I had 3 main goals for WPPI this year, and I really pushed to achieve them. Between naps.

1. GIVE something.

2. BUY something.

3. LEARN something.

Parts one and two were accomplished in the first two days, PHotoshoot, check!, new boxes (for a top secret project) at the trade show, check! Parts 3 and 4 were the ones I needed to focus on. Because I shifted my priorities this year from trying to do EVERYTHING to trying to do 4 things, I actually had a really wonderful week. I had lots of coffee dates with new friends, looooooooong dinners, shot a maternity session for two very good friends, and even had a mentor session with a photographer I love.

I met with Emilie Sommer of Emilie Inc. on Wednesday. She is a Maine based photographer, who’s work I’ve been following for years. I tried to win this mentor session on Ebay through the Thirst Relief auction. I stink at Ebay. I really do. I must not click enough, my strategy is always off. This time, I lost by 2 dollars in the last minute. I was devastated so I tweeted about it, not expecting a response at all. She tweeted back and asked me if I wanted to meet up for coffee anyway! Simply THE BEST. We talked about business, goals, life, and success. One thing I learned? I have a ton of work to do. We talked mostly about my web presence.

Emilie took a look at my website and confirmed what I secretly knew to be true but wasn’t ready to deal with. IT was HORRIBLE. Hard to navigate, limiting and not at all a representation of my brand. We talked strategy and exactly what direction to go! I can’t thank her enough for meeting with me. I know WPPI is a very busy time for most and I just think the world of her. I walked away from our meeting like I was floating on a cloud. I have a great new friend and I learned so much!

So here is the BIG news! BIGGEST news of the year! It’s a brand spanking NEW website!!!! I’m so excited about the launch, and because it is new there are still a few bugs to be worked out, but please take a look and let me know what you think. I used a revolutionary software called SHOWIT to make this site. It’s more than words. It’s my new best friend. I’m so in love with it.

Thank you for taking a look, I can’t wait to hear what you think!

www.lauramarchbanksweddings.com

Well everyone, it’s been far too long since I let you in on what we’ve been up to for the wedding! Part of this is because we just really haven’t found a venue we can agree on. We have seen SO MANY venues, but nothing is really completely speaking to us as a couple. It’s important to both Billy and I that our venue represents us, and is something memorable and special! We aren’t the type to just say “that’s a venue, that will do!”. I’m pretty set on wanting a barn venue, but mostly we just want something unique and cool! What we do have is a clear design, a planner we love, a florist, a caterer, and a band. NOW if we only had somewhere to put them!

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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When it comes to wedding planning, the very first thing you must determine is WHERE. Even before the date. Billy and I have several factors to consider. I’m on the side of having a destination wedding, and Billy wants to have a traditional wedding. I really can see advantages to both, and seeing as I love this man so much, I’ll most likely give in because it’s important to him. We are both from Oregon, but now live in Seattle, so we’re adding that to the list of decisions. If we DO have a “wedding” wedding, Oregon or Seattle? We’re both really drawn to the unique and uncanny, so we’re researching locations that break the mold a bit.

I’ve googled just about every possible combination you can imagine to find out of the ordinary venues (some of them are more ordinary than others). I’ll start with the pro’s and con’s on getting married in Seattle VS. Oregon:

[Sidenote: did you know "pro's" is the abbreviation of productive, and "con's" of contrary? I googled]

Pro’s:

• No travel for the Bride and Groom
• Local vendors, local hands-on planning!
• Existing relationships with wonderful vendors
• Most guests would be traveling from other locations, so more incentive to stay at the wedding longer

Con’s:

• It’s likely to be cold and or rainy
• Budget will double…. Seattle is just more pricey
• Two words….House guests

The theme I’m drawn to is Rustic yet elegant. For whatever reason, I’ve always pictured a barn when thinking about my wedding.

