REAL WEDDING: Julia & Deric Feb 2014

We met Julia only a couple weeks before her wedding, and we didn't meet Deric until the Big Day. He was the man in a sharp dressed black tux, flocked by two swanky looking groomsmen in white tuxes. Looking good was definitely in order, as this couple got married at the famous Escala Condos, home to the notorious Christian Grey, from the book 50 Shades of Grey. As lovers of this book, we were super excited when we were brought on board. The venue was complete with an elegant staircase, wine cellar and patio ceremony with a roaring fireplace in the background. The venue looked amazing, with flowers provided by Ravenna Bloom, as well as person elements like the paper crane altar backdrop, and expressions in beautiful calligraphy from Carolyn Kach design. Amazing food was prepared by Lisa Dupar Catering and the delicious dessert was provided by our favorite dessert place as well, Hot Cakes. The music was provided by A Sounds Unlimited, the DJ spun some awesome songs and the night ended with some amazing dance moves! Photos provided by Carina Skrobecki Photography.  

Meet Our Associate Planner~ Sara!

We met Sara back a couple years ago when she inquired with us about an intern opening during a wedding show...and decided to hire her on for the summer season of 2012. Good thing we did...Sara is one of those rare gems. We couldn't let her go after her internship was up, so she is now officially part of the IYDEE team as an Associate Planner! She is an incredibly hard worker, smart, creative, funny- and not to mention she has become a true friend to us both! Get to know a little bit more about Sara and why she is so awesome. I interviewed her a little about herself and about being a wedding planner! Read on to hear more about this lovely lady!

 

1. Tell us about where your from and what you went to school for.

 I grew up in Spokane, Washington- we moved there from Mesa, Arizona just before I turned 3. I lived there until I transferred to Western Washington University! I went to school two years at Eastern Washington, before transferring, and graduating from Western Washington with a degree in Business Administration and Management.

 

2. What is your favorite Disney movie?

My favorite Disney movie is Mulan. I like the girl power in that movie, and the animals crack me up.

 

3. If you had to choose your last meal ever, what would it be?

Choose my last meal ever huh…? Hmm..Probably a big spread of my favorite Thai foods! Yummy!

 

4. Why wedding planning?

I have always planned the events and vacations for my friends and family. I would say that the planning of those gave me the bug! I always dreamed about being a wedding planner, so I finally took the plunge and enrolled in an online event planning course. The event planning course was great, but not hands on- I was looking for something more. So I went to the Snohomish Wedding Guild, and tried to meet wedding planners, I asked if anyone needed a summer intern. That of course, is where I found the amazing gals of It Your Day Events…and the rest is history!

 

5. Your favorite thing about working for IYDEE?

My favorite thing about working with IYDEE is the team. We have such a good time during each and every event that I find myself wishing we had events to work all day every day. The best part is that I know we can accomplish anything between the three of us. It can be anything from bussing tables to going on a beer run- and a good time will still be had by all.

 

6. If Sara isn't planning weddings or flying as a flight attendant you can find her__________?

Running, reading or traveling more!

 

7. A fond memory of a wedding so far?
We worked a wedding at Hidden Meadows in 2013- I loved the set up of that wedding! However, there is something I enjoy out of each of the weddings we work- set up, details, flowers, dessert, dances, toasts etc etc etc!!

 

8. In this job, I learned that when I get married, I __________________.

I want to have elements in my wedding that pertain to myself and my future husbands relationship. We worked one wedding that, for their dinner, they served the meal that the couple ate together on their first date.

 

9. Your personal advice for the newly engaged bride? 

My advice would be to take your time, don’t try to take on too many elements at once (that’s what coordinators are for!) and to make sure you enjoy it!

 

10. Random wild card?!

I worked at a YMCA summer camp for four summers, my camp name was Sara “Toga” Northey.

REAL WEDDING: Amy & Eddie 4/27/13

Amy & Eddie are an amazing dynamic duo that have known each other since high school. The two had rekindled their friendship a few years out of school which in turn blossomed into the beautiful romance you see today. With Amy being a professional dancer, along with some of the wedding party and many guests, this wedding at the beautiful Tulalip Resort Casino Orca Ballroom made for one heck of a dance party!

The couple incorporated their love of music into their theme of orange, purple and grey with chevrons. Beautiful fresh flowers, large orange round balloons and many, many paper cranes plus lots of little handmade personal expression touches added great accents to the wedding.

It was a truly amazing day to remember! Congratulations Amy & Eddie!

