Just Do It!

Sometimes you just have to take your wedding decor and style into your own hands and do it yourself! And that is just what super couple Jen and Ray Illian did for their June 4th wedding at Georgetown Studios. Showcased below are some of my favorite DIY projects from their wedding. I hope you enjoy and get some creative ideas. DIY projects are a great way to add personal touches and showcase a couples sense of style!

Meet Jen and Ray...I know, they are super cute...they are high school sweethearts...yep, that makes them even cuter!
Their 175 guests sat in two rows at rectangle tables that stretched the length of the Engine Room. Jen added a splash of color to the table decor by using turquoise hand made napkins.

To let their guests know where they would be sitting the couple wrote the guests name and table number on river rocks and created signage by displaying Goodwill purchased frames that they refurbished and spray painted the glass with chalkboard paint.

De-labeled Pellegrino bottles subbed as flower vases. The flowers for the wedding cost under $30 and were purchased the day of wedding at the Pike Place Market.

Mugly's...unfortunately it isn't the name of Seattle's newest pub. But it did act as the bar for the night of the wedding and as the guests favor. Jen and Ray collected eclectic mugs from thrift stores which served as the guests drinking glass for the evening.

To mark the table numbers Jen took a pattern out of a quilting magazine to make stuffed birds. She used extra fabric she had and filled them with rice to give them weight and shape. Basically, she is super crafty...

Tradition! Keeping a long time tradition of Jen's family alive the couple had a pinata filled with candy for guests to take a whack at! Please note the awesome dress Jen is wearing made by local designer, Chrissy Wai-Ching.

Just to name a few other cool ideas this budget conscience couple did to make their wedding special and affordable...they did all of their invitations online, they had a friend officiate their ceremony, an iPod was used for dinner music, they had Veraci Pizza cater (their moms made salads) and their dessert was personal cheesecakes from the Confectional. All photos were taken by their friend photographer, Erica Nomura - nicely done!

Here's The Scoop!

Local ice cream shop, Molly Moon's, has launched their new venture, an ice cream truck! And good news to you brides who are looking for a tasty, unique dessert this mobile scoop shop is available for weddings!

Some fabulous planner friends and I stopped into the Wallingford location today to talk with Events Manager, Renee Gervasi, and sample some sweet and savory flavors! Molly Moon's frozen treats are made extra special by using local Northwest ingredients including milk from Western Washington hormone-free cows, much appreciated! Some of our favorites included Balsamic Strawberry, Maple Walnut, Salted Carmel (personal fave!) and 'Scout' Mint made with Girl Scout Cookies! Yum!! Their FedEx sized truck has been traveling through local neighborhoods and making appearances at private events for a few weeks now. You can keep track of its location via twitter alerts, website map and coming out soon you can download an iPhone App to track its path, how cool is that?!

How does the phrase go? You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream! You don't have to scream to get all of your questions answered about having Molly Moon's cater your wedding. Just email Renee! renee@mollymoonicecream.com

Still smiling from today's tasting are Clutch Events Associates, Andrea Noble & Sarah Gai, Kaycee Parker of Parker Events, an international super model, Molly Moon's Event Manager Renee Gervasi and Molly Moon Wallingford Manager Kendal Hutson.

Why Knot Tie It!

It's the big day, you are getting dressed and ready to go and you look at your groomsmen, you gasp and flinch at their poorly tied ties! Oh, what to do?! Learn how to tie those ties in a pinch with this awesome website I found that shows you how to tie a ton of popular knots!

There are step by step diagrams and videos that show you how to properly tie a Bow-Tie, Windsor Knot, Four in Hand Knot, Pratt Knot (Not Spencer, eew) and more! There is also etiquette advise on what knot to use and rules on length for corresponding occasions!



Above is a handy dandy example diagram of how to tie a Half Windsor Knot. The tie-a-tie website is much more helpful:)

Hooray for Fab Weddings!

A round of applause for Tonja Brown & Matt Russell! Aah, I love weddings! Well duh...but seriously, this one was tremendous! Matt and Tonja were married at the Golden Gardens Bathhouse on April 17th and here are a few pictures from one of my fav photographers, Jenn Repp to show you some fun details!

They started the day off at the Alexis Hotel in downtown Seattle...I know, they are a frick'n cute couple!

