Happy Holidays

Seasons Greetings from The Stylish Soiree

When in doubt, use food as a favor

Favor ideas can stump even the most inspired brides and grooms. When in doubt, I always steer my clients toward edible favors. Who could resist these delicious cake jar favors? Easy on the eyes and even easier on the stomach after a night of partying.

Fall Wedding

I love Fall Weddings – the potential for charming rustic decor is endless! via Style Me Pretty

Fun Escort Card Idea for a Morning Wedding

Cutest escort card idea for a morning wedding reception – could also work for a bridal shower brunch or day after brunch too.

Nontraditional Wedding Dress

How amazing does this bride look in her FAB pink Elie Saab dress? I’m a huge advocate of looking outside the (wedding dress) box for their perfect wedding gown.

Ethereal Outdoor Party Inspiration

This gorgeous tent would be the perfect setting for a relaxed, laid back end of summer party…. love.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

iPhone sneak peek from a shoot I did this fall - a Ralph Lauren inspired tablescape

Happy 2011, all! So, I’ve been a very bad blogger for the past few months but I promise it’s with good reason. I’ve been insanely busy with some fabulous weddings, events, styled shoots, a big move, buying our first home AND renovating it – phew! The past few months have been an amazing journey, and I’m excited to announce that we are now officially settled in the Northern California Bay Area.

This move has been a long time coming; the hubby is from SF originally and we longed to move from the entertainment-industry centric city of Los Angeles to San Francisco for a few years now. To prepare, I started taking San Francisco and Napa wedding bookings two years ago and spent 30% of my time in NorCal and 70% in SoCal. Now that The Stylish Soiree is officially a San Francisco-based event planning and wedding design firm, I spend 70% of my time up here and 30% of my time catering to my fabulous Los Angeles and San Diego clientele. It’s been a whirlwind of a year and quite the transition, but I can honestly say I have never been happier.

With that said, I am still on the hunt for a perfect office space in Los Angeles, and in the meantime am meeting with clients wherever is most convenient for them. I do not charge travel fees for Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco or Napa events, and love planning long distance or destination weddings for clients. Plus, since I’m down in Southern California each and every month I still see my SoCal clients just as often as my NorCal clients – it’s a really great situation and I’m feeling super excited and blessed about how everything turned out.

Now that the holidays are over and we’re settling into our home, I promise to catch up on all the beautiful wedding design eye candy I haven’t posted on yet, as well as little glimpses into our own journey to home design and renovation. Thank you for all the readers who have stuck out the long dry spell – there are lots of pretty things in store coming your way for 2012.

Warm Wishes,

Yelena Johnson | Creative Director | The Stylish Soiree

I love cupcakes like McAdams loves Gosling…

For those of you who recognize the line from SNL’s ‘Lazy Sunday’ short, you’re my kind of people. You know, the kind who would trek miles through a city just to have a taste of your favorite brand of Magnolia Bakery cupcake deliciousness. Since it’s Friday and I’m a little loopy due to this heat, here’s a true story to illustrate my dedication to cupcakes…

The year was 2006. Mike and I were in New York with his parents to celebrate his mom’s birthday in her favorite city. The first night was spent at a great dinner and a Broadway show, and we went to bed early with lots of festivities planned for the following day. What happened next was dubbed ‘The Blizzard of ’06″ by news reporters. Overnight, the skies dumped a whopping 3 feet of snow that blanketed the Big Apple in a cloud of white, and the city fell silent.

For two California dwellers, the snow was a treat. With most stores closed because of the snow, the hubby and I spent the day doing what we do best – dreaming, talking about and pursuing food. A trip to a famed Greenwich Village pizzeria was followed up with a trek to Magnolia Bakery for some cupcakes. I have numerous pictures from that trip bundled up in a parka, scarf, pants and UGGs, stuffing a pretty pink cupcake into my mouth. It was heavenly, and I’ve oft dreamed about those cupcakes ever since.

Cut to about a year ago, when one of my favorite neighborhood organic dry cleaners closed its doors. I was admittedly peeved, until I saw a small sign go up in the window announcing that my former dry cleaner was to become the future home to a Los Angeles outpost of Magnolia Bakery. Things were looking up.

Since then I’ve driven by my old dry cleaners about a hundred times, but each time the windows were still covered up for construction. So you can imagine my excitement when I saw today’s Daily Candy email about Magnolia Bakery Los Angeles FINALLY opening – woot!

So, if you don’t hear from me for a while it’s safe to assume I’m languishing in a pastel hued cupcake-coma, buried beneath a pile of empty boxes from Magnolia’s.

Have a cupcake-alicious weekend,

XOXO Yelena

Unique Wedding Ceremony Reading

Finding unique readings can feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Here’s one reading I love, from Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. It’s everything a reading should be – romantic, poetic and meaningful.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres

Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.

*Image via Once Wed… I apologize but I don’t have the photographer credit – if this belongs to you, please let me know so I can give credit

XO, Yelena | The Stylish Soiree

Wedding Dress Alternative: Carmen Marc Valvo

I’ll admit it – I may have splurged on my own wedding dress (blowing my budget in the process), but I am still a firm believer that a gorgeous, dream wedding dress can be found for under $1,000. The only catch is that, unless you buy your wedding dress second hand, finding a stunning gown in the sub-$1,000 range is best done by shopping regular off-the-rack retail. Case in point? This lovely flowing white gown from ready to wear designer Carmen Marc Valvo.

Carmen Marc Valvo has been turning out beautiful gowns for a number of years, and all of the dresses in the line feature high quality construction – which is more than you can say for a David’s Bridal wedding dress. Plus, one of the best things about buying an off the rack wedding dress alternative is that you can try on THE dress in the store, in your size, guaranteeing you will love how the dress looks on your wedding day. Another huge benefit to buying a wedding gown off the rack is that the alterations will be much, much less than alterations at a bridal boutique. Though I am strongly against the adage that the ‘wedding’ label immediately constitutes a markup in price, I will say that I’ve noticed this is somewhat true when it comes to wedding gown alterations in a bridal salon.

What I love about this Carmen Marc Valvo dress is the dramatic detail on a classic style gown. The oversize flower detail on the one-shoulder dress is something I’ve seen a lot of on the bridal gown runways the past two seasons, and I think it’s a trend that’s going to stay for another few seasons. Also, the dress passes my ‘timeless’ test – at least 80% of the dress is classic, and it would have looked just as appropriate worn thirty years ago as it likely will be thirty years from now. All in all, a sub-$1,000 wedding dress winner.

Carmen Marc Valvo Pleated One-Shoulder Gown with Flowers, $940 from Bloomingdales