January was an action packed month that I wasn’t really accounting for. So many exciting things going on for brides in our community, last minute baby projects, designing and sending out our new year cards, and a whole week of SNOWmageddon! This weekend marks the last event I’ll be participating in before I go on official maternity leave, and I wanted to invite you all (before the tickets sell out) to join me on Sunday for Weddings in Woodinville. This wedding event was voted one of the top three wedding shows in Seattle Bride Magazine, 2010 and 2011. Last year the event sold out within three weeks! Over 500 guests were in attendance.

I am utterly honored to be involved in such a beautiful event for the second year in a row (the first year of the show, Billy and I attended as a Bride and Groom! It was a fabulous experience, by far one of the best things we did while we were engaged)  This year I will be showcasing my work at one my my favorite Woodinville venues, Novelty Hill/Januik Winery, alongside the ever-so-fabulous Jen Taylor, Kerri Efendi Designs, Fena Flowers, and Wavelink Music… just to name a few.

There are 7 venues participating, and each one is full of top notch Seattle wedding professionals. Gather your friends and families to join this exciting afternoon tour of wine tasting, catered food, fabulous décor and live entertainment during a special open-house of Woodinville’s top wedding venues. Ticket holders for this event will board chauffeur driven luxury transportation for a half-day tour that will escort your group to each venue. SO drink up, eat as much as you can muster, and plan the wedding of your dreams! Please stop by my little area and say hello… don’t let the belly scare you.

Check out the website for more information, and click here to get tickets (I know there are SOME left, but not many!)

xo,

Laura

“Weddings in Woodinville is a special event designed to give couples and their families and friends a sneak preview of each fully-decorated venue to better envision their special wedding day and meet with industry professionals that can help them put it all together.” Each of the 7 venues highlight some of the best wedding professionals in the industry. We had the privilege of showcasing our work at Willows Lodge along with these fabulous professionals:

Coordination and design by Taylor’d Events by Jennifer (a miracle worker really…)

Alongside:

Alexandria Nicole Cellars
Cadeo Flower
Elements In Bloom
From The Gown Up
Good Times DJ Service
Grand Event Rentals
Hybrid Mood Productions
Jennifer Witsil Creative
Koko Fit Club
Linens by Alice
Marrylicious
Nash Fung
Salon Maison
Starry Nights
Window to the Soul Ministry

We had such a wonderful time meeting all of you gorgeous brides and grooms. Thank you for stopping by to say hello!

Here are some highlights from our beautiful spot at Willows Lodge. Thank you Willows and Jenn Wenman for being so accommodating and warm to all of us. We love you!

See you there!

Some may say the best way to check out as many wedding professionals as you can in a day, is to attend a wedding show. I’m not really a tradeshow girl. I’m the one in the grocery store that gets to one end and forgets to pick something up all the way on the other side. My feet hurt, I come home with all kinds of crap that I have no recollection of intentionally picking up. WELL, I say, if you give one wedding show a glimpse this year, grab your fiancé and head out to Woodinville on January 30th for the best wedding showcase event of the year. 7 wineries, 80 of the best wedding professionals in Seattle, and a whole lot of wine! This and so much more, is Weddings in Woodinville.

Last year B and I went to this show as Bride and Groom, and we had the BEST time, the BEST. We met our caterer there, tasted some amazing cake (this girl loves cake) and had a blast meeting other couples. It is such an honor for me to say that this year I’ll be showcasing my work at Willows Lodge as part of the show. I’m SO EXCITED because I’m there with some of my favorite people in the world. Jen Taylor from Taylor’d Events is coordinating, Tanya from Elements in Bloom is doing the florals, and Eric Newland from Hybrid Moon will have his video booth there along with many many more awesome professionals! Please, if you want to attend, head on over to the site and purchase your ticket now! There are only 300 tickets and when they’re gone…. they’re gone.

Stop by, say hello, and give me a hug.

PS> If you watch the video from last year on the website… you’ll see a cameo of B and I at about 14-15 seconds in… I’m wearing my favorite green coat :-)

I’ve been dying to share my wedding photos with the world for the last few months, but once I sat down to choose my favorites to post, I was stopped cold. It seems overkill to share 2000 images in one blog post. I simply could not choose. Photo editor’s block.

Today I’d like to share with you some of my favorite details from our wedding! It’s perfect timing because on Bella Design’s blog today you will find that they are giving away FREE wedding design. FREE. You know I love me some free. So don’t walk RUN to Daniela’s blog and enter this contest. She is a genius. I’m convinced.

