Top Wedding Florists in the Los Angeles County

Here is the link to the spreadsheet of the top wedding florists in the Los Angeles County recommended by other brides and myself. The spreadsheet consists of contact information, price ranges, and styles of flowers. These florists are listed as "The Knot's Best of Wedding" and some are included in the regional magazines and newspapers. I have other documents that go further in the detail of the florists and their styles. I will add it all in a scrapbook later.

Top Florists in the Los Angeles County

December 15, 2012

I know this is a bit late (actually really late) but I attended a charity event that my mentor sponsored to help autistic children. Although this may not seem like it would not help my senior project much, it actually did. I met new vendors that could help me with my senior project in the future. I also helped spread the word of the Wedding Planning Company while helping autistic children. It was so much fun! I didn't think this event would be entertaining to me but boy was I wrong. I met so many people and heard so many stories. All in all, this was one of the best service learning days ever.

The official flyer of the charity event to help the Wylie Center.

Me and my new friend, Destiny! She's also an intern for Entertaining as Always.

I got to help Gretchen with choosing the raffle. There were some pretty cool gifts such as spa sets for women and men, gift cards, and even a free event to Hooters (which an 8 year-old won and her name was also Sydney!).

November 21, 2012

Wow, this is a month late. I'm sorry but I just totally forgot about this. So for my day of service learning, I attended my first mock up! So mock ups are basically decorating a hotel ball room to make it look like an actual wedding reception. The purpose of this is to help advertise both the hotel ballroom and the wedding planning company to potential clients. I never knew this would be such hard work! I had to haul tables, rearrange the furniture, decorate the tables, and tie tons of bows to each of the chairs. It was so much fun, Gretchen was being hilarious as always, and I got to meet Neferete (her assistant) for the first time!

So this is the first set of the mock up: orange themed and giving off a sunset beach feeling. 

The centerpieces were really nifty. To give off more of a beachy feel, Gretchen decided to use seashells!

The second theme of the mock up is more of a library book feel. 

Before...

After!

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hours Check

Content:
1. Where are you doing your mentorship?

• I am doing my mentorship at Enchanted Crown Events and Entertaining as Always Events. 

2. Who is your contact?

• Gretchen Davis Strutzenberg and Claudia Santillanes 

3. How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located located on the right side of your blog like your WB)?

• 32 hours

4. Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.

• For the 10 hours, I attended weddings and helped my mentors regulate the ceremony and the reception. I was always there when a guest had a request such as, asking for decaf coffee, asking for another chair, or asking where the bride and groom was. I've also attended mock ups which are basically going to a hotel room and decorating it so it looked like a wedding reception. The meaning of this is to help advertise both the wedding planning company and the hotel. I've also attended a charity event where my mentor sponsored the entire ordeal. I advertised the company and also met other vendors which can further help me with my senior project.

5. Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number. 

Top 15 Wedding Photographers in the Los Angeles County

Here is the link to the spreadsheet of the top 15 wedding photographers in the Los Angeles County recommended by other brides as well as myself. This spreadsheet consists of contact information, price ranges, and styles of photography. These photographers are listed as "The Knot's Best of Wedding" (an award from the famous Wedding Website, "The Knot") and some are even included in the regional magazines and newspapers. I have other documents on reviews and descriptions of the photographers that I will include later. I plan on making a huge scrapbook/folder of all of the vendors recommended as well as sample pictures of their work and other things included in the spreadsheet.

Top 15 Wedding Photographers

Blog 10: Senior Project Update

Content:

(1) What are you currently doing in your independent component? 

• I am currently looking up the best vendors The Knot website has recommended me to put together my list of vendors that I think would help a bride and groom the most. I am also contacting each vendor through email or phone for specific information such as, the price of a venue if I were to have 200 guests and so on. 

(2) What is a recent piece of research (article, interview, or audio-visual) that have you reviewed you would say was significant in helping you understand where to go next in your senior project?  The piece of research should be something you reviewed in November.  Please explain what you learned and where are you going next because of this piece of research.

• The research that has helped me the most for my independent component is the article, "Bridal Show Tips: Bring Labels, Negotiate with Vendors". I learned that in order to impress engaged couples, vendors must perform the right way in the midst of a Wedding Show. I've also learned that vendors must cater needs to every bride at the show such as, price, style, trend, etc.  Although I've already started on my independent research, this article will make me double check my component to make sure that I am not targeting vendors at just one type of bride, but that I will also cover a large spectrum of clients. 

