Tag: Bride

Wedding Day Dreams

Nicole3 Comments

I didn’t shared many detail photos of our wedding last year and since my husband and I recently celebrated our 1 year anniversary I thought I would now. Plus, I created this blog as a way to look back and remember my adventures and this is definitely a day that I want to remember every detail from 🙂 (FYI long post ahead).

Details

Venue: Trinity Tree Farm – We got married at The Lodge at Trinity Tree Farm in Issaquah, WA and felt this was a perfect venue for us. An outdoor ceremony with Christmas trees as the backdrop and an indoor reception with classic white lights and plenty of space for our guests. We loved the PNW vibe mixed with a romantic and elegant feel.

Catering: The Tall Chef – Tommy and I love to cook together. One of our favorite things to make is tacos because they are so delicious and also so easy to make. This led to an easy decision to have a taco bar at our wedding and it did not disappoint. (Jack from The Tall Chef is very talented – we have already used his catering services again for special occasions and a few of our friends are using him for their upcoming 2021 weddings).

Dessert: My husband had two best men at our wedding. He has known them and their families since elementary school. One of their moms is an amazing baker and created our wedding cake. She also made cupcakes for dessert. It was so much fun going to ‘tastings’ at her home. It felt so special to us that she was part of our day, since she is like Tommy’s second mom. And the cake was absolutely DELICIOUS!

Florals: Bloom – Tara our florist was amazing! She sent us a mood board and completely nailed our my (lol) vision with blush and green tones. Fun fact, we met her about 4 years who when we first got our dog Edgar. She owns an indoor/outdoor Dog Park + Bar (check out my post Dogwood Play Park to learn more about her space). She created the bridal bouquets and gorgeous arbor. For our centerpieces, boutonnieres and sweetheart table, one of my bridesmaid’s mom was kind enough to make these. She is a master gardener and is incredible at what she does. The garden at her home looks like it could be out of a magazine. We felt so grateful she did this for us.

My grandma passed away in 2015 and left me her wedding ring which I tied to my bouquet.

Dress + Shoes: My wedding dress was from Dolce Bleu and I am so grateful for their help. Long story short, I found a dress at their store that fit me perfectly that they no longer carried. They offered to have the dress dry-cleaned since it was the store sample. When I picked up my dress it had a yellowish tint to it. They called around other boutiques, found the same dress/designer (Martina Liana) and ordered me a brand new one. It was definitely an ordeal but it all worked out in the end. My reception dress was from BHLDN and shoes were Jeffery Campbell.

Hair + Makeup: Since I had 7 bridesmaids + my mom and mother-in-law, we needed a couple of people to help us with our hair and makeup. Joey Van Pelt and my friend Alana did makeup and helped with hair. I met Joey about 8 years ago through a friend of a friend. Random fact, she was on Big Brother Season 16. She and Alana were great (love you Alana!). Leah from Zo and Co Styling did my hair. A couple of weeks before our wedding date, I got a ‘trim’ at a new salon nearby. The lady took off way more than a trim so I used Luxy Hair extensions and Leah ensured everything was blended and looked natural. We started hair and makeup early…I can’t remember the exact time but I want to say like 6am early. All worth it though especially since I got to spend even more time with my besties the morning of my wedding day!

Wanted to add some portraits of my hubby because he looks so good! He def did not wake up at 6am to get ready. Probably woke up around 10 or so, showered, got dressed and was ready to go.

DJ + Photo booth: DJ Daron – I think a great DJ or Band is important for a wedding because they help keep things moving and keep the party going. Our DJ also offered photo booth services and this was such a blast. I have always loved photo booths at weddings, plus the photostrips make a great keepsake for guests.

Stationary: I used a template off Etsy to design our invitations and then printed them on CatPrint (much cheaper than Minted and great quality). I made the menus, fans and signs using the same template and just printed on my home printer with card stock. My favorite sign I made was our signature drink The Edgar because I wanted to somehow include our pup on our special day. Dogs were allowed at our venue but if you know Edgar you know that would have been a disaster waiting to happen.

Wedding Party Attire: Bridesmaid dresses were Show Me Your Mumu in blush. Groomsmen rentals were The Black Tux.

Gifts: The girls were given Bridesmaid Robes and Jean Jackets (check out my blog post Hand Painted Denim Jackets to read about how I made them). The boys were given Duke Cufflinks to honor one of Tommy’s best friend who passed away in 2015. My mom and dad were given Mother + Father Handkerchiefs. I gave my mom, step-mom and mother-in-law necklaces from one of my favorite jewelry shops, GLDN. We gave our officiant (Tommy’s friend growing up) this Custom Officiant Flask with his face on it.

