Wish Wonder Dream Blog

Gorgeous Engagement Photos of Our B&G Janice and Almon

Whitney Wing Drake — Wed, 23 May 2012 23:00:43 +0000

We love Heidi Ryder Photography and we were absolutely thrilled when she sent the amazing Janice and Almon our way to coordinate their upcoming wedding. We hit it off with them right from the start and knew that we'd LOVE the process of working together on their special day. They're booked for a Month Of coordination package so we unfortunately haven't spent much time with them but we were thrilled to see them and touched by their support when they came to our Grand Opening Party at our studio on January. We love the settings they chose for their adorable engagement session and we think Heidi shot it perfectly. Thank you all for sharing these wonderful photos and we are waiting on pins and needles for the wedding this October - it's gonna be a blast!

The images above are a few of our favorite from a rather large collection. See the others HERE

A Conversation with Owner Whitney Wing Drake

Whitney Wing Drake — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:18:07 +0000

Good afternoon everyone! We recently shot a new series with Wish Wonder Dream's Owner Whitney Wing Drake. In this segment (the first of 6) Whitney introduces our new studio and shares a bit about us. We hope these videos help you get to know us better - as people and as a company :)

How Cute Are These?!

Whitney Wing Drake — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:01:20 +0000

I was just cruising the blog Linen and Silk, updated by Elisabetta (a new Coordinator friend I made while speaking at the UKAWP Convention in London) and fell in love with one of her posts. These Lil' Cake Toppers are definitely some of the cutest I've seen so I just had to share them here! It looks like the artist is based in NY so I assume that means they're available here in the States.

Congratulations Sandy and Dave!

Whitney Wing Drake — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:57:00 +0000

What a beautiful day we had this past Friday in the Santa Ynez Wine Country coordinating a magical wedding for Sandy and Dave. They had a very intimate wedding with 31 members of their closest family. They chose this gorgeous vineyard because of the fantastic wine, the quiet picturesque location, and the gorgeous perigrine falcons that fly overhead. It makes for the perfect venue and an unforgettable affair! It was such a pleasure working with Sandy for the last 6 months and she is easily one of the sweetest, most loving and bubbly brides who has ever graced us with her presence. Her entire team of vendors (us included) fell in love with her and pulled out all the stops to make sure her and Dave's special day was as lovely as could be.

The day went off perfectly and we enjoyed every moment of it. It was especially nice that so many of their guests complimented us on how well-executed the day was and one of them even walked up, gave me a hug, and called me "an inspiration." Not bad for a day's work, huh? That was an incredible compliment! Congratulations to Sandy and Dave. You truly deserved the perfect wedding day and I'm so pleased to say you got it. Have a wonderful honeymoon and please please please keep in touch!

Here are some snapshots I took with my iPhone. I couldn't wait to post them because the day was just so gorgeous. We can't wait to get the professional photos from their photographer Jen Gerrick Photography.

Congratulations Elma and Tetsuya!

Whitney Wing Drake — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:05:50 +0000

We are beyond floored with how beautiful Elma and Tets' wedding was. Held at The Legendary Park Plaza, every detail in every corner or every room was carefully planned and beautifully executed. Elma and Tets splashed their gorgeous taste and incredible creative talents into every detail and what resulted was a breathtaking and incredibly personal wedding. Their entire team of vendors were also fantastic and such a pleasure to work with and we all had a blast all night long! It certainly helped that the bride owns her own letter press company so she created every piece of stationery herself and WOW were they gorgeous!! A few samples of the work she created for her wedding can be seen on her website here.

The DJ had the dance floor packed all night and I love how at one point he broke the guys and girls up and led them in a "dance off". First he asked all the guys to line up on one end of the dance floor and then had all the girls line up on the other end, facing them. He then led the girls in a dance as all the guys watched and cheered them on. Then he led the guys in a very manly dance to Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal" while all the girls cheered them on. It was unforgettable and so much fun!!

Thank you to Elma and Tets for allowing us to coordinate your special day. Working with you for this past year was an absolute pleasure and we are SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY for you two!!!

(the groom trying to steal the bouquet during the toss)

A HUGE thank you to Tony Hoffer Photography who came from Philadelphia to shoot this wedding. Your work is incredible! For more photos from this beautiful wedding, please visit Tony's blog here.

Remarks from My Speaking Engagement in London for the UKAWP Convention

Whitney Wing Drake — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 20:31:43 +0000

I've got to admit it's been difficult coming home to Southern California. I mean, it's a beautiful place to live and all my amazing friends, family, and clients live here so there is certainly much to love and be grateful for. But a part of my heart always remains in London every time I come home from a visit. I don't know what it is about that city but I just love the hussle and bussle, the history, the architecture, the lively city life, and of course, the accents :) I haven't been in 4 years and I was pleased to discover that foodies have really taken over the city and opened fabulous restaurants and pubs at almost every corner. While I haven't always loved the traditional English faire (although their Italian and Indian restaurants have always been stellar) this time I was very pleasantly surprised and impressed.