Before going to GG the bridal party took a slight detour and hit up a true Ballard hangout, King's Hardware for some Rainier beers and super dandy pictures!

One of my 'pick of the litter' pics is of the groom and his men in the alleyway - kudos to Ali Harvey, Jenn Repp's superb associate!Being April and being Seattle we saw a few drops of rain. Nothing too crazy to keep the gang indoors, but just enough to get to use super charming umbrellas as props!

Dessert, oh my...they had a tower of yummy cheesecakes from The Confectional located in Pikes Place Market. If you haven't made your way down there for a decedent treat yet, do yourself a favor and head down this weekend. Luckily for me (and my couples) I don't want to be known as 'the planner who ate all of the dessert', because we could have had a situation on our hands with me and these cheesecakes! A fun treat for the guests and a family tradition that is influenced by Matt's English heritage came in the shape of the favors! Each guest received a 'cracker' made by Olde English Cracker up in Bellingham that had a festive hat. They were great for the party and for the pictures!

Thanks again to Matt & Tonja for letting me be a part of this most special day!

New Events With an Old Fashion Twist

I love the color combination of yellow, black and white in the spring! That was the color theme for May's Association of Bridal Consultant's meeting and I wanted to share some fun photos of the event with you!

The meeting was hosted by my planner pal Kaycee Parker of Parker Events who did a fab job of putting everything together. And I had the pleasure of meeting Floral and Event Designer, Kimberly Neff, owner of Lilies and Lemon Drops for the first time. Pictured below are some super cute creations that she put together for the event themed 'Old Fashion Picnic' which was held in Auburn at Sanders Mansion.

I love these first two centerpieces with multiple small glass and milk glass vases! I LOVE milk glass! It reminds me of grandmas house and who doesn't love grandmas house?! This is a look you can do by collecting 'cheap' vases from Goodwill and getting fun flowers from your local farmers market.

And I love how Kimberly used chalkboard squares as the base of each centerpiece. It draws the eye and gives it that 'old timey feel' that is fun to do during the summer. And ribbon! That is a girl after my own heart! Putting ribbon on anything makes me instantly happy!Helping Kimberly complete her look was Heather Driscoll who has a company specializing in paper design, Heateroriginal. She did fun hanging 'balls', cute faux flower buds in the vases and an adorable lemonade banner for the refreshments table.

I hope you like what you see and get inspired to put together a creation of your own using yellow, black and white this summer!

Shop to Make a Difference!

Have you seen the forecast for this weekend?!? It is going to be absolutely gorgeous & sunny, which is perfect weather for my favorite cardio activity, shopping!! Have you had your eye on those cute summer tees at Jcrew? Maybe a new dress for wedding season at Anthropology? Maybe a fun new kitchen gadget at Crate & Barrel? (I could go on and on!)

University Village has all of these stores + 53 other fab stores, restaurants and spas which are participating in this weekend's Shop to Make a Difference event! Shop to Make a Difference is an event where if you buy a $25 'Cure Card' you will receive 20% off all participating shops in UVillage! All proceeds from the Cure Cards benefit woman's cancer research at the Fred Hutchinson Center. It is a win, win! You help cancer research and get an awesome discount at your favorite stores!

This is my 2nd year participating in the event...insert super cheesy picture of me last year selling Cure Cards at Lucy! See you shopping this Sunday afternoon!

Matt & Mikale Orren's Wedding

Hooray, pictures from the fabulous wedding of Matt Orren and Mikale Lichota!! The too cool for school couple met in Seattle in December 2007 and by March of 2009 they had a house in Shoreline, an Old English Bulldog named Bella and an engagement ring on Mik's left hand!

The wedding was on March 4th in Lanikai, HI where Mikaela grew up. The ceremony was held at the gorgeous St. Anthony's of Padua Church and the reception was the Mid Pacific Country Club. Over 100 guests flew over from the mainland to enjoy the festivities, including photographer, Kara Hicks!

The mother of the groom baked tasty cupcakes for dessert and made the cupcake tower herself! This picture makes me smile, the cute kiddo with the afro was eyeing them for quite some time! The one 'must have' request by the groom was to have Miller Lite tray passed during the cocktail hour. Wish granted!And of course I need to have throw in my favorite picture of the three of us:) Thanks Matt and Mikale, you two are awesome!!