(3) Provide evidence from your independent component or the piece of research as something you recently did.  For example, a photo of something you working on for your independent component or your notes from the video you watched. 

• This is the spreadsheet of one of recommended venues for weddings that I have put together so far. It shows the name, price, type of venue, etc., to allow future clients to specifically pick out which venue would satisfy their needs. 

Spreadsheet of Venues

Blog 5b: Science Fair Proposal

1. What is your topic?

• Wedding Coordinating/Planning

2. What is the driving problem behind your experiment and the quote by an expert to support that problem?

• There is too much competition in the wedding planning field and there is not enough wedding celebrations to benefit all wedding planners. Also, couples do not have enough money to higher wedding planners. 
• "I recently spoke to a well known high-end wedding supplier in the US whose main (and only) competition closed. They are now competing with lower-end/middle market suppliers, which means the price comparison between what he quotes his customers to what the competition is quoting is so vast. He has had to reduce his costs to compete for the business. Effectively losing his competition is nearly killing his business."

3. What is your hypothesis? (Must be in If-Then form.)

• If the budget of a wedding celebration is beyond average then engaged couples are more likely to hire a wedding planner.

4. Write a paragraph summary of how you will perform the experiment.  Include the tools you plan on using.

• I will conduct this experiment by contacting all of the recent clients of my wedding planner to gain the information of their wedding budget, whether or not they hired a wedding planner, their race, the location of their wedding, the age they decided to get married and the year they were wedded. Then I will gain the same information but through online wedding sites such as The Knot, where I can contact brides that are already married and/or brides-to-be. I will not ask for their names because I would like to keep this questionnaire anonymous.  After gaining all of this research, I will conduct adequate graphs and come up with a solution. 

5. Select one of the following Project Categories for your experiment:

• Behavioral/Social Science

Blog 9: Working EQ and Possible Answers

1. What was the Working EQ you used during your presentation?

• Why are wedding planners essential to a successful wedding?

2. Did you decided to revise your working EQ after your presentation? If so, write your revised EQ here. If not simply write "I am not going to revise my EQ at this time".

• I am not going to revise my EQ at this time.

3. What are possible answers to your current working EQ?

• So far, my possible answers include the fact that brides are allowed to celebrate their wedding and marriage stress free due to the assistance of a wedding planner. I also have the fact that Wedding Planners are there to help the bride pick details for her wedding that are "budget friendly". If a bride were to choose something (for example, china ware) that was beyond her budget, then a Wedding Planner can be there to advise her to choose something else. Also, the Wedding Planner has the experience of managing time. Compared to a new bride who does not no much about deadlines for a wedding, the Planner can be there to make sure everything goes as plan as efficient as possible. 

October 20, 2012 Wedding

The lovely couple, Mr. Chad and Mrs. Jessica Helm, had a "Disney themed" wedding. Although the wedding wasn't over exaggerated with Disney details, there are some cute Disney aspects shown throughout the wedding. Overall, the wedding was absolutely beautiful. Although I wasn't a guest, the family of the bride and groom welcomed me while I was catering to their needs.

The bride, Jessica, stepped into her party gown to share the first dance with the groom.

The dress sported a somewhat different gown in comparison to the traditional wedding dress.
The intricate beading and lace made her gown stick out.

The couple said "So Long!" to everyone as they drove into the night to
go to their honeymoon.

This church was located in the heart of Redlands. It was actually my
first time ever stepping into a church so I found the wedding customs pretty interesting and
different when compared to the Buddhist/Vietnamese weddings I always go to. 

The couple placed a Mickey and Minnie mouse statue right next to their
wedding cake top to show their love of Disney. It's pretty funny and cute
 because the couple actually met each other for the first time at Disneyland. 

Red roses were the main flowers in the reception.
The centerpieces and ballroom was surrounded with these gorgeous flowers. 

Smooches!

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, the couple decided to go for these cute cupcakes!
 The  idea of tuxedos and wedding dresses as cupcakes is too awesome!

Another Disney detail. The couple had matching champagne glasses
with the engravement of Mickey and Minnie mouse on them. 

Credits of the above pictures goes to About The Day Photography.

July 7, 2012 Wedding

During the summer, I helped out my mentor Claudia Santialles, decorate and regulate a wedding located in San Bernardino. The couple picked a fuchsia pink theme for their reception as seen below. The entire ballroom was covered in bright pink fabric that basically lit up the guests mood when they arrived. Overall, this wedding was a great experience for me. It reminded me of the details that are needed in order to have such a successful wedding event. 

