Bride and Bridesmaids To Be!

You can't get married without your ladies by your side! 

Men come and go but friends are forever.... even when you already find the man of your dreams, you're girls have to be there to be by your side to support and most importantly: TO CELEBRATE WITH YOU! 

NOW, this is the store that I swear by. I love everything about Francesca's Boutique: their great quality product, the atmosphere of every boutique I go in, and the employees are always so cheerful and loving! They have very unique clothing, jewelry, and my favorite, the miscellaneous accessories!! And when I found out about all these wedding goodies that they have, I just had to make a post about it! You never know what you will find on that little table. Here are some fun little goodies for you, a soon to be bride, or for your brides maids! 

JUST SAY YES, BRIDESMAIDS! 

I just think this is so adorable! If your man already popped the question and you said yes, it's your turn to pop the question to your bridesmaid. The brides maid proposal doesn't have to be out of this world. A small little gesture for your ladies would do the trick. Sweet and simple! These earring would make a perfect gift and its something that your bridesmaid will most likely use and its so sweet and simple that it'll match with everything that they wear! 

Francesca's Boutique in Alderwood Mall! 

 

YOU'RE A BOMBSHELL BRIDE!

This little cute scrumptious bath bomb smells so good and it makes your skin glow! If you think LUSH only sells awesome bath bombs, think again! Drop this baby in your bathtub, get your new hubby, pop some champagne, and relax ALL night long! 

There are so many other cute little things at Francesca that are wedding related. If you're still stumped on gifts for the bride or brides maids. Come check it out at Francesca's Boutique. You will fall in LOVE just like I did! Here just some of the other bachelorette/bride products that I love! 

Enjoy online shopping till you're dropping! :) 

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

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

3. Scrabble and the Ring

Sweet and simple! 

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

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

The Adventures of An Intern

Wedding planning is a dangerous job... 

There were real sweat, blood, and tears. Now it's not as gruesome as you're picturing it right now so let me set a scenario for you. You get pulled around by the families and loved ones, making sure everything's going smoothly, being pricked and poked by all the bountineers that have to be pinned on the groomsmen and fathers, dragging around all of the props that are needed through the ceremony, holding the brides' and bridesmaid bouquet, veil, and belongings, ext.  The pressure of making sure that everything runs smoothly. Then at last there is tears of joy and happiness because you can just feel the love in the air between the bride and groom. There are so much more to do and I've definitely underestimated what a wedding planner's job is. 

After my first wedding planning experience, I am very determined to get to where my goal is: being Beyonce's little girl, Ivy Blue, plan her future wedding! ( A girl can only dream right?) Anyways... it's not about the money or the fame of helping throw the biggest most spectacular Jay Gatsby kind of party, but it's helping a couple make the best night of their life and to celebrate such a thing called love.

All this inspiration talk is cheesy and corny, but its the actions what count. Let me tell you the day I had on my first day of interning at a wedding, Christina, my wonderful boss, and her husband Ben, and I were on our way to Ballard's Lutheran Church at around 12 pm, we were going to set up a few hours before the wedding and making sure the families and loved ones were getting ready and situated! As we are making our way down to Ballard, we stopped a light right past Dick's drive in and we were stopped a red light, RIGHT ON SCHEDULE, if I might add. Then all of a sudden a minivan rear ended us out of no where! Christina had a scrapped elbow, Ben and I had some whiplash and our head hit the back of the seat really hard. The lady who hit us didn't even say anything to Ben when he got out to exchange information and insurance. How rude!! Anyways, we were back on our way to the church, not even a little fender bender will stop us from going to the wedding. We finally get to the church and we're making sure the photos were being taken, the make up of all the brides made were done and the dress and veil was looking FLAWLESS. The ceremony was so beautiful! The flowers and the huge organ in the church was just so beautiful! 

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Ballard First Lutheran Church 

After the ceremony, Christina and I were in charge of collecting all of the belonging that were left behind by the groomsmen/bridesmaids and also the flower arrangements down the aisle and putting them into the car to take with us to the reception venue. Then we were to meet Ashley at the venue where she was setting up for the reception. So once we loaded all of the flower arrangements in the box, Ben, Christina's husband was helping load the car as I handed him the flowers in the glass vases one by one... You can guess what happened next. He accidentally grabbed the flowers instead of the vase and the vase just shattered on the street! Next thing I know is Ben saying, "Uh I think your foot is bleeding..." I looked down and said "Really?" Turns out the glass shattered around my foot and all I got a was a itty bitty cut on the top of my foot. It was so small that I didn't even notice it! Christina said, "You're gonna scare our intern off by hurting them like that!" All laughs and jokes!! 

