exquisevents.com Blog

DK and Parveena-Bangkok to Beverly Hills

Administrator — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:36:33 +0000

Planning DK and Parveena’s wedding was so fun-Especially considering we just did DK’s sister’s wedding 10 months prior! Their festivities kicked off in Bangkok, Thailand with 7 days of paies followed by the reception held at the Beverly Hills Hotel. We wanted to create something very different from all the vibrant colors used in Thailand so our theme was platinum and diamonds. We enjoyed this family so much and had a great time planning both weddings. This was the perfect finale for their wedding events

Enjoy!

Exquisite Events

Lin and Jirsa Photography

Paris, Day 4

Administrator — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:58:25 +0000

Latin Quarters

9am- Got up and got dressed to go out. Another cold day with temperature in the 25 F 10am- Breakfast at a boulangerie in the neighborhood 11am- Shopping on right bank

1pm- Walked to Musee D’Orsay. The museum had reopened after two years of work to fully renovated spaces. On level 0, around the Seine side is the Barbizon Schoold ( Millet, Courbet’s masterpieces and the early works of Manet, Degas, and Monet: on the Lille side, works for the Academic movement of the 1850s ( Ingres, Delacroix ), the Symbolist gallery ( Moreau, Puvis de Chavannes… ) and the Toulouse-Lautrec room. On level 2: Seine side is Naturalism, foreign schools, the decorative arts of the Third Republic, and French, Belgian and Italian Art Nouveau: Lille side: Neo-Impressionist and Post-Inpressionist painting ( Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat…) and Nabi works from 1900. The Pavillon Amont: After the large Modern de’cors on level 2, you will find Art Nouveau from Central Europe, Northern Europe and Scandinavia on level 3, followed by Austrian, British and American Art Nouveau on level 4. Level 5: Starting with Manet’s Le De’jeuner sur l’herbe ( Luncheon on the grass ), the visitor is taken through the masterpieces of the Impressionist movement from 1860 to 1900. This was definitely the high light of my trip and I just wanted to linger on and look at these paintings forever.

4pm- Lunch at the museum café. This was a Thursday and museum is open till 9 pm.

6pm- Left the museum to walk to Latin Quarters Enjoyed looking at all the furniture and interior decorating shops

7pm- Took the taxi to go over to Eiffel Tower Walked a little bit, took a few photos decided to take another cab to go to Champs Elyesees My husband had eaten a few times at Asien Restaurant on Ave de George Cinq directly across from George Cinq Hotel and loved their food

8:30 pm- We arrived at the restaurant. From the outside it does not look too big, but inside upper level is bar and lounge area and downstairs is huge area very tastefully decorated Menu is all Japanese, Chinese and Thai and food was extraordinary

11pm- Took the taxi and left the restaurant

We are featured in Hello! Magazine

Administrator — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:55:19 +0000

Our tips on Junebug Weddings!

Administrator — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 15:33:18 +0000

Wedding Planning 101 – Tips for Planning a Multi-Day Event, with Madiha Khan of Exquisite Events

Today we have the pleasure of sharing some great tips from the expert wedding planner Madiha Khan of Exquisite Events, on how to plan a perfectly executed multi-day event! Madiha and her mother Nikki are co-owners of Exquisite Events, and renowned planners who specialize in creating fabulous multiple day events for their couples. Madiha’s wonderful tips can help you have a flawless, joyful wedding celebration!

Joy Marie Photography

Madiha Khan of Exquisite Events: We do a number of multiple day events and its nice because the couple can actually spend time with their invited guests and not have to worry that it is over in just a few hours. There are a number of things to consider when planning a multi day wedding and here are a few of our tips to help you out:

If your wedding is 2 days or longer, plan to have it on a holiday weekend so that your out of town guests can attend; a lot of times the venues will offer special rates on holidays and holiday weekends

When planning 3-4 days of events back to back it’s important to think about the locations. To avoid transporting a number of guests all over town, try looking for venues for each day that are in the same vicinity

Planning any kind of wedding is quite a task, so if you are planning a multi day event, I strongly recommend getting a professional to help you; if this is not the route you choose to take, make sure to plan well in advance and be organized. Keep a calendar with you at all times that can help you keep track of which vendors are coming on which day, payment schedules, appointments, etc.

John Solano Photography

Many of our South Asian brides travel abroad for their outfits and it is important to do this at least 8- 12 months ahead of time as many of the top designers need time to create each outfit, especially if you have 3 or 4.

