fleurs de mariage

Stacy Martin, our amazing florist, has been featured in The Knot Best of Weddings 2008! Congrats to her and her design team. We have been working with Stacy for the past nine months and it has been a wonderful experience. Her client-centric meets industry expert approach has allowed us to flex our creative muscles with our florals.

I had pulled an initial concept from a publication and Stacy ran with it. Not only did she run with it, she knocked it out of the ballpark. When we arrived for our first meeting she had mocked up all three different arrangements. Being able to see the concept pieces early on in the process was huge in helping to set the look and feel of the day. She even let us take them home to photograph! I wish I could share them now, but I want to keep it a surprise for guests.

I am very much looking forward to seeing how all the arrangements turn out on the big day. I am SO sneaking a peek when we are taking photographs at the WDCH before the ceremony. I won’t be able to resist!

That's a pretty hot cake above ya?!

linens and things

Newsflash: My wonderful finance now knows the difference between crinkle taffeta, pintuck silk, and organza! That is true love people. Last week we completed, what I though was going to be one of the more challenging parts of planning: linens. In reality, it was super easy. So easy, we were done in under an hour and I am in love. I was mostly nervous about the lack of selection in our color range…blacks, grays, and slivers. In the world of linens, there isn’t a huge range available in these colors if you aren’t going custom, but Tabella had just what we needed.

We settled on a warm charcoal hue that is doing more than extending our color palette—it’s providing a nice tie into the warmth of the birch walls in the BP auditorium. We have often worried about not plunking a cold color palette into a warm interior space like the WDCH. There is just a subtle warm copper sheen that comes out of the fabric when it hits the light. Gorgeous darling, gorgeous. Thanks to Kristin, our coordinator, for steering us away from using a two-color setup—base tablecloth and an overlay. Its too prom circa 1992. One strong linen with a rich texture is all you need.

Beyond the excitement of linens, we had some b-party team action! Cynthia, bridesmaid and wedding aficionado, was able to join us while on break from the toils of her Master’s degree completion. It’s been so nice to have my maids, at one point or another, help with planning or be at special wedding-related events, despite being spread all over the country.

I will cover what we are now referring to as "the great goblet debate” in a future post.

a saturday

Move over water boarding… wedding shows are the new preferred form of torture. We went to the Seattle Bridal Show last Saturday. Nicholas was an excellent sport and it wasn’t too painful thankfully. We also dragged Gabby and Jym, so may as well bring down the whole crew with us right? I have been to these shows in the past and they haven’t been that great for style inspiration, but still fun nonetheless. Good to see some real world floral and get my hands on some bouquets, but really most of the stuff was pretty tacky. The swag and cake samples were light too. Booo. We will keep on keeping on with our favorite blogs and magazines.

our event guru

We hired an event planning firm, Kristin Banta Weddings & Special Events, to help manage and consult with us this next year. Really, the investment was about keeping us all sane in the months ahead as we plan from 1000 miles away. We interviewed a few planners and clicked with Kristin’s philosophy and felt great about her level of experience. Considering we don’t need someone to recommend cream cardstock for invites but need someone to make sure our Visio table diagrams and napkin folds are executed properly, this team should do great. I just love her portfolio.