Here are some Seattle wedding venues I love:

SODO PARK, HERBAN FEAST

I’ve been told that this is the #1 venue for 2010, so I suppose the originality factor goes out the window on this one. I just get giddy when I think about this venue, it’s everything I want and more. Most of the venues I’ve been researching require that you use their catering, or work with one of their preferred vendors. This usually makes me really mad, except in the case of Herban Feast.The food is definitely a selling point to this venue. The space is a converted warehouse, and the old world charm still exists. It has a rustic feel, but as you can see, exudes elegance with the right decor. I also LOVE that this venue is right in the city. Most of the rustic venues I’ve found are so far away from civilization, transportation is going to become a factor. I want to encourage my guests to stay as long as possible.

photos courtesy of  www.herbanfeast.com.

CARNATION FARM

This place is amazing. The views, the sweeping lawns, the solitude. Amazing. It has the feeling of a farm, without the smells of a farm ;-) It’s a little further out, and would be about 45-60 minutes of driving if guests elected to stay in Seattle. There is some lodging on site, which would be a good option, but I would probably need to research transportation for guests who didn’t fit or decided not to stay there.

These images courtesy of www.campkorey.org

These STUNNING images courtesy of Michelle M. Waite, Photographer

THE LOFT, RUSSEL DEAN LOWELL

I only just found this location while doing research for this post, and I absolutely must see it. It looks like one of those places with miles of potential. Loving the cathedral ceiling, and even though working with the catering is a requirement, by the looks of the menu… I’m excited for the tasting. It too is in town, so it would be closer to hotels for guests.

photo courtesy of www.rdlcatering.com

THE HALL AT FAUNTELROY

This is not a barn, obviously. I love the uniqueness of this location however. It’s a converted elementary school. So much charm! I love repurposed things, and the combination of the dated architecture and exposed brick, really make this a reasonable contendor for me. Again, the required catering…. so until we taste, there can be no decision. They also include gold Chaivari chairs with the rental of the room. These are the chairs I’m going with (I know, I have the chairs but no where to put them). Depending on where they’re rented from, they can cost anywhere from $7-10 per chair. SO that equates to savings for me! And the hassle of delivery.

photos courtesy of www.tuxedosandtennisshoes.com

I’m very excited to view all of these venues, and I’ll let you know what I find and taste!

Wowzer! What a great place I have now to share all of my thoughts, dreams and photos with the world. I’m so grateful to have found Liz at CMD+Shift Design who made all of my dreams a reality with this project. I’m a pretty serious blog reader so going into all of it, I had a clear mind of what I wanted. She advised me on just how to make it all happen, and THEN SOME. Luckily Liz shares my enthusiasm for a great website.  My identity has recently been made over as well, and I plan to do a proper post about it soon, but here’s a little plug to Kristine at Cognition Studio, because without her, the design of this blog would have been uninspired. You should have seen what I used to have going on with my design, and if you did see it…. let me apologize for burning your eyes. UH-GLY.

I’ll be blogging here about my commercial photography work, my wedding work, my production work, and little tid-bits here and there about me and my life in Seattle. I should forewarn, I’m a horrible speller (thank GOD for spell check) sometimes I make up my own words, and I love run on sentences and stream-of-conciousness writing. Sorry in advance if it’s not your style. But it’s mine, and this is all about me right?

For a little tour of the page, there at the top… that’s me. Hi! I’m adding some new photos to that soon, courtesy of the AHMAZING Amy  of Amy McMullen Photography,  I’m going to have a little rotating header going on inspired by the lovely Jamie Delaine who’s work and blog I simply adore (she’s pretty rad too ;-) Below me is my navigation bar, perhaps the most important tool in the box, helps you find stuff you were or weren’t even looking for. Below that you can subscribe, and my twitter feed. I love twitter. Follow me, I’ll follow you. It will be fun, I promise.

Well thanks so much for stopping by, and check back again soon. I’ll be adding new stuff all the time.

xoxo,

Laura

And because everything is better with a picture…. here is a snapshot I took of Ladybug, my studio manager, at the beach last weekend while we were camping. She is such a model.