The look was what I call classic with a jolt of the couple’s super-fun personalities.  Nothing was “overdone,”, and the simplicity of the well-selected details shone through with beautiful impact.  I loved the use of grassy green & deep purple in the fall, and the personal touches that both Kate and her uber-creative mom dreamt up.  Simply Wed‘s in-house floral and design team came up with a cost-effective way to accent the client-provided lanterns on the tables by using tons of our vintage bottles with single blossoms in a variety of shades in the green, dark purple and whites.

Lucas Mobley, ultra-talented and under-the-radar photographer extraordinaire, captured the spirit of the couple AND the gorgeous fall light in a stunning way!  I became a fan the day he recommended that the bride and groom come up with something “fun” to do while shooting, and embraced their idea to play their favorite lawn game of “bags” in Gasworks Park.  Brilliant!  Even though they didn’t end up needing them (in the true sense of the word), the multi-colored umbrellas from Bella Umbrella made for some cute photos!

The staff at The Woodmark was, as always, on top of all of the details and provided an awesome experience for the bridal party, the guests and all of the vendors involved.  Braden Landon – DJ of choice for many of our planning colleagues and tons of big weddings in town – kept the party moving effortlessly, impressing everybody in attendance.

Once again, we find ourselves lucky to work with such wonderful people – wishing the best to Kate and J in their long and happy marriage ahead!

Other vendors included:

Hair & Makeup: Salon Maison

Bridal Gown: Bridals by Marissa

Tuxedos: The Tuxedo Club

Bridesmaids: J. Crew Weddings

Transportation: A Blackstone Limousine

The Columbia Tower Club acted as the setting for both the ceremony & reception on this hot July day.  What it provided was the most stunning 360 degree views of the whole Seattle area, leaving the guests from near and far awe-inspired.  A simple, white fabric covered archway was the only decoration needed for the ceremony with the awesome light streaming in from the windows behind.  The Western-style ceremony, Officiated by Julie Cooper, was meshed with a Khmer Chang Dai, or “tying of the wrist” ceremony, performed by a monk.  It was both intimate – as guests are invited to take part in the wrist-tying, and personal as it combined the Cambodian heritage of the groom’s family with the Chinese heritage of the bride’s family.

The look for this wedding was stunning in it’s simplicity.  With what I call a “Modern Prep” vibe of navy blue, crisp white and apple green, the details were all thought out completely without looking fussy or overdone.  In fact, the bride really didn’t “love” flowers at all, so we decided to minimize them!  Our Simply Wed in-house floral & design team created centerpieces from baby green apples, blueberries and white calla lilies for a color-block effect on the tables.  This also mirrored the signature drinks, a Blueberry Mojito and Green Apple Lemonade, created specially by the CTC staff.  One of our favorite details was the sculpted white-chocolate & blueberry cake by Tallant House.  The bride loved how it mirrored the skyscraper that they were getting married in (so clever!).

Opting to do portraits without bouquets and bouts allowed the fantastic photographic team from Joey Nicole Photography to hone in on the people instead – creating some of my favorite portraits of the summer.  The bride in her one-shoulder, asymmetric gown with a bow on the shoulder – classic Amsale in it’s un-fussyness!  And the groom looking dapper in a simple, skinny gray suit with a navy tie.  They really couldn’t look more the part – plus they happen to be the two cutest people ever!!

The venue was finished off by details of ruched ivory chair covers from the club, and blue up-lighting around the perimeter of the room by DJ Sean of Seattle Parties.  The favors were selected as an homage to Derek’s proposal to Karen, as miniature Sees Chocolates boxes were decorated with the story (which also happened to show a little of the groom’s sense of humor as well!).  Guests were treated to late-night traditional Chinese baked goods and a live-streaming “photo booth” by Phototainment to keep them entertained (along with dancing, of course!) into the night.  All-in-all it was a wonderful celebration of Karen & Derek, and their love of the Pacific NW!

Other vendors for this fabulous event were:

Videography: Mitch Mattraw of Cabfare Productions

Hair & Makeup: Mode Organic Salon

Print Goods: LaBelleVie Design

Afterparty: Pnk Ultralounge

Getting Ready & Wedding Night Hotel / Sunday Brunch: The Fairmont Olympic

Summer 2011 clients Chris & Suz came to me wanting a wedding that celebrated all of the “childhood summer fun” that pleased them.  It involved three locations and every member of the wedding (yep, everyone) biking from location to location, including the bride in her dress!

Sherbet colors abound, decorated bikes, balloons along a pathway and an ice cream truck post-ceremony were just some of the highlights of this delightful wedding.  Guests started by gathering at the Dutch Bike Co. in Ballard to decorate their bikes (and pedicabs) while also having a quick “biker’s etiquette” lesson and a champagne toast.  Then everybody rode to a spot off of the Burke-Gilman Trail in Fremont (just under the Fremont Bridge) for the intimate ceremony and Molly Moon’s Ice Cream to garner energy for the ride back.  From there they rode back to Ballard and ended at the Volterra Drawing Room for a cocktail-style reception with the DJ Alex Ruder from KEXP spinning the bride and groom’s favorite tunes.  The room was decorated with market flowers and a collection of haiku poems the bride and groom had written to each other over the years.  The groom’s triplets had also written poems & songs to the bride & groom to join the gallery (and of course, read them to the crowd for a high point of the evening!).

