We are extremely honored to have Orange Photography as our main Event Photographer for The Academy! They will be on site all three days to document all the events, and they have generously offered to set aside some time to photography professional head shots for our attendees! Space is limited though, so if you have already signed up for The Academy and you are interested in his perk, please email our fabulous Logistical Lead Julie Briggs Dunn at julie@wedding360llc.com
If you are unfamiliar with Orange Photography, we want to take this time to properly introduce them here, as you will surely be seeing a lot of them if you are joining us in March!
'At Orange Photography our team of award-winning photographers are known for capturing the beauty and complexity of environments and the people who enliven them. We also understand the value of working within the venues, with designers and planners, to deliver photography that showcases event design. For each wedding and event, we elegantly capture the entire narrative for all those involved.
Our diversity of services, national team of talent, and the strength of our one-on-one client relationships help to set industry standards high.
Distinguished clients include:
Stanlee R. Gatti Designs
Robert Fountain
Leftwich Event Specialist
Rita Barela Productions
San Francisco Symphony: Black & White Ball
Hartmann Studios
Paula LeDuc Fine Catering Kohl Mansion
We’ve also covered fundraising events for such dignitaries as Former Presidents Jimmy Carter & Bill Clinton, as well as current Vice President Joseph Biden. These are just a sampling of industry colleagues we have worked with. We invite you to find out more about us by visiting our new website, set to launch March 8, 2010.
Wedding 360 is extremely honored and excited to be hosting our inaugural Academy for Planners + Designers at one of the newest luxury hotels in San Francisco--The St. Regis. We know many of you are traveling across the country to learn from our elite list of speakers. As much as we are focused on giving you the most valuable educational content, we are also working hard to create a one-of-a-kind, unforgettable experience at The St. Regis.
The acclaimed St. Regis San Francisco, located in the heart of San Francisco’s burgeoning Yerba Buena neighborhood just steps from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, offers couples headed down the aisle a chic and luxurious destination for their weddings festivities. Bringing bespoke luxury and hospitality to the City by the Bay, The St. Regis San Francisco serves as a stylish location for romantic wedding celebrations, from festive rehearsal dinners to memorably elegant ceremonies and receptions.
“When working with a bride and groom, we strive to simplify their planning and to create a wedding celebration that is tailored to the couple,” said Barry Peterson, director of catering for the hotel. “By offering custom menus created by our executive chef, flexible venue options, as well as signature St. Regis touches, such as an exclusive china pattern by Vera Wang, we’re able to exceed even the most discerning guest’s expectations.”
The St. Regis Hotel San Francisco offers couples an array of customized wedding options. Whether it is a grand reception in the Gallery Ballroom, welcoming up to 400 guests with its soaring wall of glass, or an outdoor roof top ceremony on the Yerba Buena Terrace, every celebration is characterized by the St. Regis’ personalized service and meticulous attention to detail.
Remède Spa at the St. Regis invites bridal parties -- both female and male -- to enjoy a sumptuously decadent spa experience as they prepare for the special day. From customized facials for a photo-ready complexion to gloriously stress-reducing massages and body treatments, Remède Spa has high-performance wedding packages catering to every bride and groom. Bridal parties can also enjoy a light lunch pre- or post- treatment along side the hotel’s indoor infinity pool, a pristine setting offering views of the neighboring Yerba Buena Gardens. Remède Spa’s customized services and premium amenities, combined with signature touches including champagne, truffles and Kashwere throws, create an incomparable experience, leaving guests feeling rejuvenated, refreshed and longing for their next visits.