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Then, we arrived at The Canal, where the wedding reception was and all night long, it was laughs, hugs, a lot of eating, drinking  and LOTS OF DANCING. It was such a blast that all of the things that went wrong that day had been forgotten! 

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Jewel Hospitality catering ft my #OOTE for the wedding!! Dinner was delicious!

Being hit by a car and dodging shards of glass was not how I planned my first day of interning to be but it really made the day more interesting. New thing that I learned that day is to always prepare for the worst. It's someone's special day and if something goes wrong, you fix it real quick, bandage it up or something and just keep going. You got to be innovated and think on your feet. You also probably have to sustain the hits of a vehicle and have shields of steel for a foot like me! 

What has been the craziest and unexpected thing that has happened to you on the day of a wedding you were attending to?? I would love to hear your story! :) And if you guys are interested in a wedding #OOTE (Outfit of the event) put below in the comments!!!

Next time on The Adventures of An Intern,

Kailin C. 

5 Wedding sendoffs that don’t suck!

So, I was entirely sucked into the Wedding portion of Pinterest the other day, and started thinking about the wedding sendoff scene. As wedding season 2015 quickly approaches, let me share with you my top five list of clever sendoffs I hope to be seeing  this season. Of course traditionally, there are the classics like sparklers, rice, bubbles and rose petals. Now a days, rice isn’t even PC! - rumor has it that it hurts the birdies! Now I haven’t been able to find anything that confirms nor denies that particular claim, but better safe than sorry I suppose. Anyway, most weddings that we work do have a sendoff… don’t think that you HAVE to have one, but here are a few simple ideas to kick around.

1. Glitter: Ok, I know what you’re thinking…what a mess. I agree, but think of how lovely it would be!! I would be pretty upfront with your venue and see if you can even use glitter. I wouldn’t want to have this sendoff anywhere that I would have to be cleaning it up. This would be great for backyard weddings at your parents house or something! Glitter toss is something that can easily be matched with your theme, and everyone will go home with a piece on their get up- thereby remembering your special night! ;)

2. Lavender: Alright, this is a smell good, calming kinda sendoff. To personalize this one, hit the craft store and pick out some paper you want to fold into paper cones. Then you can think of a station to hold the cones up filled with the lovely scent of lavender. Heck! If you wanna stay simplistic…why not use actual ice cream cones!?  The bonus about this one….no environmental hindrance, and no clean up! 

3. Ribbon Bell: Hit the hardware store and pick up some dowels, cut them to a reasonable length, and drill a hole at one end large enough to thread some ribbon through. A project for the groom?? I think so! Then you can have your bridesmaids over to tie one end of the ribbon to the dowel, and one end to a bell… sounds like a Wine Wednesday kinda night to me!  Winter theme? Make it a holiday ribbon and a jingle bell! Head off to your getaway car like Santa leaving on Christmas! This sendoff will surely add some color to your getaway photos, and be something your guests haven’t seen before.

4. Leaf confetti: Runner up to my favorite new getaway is this genius idea! It’s probably best for a fall wedding. Take a stroll around your neighborhood and collect some of those vibrant falling leaves. Invite your girls over and grab that hole punch out of your desk drawer! Punch holes out of the leaves you collected, and BAM! Hello environmentally friendly confetti. Also, talk about a cheap, colorful spin on the sendoff. I would bet my bottom dollar that you haven’t seen this one at any wedding you’ve attended!

5. SPRINKLES!:  This one is my #1 pick for the 2015 wedding season! Sprinkles come in all shapes and colors- match to your wedding theme and keep it on the cheap. The pictures are full of color and fun, and you can distribute them as you like. I’ve seen small mesh bags with a cute phrase (SWEET sendoff @ 10pm), paper cones, or simply a basket your guests can grab a scoop out of. These will wash away with the rain, and don’t hurt any of our feathered friends. Ahh I love it! Please do this and send us some pictures!

The runners up include birdseed and sequins, but they don’t make the top 5 list in my opinion. As far as wedding sendoffs go, don’t spend too much time dwelling on how you want to do it, just stick with something fun. This will be the last bit of your evening before you leave your guests and head off to start your official married lives- I say…end it on a high note!

 

Until next time- the staff of IYDEE