Year in Review 2018

2018. We had the amazing good fortune to celebrate 15 couples down the aisle, 3 social events, 1 corporate, and many, many, many design projects. It was a full year! We also continued our company core value of Philanthropy by making financial contributions to non-profits such as She Should Run, ACLU, Frosted Faces Foundation, and Kiva.org. I experienced some career highs (speaking at Wedding MBA, starting the Rock Your Wedding Biz podcast with Mindy Marzec, launching my online course, Wedding Management 101) and personal lows (my cousin’s sudden death), and all the while, Moxie Bright Events journeyed on. We look back at the year that was with a lot of gratitude and a lot of love. Here’s our Year in Review 2018!

Winter

We started the year not with a wedding, but with a Styled Shoot at one of our favorite venues (where we also happen to be a Preferred Planner, btw) The Ebell of Los Angeles. Peterson Design & Photography, Upton Grey Floral and I teamed up to imagine what would happen if Megan & Harry got married in Los Angeles instead of Windsor. This styled shoot was featured on Southern California Bride and you can read more about this shoot here as well.

The very next week, we began our 2018 wedding season with the fantastic wedding of Nikki & Jen at The Colony House in Anaheim. Their wedding was stylish, heartfelt, and a complete dance party! One of the most fun times we had all year!

The very next morning (sleep be damned!), we participated in City Club‘s Toast & Tour. Since City Club LA is a members-only club, the Toast & Tour is a chance for non-members (and engaged couples) to come to see the venue and take in the amazing city views! You can read more about our design here.

March brought with it some weather (rain! wind!) and a number of amazing events! First, we celebrated Zoe & Jeremy at Calamigos Ranch. It poured rain on their wedding day, and they handled it with grace and love. You can read about and see more of their beautiful day here.

Next, we returned to one of our favorite and most frequented venues, The Unique Space, for the festive and super fun wedding of Camillo & William! We loved their fun and welcoming approach to designing their day. And, we love being back at Unique, where we are proud to be on the Preferred Planner list for years now!

The very same night, Joe & Kristie headed up a second team across town in Beverly Hills! They had the great pleasure to celebrate Marisa & Chris’ at their intimate at-home wedding ceremony followed by a lovely dinner reception at The Eveleigh Restaurant.

We finished up the month of March in New Orleans for the Inspire Design Workshop. You can hear all about IDW on episode 31 of my podcast, Rock Your Wedding Biz. Here’s just a taste of what I created (with an amazing creative team) in NOLA. It was so dreamy!

Spring

April had us all over SoCal! We began with Lara & Chris and their fantastic wedding at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. This is one of my favorite venues in town, and this was one of my favorite weddings ever! You can see more from this wedding here and also on Zola, where it was featured as the Wedding of the Day!

Long Beach was the scene of our next event, specifically the Rainbow Lighthouse! My dear friends Stephanie & Beth decided to elope and called on me to help, which I was honored to do. Steph & Beth had their first date at the Lighthouse, so it was a natural choice of setting for their vows. Stay tuned for more from this wedding which will be featured on Pretty Pear Bride in 2019!

Just a few days later, we headed out to Joshua Tree for the wedding weekend of Melissa & Megha! Joshua Tree is quite possibly our favorite local destination for weddings, and Mel & Megha did their weekend up in style! Sacred Sands provided a simply gorgeous venue for their wedding day. Moxie Bright Events is honored to be a Preferred Planner at this magical venue. A mere photo can’t do this one justice. Here’s a teaser video from The Vision Field. So good!

In May, we celebrated Alexa’s Bat Mitzvah. Did you know we do social events too? Well, we do! We have had the amazing fortune to celebrate many life events with Alexa’s family, so being there for her Bat Mitzvah was extra sweet, just like her theme: Candy! The Brentwood Country Club became a candy emporium for the evening, and it was a sugar-shocking good time for all!

Just a few blocks away on the very same night, Joe & Kristie once again lead a team of pros to celebrate Eric’s 60th Birthday with an at-home party! We LOVE at-home events. As a matter of fact, they are our specialty! We are always so thrilled to help our clients host in their home. It’s our favorite kind of hospitality!