The bride and groom, as well as the wedding party and guests, can take advantage of all the amenities the 260-room St. Regis San Francisco has to offer. The hotel features 214 luxury guest rooms, averaging 450 square feet, and 46 suites, ranging in size from 700 to more than 3,200 square feet, with design elements that reflect a contemporary style and the finest interior finishes. Guest rooms offer luxurious Pratesi linens, Laboratoire Remède bath amenities, resort-style deep soaking tubs, 42-inch plasma screen televisions and 13-inch LCD panels in the bathroom. A touch screen integrated guest control system controls motorized wall coverings, recessed lighting, climate, alarm, and the privacy indicator light outside the room
Guests have access to St. Regis’ personalized services and amenities, including 24-hour concierge and room service, nightly turndown service, and the signature St. Regis Butler service. A 3,700-square-foot private fitness center with state-of-the-art fitness equipment and a yoga room are available for hotel guests as well as a 50-foot heated indoor lap pool.
The St. Regis is offering a reduced room rate to the attendees of The Academy for Planners + Designers, at $280 per night. To take advantage of this special rate, click here to book your room now!
Earlier this week, we posted a sneak preview of the gorgeous design in the works for the 'Emerald Underworld' welcome party at The Academy. We got such great responses from it that we are going to post a sneak preview of another beautiful party in the works for The Academy.
Named the 'Museum of Petals', the design is guaranteed to 'WOW' our attendees. Let's get into the head of our amazing designer Gloria Wong to see what she is planning.....
From Gloria Wong:
For the ballroom dinner, I knew I wanted to let the venue itself be the main source of inspiration. The St. Regis San Francisco is one of the most exquisitely designed hotels in the Bay Area. The second floor plays host to the modern Gallery Ballroom. I am particularly fond of the wall of petals by the staircase leading up to the ballroom.
I like how the petals look like they’re in mid-motion. I love the movement. They’re just floating freely and quietly in the wind.
When you walk towards the Gallery Ballroom, you’ll notice that the petal motif continues and is manifested in a textured wall that is composed of a tree with falling petals. Inside the ballroom, you’ll find an aubergine-colored carpet featuring blooming branches and beautiful branch-shaped chandeliers hanging from above. Not your typical ballroom!
When I looked at the floorplans for The St. Regis San Francisco, I noticed that the names of all the event spaces were related to art. Impressionist, Modernist, Collections, Muse, Vitrine, and Gallery! So, there was no question in my mind that we should name this event Museum of Petals and showcase petals in an artful manner.
First up was the color palette. The photo above just spelled it out! Plum, eggplant, aubergine, amethyst, charcoal grey, dove grey, magenta, and a touch of silver. Easy peasy!
Next, I dreamt up this grand focal piece. I wanted a large tree in the center of the room with petals dripping down from the 16ft ceiling and puddling in mass on the floor. So, the strings of petals would start off sparse and get heavier as they approached the floor. It would look like the tree was being showered in petals. I wanted the same feeling that the wall of petals evokes. Movement. Then, because this was called “Museum of Petals”, I knew I had to display actual art pieces that incorporated petals. I had seen sketches from the amazing Lena Baranova and knew that I wanted her to be my artist. I asked her to sketch out eight different sets of branches embellished with three-dimensional petals. Again, I wanted the petals too look like they were in mid-motion. The pieces would be hung above the food stations in the hallway like so… In addition to art pieces, I had to think of other elements that would lend themselves to the venue. I had to wrap my head around substrates. I wanted cool modern materials that would balance the delicate nature of petals. To me, the second floor of The St. Regis San Francisco definitely called for acrylic, chrome, and white leather. Sleek surfaces in curvy silhouettes. Thank goodness for Blueprint Studios who will be providing all the furniture and many of the props for our event!!! See some of Blueprint Studio’s goodies below!
Another substrate that I thought would go well with the overall look was… ice! How about freezing branches and falling petals in an ice bar?
Or maybe even mini ice sculptures for all the end tables in the different lounge areas?
I needed something else to really drive home the branch/petal/movement message. I knew I wanted this to be a hanging element of some sort. I have seen hanging branches before. And though hanging branches are lovely, I wanted more drama. I thought that a WALL of hanging branches would be more dramatic than a cluster of branches hanging from above eye-level. Ooh, and what if we put rectangular linen lampshades over each piece to balance the organic silhouette of branches! What if we embellished the lamp shades with falling petals! How cool would this wall be if each branch were a functional chandelier that actually lit! This would look like an art installation.
