Give

 

About a week ago, I had the honor of sponsoring a  fundraiser for a kid's soccer team, Valley Crush.  The lovely ladies that hosted the event were very dedicated parents and did a fabulous job hosting.  Although it was another raining day, the turn out was good and they raised some money for their team.

 

A few of the guest, the two lovely host and myself (pic via host)

 

Guest instagram picture

Many don't know this but since I started my company some years ago, I've been sponsoring varies fundraiser and charities such as Relay For Life, cancer patients and other youth teams.  How it works is, when someone hosts a Melissa Velia trunk show, percentages of all sales go directly to the cause.  Sometimes, someone may choose to pick a certain item from our collections and sell them for a time frame to collect a percentage to go towards a cause.  As much as I would love to sponsor all the causes that I'm approached by, I can only do some many.  So through prayer and thought, I choose which causes to work with at that moment in time.

I've been asked in the past why a company that is just starting up, would donate profits to cause.  My answer, why not?!  That's what's wrong with people these days, seriously.  You earn a dime and you give a nickle.  If that's the way the world work, there would be a lot less people struggling.  Granted, it will probably take me longer in the end to establish my company but you know what, that's all in God's hand anyways.

So give this Christmas Lovelies, to someone you don't know, whether it be your time, money or even PATIENTS!!!

Xo.

Interviewing the Dreamer - the Party Planner

So at my last trunk show I decided to add a little sweetness to the day and invited this wonderful company to sponsor my event.  It turned out fabulous!  I would love for you to meet my latest dreamers party planners, Nadia Perez and Valeria P. Raban from Let Us Decorate .

When did you start your company?

We started the company back in 2000.

What do you guys do?

My sister Valeria and I are event Planners. We make dream parties come true... at any price.

How did you come up with the name?

One day I decided our company name should have what we love to do in the title and so thus, come the name Let Us Decorate.

Nadia Perez and Valeria P. Raban

How did you get into this industry?

We have been planning birthday parties for each other since we were young. While planning an event one day we decided, why not have our own company. Since then we have been doing what we love to do. Which is supply the customer the best of the best for they're special events.

What type of parties do you do?

Anything your heart desires, we can plan it out and make it happen.

What was your first party like?As I mentioned before, we have been planning each others party's for years. As a company our first party was a Halloween theme event.

What inspires you?

Inspiration comes from within, we've been very blessed to be creative individuals. We have an imagination that goes as far as the sky. We get inspiration from our daily lives.

What motivates you?

We are each others inspirations.  If I see my sister involved and working extremely hard on a project, it motivates me to do the same.

What do you love the most about being a Party Planner?
The thing we love the most about event planning is the satisfaction we get from the smile on our client face. ♥

Melissa Velia Trunk Show

Paris theme bridal shower

What’s the hardest thing about doing what you do?
Definitely the hardest part about doing what we do is that we are perfectionist!  We want everything to be perfect for the client.

What’s your favorite candy/ treat?
My favorite candy is chocolate and my sister Valeria's is anything Gummy!

Which flower is your favorite to use?
My favorite flower to work with is Hydrangea and Gerbers.  My sisters favorite is peonies and cabbage roses.

What are your favorite color combinations?
We love all colors! We like the clean sharp look which is lots of white. Another of our faves is vintage looks. Like off white, pink and lime greens. There is amazing colors to combine. You can provide us with any color and we can make it look amazing.

What celeb would you like to plan a party for and what type of party would it be?
The celebrity I would love to plan an event for would be.... P Diddy (Sean Puffy combs) (laugh). He has great style and taste.

Sweet bar

Where do you see your company in 5 years?

We hope our company can grow and build itself on our work.

In your wildest dreams, where would you like your company to go?

We would love our company to take off.

Shopping In The Dark

Hello Lovelies,

So this past Sunday I had a trunk show in San Marino, CA.  A beautiful neighborhood filled with old mansions and tons of trees.  I had this trunk show booked for about a mouth prior to the event, little did I know what was to come.

The Saturday morning before the event,  I got the call I dreaded after watching the news of the days prior.  The trunk show was going to be canceled due to the massive power outage in the city due to high winds.  I was so bummed because I was really excited about launching the look book shop and doing this trunk show which was a fundraiser for a high school cheer team.  But, the host and I decided that we would use the little daylight we had to continue with the show.  And so we did,

The Look Book Shop, coming this Spring to www.melissavelia.com ! Details coming later this week!

 This sweet bar was courtesy of Let Us Decorate.  It was not only yummy but beautiful.

How cute is my cup sleeve, courtesy of Starbucks!

