Jason & Lindsey

My next wedding was one I was actually helping with.  I was Jason and Lindsey's wedding weekend coordinator.  It was a great experience and I was so glad to have been a part of such a special couple's wedding.  Let's take a look at some of the details:

When: June 26th, 2010
Where: Christ Community Church - Ottawa, IL
Bride's Dress: Oleg Cassini - strapless faille with a sweetheart draped bodice
Bridesmaids Dresses: David's Bridal brand - tangerine cotton sateen strapless dress with ruching and pockets
Colors: Tangerine and Fuschia
Best part:  The personalized details (like Lindsey's dad's famous homemade carmels for favors) and the close community of friends and family that surrounded Jason & Lindsey.  It was so evident how supportive everyone was of this marriage and that is such a joy to see.
Money saving tips:  Jason and Lindsey had both their ceremony and reception at their church.  After the ceremony was over guests were ushered to the lower level for hor'dourve while a crew of us upstairs were transforming the space into a reception hall.  This is a huge money saver as a reception hall can sometimes be the biggest chunk of money.  Another money saver was not having a DJ and making their own mix of tunes on an iPod.  They just had a friend running the sound when needed!

Here's a few comments from the bride :)


Favorite part of the wedding day: I think just being surrounded by a myriad of people from different times and years of our lives was almost time-machine like. It was neat to witness the past and present in one room. I enjoyed dancing to our ipod mix of tunes...and to see Jason dancing was great. Lastly, our exit was a rush! To run through a tunnel of people supporting us, cheering for us...What a way to be ushered out!

Most stressful part: The day went very smoothly! I guess the most stressful part was when it came time for Jason and I to go table to table to meet and greet. Some guests wanted to talk for a long while and catch up on life but we knew there were several more tables to go to...so how to manage our time that way was a little tricky. Because of time I think there were a couple tables we didn't get a chance to greet.
 
Would you have done anything differently?: Honestly, no. It was the funnest day of my life. And I think the little quirks of the day and everything that went in to it made June 26 so special.


Now for some pictures!!  Photography was done by Jeremy Reed.
 

LOVED her shoes!!!

Dessert table :)

Andy & Beth

My next stop on the wedding calendar for 2010 was Boone, NC for one of my good friends Andy's wedding.  Andy and Beth got married in the mountians of North Carolina and had a beautiful setting.  Their ceremony was outside and with the mountains as the backdrop they barely needed any decorations at all.  The reception then moved indoors at the same location, a place called Whispering Hills Resort.  Here are some of the highlights:

Where: Boone, NC
When: June 18th, 2010
Colors: Navy Blue & Ivory
Bride's Dress: Marisa
Bridesmaid dresses: J. Crew
Best part:  The beautiful surroundings
Money saving tips:  Andy and Beth did so many great things to save some money.  They made their own cake (and it was great!), they took advantage of the beautiful setting and didn't go overboard with decoration, and they had their own homemade photobooth.  Sidenote:  Photobooths are in high demand right now, but can be extremely expensive.  What they did was found a spot in their reception hall and put up a backdrop (you can just use a large piece of fabric), had a table with fun props, and then they put up their own camera on a tripod with a remote and let people have fun!

Here are some pictures.  Unfortunately, I only have pictures that guests took...so they may not do it justice.  But enjoy anyway!

Photo booth!!!

Matt & Kari

The first wedding of the season was my cousin Matt and his wife Kari's wedding.  It was a beautiful spring wedding full of personalized touches and fabulous details.  Lucky for me, my amazingly talented brother of Two Birds Photography was the photographer for the wedding.  So take a look for yourself at some of my favorite details.  Enjoy!

Wedding Season!!!

So I know it's been a long time since I've posted.  Life has been busy with birthdays, family get togethers, and buying a house!  But anyway, I have something very fun planned for the summer...I will be blogging about and posting pictures of all the weddings I go to throughout the season.  Hopefully this will provide fresh inspiration for you!  More to come shortly....

Waterside Color Themes

If you are having your wedding waterside here are some inspirational color schemes.

For a very nautical look try navy blue and yellow

Images taken from The Knot

I like the idea of keeping in mind your surroundings when picking a color scheme.  Think the soft pink of the inside of a seashell, the green of sea grass along with nautical navy blue.  Love it!

