Angeles area is home to a remarkable number of fine professional musicians who are happy to play at private parties; you might get lucky hiring from craigslist, but also check the Internet for booking agencies. Share the Spirit If you’d like to involve your guests in sharing the spirit of the holidays, display a big pile of teddy bears or other stuffed animals and let each guest select one and write out a nice card to go with it. After the party, deliver them to a hospital or shelter. Transport your SoCal holiday party to the North Pole this winter with these helpful tips. Happy planning!
By admin
November 5, 2014
If your out-of-town wedding guests have never been to Los Angeles, they’ll probably want to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Rodeo Drive, the beach, and the other world-famous attractions in the area. It’d be wonderful if you had the time to take them around yourself, but if you don’t, here’s just a sampling of all the ways you can arrange for your guests to see L.A. without you. Even amidst all your wedding preparations, you may want to join them for an excursion or two. If you’re paying for their reservations in advance, all your guests will have to do is show up or, in some cases, be picked up right where they’re staying. Make sure you run the activities with them ahead of time, though. There’s always a chance your aunt wants to spend every free minute shopping in the Americana at Brand instead of doing the town. No matter where your guests choose to spend their time before the wedding, you can be sure any of the following tour options will appeal to their inner Hollywood star and prepare them for your glamorous big event at the gorgeous wedding venue you’ve chosen. Touring by Bus StarLine Tours has been in operation for 75 years, with pickups and drop-offs at most Los Angeles–area hotels. One of their popular tours is a two-hour ride to see 40 movie stars’ homes, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Sunset Strip, and Rodeo Drive (adults $47, children $37). An extended four- to five-hour tour includes a private VIP tour of Warner Bros. Studios (adults $99; children $89, must be 8 or older). For visitors who prefer to see everything on their own time, StarLine has 24-hour and 48-hour passes for its Hop-on, Hop-off narrated city tour on a double decker bus with loops through Hollywood and Beverly Hills (including Rodeo Drive, Farmer’s Market, Melrose Avenue shops, the La Brea Tar Pits, L.A. County Museum of Art, and the Petersen Automotive Museum), West L.A. and Santa Monica (including Westwood Village, Hammer Museum, Century City, Montana Avenue shops, and the Santa Monica Pier), and downtown Los Angeles (including Olvera Street, Union Station, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Staples Center, L.A. Live, the Grammy Museum, Fashion District, Jewelry District, Our Lady Cathedral, Little Tokyo, Chinatown, and Grand Central Market). Pick up a connecting bus to the tour at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, Universal Studios, the Hilton or Sheraton Universal, or the Hollywood Bowl. If you don’t get off the bus to do your own thing, the complete circuit takes about 4-1/2 hours; you can spend as much or as little time as you’d like at each stop. Adult price for the 24-hour pass is $39; the 48-hour pass is $54. Reduced rates for children. LA City Tours offers a variety of tours with mini-buses departing from its Hollywood & Highland location in Hollywood. Free pickup is available for registered guests at hotels in most parts of the city. One of its extended tours is a 5-1/2 hour ride to see movie stars’ homes, the Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, Hollywood, downtown L.A., the Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, and Marina del Rey, with five stops along the way (adults $71, children 3 to 11 $51). The seven-hour tour includes a four-hour stop in Santa Monica for shopping and hitting the beach (adults $111, children 3 to 11 $91). Touring by Bike Bikes and Hikes LA offers a variety of tours, including a 2-1/2 hour bike ride through Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, and West Hollywood ($44), and a 32-mile, five-hour “LA in a Day” excursion ($162) from West Hollywood through Beverly Hills, Bel-Air, Santa Monica, Venice, and Marina del Rey. Includes a 21-speed hybrid road bike, helmet and vest, and bottled water. Special accommodations for children of all ages. Group rates available. Bike Tours Hollywood features a 10-mile, two-hour ride through historical Hollywood ($65), a 20-mile, four-hour ride through Hollywood and Beverly Hills ($130), and a 40-mile, six-hour ride through Hollywood and Beverly Hills to Venice Beach ($195). Includes hybrid-geared bike, helmet, bottled water. Children must be 14 and above with an adult. Walking Tours Red Line Tours offers a two-hour Hollywood Behind the Scenes walking tour of Hollywood Boulevard that starts in the courtyard of the Egyptian Theatre. $25 for adults, reduced prices for seniors and children. Group bookings available. Felix in Hollywood Tours offer a historical lecture tour of the Hollywood that’s not on the Boulevard. Tickets are $40, and attendees must be age 16 or older. The Los Angeles Conservancy offers a series of 2-1/2 hour walking tours focused on downtown Los Angeles. One takes visitors on a 12-block exploration of the extraordinary number of art deco buildings found in the area. Another takes in six blocks of the Spring Street area, a National Register Historic District. The Conservancy’s most popular tour is of Union Station, the last great railway station built in America, with a unique combination of Spanish colonial revival and art deco styles. Most tours are wheelchair-friendly (adults $10, children $5). Touring on Horseback Sunset Ranch tours are for the real or wannabe cowgirls and cowboys who’d like to see Los Angeles the way the original out-of-towners saw it. Your guests can choose from a one-hour ride in Griffith Park ($40) or a four-hour dinner tour ($100) that takes riders from