Summer

We were invited by our friends at La Pinata Party Rentals to design a showroom table for the upcoming month, June. Inspired by memories of the Amalfi Coast of Italy, we went full-on Summer with our design. You can see more of that design here. Don’t you just want to sit here and have an early evening pasta party? I do!

We ended May in Pasadena at the Shakespeare Club for the wedding of Hayley & Justin. Their ceremony was structured more like a play or variety show, and it was one of the most amazing and unique weddings ever!

We were invited by our friends at Bright Event Rentals to design a showroom table for the 4th of July, and we were happy to oblige! One of the coolest aspects of designing a showroom table is the collaborative nature of the design – you have access to everything in the showroom, so we got to play and go BOLD! You can see more from this bright (pun intended) design here.

In July, we returned to Long Beach and to one of our favorite venues, The Ebell Long Beach. Brianna & Mike’s amazing, unique, and heartfelt wedding was the highlight of our month! I’ll share more from this wedding in due time, but for now, here’s a sneak peek.

August found our team at The Ruby Street. We adore Ruby Street, and we are proud to be a Preferred Planner at this chic, hip space in Highland Park. Katherine & Patrick partied down on their wedding day, with a Selena cover band and their closest friends and family. Such a great day!

Fall (but California Fall feels like Summer, still…)

Joshua Tree called to us again in September, and we headed out for the wonderful wedding weekend of Sydney & Jon. Syd & Jon chose the new Desert Lily B & B venue, Love/Love, to host their wedding festivities. It’s so lovely to see how the wedding industry in Joshua Tree is thriving. We are so grateful to be embraced by the community there. Expect to see more of this dreamy wedding in the near future, but for now, here’s a sneak peek.

Soon enough, we were back at The Ruby Street for Nicole & CJ’s awesome Mexican fiesta themed wedding. A fantastic time was had by all – and the surprise mariachi’s certainly helped get the day started off on the right note! Pun intended. 😉

October continued apace with a special industry event for the Kim Sing Theatre in Chinatown. We came on board to introduce the venue to the local wedding industry with our “Fall in Love with Kim Sing” event. Much more to come from this event shortly. For now, here’s a fall tablescape we dreamed up. Such a sucker for a good pattern!

We closed out October back in DTLA at The Unique Space with the lovely and creative Liz & Sam and their “Hallowedding”, complete with a costume change, gratis masks for those guests without a costume, and last dance of the night to…Thriller. What else could it be?

Winter (California Winter, which is basically Fall)

In November, we celebrated Kate & Jack at the very chic Palihouse in West Hollywood. Guests enjoyed a delicious multi-course dinner and then danced late into the night. It was an epic bash for sure!

Continuing with our theme of helping clients celebrate milestone birthdays this year, November found us in Santa Monica at the always elegant Shutters on the Beach for Dorothy’s 80th Birthday! The Lady is 80, and she wanted a vintage theme with cream, blush, and silver. So that’s exactly what we did. Such a classic look!

We ended the year in Marina del Rey with Jolina & Sean for their rooftop wedding at the Marriot Marina del Rey. We were blessed with a clear, beautiful day for their luncheon wedding. They welcomed professional dancers to kick off the dancing, and their guests needed no further nudging. I’ve never seen such a full dance floor! And the bonus of having a luncheon wedding? You are free to take all your portraits at Golden Hour. Stay tuned for a proper blog post about this wedding in early 2019.

To all our clients, thank you for trusting us with the important days of your lives. It means so much to me and the entire team that we get to be a small part of your big days. We love and appreciate you all so much.

To all the wedding pros we have had the pleasure of working with this year, thank you for making this sometimes stressful job feel easy and joyous. It’s a privilege getting to collaborate with all of you. You’re amazing!

To my fellow Wedding Planners who embraced community over competition and assisted me this year: Holly, Roey, Emily, thank you so much. I am so grateful for our strong local wedding community, and I am so glad to call you all friends.

To Kristie & Kelsey, what in the world would I do without you? Thank you for being consistently awesome and for always going above and beyond. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

To Joe (husband/co-owner/partner in crime), thank you for every single thing you do to keep me sane (well, as sane as I can be). Thank you for your unwavering support and confidence in me. I love you.

And now, I leave you with these words from Neil Gaiman: “May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful and don’t forget to make some art – write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.” 

Cheers to a wonderful 2019!