My experience with Bella throughout the design process was flawless. Daniela and I shared a brain.

Here are some of my favorite slices from her take on our day! All photos by the one-the only, Jasmine Star.

This is what we started with! Merely a dream and some fabric.

When I saw these bouquets they took my breath away. Bloom by Bella. Gorge.

We had the most divine cuisine by Scott Staples Catering. It was so delicious, I had a really hard time capturing it before the crowd emptied the trays!

Events on Edge provided some thrilling entertainment by way of a murder mystery! Chesney Schmidt of All the Flutter, and Christy Weber from Junebug Weddings got roped into the fun as part of the list of suspects.

Check out a slideshow to see all of the images from the evening here! Music selection by the genius himself: Adam of Adam’s DJ Service

We had the photobooth set up and here are some of the rockin’ images from the fun that happened in the booth all night long!

The lovely ladies of Seattle Met!

BreeAnn of Pink Blossom Events…. and I must say, that mullet looks pretty ahmazing on you.

Team Awesome!

And the award for most time spent in the photo booth goes to Jillian from Wavelink Music, and Sheena of the Invisible Hostess. Between the two of them, their image total is in the hundreds. ;-) Love you girls!

To see more of Sheena and Jillian, and a little more of everyone else click here for a slideshow!

I feel absolutely privileged to be a part of this group. Thank you so much for allowing me to capture this months meeting!

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The wedding planning process has been a wild and crazy ride,  fascinating, so much fun, and pretty stressful all rolled into one. Phone hasn’t stopped ringing, inboxes are FULL. Believe me when I say, everything that could go wrong, has. If there is one thing I have learned about planning a wedding in 4 weeks is you must roll with the punches. Problem solving, compromise, and positive attitude will get you a long way with any project. Our motto for this entire process has been “NO RULES”. If the ceremony doesn’t happen in the order everyone expects, who cares, who wrote that rule anyhow. If the ring bearers don’t match, whatever… it’s more eclectic! Weddings can bring out the best and the worst in friends and family. For the most part it’s been relatively painless in that department(probably because of the short time frame). When ugliness has reared it’s head (because it does in every stressful situation) Billy and I turn to each other and just smile and giggle, we know the secret….. shhhh…. none of this drama really matters because in the end, it’s only about ONE THING, WE’RE GETTING MARRIED!

I wish I had more time to share all of the juicy details with you, my days have been packed full of appointments, errands, and shoots… yes among all of this I’ve been shooting weddings, engagements, seniors, and planning stock shoots. I’m so thankful to all of my amazing clients who have given me the flexibility to focus on getting this wedding done. They are so important to me, and haven’t blinked an eye at having to wait on their images.

You can learn more about the wedding planning process we’ve been going through on the Junebug wedding blog here, here, here, and on the CreativeLIVE website. They’ve been following us along with every decision, and doing these awesome wedding planning sessions live online!

The next I’m here internet, I’ll be a MRS!

xo,
Laura

Here is the deal. Our new wedding date is August 27th, 2010! Hooray! We get an almost entirely free wedding, the only catch is… Jasmine Star HAS to be our photographer (which we are really really upset about…. insert sarcasm here :-) And our wedding will be broadcast LIVE through the CreativeLIVE website as a workshop for photographers who want to learn more about how to shoot weddings from Jasmine. We’ll be out there for the world to see, or not see. Tune in if you can’t make it or we didn’t invite you! Ha!

We really only had ideas in place for our former wedding,  we’re starting fresh. CreativeLIVE is working with the lovely and ever so talented Daniela Fagét of Bella Signature Design to create a wedding that is uniquely us. She really understands our aesthetic and what we’re going for with our wedding celebration. It is a major point of emphasis from everyone, that this process be about Billy and I. That our wedding remain in our taste and style, which is SO amazing. We feel so taken care of in this process. We genuinely connect with everyone on this team in a way that it makes it very easy for us to call them friends.

Here are just some of the things we’re working on this week!

Venue, Invites/Paper, Wedding dress, Wedding bands, Bridesmaid dresses, Cake, Decor color palette, and rentals… I’m sure more to come!

Friday we went dress shopping to a couple of stores here in Seattle, and the CreativeLIVE team followed me around at La Belle Elaines! BILLY DO NOT CLICK ON THIS VIDEO ;-)

We also checked out some wedding bands at E.E. Robbins, a really really great jewelry store here in Seattle that is very customer service focused. We have some great prospects there.

