Helena & Kyle’s wedding on “Carmageddon” weekend

We met Helena & Kyle in February to start working with them on planning their big day.  At that time, they basically only booked the venues, photography and cake. So we recommended a florist, a DJ/ MC, and chair rental company to them.

The beautiful marina

Little did the couple know that their big day, July 16, 2011, would happen to be the weekend that the Caltrans decided to do a demolition of the Mulholland Bridge, causing a shutdown of freeway 405 between freeways 10 to 101.

Helena & her bridesmaids

Although their wedding in the marina was barely on the cusp of the shut down, the fear that the shutdown would affect traffic everywhere and causing a delay in their vendor set-up or out-of-town guests being lost was still imminent. But thanks to all the media coverage, people stayed home and stayed away from the areas of the shut down. Traffic was not bad at all and the whole wedding wrapped up nicely!

The ceremony at St. Sophia - traditional chanting through the  entire wedding

The happy newly wed

Helena is Mark’s sister, whose wedding we coordinated a year prior at the Roosevelt Hotel. So right from the beginning, there was more of a comfort level and trust because she knew that we did a good job for her brother. Things were a little different for Helena since she works and resides in Washington D.C. with Kyle, her now husband, but they wanted the wedding in California since Helena’s friends and family are mostly here.

Helena & Kyle had their wedding ceremony at St. Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral like Helena’s brother Mark, but their reception is by the waters at The Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey. So the two weddings have very different themes.

Helena’s wedding colors are silver and purple. The whole set-up is elegant, yet romantic. Her dress was dramatic – in fact, her dress-shopping experience will be aired on TLC’s popular “Say Yes to the Dress” soon! She accented the room with 4 spot lights, silver chivalry chairs, and she has flowers that were ivory with some purple. We have two small branches as her “wishing trees” where her guests write on little die-cut shapes of birds, and hang them on the tree branches. 

Guest sign-in area

Wishing tree

The ballroom while it's being set-up

The highlight of her reception was a 30-minute belly-dancing performance. It definitely got the guests hot and ready to groove! The wedding party also did an Arabic dance like at Mark & Christine’s wedding. The guests love the upbeat Arabic music!

There were also touching moments such as when Helena's dad danced with her, when one of her bridesmaids got all choked up when she was delivering her speech, and when the guests watched and enjoyed a very well made slide show produced by the groom himself! It was an evening filled with fun, drama, and memories.

We are so glad to be part of this mixed cultural union and even happier to have repeat business from the same family (The Zaky’s). In fact, since this is the second time we work with the family, we got to know each other better! Helena’s mom made us feel so much like part of the family, and honestly, that is the best feeling a coordinator can have at the end of a successful event!

We transport some of the flowers from their reception to the honeymoon suite

Our last touch as a parting gift to the newly wed - a romantic suite!

Congratulations to Helena & Kyle again! 

Newest Idea for your reception - Flip Book

Have you ever drawn your own cartoon when you were little? If you did, you would use a little booklet, and draw the same object over and over on the pages, one slightly different than the other, so when you flip through it, it'd appear as though the object is moving?


That's the idea of a Flip Book. Now thanks to technology, making still objects look like they are moving is much easier! One of the couples I worked with last year developed this idea of a Flip Book at their wedding reception. They have a digital camera that takes still frame shots every few seconds, a machine that cuts the paper into business card size paper, and into a Flip Book. 


When you put all the still shots together and flip through the book, you have a little mini movie! It's using the idea of time-lapsed photography to create such a fun project.  Of course, the key to a successful Flip Book is gradual motion. 


Take a look at the video below for a Flip Book sample.

If you're interested in providing your guests a fun, interactive, and a different kind of souvenir, try having a Flip Book station at your wedding reception - it'll be a blast for everyone! For more info on how to get one for your wedding, and pricing, please contact us!