The centerpieces were absolutely gorgeous. You could tell that the couple thought
a  lot about the decoration of the table.

I had to tie over a hundred of these bad boys within a period of time, talk about stress. 

A simple table setting. 

The reception was a buffet styled wedding. This was really different for me
because the weddings I usually attend, has servers giving me nine entrees of authentic Chinese food. 

See! Proof of me tying all of the ribbons!

Cheese!

Ta da! The entire wedding reception is finished with little time to spare!

Blog 8: Rough Draft of Presentation 1

10 Minute Plan

Blog 7: Independent Component 1 Approval

CONTENT:
(1) Write a description of what you plan on doing for your independent component.

• For my independent component, I plan on putting together a list of vendors that are recommended to me or those that have a high reputation, that would be really helpful to brides; such as florists, bakeries, dress stores, dj, etc. I would also like to put together wedding packages that would range from inexpensive to luxurious weddings for brides. But these packages and vendors would not only be for the standard traditional American wedding, but would also include Vietnamese/Chinese weddings as well. 

(2) Describe in detail how you think your plan will meet the 30 hour work requirement.

• I think my independent component would meet the 30 hour work requirement because I plan on talking one on one with individual vendors. If possible, I would like to meet them face to face and receive pictures of their work. Also, my plan would meet the 30 hour requirement because there is a lot of organization going on within finding each planner. I have to see if any of my mentors have any recommendations for vendors and I would have to do a lot of research in finding vendors with high reputations. I would have to communicate with wedding vendors in Vietnamese and Chinese to create such packages. 

(3) How does your independent study component relate to your working EQ?

• Although I have not yet created an EQ, this independent component would relate to it by driving me into the direction I would like to go to. By giving me an idea of the financial and technical side of wedding planning, the independent component can make me consider on which side of wedding planning should I focus my EQ on, the technical or visual side.

Blog 6: Second Interview Questions

1. How long have you been working in this field and what has changed since you started?
2. When did you realize that this is the career you wanted to go into?
3. Was there anyone who influenced you in this career? If not, what influenced you?
4. What part of your career satisfies you the most?
5. Was there any wedding you planned that stood out to you the most?

Blog 5a: Science Fair Problem Statement

1. Topic: Wedding Planning/Coordination
2. Problem: There is too much competition in the wedding industry and there are not enough people getting married to satisfy everyone in the wedding coordinating business. Once I solve this problem, I will give tips to my mentor and other wedding coordinating companies to help induce their profits and gain more customers. 
3. Problem: Weddings nowadays are too expensive for an engaged couple to afford (the average wedding cost around $27,00). I will educated newly engaged couples on how to have a less expensive wedding but at the same time, have the wedding they hoped for. 

Blog 4: Project Reflection and Working EQ

The Pentagon:

1. Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you completed so far?
One positive result is that I have learned and appreciated the difficulty it takes to plan a wedding. Unlike the media portrays of wedding planning, this career is not easy. Gretchen enlightened me on the fact that much of a wedding planners personal time is taken up to plan a wedding. There is no such thing as a vacation if there is a wedding to plan.

2. EQ Content: Pick a piece of research or your interview. How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic? 
When I interviewed my mentor, I was bombarded with a ton on new information. Due to the interview, I can understand the substantial amount of time and stress it takes to plan a wedding. Many specific details were explained to me, which helped me understand my topic even more. I now realize that wedding planning is not all fun and games and it can also affect your physical and mental health.

3. What has worked for you so far in the senior project?
So far, the service learning came pretty easy to me. Getting to work with a Wedding Coordinating company was fun and exciting. Also, there is no problem gathering research. There are so many articles and books about wedding planning as well as interviews and videos.

4. What hasn't worked so far?
Scheduling an interview with my mentor was pretty tough. Seeing as how wedding coordinators work everyday, almost 24 hours a day, it was very difficult to figure out a place and time when my mentor and I could meet. Also, my mentor was due to surgery soon so it will be difficult to ask for her assistance in the next few weeks.