Beachwood Canyon in Hollywood over the mountains to a Mexican restaurant in Burbank and back again, with daytime and nighttime options in between. The Best of the Rest Just about any way your guests want to see Los Angeles, you can be sure there’s a tour to cater to their interests. Your guests may enjoy a private and personalized tour for up to five people in a classic 1960s Cadillac convertible (about $325 per car). Take in the sights up close and personal on a Segway tour. Two-hour rides through Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, or Venice Beach starting at about $99 per person. Group tours available. Helicopter tours are available from a number of providers, offering dramatic daytime or nighttime views of the highlights of the city and coastline. Prices range from about $90 for a 15-minute trip to $400 per person for a spectacular 90 minutes. Most have a 2-person minimum and 3-person maximum. Elite Helicopters and Orbic Air take off from Van Nuys airport. Copter Pilot takes off from Burbank. Los Angeles Helicopter Tours flies from Van Nuys, Burbank, and El Monte airports. Other helicopter tour providers take off from LAX and other local airports.
By admin
October 31, 2014
What do you do when someone gives you a present? You say thank you, of course. But while expressing your thanks informally may be fine for some other occasions, weddings call for the full treatment. You absolutely — no whining, please — have to send a thank you note. You obviously knew that because you’ve already got a list of gifts — and hopefully, the original cards, too — along with the names of the people who sent them. You know how to spell their names correctly and you’ve got their addresses because you sent them invitations to the wedding. You’ve probably even bought some good notepaper with your new monogram on it, and you’ve got stamps, envelopes, and a pen. The hardest part is sitting down and starting. You’re not ungrateful, you just don’t know what to say. Here’s How to Start However you address the person when you’re talking to him or her is the way to start the note: Dear Claudia, Dear Aunt Jane and Uncle Phil, Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith. If a gift card was signed The Greene Family, address the note with the family’s first names if you know them all; if not, then address it Dear Barbara, John and all or Dear Barbara, John and family. And yes, when it comes to names, it’s ladies first. Then Express Your Thanks The time-honored way to begin is by saying “Thank you so much for the lovely picture frame.” There’s nothing wrong with that, but you can mix it up and say “We were so happy when we opened your package and found the great fondue pot,” or “The beautiful flower vase was such a wonderful surprise,” or “It was so thoughtful of you to send us the terrific juicer.” What you don’t want to do is say “Thank you for the gift you sent.” Identify the specific item and say something nice about it. What About the Rest of the Note? One sentence isn’t going to cut it, even if the sentence is really long. So go on and describe how you’re going to use the gift or what it means to you. Here are some examples: “We’re delighted with the crystal bowl that you sent. It’s in the center of the dining room table right now, filled with green pears, and it looks so beautiful.” “Thank you so very much for the silver candlesticks. They’re too gorgeous to save for special occasions, so we’re going to use them every day.” “We’re thrilled that you sent us a place setting in the pattern we selected. It’s such a nice feeling to know that you’ll be part of every meal we serve.” What If You’re Going to Return the Gift to the Store? There is absolutely no need to tell someone that hers was the third coffeemaker you received. The time to say anything, if ever, is when she subsequently visits your home and notices that you’re making coffee in a machine she didn’t give you. Then you can say that you’d received multiples and hope she doesn’t mind that you exchanged hers for the slow cooker that you absolutely love and use every day. What If You Don’t Like the Gift but Can’t Return It? Write a thank you note as graciously as if you loved it, and then stash the present in the closet. Bring it out when the donor comes to visit. Then stash it away again. Do not re-gift it; that kind of thing can come back to haunt you. What If the Present Was Money or a Gift Card? “We’re so grateful for your very generous check. It’s going into our down payment fund to move us closer to buying a house, and we couldn’t be happier.” “It was absolutely perfect of you to send us a gift card to Crate & Barrel. We’re going to use it for a paella pan, something we both wanted but never would have bought for ourselves.” Add One More Thing It would be a nice gesture to also thank them for coming to the wedding, or saying you missed them. “We’re so glad you could come to the wedding. It was a very special day for us and it was that much better because you were there.” “We’re so sorry you couldn’t come to the wedding. As soon as things settle down, let’s make plans to get together.” Close Warmly If signing your note “Love” or “Much love” doesn’t feel right for the person you’re writing to, here are a few alternatives: “With gratitude,“ “Warmest thanks”, or “Many thanks.” (“Yours truly” or “Sincerely” are more appropriate for a business letter than a thank you note for a wedding present.) Regardless of which of you actually writes the note, both of you should sign it. A Final Note About Thank You Notes If you start writing them as soon as you begin receiving gifts, you won’t find yourself with a backlog. Worst case, if you’ve let the obligations pile up for longer than a month, ground yourselves (both of you!) and get to it. People deserve to be thanked nicely, but even more importantly, they deserve to know that their gifts have been received. The last thing you want is a phone call from your new mother-in-law telling you that her best friend has asked if you ever got the cheese board she sent. Don’t let it happen.
