Oscar Event Center, Destiny Yacht, and the Art of Entertaining events

This week has begun the season of holiday parties and I was invited to two! On Wednesday night, the Oscar Event Center invited me to their open house. The facility, located next to Jungle Jim's on Route 4 in Hamilton, is beautiful and seats up to 500 guests. They served up their entire menu on the buffet which included beef tenderloin (very good!), filet, chicken picatta, Italian chicken, turkey, tilapia (very good!), just to name a few, a variety of hors devoures and cake for dessert. There are also two breakout rooms in the back. Pictures from the facility are below -- if you are interested in booking it contact Dianna Hood at (513) 674-6055 or dhood@junglejims.com. I took these photos with my cell phone so the quality isn't the best.

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The second party was a Christmas Party hosted last night by Images by Daniel Michael, a photography studio that we work with quite a bit. A few planners and I were invited to attend. It was held on the Destiny Yacht, which seats between 50 to 70 guests. It's a great place to host a small wedding or a rehearsal dinner. For more information visit their website, call 513-921-3210 or destinyyacht@fuse.net. Below is a photo of me, Dawn Dagenbach and Heidi Pasqualetti, who were also at the event. They are two other wedding planners in Cincinnati who I've known for years and simply adore! If you're considering a wedding planner, make sure that you choose someone who is a member of the Association of Bridal Consultants and that has been in the business for a few years.


Before I left for California, our local networking group for the Association of Bridal Consultants hosted an event at The Art of Entertaining in Oakley. The food, in particular the presentation, was amazing! We had a pumpkin soup, a beautiful salad with cranberries. The chef focused on the latest trends in signature cocktails and cocktail infusions for weddings and even offered us a variety of recipes of some of the things we tasted! You can take cooking classes there. as well You can host a wedding rehearsal dinner or reception for up to 120 people here. If I had a baby shower to host, I'd definitely consider this place. You can contact Don or Julie to book. (Sorry, no pixs from this one!)

This is the time of year when things slow down a bit as far as having a wedding every weekend to execute so we can catch up with vendors and vacation. Our next wedding isn't scheduled until November 29 at the Hilton Netherland so we have a few weeks to breathe. As you know I just got back from California. On Tuesday, I leave to visit family in Tucson for a week. In addition to visiting family there, I plan to catch up with Shawnda (the former catering manager at the Freedom Center) and Kim Horn (AZ's ABC state coordinator and new Master Bridal Consultant.)

ttfn!

Photos from ABC Conference

Here is a variety of photos from the various luncheons we attended. Big trends for 2009 -- mini cakes, colored icing and making a cake look more like a piece of art. Enjoy!

Welcome home from my sweetie

I love my sweetie... after I got off the plane and arrived home at 1 a.m., look at what Jimmy had waiting for me in the kitchen! All of my favorite foods (dark chocolate and potato chips) and a dozen roses. He said he got me white because I am his best friend (white roses symbolize friendship) and he wanted a change of pace from red. :-) awh.....romance is still alive after us being together for seven years.

Would you pay $10,000 to assist Colin Cowie for a day?

I wouldn't because my husband would have my head for spending that kind of money without telling him, but 12 other ladies who belong to the Association of Bridal Consultants actually did -- $10,000 each! That just blows my mind that people would pay that kind of money to work.

For the cost of $0, I got a photo with him (see left) and I enjoyed his presentation during lunch.

A few months ago, I met David Merrell, who is originally from Cleveland but now is based in Hollywood. He invited me to assist him at his celebrity events when I am in LA. He had an event in San Diego this past weekend and since I was in OC, this week wasn't going to work. Hopefully I can work something out in the spring. And this is for the bargain rate of .... $0.

Isn't this adorable...ain't love grand...

This is soooo adorable.... it's a placecard holder that is a baby grand piano.

The price is based on the quantity you order but is as low as $1.24 each and you can order it by clicking here.

Since I'm at the convention I'll be posting lots of things that I see here that look really neat.

California, Here I am!

I am at the Association of Bridal Consultants' national conference in Orange County, California. My cousin has a house here near the beach, so I'm staying with her instead of staying at the hotel. Instead of paying the hotel, I bought two pairs of coach shoes and a few new hats instead. Fun fun fun! I'll be taking lots of pictures of new ideas and trends this week, so stay tuned on that.

It turns out ABC is revising their points system for accredidation yet again...ugh. There are five levels (novice; consultant; professional bridal consultant; accredited bridal consultant; and master bridal consultant.) I am a PBC now and I was hoping to have enough credit to move up to accredited next year. I hope that is still the case...

When searching on the internet today, I found that Your Dream Day was featured in a news article in Philadelphia. How fun is that! Click here to read it.

I'm also coming up with a list of topics to blog about -- if anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Also be sure to check out my friend Karah on November 14th's episode of Say Yes to the Dress on TLC! Until later....