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In an oh-so-sweet way, last Friday's Wedding Clique mixer for wedding couples at the studio was the highest point of my wedding photography business. Not only was I surrounded with all the wonderful couples that have given me the opportunity to do what I love, but I got the chance to enjoy the evening with some amazing vendors/good friends. Deanne of Bella Fiore put together the fabulous floral arrangements. Raul and Johnny of R&R Entertainment provided top-notch DJ-ing service, Erica of Erica O'Brien Cake Design baked a delicious cake and had another on display, Mary of Jay's Catering was more than gracious to provide yummy catering, and Trini of NOZZA Studio was the mastermind being the whole thing - planning, coordinating, and putting the mixer together. Special thanks to William Kim for stopping by and taking photos of the mixer. On behalf of all the vendors that help put the mixer together for our couples, I know I speak for all of them when I say, "Thank you." Thank you to our brides and grooms for coming to the Friday event and supporting us. Without you and your trust in what we do, there would be no Henry Chen Photography, Bella Fiore, NOZZA Studio, etc. I'm forever grateful in each and every one of you for allowing me to come into your life and choosing me to capture your day. Seeing our friendship continue to grow well after the wedding day puts a huge smile on my face and that warm fuzzy feeling in my heart :). Until our next client mixer, keep on being in love, re-falling in love, and being fantastic! Few of the many floral decorations from Bella Fiore:
Lines and tables decked out by NOZZA Studio, topped with delicious hors d'oeuvres from Jay's Catering:
Top-left: Yapping away with Coco and Lysander (July 2009). Top-right: Johnny and Raul DJ-ing the night away. Bottom-left: Outside the studio looking in. Bottom-right: Soraya and Viral (June 2009) posing for the camera.
Top-left: Kimberly and Grady (July 2010) hanging out with Trini. Top-right: Dat (December 2008) feeding a yummy piece of Erica's cake to Craig (July 2010). Bottom-left: Michele and Dean (August 2008) checking out Erica's cake portfolio. Bottom-right: Trini and Mary talking to Melissa and Bernie (May 2010).
Top-left: Trini greeting Jasmine and Estevan (April 2009). Top-right: Deanne and Erica talking to 2011 bride Justine, her mom, and future mother-in-law. Bottom-left: Moshe (June 2010) with Ken and Julie (July 2009). Bottom-right: Seeing how Bree and Michael's (April 2010) wedding plans are coming along.
Few more details of the client mixer, love the cake design by Erica!
Top-left: impromptu client meeting with Justine and her two moms :). Top-right: Kimberly and Grady hanging out with Viral and Soraya. Bottom-left: Erica chatting up with Elizabeth (with Dat, December 2008) and Mylinh (with Craig, July 2010). Bottom-right: Dina and Michael (July 2010) and Paul and Juna (April 2010) checking out my studio albums.
We'd like to thank all our brides and grooms for coming to our mixer. And to the ones that couldn't make it, we missed you and hope to see you at the next one!
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Last Friday, NOZZA Studio, Bella Fiore, and Henry Chen Photography (that would be me!) hosted the first annual Wedding Clique mixer for industry vendors. We'd like to extend a huge thank you to everyone that showed up. It was great to finally put faces to names and also see old friends again. Special thanks to Raul and Johnny of R&R Entertainment for DJ/MC-ing the event. I grabbed a few detail shots of Trini's and my studio while setting up. We had appetizers, drinks, ambient lighting, and some good music to go along with some great minglngs/discussions. We plan on doing a mixer every quarter of the year and hope to see you (again) at the next one! Here we are setting up for the event; wished my place could look like this 24/7!
Trini, Deanne, and yours truly of The Wedding Clique getting a quick photo before the guests arrived.
Here's what Trini's studio looked like, which is a few doors down from mine. Check out the yummy desserts!
We had a local wedding venues, florists, photographers, designers, planners, and entertainment vendors show up, can't wait to work with you all. We're currently working on a new website and will be introducing new features/events throughout the year that will help your business, so stay tuned!
ATTENTION: If you're a bride and groom that was planning to come to tomorrow's mixer also at NOZZA and Henry Chen Photography's studio, due to the heavy rain, we'll be postponing the mixer to next Friday, January 29th. We sent out an e-mail last night stating the following: After discussing with my colleagues this afternoon and seeing how it's been raining very hard these past few days, we'll be postponing this Friday's grand opening mixer to NEXT FRIDAY, January 29th, 2010.
