I am so happy to finally announce this – we’re expanding to serve the Los Angeles area wedding market!

Starting immediately, Lowe House Events is offering free travel for weddings in the greater LA area, and I (Elizabeth) will personally be down there every 4-6 weeks starting in late September to meet with clients in person, as well as work actively on continuing to build up our LA area vendor network (if you’re an LA area vendor – please get in touch – I’d love to buy you coffee/drink and chat!) So, if you’re currently looking for a wedding coordinator or planner in LA, please get in touch! – we’re starting to get close to booked for 2014, but I’ve been saving some slots for LA area weddings in preparation for this announcement.

I like to joke that I’m the only native Northern Californian who loves LA, but it’s true, I honestly do, and I’m really excited about the chance to spend more time there and get to know the city, which I already know fairly well, better through the event planning lens. Also to spend more time driving the 5, because I may be the only Californian period who thinks it’s one of the best drives in the world. I mean – don’t tell me this isn’t beautiful:

Some of my favorite East Bay independent wedding vendors and I are putting on a mini-showcase at Toast, one of my favorite restaurants and event venues, later this month – and we’d love to see you there! If big wedding fairs aren’t your thing (they’re not mine) then you should feel at home – it’s going to be casual, fun, and un-overwhelming in scale. In addition to being able to check out a variety of rad local vendors who you may want to work with, you’ll be able to enter drawings for a bunch of great giveaways, including an hour of free consulting with me. More information right here! (the complete list of vendors will be up later this week!)

Wishing you and yours a year full of love and joy!

I planned Alissa and Alex’s wedding last year, and I was so thrilled to find out this winter that she’s pregnant with their first baby, who’s due in mid-July.

I’ve known Alissa since I was seventeen (I dated a close childhood friend of hers, and she and I stayed friends after he and I broke up, although it’s worth noting that he and I are still friends as well) and it has been a total joy for me to have had her in my life for the last eleven years. I’m pretty sure I told her that I wanted to throw her a shower approximately 30 seconds after she told me she was pregnant – what can I say, I really love parties.

I’m not a big fan of booze at baby showers (it just seems… slightly mean to drink when the guest of honor can’t?) so we settled on afternoon tea. My parents have an amazing garden, and my fingers were crossed that the weather would be nice enough to hold the party there, and I totally lucked out. The day was unseasonably warm and gorgeous for April, and it ended up being more of an “iced tea” party than a traditional one.

We kept things relatively small (20 guests) and simple  – no games, just eating, socializing, and gift-opening. I didn’t want to go too traditional (aka cutesy) on the color scheme or decor, so ended up with grey, blue, and orange, with touches of gold. The dinosaurs were way too much fun to make, and were a big hit (many of them were gone by the end of the shower – they ended up acting as impromptu favors.)

It was really lovely to spend time with a group of women who were all invested Alissa & Alex’s lives. I cannot wait to hold their baby boy later this summer!

all photos: Emily Takes Photos. You can see more pictures from the shower, as well as some maternity shots of Alissa, on Emily’s blog.

more information here and here.

Roxy & Dave’s wedding was one of most pure-fun events that I got to coordinate last year. A food truck catered picnic in a regional park, complete with popsicles and killer sunglasses. Roxy and Dave were amazing to work with, and their friends and family came together to give their wedding a true community feeling.

Two great details I loved – wine glasses that doubled as escort cards (which is a great way to cut down on the amount of glassware you need to rent) and a postcard guest book – a family member was going to take all of the (stamped and addressed) postcards home with them and then mail them to the couple over the course of the next year. Rad.

Popsicles from Fat Face Popsicles (based in Davis) were the perfect dessert on what ended up being a blazingly hot Indian-summer day. Much less expected than wedding cake, and amazingly delicious.

Congratulations again you two!

photos: Erica Jackson Photography

The colored cords are a brilliant contrast to the vintage lamps – and I love cords that are meant to be displayed instead of hidden away (so much easier!) Ursula will also work with you to revamp the cord on an existing light you already own, which is an option with some awesome potential.

photos: EarthSeaWarrior’s etsy shop

Alexandra is the lead actor, shares the story credit with the writer/director Joshua Moore, and performs several original songs that she wrote and recorded for the film (um, it’s not a musical, but there’s lots of music in it.)

I Think It’s Raining will be opening this year’s San Francisco Film Society’s Cinema By The Bay Festival on Thursday, November 3rd, and tickets just went on sale this morning! If you’re interested in checking it out you can buy tickets here (it’s actually pretty great, albeit very artsy & French New Wave-y – it premiered in Europe this summer at Karlovy Vary and you can read reviews here and here) – I’ll be attending the 7pm screening and the following opening night party, but there’s also a second screening at 9:30PM. Would love to see you there!

photo: from the film’s website

That’s the Roli Roti truck you see in the photo, and let me tell you – the food was killer. I eat a lot of catered food, and it competed with some of the best. More photos to come!