Last Night's ISES/Sasha Souza Event Recap

I grew up watching her plan amazing weddings on "Whose Wedding Is It Anyway?" years ago, but if you're not familiar with Sasha Souza you definitely should be! She plans some of the greatest, most innovative celebrity and high profile weddings and I guarantee you've come across photos of her work on a multitude of wedding blogs. Remember that photo wall with the squares cut out of it and frames hanging around them with people kissing through? That was her idea! Last night she was the guest speaker of ISES (the International Special Events Society) and because I can't afford to be a member (with regular dues) and attend each monthly meeting, I paid $45 to get to hear professional advice from a Master Bridal Consultant, one of only a few named that by ABC (the Association of Bridal Consultants).

First of all, let me tell you that she is a spitfire. She's super outgoing and opinionated and totally funny, just as you would expect from any fiery redhead. I think the one piece of advice I will take most from her is the belief that people pay you for your opinion, and she certainly gives hers freely. She spoke with all of us regarding the current trends in weddings and colors and ideas. Most of it was things I already knew, but in some cases she took it to the next level, which was really nice. I'm super excited to get to use that knowledge in upcoming weddings I plan or even just in inspiration boards in the future. I was also really glad that she puts a high priority on innovation and new ideas. That has always been my goal, giving the couple something they couldn't find anywhere else.

After her great speech I got to go up and meet her, chat a little bit about blog sites (as she's not in love with her typepad right now..I don't blame her), and got her to sign my copy of her book. If you haven't gotten a chance to even just look at her book yet you certainly should. It's full of amazing pictures which are sure to give you ideas or inspiration for your own wedding. You can buy the book online at Amazon.com for a really good price (that's what I did) or you can get an autographed copy through her website for $50. Since I now have autographed wedding books from both Sasha and Mindy Weiss, I'm thinking I might make a goal of it to start getting all of the major celebrity big-name planners to sign their books for me and keep it as a collection. That'll likely take me awhile unless I become some big hot shot planner, but it's something fun to look forward to maybe.

In addition to letting you know about the event, I wanted to let you know about the venue. It's called the Leftbank Annex and it was such an awesome place! I'd never heard about it before, so I'm figuring many of you haven't either. It's a large warehouse-type building which used to hold WWII planes back in the day and it's located right across from the Rose Garden. When you walk in you can go up the stairs to a giant space, complete with an elevated stage and an additional level of rooms (this is where our event was) or you can go downstairs for an additional large space and the bathrooms. I loved the downstairs because it had an area which could easily be a long ceremony area and then an adjoining room perfect for a reception of 200 or so. Upstairs I'm sure can hold about 1,000 or so. They have preferred vendors, many of which were at the event, and the food prepared by Bon Appetit was extremely fancy! It's certainly not your venue if you want something with a lot of personality and natural decor, but it definitely is if you like things that look urban or could be easily turned into anything you want through use of pipe/drape and/or lighting. I must tell you that the highlight for many (as personally witnessed) was the hand air drying machine in the bathroom which blows with extreme power and is certainly eco-friendly. My only caution about the venue would be to check with them regarding parking. For the event they arranged to open up one of the Rose Garden parking lots and we simply paid $5 to park and walked across the block. If they have a memo of understanding with the Garden maybe you can do that as well, but if not, there certainly aren't a lot of spots nearby for your guests to park.

Anyway it was a long night and it's been a long work day so that's it for now, but I do have two great inspiration boards to share with you in the next two days so keep an eye out! You won't want to miss them.

~A