It was wonderful to have been asked to speak with the Annual UKAWP Convention and my assistant Nida and I decided to spend a full day there. We heard from wonderful speakers on Bridal Gowns and Accessories, a Computer Programer who was in the process of creating new software just for wedding planners, a Makeup Artist who gave us a great demo, a Party Rentals Company who showed off all the latest trends to hit the UK, a Coach who had a lot of wonderful advice on running a successful business, planning an efficient calendar, and prioritizing, and then finally I was the final speaker of the day.

I shared some background information on myself and on Wish Wonder Dream. I then talked a bit about how the company runs, how our packages are designed and priced, what the common conceptions and misconceptions are about wedding coordinators here in The States, and then I got to what I think was most interesting to everyone is attendance, which was upcoming trends for 2012 weddings. I felt the entire room shuffle and reach for pens and paper as soon as I introduced that topic so I knew it was going to be a popular one. What I was told by the coordinators there is that trends usually hit the UK market about 3 years later. So what is popular here now will be popular there in about 3 years. I also learned that most couples don't use coordinators in the UK because they are perceived as "only for the posh."

It was lovely meeting all the women in the organization and a very special thanks to Bernadette (President of UKAWP and owner of Dream Occasions for inviting us and showing us SUCH a lovely time and to Isabel (owner of Isabel Smith Weddings) for her amazing tour of the English Countryside. I don't know what we would have done in a car with manual transmission, a drivers seat on the right hand side, and driving on the opposite side of the road. So thank you Bernadette and Isabel for sparing us from what would have otherwise been a total disaster :)

Bernadette was kind enough to share some links to blogs from some of the UKAWP members. It was amazing to hear their feedback and I'm so happy that I was able to act as a helpful resource to them. It was an honor to travel to England as a representative the US Wedding Industry.

Here are a few:

http://www.just-bespoke.com/2012/03/19/pearls-of-wisdom-us-wedding-trends/

http://www.idodesignerweddings.co.uk/wedding-planning/ukawp-wedding-planning-excellence-seminar/

http://www.carmenweddings.co.uk/blog/

Save the Date for the Ruche Bridal Collection!

Whitney Wing Drake — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 16:03:18 +0000

I've been a long-time fan of the website RUCHE because I love all their vintage-inspired clothing and I think their lookbooks are adorable and very inspiring. My only qualm is that they often seem to be sold out of the clothes I want but it's because they're pieces are so cute and someone just beats me to them. Anyway, I digress...

Ruche is expanding into vintage-inspired looks for brides and bridesmaids and I couldn't be more thrilled! Best part? Everything is under $500!! They're having a preview event on March 19 in West Hollywood and here is the Save the Date.

Whitney Wing Drake to Speak at The UKAWP Annual Convention

Whitney Wing Drake — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:00:17 +0000

It was recently confirmed that I will be a speaker at the United Kingdom Alliance of Wedding Planners (UKAWP) Annual Convention in London, England entitled "Wedding Planning Excellence" on March 2. It is a tremendous honor to have been asked to speak by the organization's President Bernadette Chapman. I am thrilled to be going to my favorite city in the world for such a distinguished event and I'm just bursting with excitement. The UKAWP is a wonderful organization for wedding coordinators in the UK, comparable to our own Association of Bridal Consultants here in the states. More information can be found here. I'd better start putting some words together because I leave in 12 days!

It's Valentine's Day! Get Twitterpated :)

Whitney Wing Drake — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:39:49 +0000

I love Valentine's Day for many reasons but my favorite reason is because I get to use my very favorite word all day long: twitterpated. All you Disney buffs out there know what i'm talking about, right?

Yep it's the word made famous in the movie Bambi when the owl explains "Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. You're walking along, minding your own business. You're looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden you run smack into a pretty face. Woo-woo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head's in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you're walking on air. And then you know what? You're knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!"

As wedding coordinators, we work with a lot of twitterpated couples and we think it's the best! So let's celebrate being twitterpated today - with your boyfriend, girlfriend, fiancee, husband, wife, BFF, secret crush, or French Bulldog. Even after 5 years of marriage I can still proudly say i'm twitterpated :)

Happy Valentine's Day to all our favorite couples (past, present, and future)!

Image property of fanpop.com

Our Grand Opening Celebration at the New Wish Wonder Dream Pasadena Studio

Whitney Wing Drake — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:55:07 +0000

Thank you SO much to the 300-something guests who made it to our studio on Friday night for our Grand Opening Celebration. It was such a delight to see all your lovely faces and it meant the world to us that you came to show you support and see our new digs :)

It was lovely celebrating with every one of you and, honestly, you're the reason we do what we do. You make our jobs amazing every single day and we were so happy to have shared our special evening with you.

Here are some photos from the lovely Megan Welker: