Gratitude

I have to give a shout out to our interns today. I am overjoyed with the hard work that they have all been doing and I feel like they deserve a party! Well.... since we are all overwhelmed with planning other people's parties, a blog entry will have to do for now : ) The party will come later.

Stefanie, Kirstin, and Brittany you three have really blossomed over the last few weeks and we are all so proud of you! We are so lucky to have the rest of the summer with you and look forward to all of our adventures ahead.

And more thanks... Amanda, you are for sure the sister I never had. Thanks for making me laugh at EVERYTHING! That is a gift. Danielle, you will be such a stunning bride!! We can't wait for your Big Day!!! We need to throw a party to celebrate your amazing year too!! : )

and I'd like to thank God and the Academy and my mom and ....

Brides, post your gratitude as a comment to this blog. There are so many people to be thankful for today and always.

Peace, Lara

*photo by Kim Sellers for Bliss Event Group

Bliss Girls Guilty Pleasures

The Bliss Girls Guilty Pleasure #1: stalking our favorite wedding photography blogs! We like US magazine too, but “Blog Stalking” as the cool kids call it is our number one guilty pleasure. On our bookmarks right now (in no particular order…)

www.easthillphotography.blogspot.com

www.almasyphoto.net

www.photosbyrae.blogspot.com

www.patsybrown.blogspot.com

www.megphoto.com/wordpress

www.cookimages.blogspot.com

www.bradwaltersphotoblog.blogspot.com

and check out these west coast photographers we love:

www.thebecker.com

www.theblogisfound.com

www.jessicaclaire.net

and our new SWS blogs!

www.swsmag.blogspot.com

www.swssalon.blogspot.com

Bliss Girls Guilty Pleasure #2: Wedding Magazines. Yes, brides, there is a way for the fun to never end and for you to continue tearing pages out of bridal magazines- be a Bliss Girl! Don’t even open the “can of wedding magazine worms” as we call it and start talking about the new Martha Stewart or Elegant Bride in our office. We will not stop talking about our favorite things. (we have most of the wedding magazines memorized!) Our desks are stacked high with all the latest and greatest. Watch out when the new Grace Ormonde comes out though- we might trample you at Barnes and Noble!! ; )

Bliss Girls Guilty Pleasure #3: Brides. Yes, brides, YOU are our #3 guilty pleasure because we are suckers for love stories! When a new bride comes in our office the first thing we all want to hear about is how she fell in love, what her Big Day dreams are, and what she sees –beyond the wedding day- in her future with her soon-to-be-hubby. We have yet to hear a story that didn’t make us gush. Even the most matter-of-fact brides who claim to not believe in romance have a soft spot. We are saps, what can we say?

Check out the post below about our new Blog Series: A Blissful Marriage. Thanks to all the brides who have posted comments! Keep em comin’!

*photo by Kim Sellers, flowers by Kebbie Hollingsworth

Wedding Planner Needed!

OK, Brides, you are NOT allowed to apply... trust me, you don't want to plan your wedding and 30 others at the same time! But, if you know of anyone who is FABULOUS, and I mean really FABULOUS, then we want to meet them. We are in need of another one of us to fill in when Amanda and I have to do our military duty and follow our hubby's out of FL very soon. She'll be going most likely to San Diego and I'll be going back to CA when Ari gets back from Iraq in three months. Don't worry, we will still be planning Bliss events as usual, but we can't fly back for every meeting (it was fun for a while, but I started to call the Delta Crowne Room "home"!). So, spread the word. We're looking for the next Bliss Girl! Email me for details- bliss@blisseventgroup.com

photo by Kim Sellers

New Blog Series: A Blissful Marriage

We talk so much about the Big Day, but it's time to delve into what makes a marriage Blissful! This month, the women of Bliss will be posting the top ways to keep your marriage spicy, tips from our past Bliss brides on what makes them tick, and how to enjoy every day after the Big Day. POST your questions, thoughts, favorite quotes, gripes about your groom (or bride) and your top tips for making "from this day forward" pure Bliss! (If your tip is the creme de la creme, it might even make it in the premiere issue of Southern Wedding Style Magazine!)

"Letter Seven" written by Ranier Maria Rilke... (on my top 3 list for describing marriage...used in vows for several weddings)

It is good to love: because love is difficult. For one human being to love another human being: that is perhaps the most difficult task that has been entrusted to us, the ultimate task, the final test and proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. That is why young people, who are beginners in everything, are not yet capable of love: it is something they must learn. With their whole being, with all their forces, gathered around their solitary, anxious, upward-beating heart, they must learn to love. But learning-time is always a long, secluded time ahead and far on into life, is - ; solitude, a heightened and deepened kind of aloneness for the person who loves. Loving does not at first mean merging, surrendering, and uniting with another person (for what would a union be of two people who are unclarified, unfinished, and still incoherent - ?), it is a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in himself, to become world, to become world in himself for the sake of another person; it is a great, demanding claim on him, something that chooses him and calls him to vast distances. Only in this sense, as the task of working on themselves ("to hearken and to hammer day and night"), may young people use the love that is given to them. Merging and surrendering and every kind of communion is not for them (who must still, for a long, long time, save and gather themselves); it is the ultimate, is perhaps that for which human lives are as yet barely large enough.


And on a sexier note... this link is PG-13ish, so clicker beware... you are about to enter the amazing web domain of Cosmopolitan Magazine! Yay Cosmo! This is a great article on taking a Blissful Bath... for two ; ) Enjoy.... Love in the Tub

Santa Rosa Kids House Gala

What a fantastic evening! Angela Ellis Moore and Pandora de Balthazar hosted this gala fundraising event (we had over 400 people!) that made us all feel like we were in Hawaii, not the Hilton Garden Inn. And they raised a significant amount of money for the Santa Rosa Kid's House. Many thanks to the participating sponsors- Pete Moore Chevrolet, WEAR TV3, The Buris Family, Congressman and Mrs. Miller, Pandora De Balthazar, and Cook Realty... just to name a small few of the 31 sponsors. Such a success! Thank you for letting us create this magical event for you!

Angela Ellis Moore (holding the winning Corvette raffle ticket) and the MC for the evening, WEAR TV3 Anchor Francesca Maxime

One of the floral shell boxes on the Congressman's table.

Each table was unique and a work of art

The Corvette that was raffled off - thanks to Pete Moore, this car raised over $100,000.00! Unfortunately, we didn't win. Oh well, we would have had to paint it Bliss hot pink anyway!

Swirling Calla lilies. Many arrangements were 8-10 feet tall!

Amanda showing off our registration table arrangements- I was asked a hundred times about the exotic flowers in the vases... they are called heliconias (from Hawaii) : )

Congressman and Mrs. Miller enjoying the steel drum band and delicious island food.

Another huge arrangement (for Pandora de Balthazar's table)

Me finishing up one of the gigantic entrance arrangements.

After a hard day's work -(From Left) Lara, our new interns fantastic Kirstin and Stefanie, and Amanda with mini pineapples.

Many thanks to Kebbie Hollingsworth for helping us to create a tropical floral wonderland!

Busy Bliss Babes

The Blog may have been quiet for a couple weeks, but we sure haven't! The Bliss Gals have been hard at work on some very exciting summer events....

Tomorrow kicks off a fabulous summer with the Santa Rosa Kids House Gala at the Hilton Garden Inn on Pensacola Beach. Congressman Miller will be there along with other community leaders to raise money for to build their new center for abused children. Come support this fantastic cause and enjoy island food and music from 6-9 (and come see our fabulous decor!!). AND they are raffling off a corvette courtesy of Pete Moore Chevrolet!


CONGRATS to all of our spring Bliss Brides that we haven't blogged about yet (still waiting on pics ; )..... Nikki & Rob, Kristin & Joe, and Cayla & Will! Your weddings were so beautiful and we were so thrilled to have been a part of them!

As if we weren't busy enough with a dozen summer weddings, we have 5 photo shoots planned for Southern Wedding Style Magazine this month. We can't wait!

Wishing everyone a Blissful summer~ The Bliss Gals

*flowers by Bliss Event Group in the pic above