Book your animal! This may sound funny, but for an Indian ceremony, the groom’s procession, or Baraat, is marked by the groom entering on an animal such as a horse or an elephant. Sometimes these animals can get booked well ahead of time.

Lin and Jirsa Photography

If you are having a number of out of town guests staying at the same hotel, have welcome bags for them with an itinerary of the days to come as well as some snacks and goodies. It is always a nice touch and sets the tone for the coming days.

Lastly, enjoy! Your wedding day is one of the most important days, and how lucky to be able to spend it with loved ones over an extended period of time. Take it all in and enjoy each day as it comes!

Samson Productions

Thank you Madiha! What great tips for a fun multi-day event, executed perfectly.

For more beautiful events from Madiha and her company, Exquisite Events, visit the Exquisite Events website and blog, as well as their blog devoted to Indian wedding planning, Journey to India!

Paris, Day 3

Administrator — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:27:42 +0000

10am- Left the hotel for quick breakfast at Blanquet, our favorite boulangerie right next to the hotel. I was mindful of the fact that we had an 11 am appointment at George V, a Four Seasons Hotel.

On my way to meet Nidale Barrett at George V who is the sales and development manager. What an amazing lady! I spent three hours with her and felt like I had known her all my life. She was not only gracious but very welcoming and showed us the meeting spaces, penthouse suite, roof top balcony as well as other areas of the hotel.

Nidale and I

George V lobby

What a view from the rooftop balcony!

One of the suites at the George V

La Basilique du Sacre Coeur

2:30pm- Arrived in Montmartre and went up the hill to see the famous church Sacre Coeur. Even though I have seen this church many times, I am always struck by the beauty. It is an imposing beautiful and majestic structure in white and has the view of the entire city. The Church was busy with a lot of worshippers inside as well as people hanging outside taking photos on the steps. After spending some time there, we strolled towards the square where all the artists are situated. It is amazing to see the talent and different mediums and styles. From oils to charcoal, pencil, water color and from still life to city scape, land scape and live sketches being done, it is just awesome to walk around.

Temperature was about 30 degree F and there were few people out in the square. We took some time to appreciate the art, talked to the artists and decided to have a nice long lunch. The restaurant was in front of us and menu looked very good so we made our way in. We were immediately seated at the window and ordered our food. I don’t know if the food was extra ordinarily delectable and delicious or if we were very hungry, regardless, we enjoyed each and every morsel and had our lunch in the most unrushed manner. After lunch we walked to the village, purchased a few souvenirs and decided to head back to the city.

5 pm- Arrived at Hotel de Crillon for our afternoon tea which was our daily ritual.

6-8pm- Shopping at Rue St. Faubourg/ St. Honore

8:30pm- Dinner at Thai Spicey located on Rue de L’Ave Maira, a personal favorite of the concierge at Crillon. It was an unforgettable experience and the food was most amazing and flavorful. Fresh ingredients, wonderful flavors and great presentation

Back to the hotel to get ready for day 4!

Nikki

Morocco meets India Henna Party

Administrator — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:33:11 +0000

Its always fun to create Henna and Sangeet parties because there are so many colors and themes you can do. For this party we used traditional Indian colors of yellow and red and brought in a few tents and low wooden furniture and lanterns to give the Moroccan feel. The tents were made to look like bazaars and the guests were able to go inside to discover a plethora of fruit, arabic tea served and henna artists ready to design beautiful patterns on the ladies hands.

Paris, Day 2

Administrator — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 19:45:36 +0000

Cold and Rainy day

11am: When we came out of the hotel, it started drizzling and that drizzle turned in to steady rain.

St Augustin church

11:30 am- We decided to skip breakfast and went for lunch at Le Carre’. The restaurant is two Michelin Star and is located right by the famous church St. Augustine. We were given a window seat and it was almost surreal to watch this amazing and imposing structure that was more than 300 years old. People were walking at a fast pace with umbrellas, smoking, riding bikes and some carrying groceries. Parisiannes definitely do not like rain and cold weather as we heard a lot of people complaining incessantly. I wanted to savor the sights and take it all in and therefore just sat at the window analyzing the difference in life style, culture and people between Paris and LA. Lunch was a huge disappointment considering the fact it is such as famous restaurant. Perhaps it was the particular food we ordered or they just believe in very bland meals, needless to say my husband was very unhappy.

Le Grand Palais

1pm: Decided to walk towards Champs Elysees to see Grand Palais. I had been infatuated with the Chanel Fashion Show “From Paris to Bombay” that had taken place at Grand Palais a few years ago and wanted to check out the museum from inside.