We hope this isn't too much of an inconvenience and still gives you some time to make other plans this Friday evening. Looking at the weather forecast, we're expecting heavy rain through Friday and some of the local roads/freeways to be closed around Long Beach.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and delay but hope you'll still be able to join us NEXT FRIDAY for the mixer. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to give me a call at 626-664-6735 or e-mail me back. I hope this e-mail gets to you all in time, I'll send out another one out tomorrow as a friendly reminder.
Once again, this Friday's mixer has been postponed to NEXT FRIDAY, January 29th. Thank you and please stay safe and dry!
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Yesterday evening was the grand opening party of AVIA Hotel located in the heart of Long Beach. The place is quite different from the more conventional/traditional hotels. Everything from the look and feel is more modern, stylish, and unique. It was such a huge honor and pleasure to be invited by Rafael, whose the Director of Group Sales and Events at AVIA as well as a recent client of mine :). I'll let the photos (hopefully) speak for themselves on how much I absolutely LOVE this place. Everything from the kick-butt rooftop swimming pool/hang out area and the swivel television in the rooms to the only hotel open bar in Long Beach and a delicious restaurant...not to mention the staff there is full of class, professionalism, and caters directly to the guests' needs. I'm really excited to build a great relationship with Rafael and AVIA Hotel. We're aiming to bring lots of amazing weddings and other events to this gorgeous venue. If you didn't get a chance to check out AVIA yesterday evening, be sure to stop by later today between 5-8PM for part two of the grand opening celebration. The address is 582 Bay St., Long Beach, CA 90802. Delicious food and cocktail, beautiful live music, amazing decorations, and wonderful people to meet and network with. Hope to see you there!
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Oh goodness this post is long overdue! Last Sunday, The Wedding Clique had its very first mock wedding workshop at The Renaissance Hotel in Downtown Long Beach. Trini of Nozza Studio and I have been planning the workshop for the last few months and we were so excited and thankful to all the couples that showed up and the vendors that made this event possible, and in my eyes, a success! We started The Wedding Clique company not too long ago as a mean to help couples plan their wedding day by providing honest, thorough, and personal advice and suggestions. But we also wanted to create an event that would allow them to experience a "pretend" wedding before their actual one. At this mock wedding workshop, we had vendors from all across the wedding industry that gave expert advice on their own area of expertise. We started out during the getting ready stage, where Solana of Beauty by Solana did a trial make-up session on a lovely upcoming bride of mine Alicia (thanks Alicia, you totally rocked and looked stunning!). Other Wedding Clique photographers Sarah and Adrienne chimed in with their professional experience working with brides and grooms during the getting ready part of the big day. We later moved onto a first look followed by a mock ceremony around the pool area of the beautiful Renaissance Hotel. Deane of Bella Fiore provided the gorgeous floral and decorations for the entire event. We also had Raul of R and R Entertainment provide superb MC/DJ services throughout the ceremony and later during the reception. I just loved how we all had a chance to work together as a whole team but more so as good friends to show the couples what to expect (and surprises) possibly at their own wedding. It was really great having the couples share their own wedding planning ideas with others. Without further adieu, here are some behind-the-scene images that Adrienne took of our first mock wedding workshop (thanks Adrienne!): The Clique! Andrew, Raul, and I (back row aka the gentlemen); Adrienne, Solana, Trini, Sarah, and Deanne (front row aka the ladies):
Giving some expert advice and answering questions from our wonderful couples and soon-to-be husbands and wives!
The ever-so-amazing Solana doing a trial run on Alicia (check out their kick-butt wedding page designed by her fiance Austin) while Deane and Raul talked about floral/decorations and DJ/MC-ing respectively:
The first look by our models Alicia and Austin, set up by Sarah...while Andrew shot some behind-the-scene footage of the workshop:
Mock ceremony, coordinated by Trini, officiated by yours truly, pretend shooting by Sarah, details by Deanne, and audio coverage by Raul. The other couples pretended to be Alicia and Austin's bridal party:
For the reception, Trini and Deanne decked out four tables with four different designs/centerpieces, providing the guests with a variety of choices and possibilities for their own wedding:
We finished off the event with appetizers, dinners, and a mock first dance as well as some tips and FYIs on the reception:
On behalf of the entire Wedding Clique, I just want to thank The Renaissance Hotel for partnering up with us and hosting this workshop and also to all the couples for attending this event. We sincerely hope you got a lot of useful information that will help with your own wedding :). Be sure to keep checking The Wedding Clique website for all the latest videos, articles, and events. We're looking forward to having more of these workshops and hoping to provide one at your wedding venue!
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