Honest concerns about this process: getting everything done in between, My clients, my family, my tan, they all deserve the attention they are used to getting. I’m only one person, one person who generally speaking is already stretched too thin. Hoping this doesn’t put me over the edge. Not sure what we are going to do about our bridesmaid dresses, and my girls call me every day to remind me that it’s important that they have clothes on at the wedding. Oy. My general disdain for Friday weddings, which I’m pretty outspoken about… and here I am, having a Friday wedding.

Concessions we’ve had to make: Bridal shower? Not sure when that will happen or if it will happen, bachelor/bachelorette, same deal. Some family won’t be able to make the event, which is good for the guest list, but bad for the heart.

So there it is! Thank you for tolerating my stream-of-consciousness ramblings. We don’t know much so far, but I know it will come together just fine.

Hope you’ll follow along with us during this process, and if you’re curious about more join us on Mondays at 12:00PST every week on CreativeLIVE for a live conversation about the wedding and where we are with everything!

xo,
Laura

Here are some of the venues we’ve seen and our thoughts on them, keep in mind these are just OUR OPINIONS, and if you’re looking for a venue yourself, I suggest you visit them in person and form your own!

We decided to hold a date at the Blue Rooster in Oregon. The owner is really flexible and I love the rustic appeal of the venue. This feels like “THE” venue to me. But Billy isn’t completely sold. He is having difficulty understanding my “vision”. Imagination is priceless I tell you! There isn’t a commercial kitchen so I need to check with whatever caterer we choose to make sure this will work!

Here is a sneak peak at my wedding inspiration book. I’ve gotten some pretty weird looks when I pull this out for people to see. What can I say? I’m type-A, organized, and I know what I want!

Russell’s Barn: We LOVE the inside of this venue. when you first walk in it’s like looking up into the belly of a ship. It’s a great size, and would be a perfect option for a ceremony that was being held at a different location. Doing a flip here seems almost impossible with 250 guests. On another note, Russell will likely be doing our catering if we tie the knot in Seattle. His food is AMAZING, hands down one of the best in Washington.

I also visited Sodo Park in Seattle, Billy hasn’t seen it in person yet. I love this venue too. The venue is completely indoor. This would be GREAT if it rains, or if we decide we want an off season wedding. Their facility rental also includes so much! The chairs we want, tables, china, linens. It’s all in there. You can’t bring in an outside caterer, but their food is really really really good.

We attended Weddings in Woodinville this year. What an unusual and fun event! I was completely impressed and if you aren’t getting married until 2011 check it out next year! On this tour we saw, Novelty Hill + Januk, Columbia Winery, JM Cellars, DeLille, Willows Lodge, and Russells Barn again. I love the look of Novelty, but the size doesn’t fit us, they max out at 200. It’s not ideal for lots of kids and there are 40 on our guest list. Willows and JM were too small, DeLille and Columbia weren’t our style.

Some other venues we’ve checked out are Swan’s Trail Farm, Tazer Valley Farm in Stanwood, and of course our favorite, Rosario Resort on Orcas Island. Swan’s Trail is awesome! This one is a major contender, and it’s only 15 minutes from our house. Tazer Valley is another favorite, it’s grounds are impressive. The barn doesn’t seat very many people, but they provide tenting so that makes it work.

Rosario broke my heart. It’s perfect for us, but only for 140 of our guests. We’d have to get married in shifts, hahaha.  There are also a few things I wouldn’t like about having it here. The have two ceremony locations and two reception locations. For smaller groups (max 140) you can use the music room, which is so beautiful I almost collapsed when I saw it. Smaller groups also fit into the smaller dining room that is part of the mansion. There is a larger ballroom that can accommodate up to 300 people, but it isn’t built in the same fashion as the resort, so it’s a bit dissappointing. I would want get married at Rosario because of the historic aesthetic, hence the smaller dining room. We can’t imagine how we would manage to cut the guest list by 100 people. It would be impossible.

In Oregon we looked at Blue Rooster of course, Langdon Farms, The Mount Pisgah Arboretum, Heidi Tunnel Catering Co. Furrer Farms, and several wineries that simply will not do.

So here we are….. I’m thinking of buying my own wedding venue. If you know anyone who is trying to sell property with a historic barn on it. Please give them my phone number, we’ll talk.

Hopefully we’ll make our decision soon!

xoxo,

Laura

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I feel romanced by it. Thought I would share. I hope you can wrap this song around you like a warm blanket, that’s what I’ve done. Makes me want to kiss my beau.