Grand Ridge Manor: Featured Venue

Grand Ridge Manor is a great venue! If you live north or south of Bellevue, this is a great venue to check out! This gorgeous mansion is located in Issaquah, Washington. It provides the perfect wedding in a secluded area but with very easy access to the city. The venue is surrounded by a beautiful scenery of forests and a view of Cougar & Tiger Mountain; perfect for wedding photos! The Grand Ridge Manor has a private 35 acres that has a natural pond with a running waterfall and fountain in the pond.  We have had a wedding planned with Karly and Brett, the couple that I wrote my previous blog on. I was an intern when I worked with this lovely couple and I was truly blessed to be working with them to make their day and night as perfect as they wanted it to be at The Grand Ridge Manor. The cooks and staff were so amazing and extremely helpful. I can honestly say that, this venue was one of the most beautiful venues I've ever seen in my wedding planning career! 

Here's a little tour of the place and some pictures taken of Karly and Brett at their wedding!

Awesome Ways to Announce Your Engagement!

We all know that the holiday seasons are approaching and so is engagement season. Many of you will be changing your Facebook relationship status from "In a relationship" to "Engaged"!!! If you are one of the lucky ones reading this right now, It's Your Day Events and Expressions congratulates you and your special one! 

First things first, how are you going to share your engagement to the whole world? Let me show you my top 5 favorite, creative, and cute ways to announce your engagement! Don't forget to call your parents... :)

 

1. Take it to Instagram!

People love to share the things that the love and enjoy on Instagram. Show off your ring, you can make it as obvious as you like! ;) 
Photo Credit: Francesca's Boutique

Photo Credit: Francesca's Boutique

2. Engagement photo shoot

These shoots can get as creative as you'd like. Get super sweet and corny, hold up signs, and smile! 
Photo credit: Lauren Davidson

Photo credit: Lauren Davidson

3. Scrabble and the Ring

Sweet and simple! 
Photo credits: AC Ellis Weddings

Photo credits: AC Ellis Weddings

4. For coffee lovers

Nothing else says I love you more than a hot cup of coffee! Oops, maybe if a ring comes along with it! 

5. Saved the best one for last: Couple's best friend! 

Maybe you guys already started a little furry family. You need to include them too! 
Photo credits: Raven Red

Photo credits: Raven Red

There are so many other ways to share your engagement to the world but these are my top 5 favorites! 

 I would like to know, how did you guys share your engagement? :)

 

Written By Kailin Cheng, Event Assistant

Real Wedding: Marta & Sean- Woodinville, Wa

When you see the pictures below, you may think, no way, these aren't real people, they are too good looking they must be models?! We thought so too. That is why we used them as models in our fun photo shoot a few months before their wedding; a fun Mid-Century Industrial themed shoot with Cheryl Ford Photography at Westland Distillery. Anyway, Marta & Sean are an awesome (and yes, very good looking) couple from Kirkland that we just adore. In fact, Sean is the owner of Pike Street Press, which recently opened a second shop in Kirkland.

They got married at the always beautiful De Lille Cellars, the most picturesque winery location in Woodinville. The theme was simple yet beautiful, Eastern European yet Mediterranean with lots of greenery and hints of gold.

Guests enjoyed the fabulous music from Chris Anderson, who DJ'd and also serenaded guests during dinner. Tasty food was provided by Skillet and delicious cake from Hoffman's Fine Pastries and DERU Market.

Gorgeous flowers were provided by Fena and most importantly, beautiful photos from Carina Skrobecki Photography!

Table numbers as well as Wedding planning of course from us at It's Your Day Events & Expressions

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Meet our Interns!

Hey there! This summer has been flying by! Wedding season is in full swing, and we are grateful to have a little help this summer. We have two amazing new interns on our team this year and would love to share a little about them! Meet Samantha & Kate! Samantha K.DSC_1743d

Tell us about where your from and what you are in school for. I was born in San Jose, CA but at age of 5 I moved to Poland and lived there for 15 years. I came to Seattle around 5 years ago. I chose Seattle because it’s a very artistic city which I love and also I have family here and since I was moved from a completely different culture, I thought I would need some help and it’s always nice to have someone around just in case. (Sam is in school for event planning at Edmonds CC)

What is your favorite Disney movie? I love all the old school Disney movies like “Dumbo” or “ 101 Dalmatians” but my favorite would be “Mulan”. I love how that movie shows little girls that women can do incredible things as good or event better then men. I always had a strong female figures around me growing up so I always love watching women kick ass.

If you had to choose your last meal ever, what would it be? Lemon soup... I know it sounds weird but my mom makes the best lemon soup, it’s served with rice. I think it’s known only in Poland but I love it!

Why wedding planning? I always enjoyed planning parties for family and friends everyone always seemed to really enjoyed my parties. I never thought I would fall in love with weddings so much but it’s such a beautiful celebration of life and being part of this magical day, a new beginning in couples life, it brings me a lot of joy. I always wanted to do something that will make people smile and I finally found it. I feel like a fairy godmother and it’s the best feeling in the world to know you made someone’s dream come true. This is the day they will be remembering for the rest of their lives and I couldn't be more honored to be part of it.

Your favorite thing about working for IYDEE? I love working with Christina & Ashley because they let me try new things and are just really fun to work with. I get to learn and experience something new  every single time. For someone who’s just starting out like myself, Ashley & Christina are ideal mentors and I’m just really happy I get to work with them, very inspiring young women.

