Venues of the Southland~The Los Angeles Biltmore

The Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel

The Hotel and Pershing Square

The Olive Street Entrance

Today I am going Downtown. To LA and one of the cities must sees. The Los Angeles Biltmore. The hotel turned 85 this year and has hosted the Academy Awards and countless other fine affairs throughout the years. The hotel has also been featured in numerous movies and television shows. The crown jewel of the hotel is the Crystal Ballroom. It seats about 300 for a wedding and comes with the Tiffany Ballroom for the reception. One of the more unique aspects of the room are the balcony's. You can display your cake or have your first dance up high in the room.

The hotel also has the Emerald Ballroom and the Gold Ballroom. They are all unique in style. Not your typical hotel ballroom.

The Rendezvous Court hosts an Afternoon Tea almost daily.



The Crystal Ballroom

The Emerald Ballroom all ready for a ceremony

The Gold Ballroom

Enjoy the eye candy and check out the Biltmore.

I did work at the Biltmore so I am a little biased, but it is a fabulous place to get married at!

Your Officiant

There is much ado about actor Mark Consuelos becoming an ordained minister and officiating at Howard Stern's wedding last week. Did you know that here in Southern California you can have anybody be your officiant? They do not have to become ordained. Most of the counties have what's called a Marriage Commissioner for the Day. Legally they can only marry the one couple on the specific day and they do have to include some specific words into the ceremony. Since you really are marrying each other, their role primarily is just signing the license as a witness.

That is what Mr. Joyeux & I did. My nephew who graduated from college a couple months after our wedding was our officiant. It made our wedding ceremony even more meaningful since the person who married us was someone we loved. We also wanted our own ceremony and we were able to do just that.

In San Diego, where we were married, I just had to file papers and have my nephew sign some things. He didn't even have to show up at the county building. However, in Los Angeles County the Marriage Commissioners have to come in person to the county building and get sworn in. Check your counties requirements and you might solve the. "But who is going to marry us?" question. And yes it is legal!

Happy Reading,

The photo is of my nephew right before our wedding.

Pink for October

Go pink! If you have a blog or website go pink for October. My sites are pink year round but if yours isn't Go Pink for October. Let's all do it to raise awareness about breast cancer.
Thank you Karol Welsh, from the Something Blue blog for sharing this first.

Beverage Monday. Her Vodka.

Today on Beverage Monday I thought I would feature a vodka that gives back. HER Vodka is an ultra-premium vodka that gives a portion of the sales of each bottle to breast cancer research and foundations. It is bottled in Oregon by Cottage Grove Distillery.

HER is not available in every state. Take a look at their distribution map to see where you can find HER.

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month I have given you a couple of vodka drink recipes that are pink to get you in the mood. So look for HER Vodka and drink for the cause!

Pink Cadillac
1 oz Vodka
2 oz White Creme de Cacao
1 oz Light Cream
4 oz Cranberry Juice
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Strain and serve in unusually shaped glass.

Pink Lemonade Pitcher
1 (12-oz.) can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
3 (12-oz.) bottles beer (not dark), chilled
3/4 cup vodka, chilled
fresh cranberries and lemon slices
Stir together first 3 ingredients. Serve over ice. Garnish with cranberries and lemons. Serves 6-8.
Recipe courtesy of My Recipes.

Cheers,

Joyeux News

A Joyeux Day is now listed on

Southern California.

We are one of their premier advertisers.

We have also added a new feature on the blog noting who's following us. So if you get this through a subscription or just read the feeds, click here and it will bring you to the actual blog and you can show your love for us and let everybody know that you're one of our stalkers, I mean followers of our blog.

Thank you for your love and support,

Pink Ribbon Month

We all know by now that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Here are a few places that donate a part of their sales to the cause.
has pink ribbon products on their site.

gives to the Breast Cancer Reserarch Foundation with the purchase of items to the Bonnie Marcus collection. A couple of examples.

donates 5% of their sales to the Making Memories Foundation. I wrote about them here.
Origins will donate $35,000 to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation from sales of Peace of Mind® On-the-spot relief sold in North America. This very important contribution supports the research dedicated to preventing breast cancer and finding a cure in our lifetime.

Clinique offers this limited-edition Dramatically Different™ Moisturizing Lotion complete with three decorative charms: a silver Clinique “C”, a miniature 3-Step Skin Care and a Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon. $10.00 from your purchase helps support The Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s quest to find a cure.

There are many more places that have special offers this month. I will feature some of them during October.

Autumn Inspiration

I am from Southern California and here we don't really see the changing of the seasons. September is still hot and sometimes it's hot even into October. Our trees don't change colors and we have to drive for awhile before we can see a farm or pick apples. However, I love the colors and texture of the season. I am also a October baby so I have always been fascinated by Autumn. So this is a little sampling of the feeling of fall even if it doesn't seem like fall where you live and you have to manufacture it.

• A Red Barn all fitted out for a party. {Brides}
• A Leaf Invitation. {Fine Stationary}
• A Leaf Ring Pillow. {Martha Stewart}
• Pumpkin Display. {Hello Lucky Blog}
• Wood Veneer Place Cards. {Martha Stewart}
• Apple Cider. {Brides}
• Fall Cake. {Pink Cake Box}
• Carmel Apples. {Brides}
• Maple Leaf Bout. {In Style Weddings}
• Dahlia Bouquet. {Brides}
• Bridesmaid Dress. {Eden Bridal}

Enjoy,