But oh, how reality bites. I was told that the lampshades would wobble and not lay out as evenly as I would want them to. So, there will be no lampshades. Sorry! But, I’m still pushing for a wall of branches!
See how else The Museum of Petals comes to life on March 15, 2010!
I want to officially introduce the amazing designer behind our two fabulous parties for The Academy!
Gloria Wong Tritasavit of Gloria Wong Design is the mastermind behind the creations for our two parties at The Academy--a welcome party inside the terrace tent at The St. Regis and a dinner party inside the gallery ballroom at The St. Regis. She has been working so hard for the past six months with some of the most talented people in the San Francisco Bay Area to create a memorable experience for our attendees. If you want eye-candy, you're going to get it for sure. With Gloria, every detail and element is well thought out. For those of you that follow her, you may remember some incredible photoshoots that she designed last year, like the Spirograph Table on OnceWed and Design*Sponge. My personal favorite was the vintage, shabby chic photoshoot she did with Nancy Liu Chin and Lisa Lefkowitz, featured on Style Me Pretty and Northern California Bride magazine.
I am going to let Gloria describe in her own words her inspirations and visions for our social parties at The Academy, beginning with the Emerald Underworld cocktail party........
From Gloria Wong:
I took this opportunity to do something a bit darker than normal. I don’t have many clients that ask for sultry, moody, sexy weddings. Since this event is not a wedding, I thought I’d go for it! I was rather inspired by this photo of a hotel lounge.
I love the juxtaposition of the branchy organic backdrop on the left coupled with the geometric regency pattern on the right. Similarly, I also like the meeting of ornate frames and tables with more streamlined and modern sofas and chairs. I just love when the mixture of opposites is done well. This hotel lounge, I have to say, is perfection. I was also quite captivated by the illuminating fish tank. In fact, I like that this whole room looks as though it is illuminating. I thought that it would be a great vibe to translate for a cocktail party.
I know that blue is a hot color right now, but I’ve always wanted to create an emerald environment. Emerald is such a beautiful underrated color to me. Also, a blue room would look like a nightclub, and that’s not the look I’m aiming for, folks. So, I changed the blue to emerald! And voila…
Gorg, right? I’m loving emerald. After I changed the color, my eye started zeroing in on the fish tank. I love how the tank just glows. I thought of having moving fish projected onto a frame. The projection of course would have to be tinted emerald. No other color but emerald. I wanted the frames of fish projections to hang above lounge areas like so…
Wouldn’t that have been awesome to see? Alas, it didn’t work out logistically, so we had to scrap that idea. I was given alternative options like renting large plasma screens or inserting photos of fish. None would have yielded that soft diffused glowing projection effect that I so craved.
In any case, I still needed to hone in on the overall design of the tent. I came across this photo from a John Galliano show and fell in love with the styling. This was to be my muse for this event!
But first, I would have to change her to emerald.....
She added an Asian flair to the mix, and I ran with it. After all, emerald is a very Asian color. So, I decided to interpret the graphics for this event with an Asian influence. I asked the talented Amy Hayson of Peculiar Pair Press to come up with a branchy, almost Asian toile type of tree. I also asked her to design a geometric Asian regency pattern. Here are her first drafts!
Next, I knew I wanted to have a center focal point in the room. I wanted a band to play in the center but not on a stage of any sort. I wanted this to be more of a low-key sultry lounge. What’s more sultry than having a band performing under a canopy with a bunch of custom-fabricated pillows lying around?
There are many other ideas that I have developed to drive home this Asian-inspired Emerald Underworld concept. Yes, my team and I have gone through some challenges and have had to go back to the drawing board a bunch of times. But, that’s all a part of the business. You just have to keep chugging, roll with the punches, and be creative with solutions! I’m excited for you to see how this will all come together! See if you notice the details, the shapes, the patterns, the textures, the effects, the props that will convey the message!!! Remember, every piece of décor in the room should serve a purpose. That purpose is to strengthen the design concept!
