See Inside Signature Sasha: Magnificent Weddings by Design

We're so excited that our new wedding design book Signature Sasha: Magnificent Weddings by Design will be on bookshelves shortly after Christmas!  We've updated our website with lots of new information, too!

You can see all the confirmed scheduled speaking engagements on our tour...if we're not coming to your city, but would like us to...please email pr {at} sashasouzaevents {dot} com to schedule a Souza-palooza event in your city!

You can see the buzz surrounding the book, the blogs are starting to talk about it and the excitement is building! 

We now have an short three page excerpt from the book on the site - just a little bit of the eye candy that will be in the printed version.

If you're interested in providing information on your blog or in print, please contact sasha {at} sparkliatti {dot} com.  We're thrilled to give you information to share with your readers. 

Some stats about the book & the website:

• The Signature Sasha website is the only place you can pre-order signed copies of the book! 
• You can now also pre-order online at Amazon, Borders & Barnes & Noble booksellers.  The book will be available at all of our upcoming speaking engagements also!  For the speaking events in November 2009, the book is available for pre-order.  
• The book is 9 x 12 and 256 pages with hardcover & a dust jacket - a gorgeous coffee table size
• Sasha wrote the entire book herself - and did not use a ghost writer...just a very patient editor.
• Sasha has a line of product available soon on the site including invitations & tools for planners.
• Team IDo is now linked to the Signature Sasha site, for information on our coaching program

Signature Sasha: Magnificent Weddings by Design - Exciting News!

For quite a while we've been working on a design book which will debut in January 2010. 

The wedding design book Signature Sasha: Magnificent Weddings by Design is a stunning, hard cover wedding design book featuring beautiful photography of all aspects of wedding design including never before seen Weddings by Sasha Souza Events.  The book will have a cover price of $50.

The four color, hard bound book will be available at all major bookstores and online through our website:  http://www.signaturesasha.com  Which will feature the most up to date information about the book release, speaking engagements and book signings and information about our line of products including the Team I Do Business Coaching program. 

As the release gets closer, we'll share on the site information from the inside of the book and probably even a sample chapter!  Keep an eye out for these updates by following us on Twitter & becoming a fan on Facebook! 

Say I Do with Jenny & Keith (in New York)

Jenny and Keith came to an event we had done in Napa Valley for a good friend of Jenny's.  They hired us to find a site and design an event for them just outside NYC.   They had a few requests though...it had to be within 25 minutes of Manhattan, had to feel like a secret garden,  had to be on the Chinese calendar chosen auspicious wedding day chosen by the fortune teller, had to have a tent and the groom wanted a Moroccan influenced lounge.  Other than that -- we could just have fun with it.  :)  And did we ever. 

The night before the wedding, it poured rain in Manhattan - 3" in Central Park with hundreds of lightning strikes.  I was truly worried for the next days' festivities -- but the skies parted and dried all of our pre-hung fuschia fabric and nobody was the wiser.  All photos are by Meg Smith

One of my favorite bridal bouquets we've done below...

The property had several gates which gave it the "secret garden" feeling

Inside the tent, we setup four long tables for dining and dancing with a DJ. I *love* the picture of the lighting - one of my most favorite images ever.   

The groom's moroccan lounge featured flavored teas, nuts, dried fruit and pillows for guests to chill on the floor.  The dessert table was imported from California as well as the cake.

   

Lit from Within

I personally think there's a fine line between something that's considered to be cool and something that unfortunatley turns out as tacky and how the items is used can be the ultimate determination of which category it falls into. 

Take ice sculptures.  Mention the words "Ice Sculpture" to a bride and they often pull a face -- thinking of the awful swans and intertwined hearts of the 80s.  Today, ice isn't the only thing that can be lit from within or have that same "could be cool if used properly" idea. 

These days the events world is full of things that are lit with LEDs -- the less expensive, higher impact type of lighting.  They can range from the tens of thousands of dollars like the lighted & interactive dancefloor to just a few hundred dollars like the light up cubes. 

So when the lights go down...turn on the lighting within. 

top:  sashasouzaevents.com, bwdesigns.com, bwdesigns.com, blueprintstudios.com

middle: sashasouzaevents.com, bwdesigns.com, bwdesigns.com

bottom:  bwdesigns.com, airstar-light.us, socoolevents.com, socoolevents.com

And Then There Was Light...

If there is one thing for your wedding that can completely transform your space…it’s lighting.  It will accentuate the positive and help you ignore the negative.  It will make you glow and it will make your food look yummier.  It helps create mood and can incorporate color.  All great event designers appreciate the importance of transforming space using light & color.  In the end, it’s gonna cost ya some benjamins…maybe quite a few benjamins — but without it your wedding cannot be all it can be.   Here’s some great examples of before & after lighting design…by Got Light? 

Calistoga Ranch Cave:

Finding a good lighting designer is easy … finding a SPECTACULAR lighting designer isn’t easy.  But for all that they do — manage power, create space and transform rooms — it’s smart to find somebody whose portfolio shows that they “get it”

Millennium Biltmore Hotel Ballroom:

So, if you do one thing today for your wedding… call a lighting designer.   