Luckily there was no line and we were able to go inside very quickly. The Petit Palais houses a significant collection of decorative murals and artwork created between 1903 and 1925. We spent a couple of hours looking at the sculptures, paintings, furniture and walking around the museum and had a lovely time.

Since there was no agenda and we were just discovering the city, we came upon Museum of Fragrance by House of Fragonard. This was something I had to go and see. They have been producing perfumes, eaux de toilette and perfumed products in their labs using the traditional methods of French Perfumeries. The exhibition was very interesting and showed in great detail how House of Fragonard has been making perfumes since 1926. It was a very informative trip and the shop downstairs has all the perfumes, soaps, lotions and candles etc for sale. The museum also happens to be right across from L’Opera which is a stunning building.

Fragonard Boutique

From here, we walked to Place Madeleine which is one of my favorite churches. Not only is the architecture from outside and inside is awesome, it is also located on one of the most busy and beautiful boulevards of Paris. Upon ascending the stairs, you have the full view of the beautiful street dotted with designer boutiques and in front is Place de la Concorde. The inside of the church is also very impressive from inside.

Place Madeleine

Inside the church

4pm- We continued our walk and came upon a tea house which has branches in other parts of the city. One thing different in Paris is if you are going to be ordering to eat at the establishment the price is different vs: take out price. We got our hot tea, sandwiches and dessert and climbed upstairs to relax and enjoy. Upstairs was packed with people chatting, reading paper, visiting or plain relaxing. When I looked outside the window, I realized Galeries Lafayette and Printemps were across the street. We had walked quite a bit. Galries Lafayette is located in the heart of Paris, the flagship store on Boulevard Haussmann is considered a the second most visited attraction after the Louvre, but also the world’s leading department store, with more than 100,000 visitors per day and 70,000 square meters of sales area.

Galeries Lafayette

Graced by a 100 year old neo-byzantine dome build in 1912, Galeries Lafayette offers a large selection of items in every segment, from fashion to accessories, from beauty to home decoration and fine food. This was a perfect place to shop for gifts and souvenirs for family and friends.

One of our favorite restaurants

We spent a couple of hours going to various stores in search of the “perfect gift” that was requested specifically by our grand kids. By now, we had worked up an appetite and my husband wanted to go to his favorite Pakistani/Indian Restaurant that he knew was located somewhere very close to Galeries Lafayette. Without address, it was impossible to find the place so we decided to walk towards a hotel to inquire about the address. As fate would have it, I looked up on our way to the hotel on one of the side streets and there it was “ Le New Bilal,” the restaurant we had been looking for. I guess it was meant to be. The owners recognized us and welcomed us with huge smile. We had a sumptuous meal and dessert and realized how exhausted we were around 9 pm.

Nikki’s travel diary Paris: Day 1

Administrator — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 10:00:47 +0000

On Jan 2^nd, my husband surprised me with two tickets to Paris. We were scheduled to leave on Jan 13^th to make it for my birthday on Jan 14. I was beyond excited as Paris happens to be one of my most favorite cities, if not most favorite in the world. I was also looking forward to practicing my French that had become quite rusty due to not practicing. We boarded the plane on the 13th for an early morning flight and arrived in Paris on Jan 14^th at 9 am. By the time we retrieved our luggage and got the taxi to go to the hotel, it was 11 am and I did not want to waste any time so out we went

Day 1

We had no specific agenda but to just discover the city on foot. We started our walk towards Champs Elysees which was about a ten minute walk from our hotel. The weather was cloudy and cold but it felt good to do a brisk walk. We started by Arc de Triomphe and walked all the way to Place de la Concorde. Since Hotel De Crillon happens to be my favorite hotel in Paris and we have stayed there on numerous occasions, we wanted to check it out.

Hotel de Crillon

It just so happened that the concierge recognized us and welcomed us warmly and graciously. We decided to take our first break for tea. The gentleman that was serving us happened to be a tea connoisseur and was not only a comedian but a very animated person. He served us two different tea flavors, one was orange blossom and the other lavender. We enjoyed our afternoon at De Crillon with flavorful tea and gourmet sandwiches in the most relaxed manner and hung around the hotel for a couple of hours

Tea Time at the Crillon

From there, we walked towards the Louvre Museum where there are tons of shops as well as my all time favorite hot chocolate spot, Angelina. This

Angelina

bakery/boulangerie/brasserie has been there since early 1900′s and was Coco Chanel’s favorite spot to hang out and sip hot chocolate and definitely serves the best hot chocolate. The line outside is always very long and being that it was cold, I prayed for them to seat us quickly. Luckily a few people decided not to wait in the cold and line became shorter. We were seated rather quickly. Sipping the ultimate decadent hot chocolate in the cold weather was just the right recipe and it was lovely to people watch. One amazing thing I always notice about French people is the fact they never seem to be in a hurry and can linger at brasseries, cafes for hours on end.

