If I were having a Quinceanera, I would want Hugo Benson of Hugo Benson Photography to be my photographer.  He’s based in San Diego and doesn’t come cheap (his packages starts at $2,000), but he gives his Quinceaneras the experience of a lifetime and turns them into bona fide celebrities!

Hugo is one of the main photographers for both Quinceaneras Magazine and My Quince Magazine, so he says 99% of the Quinceaneras he shoots end up in print.

His photographs are both gorgeous and one-of -a-kind.   He uses eye-catching backdrops and interesting props to show off his clients, and he designs his pictures so they look like professional modeling shots.

And to top it off, he’s a really nice guy who takes pride in his work and understands that to be a great Quinceanera photographer his job is to make his clients look and feel like princesses.

Here are some “modeling shots” from his Quinceaneras’ Signature Photo sessions…

And his breathtaking Quinceaneras in their gowns…

So if you live in Southern California, are having a Quinceanera in the near future, and have the goal of being famous someday, start by hiring Hugo.  He’ll give you your first taste of stardom.

So the invitations to my daughter’s party are out.  The responses are trickling in.  While my intention was to keep it small, I don’t think I’m going to be successful.  Now I’m planning on about 30 kids, 45 adults.  That’s a lot of mouths to feed.  So for my menu…

45 inch sandwiches from Bay Cities Deli in Santa Monica.   They make big Italian sandwiches on fresh baked slightly sour, slightly sweet bread.   Their “godmother” and “caprese” sandwiches are their most famous.  We’ll order a few of both and maybe a turkey and cheese.

I’m also ordering about 8 pizzas for the kids, not sure from where yet, and a big fruit platter.  The question is do I need a big salad too or is that overkill?  Any thoughts please comment.

Every time I plan a party, I’m always amazed at how many details there are and how much work the whole thing is.

For my daughter’s 3rd birthday party, my goal is to create a hip, fun, and relatively simple shindig, with low stress.  A tall order, I know, but here’s how I’m thinking of doing it…

The party will be at a local park.  I’m limiting the invite list to just school friends to keep it manageable, however, we’re still talking 25 kids and an equal number of adults.

I’m sending online invitations from Cocodot, my new favorite online invitation site.  For $20 you get something like this.

Made with Cocodot and some simple Photoshop

I’m serving pizza, salad, and a big fruit plate, but still deciding where the food is coming from.

For dessert, initially I was thinking I’d bake cupcakes, but now I’m talking to some bakers I found on Craigslist to see if they can do it for a reasonable price.  Otherwise, I might splurge on a cake from Susie Cakes, my favorite bake shop in LA.  I might not be able to control myself.

An array of cakes from Susie Cakes.

For entertainment (this is LA after all), and since my daughter LOVES to dance, I’m calling it her  “dance party” and I’ve hired Gil Santoscoy, aka “Goofy Gil” to get the kids grooving.  He’s a kids’ theater and movement teacher and he’s fabulous — funny, silly, but always in control (even with seriously out-of-control three-year-olds).  Trust me, the man has a gift.

Goofy Gil is beyond great for kids' parties

And for favors, I’m thinking of buying a slew of mardi gras beads to pass out during the party and then as a little gift for the kids to take home, getting CDs made of my daughter’’s favorite dance songs — some Laurie Berkner, some Dan Zanes, some Yo Gabba Gabba… It’s gonna rock (especially if you’re a toddler).

Okay, so this is what I know so far.  As I move forward, I’ll keep posting.  And if you have any thoughts or ideas on how to make this party simple but awesome, I’d love them!

(Isn’t it funny how we’ll go to such lengths to throw a party for our kid who won’t even remember it when she’s 25.)

I love this… an entire blog dedicated to people throwing Twilight-themed and New Moon-themed parties.  It was started by Tara who was turning 30, wanted to throw a Twilight-themed dinner party, couldn’t find a lot of ideas on the web, so she started her own blog.

Tara's Twilight Party Blog

Some pictures from her Twilight-themed 30th birthday party.

Tara's invitation

Her table setting

And some other people’s Twilight and New Moon party pics.

A Twilight birthday invitation

A Twilight Sweet 16 cake

Twilight themed drinks

Twilight party favors

So if you want to throw a Twilight-themed party and get great ideas, learn where to buy  party supplies, find cool inspirations for favors, invitations, and decorations, Tara’s Twilight Party Blog – A blog dedicated to Twilight Saga Parties is the place to be.

I was just talking to Christine Long-Plotkin, who recently added her wedding photos to our site.  She got married in November 2009 in Los Angeles, and threw a $30k wedding on a budget of $13k.

Christine and Jacob under the big trees in Topanga Canyon

How did she do it?  With a “can do” spirit, by finding people who were willing to work within her budget, and by enlisting everyone she knew.

First, she found an outdoor restaurant in a magnificent setting called Inn of the Seventh Ray, that was flexible on cost. They have no alcohol license, so it was beer, wine, and champagne for everyone.  Plus, they bake their own wedding cakes so there were no cake cutting fees.

She hired a cute, bubbly, actress friend of her sister’s to be the MC and DJ, gave her a laptop with prerecorded songs, a script, and let her do her thing.

She used officiant, Matthew Linzmeier, who was a friend of the family’s.

Her mother took a flower arranging class and became the florist.

She found a college kid named Andrew Lee, studying photography and used him as her photographer.

She called in a favor with a graphic artist friend of DKNG who designs band posters, and had him design their invitations in the form of posters.