By admin
October 23, 2014
Milestone birthdays are something worth celebrating. And when you steer a company that plans and caters parties for other people, you know how to celebrate in style. When L.A. Banquets’ CEO Vrej Sarkissian took over the Glenoaks Ballroom to host 200 people in honor of his 40th birthday, that style was hard to miss. Vrej’s wife Ani Keshishian transformed the already elegant ballroom to reflect the guest of honor’s personality, draping the walls and ceiling, and bringing in black carpets and a gleaming black dance floor. Ani created a lounge in half of the room, and placed five long rows of transparent Plexiglas tables and chairs to extend throughout the other half for seating reminiscent of a royal banquet.Red roses were everywhere: 4,000 of them massed in high and low arrangements down the centers of the tables. Candle light shone from floating votives in tall crystal holders and from pillars in suspended glass bubbles.The whole feel of the event was completely magical. For a remarkable 360-degree tour of the re-imagined ballroom, click here. A server dressed as a champagne table set the festive mood and welcomed guests as they entered. Inside the ballroom, the array of appetizers prepared by Anoush’s chefs was dizzying.Among the tray-passed specialties were lobster skewers with watermelon and feta cheese, tuna tartare with cucumber and sesame seeds, fig bouche with Gorgonzola mousse, beef sliders with sharp cheddar and onion jam on brioche, and ceviche toast points served with cucumber gazpacho shooters. Served table-side were risotto croquettes with saffron aioli, flank steak skewers with Peruvian chimichurri, chicken satay with coconut-peanut dipping sauce, and mini cheese beoreks. A magnificent display of European cheeses and charcuterie was surrounded by fresh fruits, nuts, and breads, and yet another display offered Mediterranean, French, Spanish, and California-style olives. As if those weren’t enough, there was also eggplant caviar, hummus, baba ghanouj, mouhammara, kimchee, and tzatziki. In the cocktail area, the stunning,mirrored bar featured flaming alcohol shots and a full selection of premium liquor, including Anoush Signature Cognac. Poster-size photographs of Vrej as a child lined the walls in mirrored frames. Every surface reflected light and added to the magical feel of the evening. And just when the guests thought there simply couldn’t be any more food in the Anoush kitchen, dinner was served:Waldorf salad with figs, green apples, goat cheese, candied pecans and balsamic vinaigrette, followed by lamb chops and kabobs of chicken, beef, shrimp, and vegetables. Then, an astonishing and strikingly decorated five-tier upside-down birthday cake was presented, and Vrej blew out the candles as family, friends, and the entire L.A. Banquets and Anoush Catering staff cheered. Renowned Armenian singer Tigan (Tiko) Asatryan entertained to accompaniment from his six-piece band as guests took to the dance floor under dramatic red laser lights.Everyone was having such a wonderful time that the party went on until the wee hours of the morning. It was an extraordinarily special night for Vrej because he and his beautiful wife Ani were married in the Glenoaks Ballroom in 2002, and it was also in that room that they celebrated the christenings of their children. We wish them many more joy-filled occasions to share. Check out this sensational time-lapse view of the party from start to finish: Venue: Glenoaks Ballroom by L.A. Banquets Catering: Anoush Catering Entertainment: TigranAsatryan, AraMartirosyan, Highclassdj Serge, SamvelSahakyan, Vic Antonyan Flowers: Petals LA Video & Photo: Jay Jay Productions Planner: Terri Castillo, Bellisimo Events Mixology: MasisMkrtchyan, Anoush Catering Signature Bar Cake: Ruben’s Cakes Rentals: White Night Rentals, CMC Rentals
By admin
October 13, 2014