In the last few weeks we have received calls and emails from many of you, locally and across the country, letting us know how much you want to attend the Academy for Planners + Designers, but do not have the funds in hand right now, to pay the full investment.
To encourage you, we have created a 2 part payment plan to help you work with your cash flow, as you book weddings during the next several weeks.
If you are interested in this option for registration, please email jubilee@wedding360llc.com, and we will explain the details.
Again, we are very encouraged by your eagerness to attend, and understand the challenges we all face as business owners. We look for ward to hearing from you soon, and meeting you in March!
We are very honored to introduce Michelle Barrionuevo-Mazzini (aka MB) of MB Wedding Design & Events as Wedding 360's Media Liaison and Local Ambassador. She will be focused mainly on The Academy for Planners + Designers because MB herself is one of the most sought after and highly respected wedding planner and designer in Northern California.
Last October, we traveled to Las Vegas together for the Engage!09 The Encore and really made a strong connection even though we've known one another for years. MB understands the importance of continual education, and the need to raise the bar in the industry. She is always traveling to attend the best conferences and workshops around the country, so that she can improve her skill sets and grow her business wisely.
We sometimes reach a certain point in our businesses where we think we've 'seen it all', and so there is no motivation to learn. Instead, we'd like to be called the experts and the teachers instead. The reality is, the world is changing everyday and in order to stay competitive, we need to have that thirst for knowledge. We created The Academy for Planners + Designers because we are wedding planners and wedding designers ourselves, and we have such a passion for learning! Yet, there is no conference out there that is so specifically geared towards us. We love the connections that we make at all the wonderful conferences out there, but we want some hard core content that teaches established wedding planners/designers how we can continue to grow our businesses and improve our crafts.
We're really fortunate to have MB be a part of our team, and she is looking forward to greeting you at The Academy in March!
We are excited to offer an extension to our program at The Academy for Planners + Designers, exclusively for floral designers that will be a part of the Academy.
Our elite list of teachers at The Academy will cover topics that include design, business operations, production process, marketing, and more....all tailored specifically for wedding planners and designers. The Floral Summit will be an extension to the learnings from The Academy and will be an intensive 2-hour discussion, led by industry leaders Nancy Liu Chin and Amy Marella.
Sean Low, of The Business of Being Creative, will be present for the first hour to share his expertise on specific topics related to the floral industry. The second hour will be an open discussion led by Nancy and Amy. To keep this Summit intimate, we are limiting registration to 15 floral designers; acceptance will be on a first come, first served basis and the cost is $100 to participate.
You must be a confirmed registrant of The Academy for Planners + Designers to sign up for the Floral Summit; registration can be made by contacting Julie@wedding360llc.com.
Date of Summit: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Location of Summit: The St. Regis San Francisco Time of Summit: 10:30am-12:30pm
We have secured exceptional rates at both The St. Regis and The Palace Hotel for our TAPD attendees! Both are Starwood properties, and within a 3 minute walk from one another.
The Palace Hotel recently celebrated its 100th anniversary and is a San Francisco landmark. Local historical tour groups can be seen inside the hotel daily, touring the beautiful Garden Court with its stained glass dome and Austrian crystal chandeliers. They are offering a great rate of $175 per night for TAPD attendees!
The St. Regis is the opposite of The Palace in that it is one of the newest luxury hotels in San Francisco. Though located in a historical building, it has a modern aesthetic to it--one that is welcoming and inviting! They are offering a highly discounted rate of $280 per night for TAPD attendees!
This will be a great opportunity for those of you from other parts of the country to experience San Francisco at its best. Once you have registered for TAPD, you will receive an email with special links to reserve your rooms at these hotels. We look forward to seeing you in March!
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