After an hour or so, we exited Angelina and walked back towards Hotel de Crillon to go to Rue St. Faubourg/St. Honore. This is where all the fashionable boutiques are located and the street is always buzzing with activity. Our first stop was Hermes and I literally stopped and gasped at the window displays. The windows had not been changed from Christmas displays and they were truly spectacular. Spot the beautiful bags, jewelry and scarves in these windows!

Hermes Window

After Hermes, we walked and looked at some other window displays, walked inside at some of the shops in the most unhurried manner and looked at their spring/summer fashion displays. One store I always like to go to is the flagship Louis Vuitton Store and we continued our walk towards Ave George Cinq which is where this stunning store is located. What a magnificent building and what amazing displays!!

The location is perfect and you definitely cannot miss it. We spent some time inside and saw quite a bit of the store. By now, we were exhausted so headed back to the hotel.

On our way back, we came across the famous Laduree on Champs Elysees. Who can resist the yummy macarons and café au lait at Laduree? This was our last stop of the day and needless to say the pistachio and chocolate macarons with some other delicacies did not disappoint.

Tower of Macarons

Freshly baked every day

Off to the hotel to rest….stay stuned for Day 2!

Thank you for joining me on my travels

Love,

Nikki

Faizaan and Zahra

Administrator — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:00:27 +0000

Faizaan had feelings for Zahra the moment he first saw her. They met through his cousin when they were 12 years old and the two remained good friends for 12 years. Faizaan didn’t want to ruin their friendship by mentioning his feelings for Zahra to her, so he kept it a secret. But that all that changed when Zahra visited Faizaan in Los Angeles from London in the summer of 2010; and before you know it, by January 6th, 2011, the two of them were engaged and both families were over the moon at the joyous celebration dinner at Zahra’s mother’s home in Lahore, Pakistan. For the rest of the year the two families planned two weddings which took place in Lahore, Pakistan and Los Angeles.

On February 10th, 2012 the beautiful couple were married at the historical mosque in Lahore, Badshah e Masjid, which was built by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It was a small, intimate, religious paper signing event called a Nikka, which was followed by a brunch at a beautiful ancient Pakistani home, otherwise known as a Havelli, in old city Lahore next to the Badshah e Masjid. The event was hosted by Faizaan’s parents and guests were entertained by a Qawali performance by Santu. On the 12th of February, the main wedding celebration event known as the Mehndi and Baraat took place. Traditionally Pakistani’s do not combine the two events, but Zahra wanted to keep it simple and less hectic. Zahra and her mother designed a 60s-inspired traditional Pakistani bridal outfit and Faizaan wore a traditional Pakistani outfit which was designed by Nilofer Shahid. The event was spectacular!

In March, family and friends flew from around the world to make it to Faizaan and Zahra’s wedding reception at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, in Beverly Hills Los Angeles. It was an impeccable event organized by Nikki Khan of Exquisite Events. The event decor was inspired by Karl Lagerfeld’s Pre-Fall 2012 Paris Bombay Collection for Chanel. Faizaan wore a tux by Tom Ford and Zahra wore a gown by Alexander McQueen.

Pakistan Events:

Designer: J & S

Consultant: Exquisite Events

Zahra’s outfits: Designed by the bride and her mom

Location: Badshahi Mosque (Ceremony) Haveli (wedding lunch) Model Town (wedding reception)

Photographer: Ali Agha

Reception on March 31:

Location: Beverly Wilshire

Event planner and designer: Exquisite Events

Decor: Revelry Event Designers

Linens: Wildflower Linens

Flowers: tic-tock Couture Florals

Photographer: John Solano

Videographer: Vidicam

Band: Rossi Music

DJ: Special Occasions

Rentals: Classic Party Rentals

Lighting and Dance Floor: Royal Events

Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Spring/Summer 2013

Administrator — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:17:08 +0000

We have more images to share with you of Faizaan and Zahra’s weddings in Beverly Hills and Pakistan that have been featured in the Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazine. Enjoy!