Venue: Tulalip Resort Casino

Photography: Brooks Scribner Photography

Day-of Coordination: It's Your Day Events & Expressions

DJ: Kyle Batterman

Cakes: Happy Cakes

Four ways to make the world a better place on your wedding day

CREATE LIFE. Give back to mother earth & commemorate your wedding day by planting a tree. Plantamemory.Com’s Spruce Evergreen party favors are unique & great for the environment. The tree seedlings come packaged in an eco­friendly box, equipped with a personalized card made from recycled paper. Plus, the more you buy, the cheaper they come. Fifty guests? Pay $3.15/seedling.

FEEL A BIODYNAMIC BUZZ. Biodynamic wines are 100% organic, which means they exclude the use of nasty pesticides & synthetic fertilizers. Growers of biodynamic wines create their own compost, & like astrologists, use the stars & planets to help guide them. Save soil —sip biodynamic wine. For more information on biodynamic wines visit: thedailygreen.com

GIVE THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING. Present your bridesmaids with a gift Mother Theresa would love. A beaded bracelet goes for $16.00 at Spark Tree on Etsy.Com. Seven of those sixteen dollars are donated to Drop in the Bucket, a non­profit organization dedicated to building sanitation systems & wells in Sub­Sahara African schools. Often when a well is built, enrollment doubles. Give the gift of water & education with this trendy accessory.

PLAY MARRY POPPINS. Instead of using rice for your send off, use bird feed & teach your guests the importance of feeding the birds. 

More & more couples are adding eco-friendly & charitable elements to their wedding day. The four listed above are just to name a few! For more ideas visit: eco-beautifulweddings.com/blog/

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!

Meet Annie our Bride-to-Be

Meet Annie our bride, getting married this July 5th at the beautiful Rock Creek Gardens. I asked Annie a few questions about her and her fiance Joe.  Read on to find out about the story of a young beauty and a military man who instantly clicked on their first date and plan to spend their life together! Also, read about the great wedding planning tip she has for other brides! How did you and Joe meet?

 Joe and I met on Match.com August 2010 and September 17,2010 was our first date. We met at the Panera Bread in Federal Way. The date lasted 5 hours. It wasn't a typical date, we went to an arcade after eating and challenged each other to table hockey, skee ball, basketball toss, and a few others. In the end, he did win more games than me but that's ok. It was a lot of fun. We had all these tickets from our games so we traded them in for plastic colored vampire teeth and walked around The Commons with them in our mouths. Then we went to Borders books and hung out in the kid's section because it had a cool couch to lay on. We both were laying on it and talking about memories as a child. Then....we caught eyes and leaned closer to each for our first kiss. By the second date we both knew we had found something special and by January of the next year we exchanged 'I love you's', in March we got a dog together and by May I had moved in. Before we knew it we were a family before our one  year anniversary came around.

How did he propose? 

I was hoping for a proposal by one year but it didn't happen, that's ok maybe for my birthday. How awesome would that have been. Nope didn't happen for my birthday. So at that point I knew it wasn't going to happen before our two year anniversary. Little did I know he was planning the proposal since May of 2012. But it didn't happen until August 26, 2012. It was a nice Sunday and we wanted to spend it with our two dogs. We went to the dog park then down to Ruston Way in Tacoma. On our walk on Ruston Way we stopped at a sundial and I spotted one of our friends running by and I thought it was strange she was running in jeans with a camera in hand. I called her over and while I was trying to figure out why she was there, Joe turned me around and he was down on one knee. It was a flash of excitement and then I heard "Will you marry me?" I tried to compose myself and when I did I said YES!.

What is the inspiration and theme for your wedding date?

We already knew that July 5th was our date before he even proposed because many our guest were going to be out of towners, so it made sense to us to make it for that weekend because the military gets a 4 day weekend. Joe is a Captain in the Army and many of his friends are also in the Army so they get that long weekend off as well.

The theme of our wedding is vintage romance and pictures through the ages. I love seeing pictures of me as a child and I knew it had to be a part of the wedding. I have been gather pictures of both Joe and I's family to incorporate in a few aspects of the wedding. It really started forming as a theme when I was exploring Pinterest. What a great site to get ideas from and I just took it from there. I am looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

What is one wedding planning tip you have for other brides?

The one tip I have for brides and future brides is get yourself a wedding planner or day of coordinator. I am absolutely thankful for the knowledge and expert industry opinion I have my amazing planners Christina and Ashley. When I needed Christina to go to bat for me on an issue I was having she jumped on it and fixed it in a snap. Get a planner!

Thanks for sharing Annie,  we can't wait until your wedding!