Music is such an important part of any wedding.  It can really make or break your event.   Shant and I wanted to have great entertainment to make sure that our guests stayed on the dance floor the whole night.  The first decision was whether we wanted to have a DJ only, a band only, or both.  We decided to have both.  We knew the DJ would do a great job bringing a variety of music, including popular hits.  And we wanted a live band to play Armenian music.  Shant and I both love live music, and we really felt that a band would bring a lot more energy to the wedding. 

Once we decided to have both a DJ and a band, we started choosing our vendors.  The DJ we went with was DJ International.  I had worked with Hrach and Arsen as part of Harsanik.com for a long time and they are both such great guys! They are very professional and really fun people to work with.  Plus, both Shant and I heard them playing at The Premier Bridal Event in November 2009, and we both liked their style.  So it was an easy decision to use DJ International for our wedding!

As for the band, Shant and I knew that we wanted someone with a lot of energy.  We had heard Sako perform at The 2009 Premier Bridal Event as well, and we both liked his voice, style and demeanor.  So we worked with Sako’s manager and booked Sako for our wedding!

Once we had finalized our DJ & band, we decided to get a "sazandar" to play the traditional Armenian music both at the bride's house and for the entrance for the wedding reception. I've always personally loved having the sazandar play the Armenian music as the groom's family enters the bride's house, as the bride & groom leave the bride's house, and as the bride & groom enter their wedding reception hall! So I knew I wanted to have a sazandar, and I also knew I wanted to have Mamikon be our "sazandar"! I had the pleasure of seeing Mamikon and his band perform at The 2009 Premier Bridal Event and I was so impressed by not only their music, their attire, but also the energy they brought into the hall with their entrance. So it was an easy decision to book Mamikon to be a part of wedding!

We can’t wait to have DJ International,  Sako and Mamikon liven up our party!   

Hi - this is Marineh from Harsanik.com. Soon after our engagement, my mom asked what type of event I wanted for my bridal shower.  Since I had just had the engagement in a banquet hall with a DJ, I knew I wanted to do something different and unique. I wanted a very fun and girly event for my bridal shower. 

After coming up with a few ideas (including cooking classes), I decided to have my bridal shower at a nail salon where my guests and I could enjoy mani's and pedi's.  I picked NailPolish as the location. They are a relatively new nail salon that opened less than a year ago, and the salon is super trendy and cute.  The salon is spacious with lots of spa chairs, 4 mani stations and can easily accommodate 30 to 40 guests.  The owner, Lilit, was great to work with.  She agreed to close the salon for my event and allowed me to bring in my own catering into the salon. 

I picked Hamov Catering to provide all the catering for my bridal shower, and they did a great job!  They brought a variety of finger foods and they did an amazing job with not only the delicious food, but also the beautiful presentation. 

I even had Cake Studio make me a cake shaped like an OPI nail polish bottle! The cake was the talk of the event!

The event ended up being a hit! My guests loved getting pampered and it was a great way for everyone to mingle while getting their nails done.  We even played games for a few hours.  Everyone left with a big smile and beautiful nails!

Here the last picture I took at the bridal shower with me, Shant, and our bridal party.

This is Marineh again, from Harsanik..com. One of the most important things that Shant and I cared most about was the pictures.  Everyone had told us that pictures are the only thing left from your wedding, and that they help you remember all the little details.  So Shant and I took some time making this important decision.  After much research, we ended up picking Jared from Bauman Photographers as our wedding photographer.  He is located in San Diego, which is where Shant and I live, so it made it really convenient for us to work with him, especially since we wanted our engagement photo shoot to be in San Diego.  I had actually gotten to know Jared four years ago when I first started Harsanik.com.  A friend of mine had introduced me to him, and I fell in love with his work.  Plus, Jared was super excited about photographing an Armenian wedding, so we decided to work with Jared from Bauman Photographers as our wedding photographer.

The first chance we got to work with Jared was for our engagement photo shoot.  Picking a location was tough, and the Bauman team gave us some advice to make picking a location easier.  “Think of it as a date.  Where do you want to go for a date?”  Shant and I decided on Del Mar, a beautiful beach town in San Diego since we had spent many weekends at the beach and at nearby restaurants in Del Mar.  We met Jared and his assistant in Del Mar at around 5pm.  Jared did a great job making us feel relaxed and allowing us to just be ourselves.  While he did give us ideas for poses for a few of the shots, he made sure that we were comfortable throughout the whole process and that we were acting natural. 

We took photos in several locations including the park, the beach, and the town where the shops and restaurants are.  I was most worried about the weather.  The day was completely overcast and I didn’t have high expectations for the pictures.  But in just a few days/weeks, we got the pictures and we were surprised at how nice they all came out!  We were excited to use some of these pictures as part of our wedding.  We had a great time working with Jared from Bauman Photography and we look forward to having him be part of our wedding!

The time has come!!!  After all of the blogs about the planning of a wedding, I'm so excited to start sharing photos and videos from the BIG DAY with all of you!
 
First up is our wedding trailer produced by BGS Productions! Shant & I chose to work with Brian from BGS Production because we both loved his style of videography and editing and we also loved his personality!  If you want a timeless video that you are going to love, and a videographer who is so fun to work with and be around, then BGS Productions is the right choice for you!

So for now, enjoy this short wedding trailer. I'm warning you - it's just a teaser! And there will be more to come soon! :)