Image taken from Etsy

There are always so many color combos to choose from.  Just remember to have fun with it and stay true to who you are :)

Mexico

I suppose this has turned into destination 'month' instead of 'week.'  Sorry!  I didn't realize how hectic last week was going to get.

I know that in my last blog the destinations I wrote about are absolutely stunning...but they may not be so affordable for most.  So I want to encourage the budget savvy bride to look into Mexico.  Mexico has some incredibly beautiful locations and the prices are an absolute bargain.  When choosing a destination, it is my personal opinion that it is best to choose an all inclusive resort because you will get the biggest bang for your buck.  Many all inclusives will offer special deals on wedding packages if you book a 5 day stay with them.  Just remember to always always ALWAYS check reviews before booking your stay/wedding.  A good website with tons of reviews is http://www.tripadvisor.com/  Also remember that when you are booking a resort in a country like Mexico, you want to always do a 4 or 5 star resort.  If you are nervous about booking online, just go to a local travel agent and be sure to give them your criteria and ask them to recommend places that have been a big hit amongst their clients.  To get you started, here are some cool places I found at great prices :)

The Royal Playa del Carmen & Cancun

The Royal Playa del Carmen is a four star all inclusive resort that boasts the 2010 Traveler's Choice Award (Trip Advisor).  The rates are great and their wedding packages give you tons of options. 

Playa Fiesta - Puerto Vallarta

I was really excited when I found Playa Fiesta.  The reviews on this place are all great and it looks like such a nice place.  They have tons of info for weddings and you can get anything from fireworks to live music.  This is a must see if you are considering a wedding in Mexico.  The only negative I have found with this place is it's availability.  It looks pretty well booked for 2010.  I would suggest calling and seeing when their next availablity is.

Dreams Resort and Spa - Huatulco

I wanted to include a resort located in Huatulco.  Huatulco is a lesser known resort town on the Pacific side of Mexico, and for this reason you can often get quite a deal.  Check this place out for a sure bet on a beautiful wedding. 

Be sure to check back soon for more on destination weddings!

Destination Week!!

So at the request of my good friend Leah, I'm going to be doing some fun stuff on destination weddings.  The more I looked into it, the more I realized there are so many different directions you can go and so many different options.  So I'm going to try and show you some of your different options (although I probably won't even scratch the surface) with my first being on lavish, tropical destinations.

Grand Old House ~ Grand Cayman
The first one I want to share with you is on Grand Cayman, and I chose this for two reasons.  The first being that I wanted to find something on the Cayman Islands because of Leah....being that she asked me to do this I wanted to do something that reminded me of her (I remember her going on a vacation there and loving it).  Then when I came across this specific place, I thought it was something a little different than your typical beach wedding, which I like.  It's a restaurant called Grand Old House and it's right on the beach.  What makes it different for me is that you can still have the amazing, tropical back drop but also have this traditional and elegant setting.  I suppose it's a little hard to explain, so check out the website for photos and more info.  http://www.grandoldhouse.com/  One negative that you might find with this one is that it is just a restaurant so you would have to find a different place to stay, where as with resorts you can usually do the whole package.

Turtle Bay Resort ~ Oahu, Hawaii

Okay so I had to do one in Hawaii.  I have never been there, but when I think tropical destination wedding I think Hawaii.  I chose this particular resort because I personally know someone who has stayed there and said it was just perfect and it was also the setting for one of my favorite movies...Forgetting Sarah Marshall :)  Having your wedding at the Turtle Bay Resort means having the total package.  They have several different options for location all throughout the resort, an amazing menu for catering, your very own team of experts helping you along the way, and different packages made to meet your individual needs.  Check out the website for all the details.  http://www.turtlebayresort.com/

Likuliku Lagoon ~ Fiji

I also wanted to do one that was absolutely exotic.  This location would not be for a larger group of guests.  Probably the more intimate the better, and I'm not going to lie, probably most of your guests wouldn't be able to afford it anyway.  This place is ridiculously expensive....but if you have the money then this place would be amazing.  I don't know how much it would help, but they do have a special right now when you book a 5 night stay they throw in their wedding package for free.  Check it out http://www.likulikulagoon.com/home.cfm

I could probably keep going and going on places like these, but I'm going to move on.  There will be more to come on budget locations, U.S. locations, beautiful color schemes to go along with your beach wedding, and even Vegas weddings!