5. Finding Value: Based on your experience so far

• What possible question or questions come to mind regarding what you would like to study this year?
• One possible question that comes to mind in regards to what I would like to study this year is "What are the best possible routes for me to take for me to be an effective wedding planner?". Also, I would like to ask "How can I become an organized and efficient wedding planner??"
• What is your end goal this year with your senior project?
• My end goal for my senior project this year is to grasp the way the wedding industry works. It is such a bustling industry that it is so hard to keep up with trends. I would also like to plan my Uncle's Wedding if given the chance to. After having the experience this year, I'm sure he'll let me coordinate his wedding for him. 
• Who would you like to talk to you next? Why?
• If I could talk to anyone next, it would have to be David Tutera. David is known in the wedding industry as a successful wedding/event planner. It would be amazing if I would have a chance to talk to him. He would be able to answer so many of my questions and to be able to view the wedding industry from his perspective would be down right fascinating. 

Blog 3: Interview Preparation

1. Who you plan to interview? Why?

• I plan to interview Gretchen Davis Strutzenberg, a wedding coordinator of Entertaining As Always because she has worked in the business for a very long time. I believe this is her 9th year of being in the business and her experience will help me grasp the true understanding of wedding coordinating.

2. You have to ask 5 questions. What additional questions do you plan to ask? Ask open-ended questions.

• In addition to the five questions, I plan on asking is Gretchen if she'd recommend a young adult as myself, to pursue this career choice. Also, I would like to ask if there are any similar career paths like this one. The last question I would like to ask if she believes that this career choice is worth all the stress and time management that goes into planning a wedding.

Blog 2: Topic Choice

Content

A.  My senior topic is Wedding Coordination/Planning because I enjoy the idea of helping someone achieve their dream wedding. Every girl has a dream wedding, whether they be extravagant or simple. When I was younger, I decided that I would have a poofy ballgown and a prince as my husband (Of course, that is different to what I think my dream wedding should be now). But over the years when I attended weddings, I grew to appreciate it. It takes a lot of time and effort to organize a wedding so I would like to take the pressure off of engaged couples to keep them stress free until the wedding. As my once mentor said "Couples should enjoy the time they spend together without stressing over their big day!".

B. 

• iPoly Citizen: I plan to use effective teamwork while working on this topic. It is not just the Wedding Coordinator that plans the wedding but the bride and groom as well. This will improve myself as an iPoly citizen because it will raise my understanding of how teamwork is important to get the job done. This way, I can apply the importance of teamwork to school projects as well. 
• Effective Communicator: I plan to understand how Wedding Coordinators work with their clients. This will make me a more effective communicator because I can observe how the Coordinators share and understand the little details of the clients dream wedding and put it into action. 
• Effective Learner: I plan to learn time management while working with Wedding Coordinators. In this field, it is very important to manage time or else things will not go as expected. This will make me more effective as a learner because time management will help me lessen stress when a deadline is near.
• Effective User of Technology: I plan to understand the technological way of organizing rather than writing everything down. This will make me more effective as a user of technology because it will help me become familiar with the various ways of organization technologically rather than wasting time jotting little details in a small organizer. 

Blog 1: Summer Mentorship Component

Assignment

Literal (Know):

Mentorship Log 

Claudia Santillanes

• (909) 560-9155
• enchantedcrownevents@yahoo.com
• enchantedcrownevents.webs.com

Gretchen Davis Strutzenberg

• (951) 880-5859
• gretchen@eaaevents.com
• eaaevents.com

Literal (Need to Know):

• How long does it usually take to plan a wedding?
• How do you get your wedding coordinating business out there?
• How much does planning a wedding usually cost?
• What special qualities are needed to become a wedding coordinator?

Interpretive:

The most important thing I have gained from this experience is the satisfaction of talking to brides and their party and getting to know more and more about their special day. Talking to the clients about their wedding made me feel as though I was a part of it and getting to sit down and chat with the mother of the brides was a joyful experience. It was interesting to see how the mothers of the brides were really emotional when their daughters were talking about their wedding.

Applied:

Because of the time spent with both wedding coordinators, I have decided that I wanted to proceed with the topic of wedding planning. When I was working with Claudia (Enchanted Crown Events), I got to experience the hands on work of wedding planning. But when I was working with Gretchen (Entertaining As Always), I got to see the more business-like style of wedding planning. These different aspects of wedding coordinating made me feel as though weddings planning wasn't all fluff and joy like the movies. Instead, it was really stressful and time consuming but something about that made me enjoy it even more. When I was talking with the brides, I could see the happiness they felt when they were explaining their special day and I want to help make their dreams come true.