This house was A-MA-ZING.

So the afternoon went on and our guest continued to shop.  Then...it began to get dark.  I honestly thought everyone would stop in their tracks and start heading home....I totally under estimated ladies and their shopping.

I now know, a woman WOULD shop in the dark!

Big thank you to our host, the cheer team, my assistants and Let Us Decorate.

XOXO

Monday

Miss me? I know right, not so much. (Ha!)  Once again my schedule has taken priority in my life. I've been a busy little bee.  Hmmm...I'd say more like a busy bumble bee after this Thanksgiving.  My holiday started out wonderful and ended with a slap in the face.  Not in a physical form but in an emotional form.  Never the less, some good is definitely upon me.

I strongly believe any garment can be dressed-up or down, for that's the beauty of style.

I wore the first outfit to a meeting yesterday for a model casting for my upcoming photo shoot next month.  I am so excited about the collection and the theme of the shoot.  It will be a bitter sweet shoot for me this time, for I will be missing someone very dear to me.  But, the show must gone on and so must business.  Also new in my world,

-pending wholesale orders

-a huge fashion blogger in Brazil was told by a reader to check-out my line.  And now, something's in  the works.

-I'll be doing my first blog give-away next month...SHOES!

-I'll be adding the LookBook Shop to my website (details coming soon)

-I'm going on VACATION! Yes, this....is new to me. Ha!

So tons to be thankful for this year, regardless of the disappointments.  More importantly, I am thankful for my God and my family, for whom without...I would not be here today.

Next post, my first trunk show with my line and details on The LookBook Shop!

xoxo, Loves.

Banging Trunk Show

Hello Darlins! So much to blog about, so little time!  I'm sorry I never got a chance to blog about my recent photo shoot.  It was truly a lot of work, with its ups and downs but over all it worked out great thanks to an amazing team.  Check the blog, According To Aimee for some behind the scenes of my photo shoot!

Moving on, this past weekend was busy busy for me too.  I had a trunk show for my boutique and the launch party for M.Velia, my new label.  So not to overwhelm ya, I thought I'd share on the trunk show first.

chu-lacouture.com

For those of you who don't know, I own an online boutique that caters to woman and to what I now know, men too.  I started this little shop almost 3 years ago, to help fund my clothing line.  What started out as something that was just going to be a means to a knew beginning, turned out to be a huge successes.  Today Chu-La Couture Boutique not only sells "statement pieces" all around the world but host trunk shows and benefit trunks show all around California.

This past Saturday was one of our fabulous shows hosted at the posh Rockwell VT restaurant and bar.  Not only is this place a chic little venue to eat at but their food is amazing!

The trunk show was a get success, thanks to this fabulous venue, our kind waiter, our fashionable host, chic guest and of course these....

Mimosas. I only had one. For one must always stay professional.

Here are some more photo highlights of the event!

If your interested in hosting a Chu-La Couture trunk show and getting rewarded for it, email us at shop@chu-lacouture.com or if you'd simply like to attend a trunk show follow us on Facebook or Twitter for all the latest!

Special thanks to, Rosie Barreda

Spring 2011 Promo

Wow, so this past weekend was just craaaaazy. When I got home last night, I completely crashed on my bed.  My weekend started off with a 3 hour drive to Calabasas, Ca for my first trunk show, which turned out to be not so poppin.  Trunk shows can always be a hit or miss, just like most things in this industry.  One must really learn to shrug off moments like these, for it's really never personal but more like timing.

When the trunk show ended early I headed over to my first location  with the model to shoot Spring 2011.  With no team and no permits to shoot, it really became pretty intense.  Almost funny at time though.  Never the less, I got the shots that I wanted and headed over to the next location.  Basically it was a long night and I didn't get home till 11:00 pm.

The next morning I was up by 7:00am and off to the last shoot location.  Once again it was just me, the model and a little help.  After make-up and hair and shooting for a couple of hours, I headed to what turned out to be another trunk show.

All in all, I got a lot done this weekend and as reviewed some of the shots this morning of the photo shoots, it is was all worth it.  I really couldn't have done it without the support of my family this weekend though. I'm truly grateful for them. 

So now my week continues to be just as crazy as my weekend, with editing, sewing, drawing, bookkeeping, fabric shopping, unpacking and so much more.  Did I mention I will not be closing Chu-lacouture.com after all? Oh that's a whole different story, that I'll get into next post. For now I'll leave you with my first promo for my clothing line.  Much thanks too, Melina Perez....love you darlin!

One more thing, Happy Birthday dad.