Your guilty pleasure? Green mint ice cream! I can eat tons of it and don’t care how fat it will make me.

What is your Starbucks order? Cinnamon dolche late

Something a lot of people don't know about me is: Something a lot of people don’t know about me is in my free time I write song lyrics. Most people write in diaries and I write lyrics about my life.

In this job, I learned that when I get married, I : In this job, I learned that when I get married, I will know how to stay on budget. For me it has always been the biggest problem as well as I learned a lot about importance of details. But I think the most important part will be to have an event coordinator day of. I don’t want to stress out and worry about time or if all the vendors are on time so I will definitely have someone to take care of it so I can enjoy my day.

Your personal advice for the newly engaged bride?  My personal advice for a bride to be would be definitely hire a wedding coordinator; if you can’t afford full planning then at least day of. A lot of people think it’s easy but it’s so much more work, most people don’t realize, to have a professional to help you that way you can be positive you will have a dream wedding. Also give yourself enough time to plan everything slowly step by step.

 

Kate B.

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Tell us about where your from and what you are in school for. Hometown: Shoreline, WA. Currently at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA studying Psychology.

What is your favorite Disney movie? Monsters Inc.                                                                                                            

If you had to choose your last meal ever, what would it be? A turkey sandwich. It's a weird obsession                                                                              .

Why wedding planning? I'm very detail oriented and love planning. Wedding planning allows me to see each and every little detail fall into place to create a beautiful event. And it's so much fun!                                                                                                                                                   

Your favorite thing about working for IYDEE?Working with such fun, laid-back wedding coordinators!                                                                                                  

Your guilty pleasure? Watching crime TV shows. And the Bachelor.                                                                                                                                                 

What is your Starbucks order? Iced vanilla macchiato                                                                                                                             

Something a lot of people don't know about me is: I used to be a ski racer.

In this job, I learned that when I get married: I'll have a tough time making decisions. There are so many options!

Personal advice for the newly engaged bride:Relax! Planning your wedding should be enjoyable, and having the help of wedding coordinators like Ashley and Christina will make the process a whole lot easier, less stressful, and more fun!

 

Cheers,

Ashley

Why I {Ashley} wanted to be a Wedding Planner!

In high school, I was very active in my school's DECA (Marketing) class/club. My first year in the class as a Junior, our teacher, Mr. P had assigned myself and 3 of my good friends to be in charge of the Giving Tree event that year. This involved a lot of planning, organizing, and follow through, and this; as far as I can remember, and other then planning out my own birthday parties, was my first real taste of event planning. After the Giving Tree Event, I went on to become the DECA Co-Publicity Director my Senior Year with my friend Kristi and we took on several other small events, and decor scenarios and campaigns etc. From here on out I KNEW I wanted to do something in the event field! When it came time for me to go to college, I chose to go to Western Washington University in beautiful Bellingham and persue my degree in Communication. Communication is more of a broad spectrum degree that can lead to careers in many things, but I did focus my studies on event planning courses and took my final internship course for the Downtown Bellingham Association, helping plan a Summer Outdoor Concert Series. By then, I knew planning events was REALLY what I wanted to do.

So, I had graduated college and a few years had gone by and I had started thinking about how the job I was in wasn't really what I wanted to do, and I still had hopes for my event planning dreams. Meanwhile, many of my friends had started to get married, and I realized what a big, exciting, stressful, fantastic & crazy thing weddings were.

All the while, Christina (my best friend) is off doing her creative thing on the side, like making earrings and creating wedding cards and invites.

We talked it over one day and realized we could definitely combine our forces; with Christina's creative flair and business mind & my event planning sense and both our love for weddings, thus, It's Your Day Events & Expressions was born.

For those who don't know, the "Expressions" side of our business is Christina's super creative invites, table numbers, menus, save-the-dates, favor tags, buntings, cake-toppers, cupcake flags etc!

We have been in business for over 4 years and loved every minute of it! We have been in King 5's Best of Western Washington Top 5 Wedding Planner for the last 3 years in a row!

The thing that I love most about this business is that we get to see an event from start to finish AND all the amazing couples we get to meet. It is truly a humbling experience and an honor to be able to share in their special day. What I love about this job is that I get to do it with my very best friend!Ashley+Christina_sm-093 527043_10100262923720810_275807244_n

Real Wedding {Carly & Jesse} The Harbor Club 6/23/12

Carly & Jesse are the classic story of young love. She was a sorority girl & he a frat boy...need we say more? Well, we will! The beautiful ceremony took place at the charming Bellevue First Congressional Church and the reception was held high amongst the city of Bellevue on the 25th floor of the Symetra Financial Building, downtown. Needless to say, the views were breathtaking. The decor was simple, classic, and mostly purple! With an amazing staff and crew, the evening went off beautifully. The bride looked absolutely radiant and the groom happy and handsome as ever!

The night did not end until both the sorority and frat had each done their special chant to celebrate the event.

At evening end, the bride & groom whisked off in the limo headed to their hotel, then off to Oahu! Congrats to Carly & Jesse!

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Vendors:

Venue & catering: http://www.harborclub.org/

Day-of Coordination: http://www.itsyourdayevents.com/

Photography: http://www.danapleasant.com/

Cake: http://kelliscakecreations.com/