Glow Lighting has a list of terms to know when talking about lighting...I've copied it here for you:

Enhance your room, reception hall, lawn or event center with beautiful uplighting effects. CONVENTIONAL UP-LIGHTING Add elegant and eye-pleasing uplighting to your room or event center.  Lighting shed up walls, columns or spotted onto a specific area will bring a beautiful and stimulating feel to your event -- all to make it better!  Even place them outside and shine them up trees or into bushes and shrubbery. Choose from 8 different colors to beautifully match your colors, theme or the desired feel you're looking to achieve.  Uplighting can be placed on the floor to shine up columns, up walls or behind trees and other props to give that extra appeal.  They can also be clamped onto railings, trusses or onto tree's for outdoor applications. L.E.D. MOOD LIGHTING - DECORATIVE DESIGN & UPLIGHTING Create a mood.  Create an atmosphere.  Re-create a mood.  Re-create an atmosphere. It is all possible using high-end LED lighting.  LED lighting can give a room the special touch you are looking for -- as a matter of fact, redefining the space and enhancing it with light.  This enhancement will influence the aura of the room and lead to what light designers including ourselves call mood lighting.  With the simple click of the mouse, our on-site lighting technicians can easily change the mood before your guests can blink an eye.  LED lighting is by far our most popular and favorite product line. INTELLIGENT MOVING FIXTURES Intelligent lighting fixtures are the ideal lighting instruments.  Virtually any look can be created with intelligent lighting from razor sharp logo projections to bold washes of color.  A common use of intelligent lighting for weddings and corporate events is a custom color spotlight to focus on key-note speakers, a grand entrance, and even a first dance.  We use a wide variety of intelligent lighting fixtures for our shows.  The following pictures show intelligent lighting in different applications and settings. PINSPOTTING Pinspotting the aisle for a wedding ceremony and pinspotting the centerpieces on the dinner tables makes a world of a difference.  Pinspotting is an essential element of the décor.  Allocating a portion of your event budget to pinspotting is money well spent.  It gives the room an elegant, rich feel.  And, with all the money spent on the table centerpieces, why not pinspot them to show them off? Pinspotting is a technique used by all event designers to really make your dinner tables pop.  You can have a spotlight focused on your centerpieces and cake table, ultimately drawing everyone's eyes to the amazing florals you worked so hard to design.

Inspiration - It's Closer Than You Think

Every time I have the opportunity to speak to event planners and brides, the number one question they ask me is “where do you get your inspiration?”  The answer for me is always the same – “everywhere” — I find it in supermarkets, email, magazine covers, books, catalogs, in the bride’s wedding gown, in the scarf she’s wearing…we find it in the linen for the tables or a simple piece of jewelry.  In essence, that is the basis for the Sparkliatti blog & brand…it’s all about inspiration, where to find it and how to define your style. 

We’ve had brides who have described their design style as “Glamarustic” and others who are “Vintage Nouveau” or even “Bling it On”.  Sometimes it’s shiny, sometimes it’s sleek but it always leads us down a interesting path — one that we relish because of its’ challenges and it also helps my ADD. 

We invite you to open your eyes and find your own inspiration for use in your everyday life and create your own “brand” — this leads me to today’s Behind the Scenes. 

Today’s Inspiration Palette comes from our most recent event at Calistoga Ranch.  Juliana & Alex wanted a chic, stylish and couture style wedding mixing in little bits of fun & surprise.  With three different venues, it was easy for us to create different event styles for each area. 

The palette for the wedding was rose gold, jute, peacock, burgundy and copper

Ceremony was overlooking a lake with the mountains & trees in the background juxtapositioned against the light and airy dogwood & apple blossom branches for the ceremony chuppah.  Vases of orchids submerged in water lined the pathway to the ceremony which took place after dark.  The bride carried a light and airy bouquet in tones of pink & deep burgundy including orchid, roses and calla lilies.  We found inspiration for the ceremony in the brides’ Christian Laboutin sequined shoes…they were DIVINE (see them on the dance floor below). 

Dinner was in a rustic Arts & Crafts style restaurant on the property and featured two long kings’ tables seating 86 guests with peacock feather accents & sleek arrangements lining the length of the 36” wide table.  Each arrangement featured copper colored orchids, red peony, roses, leaves and calla lilies all in glass containers.  Candles were custom poured in simiar colors to the linens and the chiar pads popped off the copper colored Chiavaris – the linen was custom made by Classic Party Rentals.  The table for the escort cards was mossed and planted with wheat grass and long peacock feathers for each card.  What I loved most was the neutral tones of linen mixed with the bold tones of peacock feather & metallic sparkle of the copper chairs.  The inspiration for the dinner came from the menu cards and invitations which featured rose gold colored monograms and handpainted edges.

   

Dancing & After Party was in a cave dug out of the side of a mountain complete with white leather couches, a photo booth and illuminated bar, chocolate table and dessert buffet.  Even topping it off with miniature bundt cakes set on chocolate chip cookies (the bride’s favorite). Dancing to a DJ was secondary to the noshing and libations — along with the super fun photobooth by Red Cheese.  Guests simply lounged, chatted and enjoyed the change of scenery until the wee hours of the morning. 

Here's to hoping that all your days are inspired!  See you tomorrow...

All photos above are by Sherman Chu

Tags: wedding+colors,+wedding+design,