Their invitation designed by a graphic artist who does band posters

Her husband’s mother made the cake topper.

And since Disneyland is a special place to both Christine and Jacob, Christine blew up vintage Disneyland posters, had them printed at Shutterfly, and used them as table themes.

Christine said it wasn’t the fanciest wedding, but that wasn’t what they were after.  They wanted something beautiful, meaningful, and personal.  And that’s what they got.

Her one splurge… her $3,000 dress because who doesn’t want to look like a princess on her wedding day?

So many of the parties I write about are big parties, so it was fun talking to party planner Chris Nease, owner of Celebrations at Home in Richmond, Virginia, about some of the smaller events she throws, and the creative things she comes up with to make her parties special.

She just put together a candy table for a preteen’s birthday, and her inspiration… a shower curtain.  She wanted to do something fall and fun, so when she saw the $16 red and brown shower curtain at Walmart she knew she was onto something.  Using the colors as her guide, she included chocolate milk (in recycled Starbucks frappuccino bottles), chocolate bars, licorice, Whoppers, Hershey’s kisses, and chocolate covered donuts.  But the best part, it looked professional and fabulous and cost less than $150 for the whole shebang.

Candy table in red and brown

Chris says her favorite kinds of parties to throw are cocktail parties — drinks and appetizers.  In fact, she just threw a Ladies Night “Let it Snow” Christmas party for 13 of her closest girlfriends, where everyone brought an appetizer or bottle of wine and she provided a dessert/favor bar.  Simple, yet fun.  Here are a few pictures from the event.  See more pictures on her Catch My Party page.

The dessert and favor bar

The wine glasses with snowflake stickers

The centerpiece was a manzanita tree spray painted silver surrounded by poms and carnations

As Chris says, she’s a regular person on a budget, so she understands how to throw parties with that warm, stylish, creative touch, while not blowing the bank in the process.  Check out her blog to get many more fresh, inexpensive ideas.

Because we’re so excited about our site, Catch My Party, we wanted to share some of that excitement with you.  So to 1 of the next 100 new users who add their party photos to our site, we’re giving away a new iPod Nano.   Yup, it’s the one with the built-in video camera, the cool aluminum finish, and the larger screen.

The New iPod Nano

We will randomly draw a name out of a hat and put the video up on our blog so you can all watch the suspense.

So go on, add your photos, write about your party, send the whole thing to your friends and family, and most importantly… have fun!

How many times have you looked at that bridesmaid’s dress in your closet and wondered what to do with it?  It’s a little too dressy to pack in a grocery bag and send to Goodwill, but you know in your heart you’ll never wear it again (even if the bride swore on her life it’d make the cutest cocktail dress).

Well, if you live in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area, now there’s a solution.  Donate it to the Priceless Gown Project.

This is an organization that provides free formal wear to girls who want to attend their prom but can’t afford a dress.  Last year they outfitted over 500 girls by setting up a boutique at the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor and over 200 volunteers came out to help.

I was talking to Leslie Collier, the director of the program, and as she was describing the process to me — how each girl works one-on-one with a volunteer to help find the right dress  — I was blown away.   She said many of these girls don’t have a mom to go shopping with, so the relationship with the volunteer is an important one.  Not only are these volunteers providing fashion advice, but they are also there to provide mentoring, information, and connection, something many of these girls really need.

So if you live in the Baltimore or DC area and you’ve got a dress or some time to give, I can’t think of a better way than the Priceless Gown Project.

PART 2 in my series on wedding photographers…

Yesterday I talked with Jules Bianchi, of Jules Bianchi Photography in Los Angeles, because I love her photographs and needed to understand what inspires her.

Jules, who is very close to her family (her sister, Joy, is her partner and still cries at every wedding they attend), feels that time with friends and family is precious.  Therefore when she’s photographing a wedding, it is the fleeting moments, the ones that disappear in an instant, that she’s after.

Jules feels it is her job to give her clients not only beautiful photographs, but beautiful photographs filled with all the memories they need to remember their wedding day as it really happened.  And Jules is such a perfectionist, she won’t stop until she’s captured everything — from the smallest detail of the place settings, to the spontaneous moments of emotion during the ceremony, to the bride at her most radiant.

Take a look at these photographs.  Click on them to enlarge them and see how evocative they.

PART 1 in my series on wedding photographers….

One of the first things Kate Watson, of Kate Watson Photography in the San Francisco Bay Area, said to me was, “I shoot love.”  And that’s exactly how she sees her job.  Of course she cares about aesthetics and shooting beautiful pictures, but her main concern is capturing the connection between people.  Above everything else, she wants her photographs to evoke real emotional.

To help achieve this, all of Kate’s wedding packages include an engagement session.  Not only is this so the bride and groom have some cool shots for their guest book, but it’s a way for Kate to get to know her couples, and more importantly, for her couples to get to know her.

She’s found that the best wedding shoots are the ones where her couples feel comfortable exposing themselves to her.  That way, at the wedding, Kate can make herself as invisible as possible, document the day as a photojournalist would, and capture every wonderful spontaneous moment.

When I asked Kate what kinds of couples tend to hire her, she said those that want to relax and enjoy the experience of their wedding.  She said it fits with her philosophy as a photographer: to be dedicated to the authentic, and to capture everything as it really happens.

Here are some of my favorite images of Kate’s.  Click on them to enlarge them and see how gorgeous they really are.