Alison Events Backyard Birthday Bash

Here are some photos by yours truly of a birthday party we helped to coordinate for our client's 40th. The party was held in the couple's backyard in Sonoma with breathtaking views overlooking the nearby vineyards. The decor was pretty simple, but perfectly fit to the surroundings. The wood tables and chairs were accented with cool blue linens and potted herbs down the tables. We mixed terra-cotta potted sages, rosemary, thyme, alyssum, etc. with lots of candles to make the atmosphere cozy and natural. Jessica Lasky did a tremendous job catering the dinner, which was accompanied by Daniel Maya on spanish guitar. Anyway, it was a gorgeous afternoon and we hope you enjoy the photos!

New Wedding: Laura and Justin, Carmel

As promised, here are some more photos of the wedding we did at the Santa Lucia Preserve last October. You can find this wedding in Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine on stands right now. Check it out!










Photos are by Lovebird Photography.

EAST COAST HERE WE COME!!!

To officially launch our Connecticut office, Alison and Alyssa will be spending next week on the East Coast. We have a big launch party on Thursday night (see previous post for the invite) and we're doing a garden lobster bash for a client on Saturday. So, we thought highlighting some of our favorite photos from the past year would get you all a little excited along with us. Enjoy!!







In order of appearance, photos by: Thayer Allyson Gowdy, Paco & Betty, Lovebird Photo, Our Labor of Love

Inspired by Mexico

In celebration of spring, Alison headed off to Mexico for a surf and relaxation trip with some friends a few weeks ago. Our friend, the insanely talented photographer Thayer Allyson Gowdy, was along for the ride and shot these drool worthy photos. Maybe next week I'll give you some destination wedding inspiration to play off these photos, but for now, just loving the sunshine in these shots. This makes me soooo excited for our three weddings in Riviera Maya this year!

Cool Couple Alert

We say it all the time and don't mean to continue bragging, but we are so, so very lucky to have the most interesting, inspiring, well rounded, adventurous people surrounding us, that we call our clients. Laura and Dustin are no exception. This couple got married in a small, private ceremony last year, then embarked on a trip around the world together. By the end of their trip, they will have been gone for 365 days and visited twenty countries. And you thought your honeymoon was cool.

We're looking forward to their safe return at the end of the month, followed by a big welcome home and wedding reception for their friends and family that we'll be cooking up this summer. In the meantime, we thought you too might enjoy reading about this witty couple's travels and oohing and aahing over some of their pretty pictures.

Click here to check out their adventures abroad!

New Buffalo Wedding, Part III

Major props to Miss Danielle Rowe of AE Planning + Design for working with Kehoe to develop a colorful, whimsical and eclectic theme for the floral design at our New Buffalo, MI wedding this summer. Aren't the flowers just so summery and pretty? We love it. Eat your hearts out, flower lovers.








Happy Holidays from the AE team to you and yours!

Event Planning and Design: Kelsey Sheofsky and Danielle Rowe, AE Planning + Design
Photos: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Paper Materials: Olive-Route
Tabletop Settings: Small Masterpiece
Tent: Sperry Tents Great Lakes
Flowers: Danielle Rowe
Catering: Blue Plate
Rentals and Lighting: Kehoe
Linens: La Tavola

New Buffalo Wedding, Part II

One of the things that made our New Buffalo wedding so drop dead gorgeous was the attention that was given to detail. Since paper materials are one of the key details, Olive-Route custom designed all of the paper goodies for this wedding.



Inspired by the old-world Great Gatsby theme, the invitations and welcome letter tied together a sense of classic elegance with a modern twist. Incorporating a botanical element made the suite really pretty and delicate, while choosing Queen Anne's Lace as the floral motif brought in a summery feel. The color palette was mostly gray with splashes of bright yellow and hot pink. So, most of the paper was either gray or white, with black or yellow text and a hot pink hand stitching that bound the pieces together into a booklet format.



The letter pressed and hand calligraphed menus were placed atop unique vintage table settings, part of the Small Masterpiece collection.



Table numbers were die cuts of wood, painted black so they'd stand out against the khaki linen runners and wood tables. The botanical theme was even intertwined into those pieces.



For the seating chart, we used some nineteenth century vintage ephemera lettering to alphabetize guests' names, creating a chart on an old wood framed blackboard.




Event Planning and Design: AE Planning + Design
Photos: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Paper Materials: Olive-Route
Tabletop Settings: Small Masterpiece
Linens: La Tavola

New Buffalo Wedding

As 2010 comes to an end, we're excited to share our biggest wedding of the year with you. The wedding was held over three gloriously sunny days in New Buffalo, Michigan this past August and is the epitome of summer elegance. Inspired by the setting of the Great Gatsby, the bride and groom wanted their wedding to feel like a step back in time, reflecting sophistication and simple charm.





The couple exchanged their vows in the backyard of the bride's family home, overlooking Lake Michigan. Guests were then driven in golf carts decorated with pom poms to the reception, which was held inside a Sperry tent on a private golf course in New Buffalo. Everything was stunning, from the handmade wood tables to the sisal carpeted flooring to the bubbly candlelight leading the pathway to the tent.

Lynne Jordan and the Shivers lit the dancefloor on fire, with their epic combination of motown classics and modern hits.



We'll unfold more photos of the details over the next week, so we hope you'll check back throughout the week to see more of this beautiful wedding.




Happy Holidays from the AE team to you and yours!

Event Planning and Design: Kelsey Sheofsky and Danielle Rowe, AE Planning + Design
Photos: Thayer Allyson Gowdy
Paper Materials: Olive-Route
Tabletop Settings: Small Masterpiece
Tent: Sperry Tents Great Lakes
Flowers: Danielle Rowe
Catering: Blue Plate
Rentals and Lighting: Kehoe
Linens: La Tavola

Pretty Venue: San Ysidro Ranch

Since we're surrounded by a combination of holiday parties and perpetual fog in the Bay Area, I find myself day dreaming of sunshine today. Just outside Santa Barbara, in Montecito, there's this stunning venue called San Ysidro Ranch. It's tucked away in fields of lavender, with a perfect mountain backdrop. The venue has a definite rustic vibe and the grounds make for a beautiful, intimate wedding. These pictures are a lovely reminder that sunny days do exist. We could use a trip to So Cal... Just throwing it out there...







photos by the ridiculously talented jose villa