What we do here
Bel Air is gates and long driveways, and that shapes the setup more than the design ever does. So we ask about the approach first. Where a van can actually stop, whether there is a turning circle, and how far a balloon arch has to travel before it reaches the lawn.
The roads matter too. Stone Canyon, Bellagio and Roscomare are narrow in places and tight on the bends, which quietly rules out the biggest rental trucks. A vendor who has never been up here will happily book a lorry that cannot make the turn. We say the size out loud in the quote so nobody finds out on the morning.
The gardens themselves are the easy part. Most Bel Air houses have more outdoor space than a party needs, which means the design question is where to put people rather than how to fit them. We pick one area and make it the room, instead of spreading a hundred guests thinly across half an acre.
The other thing worth knowing early is the light. Houses on the north side of a ridge lose the sun a good hour before the rest of the city. A five o’clock party can be in shade by six. We plan the timeline against that rather than against sunset.
See how we work togetherOccasions
Baby showers and kids’ birthdays are the bulk of it. Anniversary dinners and graduation parties come round every year too.
A Bel Air shower is usually a lunch on a lawn or a terrace, which is the most forgiving thing we style. The work goes into the grazing table and the seating, because a shower lives or dies on whether people can sit near each other. We keep the florals low enough to talk across, which sounds obvious and is the note we give most often.
Big gardens are a mixed blessing for a children’s party. Small children scatter, and parents spend the afternoon walking after them. So we pull the whole thing tighter than the space suggests, with the food, the backdrop and the play area inside one sightline. The rest of the garden can stay a garden.
Dinner in Bel Air is often outside until the light goes and then not. We plan for the hinge. A table dressed for daylight and a table dressed for candles want different colours, and the fix is usually lighting rather than a second scheme. Hired festoon or lanterns cost less than people assume and change the evening completely.
These are the ones with a real guest list, a bar and a vendor schedule that has to be managed. On the full-service package we source the vendors, compare the quotes and manage every arrival on the day. In a house with one narrow way in, that arrival order is not admin. It is the difference between a calm afternoon and a jam on the driveway.
How it works
The first Bel Air conversation is about logistics, not colour. Gate codes and the guard, if there is one. Where deliveries can stand without blocking the drive. Whether the route to the garden goes through the house, and if so what has to be protected on the way. We would rather solve that in week one than on the morning.
Mood board, colour palette, tablescape, and concepts for the backdrop and the balloon work, with signage and stationery direction alongside. You get recommendations for décor and rentals, and one revision at every tier. Once the access is understood the design goes quickly, because we already know what can physically get in.
On The Bubbly Experience, Francie and Ruta are onsite for setup, the party and the pack down of everything we installed. On the lighter tiers you run the day with our plan in hand. Either way you know the arrival times before the week of the event, because they were agreed with the vendors, not guessed.
The details
Balloon installations and backdrops, welcome and event signage, the dessert table, the tablescape, floral styling, the seating layout, favours and rental coordination. Setup and breakdown come with the two tiers that include the day itself. Which of these your party needs depends on the party, and we would rather do four things properly than ten things thinly.
The items are bought separately and billed to you by the people who supply them. Décor, rentals, florals, balloons, catering, the cake, entertainment and printing. We take no cut of any of it, which is why our number is the whole of what we charge and none of what you buy.
Ways to work together
Three ways to work together, separated by how much of the day stays with you. Bel Air parties tend towards the full-service end, mostly because of the access rather than the design.
Event design
Starting at$500
You have the ideas, and we turn them into one cohesive celebration. You get a complete creative plan you can bring to life yourself.
You handle: Purchasing, vendor communication, setup and event-day execution.
Start with thisPlanning and design
Starting at$1,000
For the client who wants professional guidance all the way through planning, but is comfortable running the celebration day.
You handle: Signing vendor agreements, vendor payments, setup, event-day management and breakdown.
Start with thisFull-service planning & production
Starting at$2,000
Hand us the details and be fully present for the celebration. We plan it, design it, and bring it all together on the day.
The starting price covers a local social celebration of up to about 50 guests. Larger events, additional locations, extensive installations or longer coverage are custom quoted.
Start with thisAlready planned it and just need the day run? That is The Final Pop.
Package pricing covers Bubbly's professional planning, design and coordination services. Décor, rentals, florals, balloons, catering, entertainment, printing and other vendor services are purchased separately. Final pricing is based on guest count, location, event complexity and coverage required. Travel is included for celebrations within Los Angeles County. Events outside Los Angeles County may receive a customized travel quote based on location and the onsite visits required. Read our FAQ for deposits, timelines and what happens if it rains.
Timing
Eight to ten weeks is the sweet spot. Allow a little more if your party needs a large marquee, or a build that has to come up the hill in pieces. Ask anyway if you are inside that window, and we will tell you honestly what is still possible.
Autumn is the best-kept secret up here. September and October hold their warmth into the evening, the light is lower and kinder for photographs, and the canyon has stopped being an oven. High summer needs shade you have to hire, and by then the good shade is already booked.
Good questions
No. We do not charge travel anywhere in Los Angeles County, and Bel Air is part of the City of Los Angeles. Past the county line we quote the travel, and you always see it before anything is booked.
Only if you say so. We photograph the work, and nothing is posted or added to The Bubbly Files until you have told us it is cleared. If you would rather nothing was ever shown, that is completely fine and it changes nothing else.
On The Bubbly Experience, yes. We source them, compare the quotes, confirm the bookings, manage arrivals on the day and coordinate the pack down. On The Spark Partnership we recommend vendors and help you read the proposals, but the agreements and payments stay in your name.
Not if we know early. It changes the vehicle sizes we book and the setup window we allow, and occasionally it changes an installation into something that arrives in sections. Tell us at the first conversation and it costs nothing. Tell us the week before and it costs time.
On The Bubbly Experience and The Final Pop, yes. We are onsite for setup, the celebration and the breakdown of what we installed. The Pop Blueprint and The Spark Partnership are design and planning, so the day itself stays with you.
Tenting, heating and shade are yours to arrange and pay for, and we will tell you plainly what we think you need. On The Bubbly Experience we source and book it for you. We may adapt part of the design if wind or rain would make it unsafe, and we talk to you first whenever there is time.
Everything else is on the full FAQ
Let’s celebrate
Tell us the occasion and the date. We will come back to you within two business days.
Start planningBased in the San Fernando Valley, available across Southern California, from Santa Barbara to San Diego.