Feeling Sentimental?

With all of the hustle and bustle on the day of the wedding it can become so chaotic and nerves can start to get the best of you. Well, one of the grooms I worked with was ahead of the game and ordered a very LARGE bouquet to be sent to his bride the morning of the wedding. They had spent the night before the wedding apart and when she awoke there was a delivery man at the door in hand with her favorite flowers and a card reading, "Forever starts today my love."

I just thought this was a sweet idea for the groom to do for his leading lady the day of the wedding--it even had me holding back tears!

That just started their day out perfectly--no matter what went wrong after that, the day started perfectly and at the end of the day they were married. I am happy to report that the wedding went very smoothly and the bride's calm demeanor helped relax the ceremony and reception atmosphere...I am pretty sure that starting off with somthing sentimental had somthing to do with that!

Ladies--don't forget your men have nerves and upset stomachs too. Send him a little hand written note to be delivered by your maid of honor or wedding planner while he is getting ready!

Meet Stanford...

I was working away one day and had a bunch of wedding magazines open on the floor of my office. To my surprise, I looked down and saw my little pug Stanford laying over them as if he were looking through the magazines for inspiration. My camera was in reaching distance to I just had to snap a few shots. I thought I would post a little bio for him too...

Name: Stanford Blatch Lindeman
Type of Dog: 24 pounds of pure Pug
Favorite Time of Day: meal time and nap time
Favorite Food: chicken, cottage cheese and green apples
Favorite Toy: teddy bear
Hobbies & Interests: sleeping, watching tv [especially the discovery channel or Beverly Hills Chiwawa], going to the dog park, eating [anything], chasing ducks along the Kirkland waterfront, attacking the vacuum cleaner, snoring, reading through magazines--helping mom pick out the latest wedding trends

The Groom and His Little Buddy

This fabulous photograph was taken by the lovely Jamie Abenroth. It is from one of my weddings back in February--as the groom was getting ready his little sidekick stood by him while he put on his sox. So much anticipation before that walk down the aisle!

Spring is Here!!

Passionate kisses under cherry blossom trees=LOVE!

I am a huge sucker for cherry blossom trees in the spring time. They just make me smile whenever I see them. I want to share a few photos from one of my 2009 couple's engagement session. Kristen Honeycutt is the incredibly talented photographer behind these photos and she is truly awesome to work with! I can't wait until the wedding!

Meet Laura and David...

Time Saving Trick for Address Labels

So there are a lot invitations going out right now or at least being prepared to go out soon...and a lot of you aren't paying someone to do it for you. A lot of brides take on invitations to save money or just because they love being crafty. Either way...as you look down your list of address you might think you have a whole weeks worth of work cut out for you just typing all of those address onto labels...then place cards, then thank you cards...ahhh!

Don't stress...I am here to tell you that you can move hundreds of address on to a label template in Word in under 2 minutes! I would suggest going through and proof reading all of them for format and spelling errors but at least you have the hard part out of the way!

The secret is a Mail Merge in Microsoft Word. Depening on what version of Word you have it can be different...so go to your paperclip helper and type in Mail Merge for further directions. It might take you a couple minutes to figure it out but once you do...it will go very quickly! You should have all of your address in Excel or Outlook first and then import them into your mail merge.

Good luck to you all and Happy Merging!

DATE NIGHT

Starting to feel overwhelmed with details of your wedding? There can be so much going on the months and weeks before your wedding day that it is easy to loose sight of why you are really walking down the aisle...to marry your wonderful fiance of course!

I am a huge fan of date night and a huge fan of Seattle restaurants that are offering 3 courses for $30 for a limited time this spring. Dine Around Seattle is Back!

There are fabulous restaurants all around Seattle that are serving up their delicious dishes for $30! Check out Dine Around Seattle for local restaurants in your area!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Barking Frog in Woodinville
Earth & Ocean at the W Hotel, Seattle
Cafe Campange, Seattle

My all time favorite would have to be Serafinas in Eastlake! Yum! Yum! The Veal Meatballs are a must!

Take your lover out for dinner at some of Seattle's most amazing restaurants--relax, unwind and take your mind off the wedding (for just an evening!) :-)

Mountain Springs Lodge

My hubby and I had the pleasure of staying at Mountain Springs Lodge for a couple days this last weekend. It is a wonderful property near Leavenworth and a perfect space for a wedding if you are looking for that Aspen, Colorado lodge feeling. We stayed in one of their suites and had a private multiple course dinner cooked and served by the chef himself! It is such a beautiful family owned property and there are so many spaces, areas and venues for having your wedding. They are so flexible and over 90 of your guests can stay in one of the multiple cabins on the property. There is more off site lodging within a couple miles as well.

In the summertime there are plenty of trails for you and your wedding guests to go horseback riding, golf and play in the grassy acreage. In the winter time there are snowmobile trails for miles as well as horse drawn sleigh rides. Very romantic! Ryan and I really enjoyed our stay there and got to tour the property and facilities for where up to 350 person weddings take place. Check out their website if you are looking for a destination wedding that has an abundance of the great outdoors, activities and beautiful lodging. If you have any questions about Mountain Springs Lodge, feel free to call me or email me with questions! Here are some pictures of one of the honeymoon suites....big room, beautiful fireplace, dining area space, large bathroom, vaulted ceilings, large jacuzzi tub in the room, living space area...it was beautiful!