Meet My New Friend…Preston

Well, this weekend I went to “An Exquisite Event” in Hollywood and had the pleasure of making a new friend, his name is Preston Bailey. He seems to have a knack for decorating and has some good ideas when it comes to party planning. We hung out for a while, talked about blogging, he said he just started blogging a couple of weeks ago. I told him to hang in there, one day he might make it to the blogging major leagues like Our Wedding Plus!

Okay, you got me…

I’m talking about the same Preston Bailey who put together Donald Trump’s wedding, Oprah’s premiere party for O magazine, and parties for almost every other big celebrity you can think of.

He’s also the author of…

Inspirations

Preston Bailey’s Design for Entertaining: Inspiration for Creating the Party of Your Dreams

Preston Bailey’s Fantasy Weddings

Here’s some information Preston passed on during his presentation at “An Exquisite Event.”

Where does he get his inspiration?

From his clients. He said 95% of his clients are women and he’s learned to listen to women and give them what they want.

He said he has two kinds of clients:

1. The kind that want their party to be bigger and better than their girlfriend’s
2. The kind that just want to celebrate and have a good time

His favorites are the ones that fall into category 2.

As far as specific advice for brides, he said…

Be careful with your budget. Think of what is most important to you and realize you can’t have it all. Cut out things that are less important and focus on the more important.

Figure out what your vision is for your event…romantic, traditional, color scheme and don’t do what everyone else is doing.

He stressed to make a dramatic statement that people will not forget. He typically would include at least one dramatic thing in the event design that people would amaze people.

He also stressed that you should do something exciting up the aisle. Check out his blog to see what he did for the aisle at a wedding on the French Riviera.

Some other tips I picked up were…

Only choose 1 or 2 different kinds of flowers. Many people go overboard with different kinds of flowers.

If you are using chair covers don’t use all the same style, use a couple of styles to make it interesting.

And when checking out your venue, don’t forget to check out the bathroom!

His favorite colors?

He likes to try different things but he does like yellows and golds

His favorite themes?

He likes a mix of traditional and contemporary. Doesn’t like it too contemporary.

And, like I’ve said, don’t expect your wedding to go off without a hitch! Preston told a couple of stories about some big things that went wrong at his events. So don’t feel bad just enjoy your day!

Now I did get to talk to Preston Bailey a little bit and I must say he is one of the most approachable people that I’ve met. I was amazed at how friendly and modest he was. He seems to be a truly nice guy.

And, Preston if you’re out there, if you ever need help with that blog of yours let me know!

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Rhonda

Related posts:

1. You Can Afford a Destination Wedding by Preston Bailey!
2. An Exquisite Event with Preston Bailey
3. Top-5 Wedding Blog Posts of the Week!
4. What is the Scent of your Event?
5. Cool Site: Bride-O-Rama