I hope you enjoy this wedding as much as I did – I know Chris & Suzanne (and the kids!) will have a happy life together just by the spirit shown on their lovely wedding day!

Other vendors:

Photography: Lifebox Studios; Hair/Makeup: Luce Cousineau; Rentals:  AA Party

I am so very lucky to have wonderful, awesome, amazingly talented colleagues (and friends) who were able to make our 10-year vow renewal fantastical.  Without all of them, it would have been impossible.  I had the best of the best, which is way more than I could hope for as a quasi-bride.

First, I had a planner.  What, you ask?  OF COURSE I DID! Planners are the ones who need their own planners the MOST!  Jenny Harding of A New Chapter Events jumped in took over my plans seamlessly, making everything truly come together in the time leading up to the event.  She also provided childcare (in addition to nanny Hannah!) and petcare, two VERY valuable things when doing an event full of families and one little poochie!  I would not have been camera-ready had it not been for the uber-talented hair & makeup skills of Luce Cousineau.  She made me feel beautiful, step one in allowing myself to be photographed by none other than….  Paul Joseph Brown, who has photographed many of my weddings and even my family before.  He did an amazing job capturing the spirit of the day and all of those that came to celebrate with us.  DJ Leslie of Seattle Parties gave our party a great flavor, and hosted the BEST dance party for both the under-5 AND over-30 set.  Not an easy feat, and we all wished we could have danced longer into the night!  The Invisible Hostess provided all sorts of everything, including bar service, food setup and hostessing – and pulled together my crazy half-catered, half-BBQ catering plan.  Thank god for those three girls!  AA Party rentals transformed our humble backyard into a fairytale setting – I say that in all seriousness, and steal those words from none other than my husband!  It’s magical what a tent, the right linens and lights can do for an outdoor event!  My floral partner Susan Snyder (also of S-Scents Design) was kind enough to team up with me and provide the bouquet and boutonniere even though she was on vacation during the event (read: refrigerator magic!).  My lovely sister-in-law, Melissa, provided the dreamy angel food cakes (see more on this below) and my brother Jeremy officiated our short, sweet and intimate renewal-of-vows ceremony.  Finally, yes – we had a hog dog stand!  Dante’s Inferno Dogs, best in the city, provided the always-popular hot dogs.  And the rest of the design details….well, you guessed it – that was all my own two hands.

The design of the event was something true to me (and as an extension, Simply Wed) through and through.  It formed itself over many months, and became whole when I decided that I liked something, made it, and moved on to the next thing!  I’ve been asked many a time by people what my “ideal” event would look like – I suppose this is it, for us!  Celebrating 10 years of marriage was something we wanted to keep close to home, intimate, and appropriate for both us and our children.  I didn’t worry about what was the latest and greatest, but rather what appealed to me – a lesson I try to teach all of my brides when they are coming up with their own wedding look.  Trends are great, but you have to like them if they are going to translate for your wedding!  For instance, we chose miniature angel food cakes in lieu of wedding cake.  This was inspired by a photo from my original wedding folder that was a detail I couldn’t figure out how to achieve back in the days before I was a planner.  Yes, miniature desserts are in – but this was meaningful in a much bigger way for us.  Especially since a family member who happens to be extraordinarily skilled at baking provided them for us, baked with love!

Well, that should be enough from me!  I just  wanted to share my beautiful event in a kick-off of sharing all of Simply Wed’s 2011  season on our blog.  Enjoy!!  xoxoxo, Kirstie

The Marsupial Layering Tool:  This makes gluing layers of paper together with the perfectly sized border, from 1/8-1″, a total breeze.  My days of eye-balling it are over!!!  I only wish I knew of this brilliant invention a few years sooner!

The Scotch ATG 700 Tape Gun:  I’ve had this baby for 10 years now, since my own wedding, and it’s never let me down.  Easy-breezy application of super-thin double-sided tape.  I’ve used it on everything from invitations to place cards to signs & candy bar ribbons.  The Fiskars Paper Trimmer.  For smaller-sized amounts of paper trimming, this is your best bet.  It’s easy to get new blades when they get dull, and measuring is a breeze.  TIP: If you have to trim more than 50 or more of the same thing, in my opinion it’s WAY easier to pay $1.50 per cut and do the whole stack at once at Fedex Office.  I’m a fan of saving time as well as my sanity in some crafting cases!!

Happy crafting y’all!

5. Add a modern twist to candlelit centerpieces For a celebration that featured traditional Indian wedding colors of gold and deep red, Simply Wed wedding designer Kirstie Warren kept it, well, simple, focusing on water, glass and candelight to add warmth to an otherwise dark space. Dan Troup loved the idea of using submerged flowers in centerpieces at their reception at Novelty Hill-Janiuk Winery in Woodinville, so Warren collaborated with local floral designer Bella Rugosa to blend floating candles and ‘James Story’ orchids in oversize vases. Reflective colored pebbles and a menagerie of votives surrounded each centerpiece for added warmth, and chargers and napkins from AA Party Rentals added texture. “Because of the early spring date and later evening reception time, it was dark when dinner was served. The lighting truly made the room sparkle.”

Enjoy the full article online HERE!