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~ Kirby & Derek 8/11/12

What a great amazing honor to share in the special day of these two! Kirby & Derek are in fact old friends/classmates of ours from high school. However, even though they went to the same HS, they did not know of each other until a chance meeting one day a few years back. (See their "Love Story" in the photos below.) It was a beautiful sunny day on August 11th and the bride looked amazing in her dress, the groom very stunning [slideshow]in his tux, in fact the whole bridal party looked sharp, right down to the 5 flower girls in their black tutus!

The room was adorned in coral, black and ivory with wine bottle and cork accents, with a slight vintage touch. To top it all off was a GI Joe grooms cake and a favor cookie bar from The Cookie Lady!

Congrats Kirby & Derek!

Venue: Rosehill Community Center, Mukilteo WA

Catering: Cristianos, Marysville WA

Day of Coordinator: It's Your Day Events & Expressions

Photography: J.Jackson Photography

DJ: Rich

Flowers: Garden of Eden Bouquets

Set up/Take Down Services: Lady Bug

IYD Wedding: Gillian & Mitchell July 21st, 2012

July 21st, 2012! It was a gorgeous day for a wedding on the Kirkland waterfront, at the always lovely Woodmark! We arrived to Woodmark to find the Marina Room filled with Gillian's flowers- they smelled amazing. Her flowers were very romantic and lush; garden roses, lilies, and in her color pallet of coral, white, green with navy blue vases;  crisp and nautical. She was getting ready in her suite, surrounded by all her bridesmaids and moms as the men were getting ready down the way! Gillian looked so beautiful in her lace dress, with an elegant pale grey silk ribbon around her waist. She was a vision! Mitch and his boys looked equally handsome! Courtney Bowlden of Courtney Bowlden Photography was busy snapping up shots of this great couple! Here is a peek into their day!

I loves this last one! It looks as though they are celebrities, making a get away!

Vendors

Venue/Catering -Woodmark, Kirkland WA

Planner/Day of Coordinator- It's Your Day Events & Expressions

Cake- Sweet Cakes

Photography- Courtney Bowlden

Flowers- Fena Flowers, Kirkland, WA

Stationary- Custom Design, Minted.

DJ/Band- The Action Slacks

Thanks Gillian & Mitch, for letting us help out on such a big day!

Real Wedding: Dena & Cameron 4/21/12

Dena & Cameron were the winners of our contest for free Day-of Coordination (see previous post). We were so excited when the day finally arrived and we were able to coordinate their wedding at the absolutely beautiful St. James Cathedral in Seattle. Dena looked amazing in her sleeping beauty dress and Cam so handsome in his tux.

An amazing dessert table was stocked by the wonderful Jenny's Cookies and everyone danced the night away and had a great time in the Fun Booth from Kaylee Eylander Photography.

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Real Wedding: Taryn & Reilly

Friday the 10th of February was a day to remember for these two love birds! What an amazing, amazing wedding. So much love and laughter, and did we mention the cakes? There were 5 total, plus cake pops and mini tarts! All equally delicious. We absolutely loved being a part of their big day, and helping friends and family make their wedding one to remember! Sample of their big day below...

A Big Thank You!

This last weekend was packed full of driving, venue viewing and meeting new clients. One of the meetings that happened to be on the list was  with my (Christina’s) wedding photographer Tyler Austin from TAustin photography. My wedding album had finally come in all the way from Italy, hence the wait. I  met Tyler at the Tully’s, where we had first met him to book him for our wedding, in Redmond. As I walked in I saw a large black bag that was very striking, which had nicely wrapped items inside of it, I got really excited as I knew that must be my Album! Tyler and I started to talk shop for a bit, and catch up on each other’s businesses, talking about my wedding and his son, and how Rachel was doing (his wife  and 2nd shooter/ hair and makeup for TAustin) while swapping stories of house hunting. At one point we got to talking about printing companies and where he gets his printing done, he then lifted up another wrapped item, and showed me a logo sticker from a printing place, and said “oh, this is just a little something extra from Rachel and I”. Then towards the end of our meeting, he lifted up yet another giant box, and said “this is for your album and just something else from us”. I was absolutely stunned from the generosity of all this; I couldn't wait to get home to show Ben! I felt like it was my Birthday or something, trucking all these beautifully wrapped gifts into the house. Ben looked at me and asked “Did you go shopping? I replied “no, this is all from Tyler and Rachel”! He, set his stuff down, and we started to unwrap everything!  The 1st was our long awaited album; words cannot define the quality and beauty this timeless piece holds. It is absolutely magnificent, and was included in our package with TAustin. Next was a very nice 2012 calendar that was compiled of our favorite wedding photos. The next was a classy holder for our beautiful album to be on display, like in museum! It is sitting in our living room, on our book shelf as I type. The last, and most wonderful gift that we had gotten, was by total surprise! The day of our wedding we did forgo the videographer, as there were many of people coming that day that had very nice video cameras. We were certain that we would get our ceremony videotaped. Well, low and behold, no one did, and we were going to have to remember it through pictures and memories. In the last gift from Tyler was a video, of our ceremony (including all our pictures on a separate disc). Ben and I played it almost instantly, and we sat on our couch, reliving an amazing day in our lives-it was priceless! On the day of your wedding ,things go by so fast and your emotions almost take over the ability to really realize what is happening. We couldn't be more thankful for this video, that wasn't even asked of Tyler, he just did it. We were so very lucky to have the wonderful team of TAustin Photography there that day, and we can't thank you enough for capturing our special day in photos, and taping  an extremely cherished moment!

Thank you again Tyler and Rachel!

http://www.taustinphotography.com/