Little Details: I think all the little details in a wedding make it that much more special. Some of my favorite from ours are: Advice for Marriage Book – My 2nd grade students wrote us marriage advice. I turned their advice into a book and absolutely cherish this. Corn Hole – My father-in-law designed and built this for us. Edgar’s Cantina Bar Sign – Because we love going to Mariner’s Games and we love our dog Edgar (I used my Cricut to make this). Kappa 2 Kanuch Sign – The first picture of Tommy and I taken together when we were 19 at a college house party. A gift from one of my best friends that now hangs in our home (didn’t get a pic of this). T+N Wine Glasses – A gift from my maid of honor which we now use for special occasions.

Lodging + Transportation: We stayed at The Marriot hotel in Bellevue because it was close to our venue. The night before our wedding, we got drinks in the lobby and went out to a restaurant close by with our bridal party and family. On our actual wedding day after we left the reception, a bunch of us went out to a bar close to the hotel to keep the party going. This made for a fun little wedding weekend. We used BMC Limos for transportation to and from The Tree Farm.

Photographer + Videographer: All the pictures I’m sharing on this post are from Luke and Mallory. Our friend Jens Bracht was our videographer. We are so happy with how our photos and video turned out! Below is our wedding video.

If you made it to the end of this blog post…wow, congrats because it was a long one! Hopefully if you are a bride in WA reading this, you found it helpful in planning your special day (I tried to link everything). I especially enjoyed writing this post because it brought me right back to our wedding day and gave me all the feels. Cheers to marriage. Cheers to planning weddings. And cheers to all the future brides. 🙂

Hand Painted Bridesmaid Denim Jackets

Nicole9 Comments

I wanted to give my bridesmaids something special for being part of our wedding day. Whenever we’re together, it seems like there is always one of us wearing a denim jacket (#DenimCrew) so I thought this would be the perfect gift to surprise them with.

I decided to paint 7 different colored flowers for the jackets, a different color for each bridesmaid. I looked up images of flowers online and imagined what I wanted them to look like. Then I went to Michaels and bought a variety of acrylic paints (thinking back I should have added fabric medium since this was going on denim and not canvas). Surprisingly though the paint went straight on and I had no issues with this.

I used my Cricut machine to cut out ‘babe’ and ironed the vinyl on the jackets. I highly recommend purchasing a Cricut for projects. I’ve used it to cut vinyl for t-shirts, make birthday + wedding signs, cut out letters for my classroom, pictures for anchor charts, etc. It works for a variety of things!

I love how these jackets came out! Each a little different and each made with love. And a fun keepsake to continue to wear beyond the wedding day.

Bachelorette Party – Austin, TX

Nicole3 Comments

Today my sister-in-law texted me a video of us from a year ago. It was nighttime, 78 degrees outside, all dressed up, sitting in a cycle rickshaw (where the person pedals on the bike and you are in the back), smiling, laughing, celebrating my bachelorette in Austin, Texas! It’s crazy to think one whole year has already passed since we were there. I can’t wait until we can take another girls trip. In the meantime though I thought I would write a quick blog post from that weekend reminiscing on my time in Austin with some of my besties. Also, because who says you can’t write a blog about a fun trip that happened in the past. 😊

My friends surprised me and organized everything. From planning, communicating with each other, getting the house, tickets, food, goody-bags..just everything. They are amazing! We stayed in a big house with a pool (quirky place with an elevator to get to the main living space) in between Lake Travis and downtown Austin.

One day we rented a huge boat (and I do mean HUGE, I think the boat holds around 20-30 people). The driver took us all around Lake Travis which was a blast. Another day was spent at the pool, floating around, drinking mojitos and playing games.

At night we went out to Sixth Street and it reminded me a little like Mardi Gras; craziness. Highlights from the nights include: Delicious dinner, Champagne Bottles, Bull Riding, Table Dancing, Photo Booths, Unlimited Free Drinks, Strip Club Stories and Cracking up with my best friends.

It’s hard to capture everything when you are having so much fun but below is a video of a glimpse of our weekend (with some of the footage that was appropriate enough to share 😜).

I would love to travel back here again someday (and listen to live music since we never got around to this!). Definitely recommend traveling to Austin, Texas because there is something there for everyone. But really, anywhere you go as long as you are surrounded by the people you love will be amazing.

Best Day Ever?

Nicole2 Comments

Reminiscing almost 8 months after your wedding must mean you had such an amazing day, right? Some might say the best day ever? Honestly, I think about our wedding day often. Sometimes when I look at my husband while he is singing and dancing in the kitchen, playing with our pup Edgar, making silly nosies + sounds or keeping up with my extreme weirdness, (and I do mean extreme – only a select few know how weird I truly am)….I think about our wedding day. I think about who I married and how I made the absolute best choice. Even though in marriage the choice is mutual, I still like to pat myself on the back for making a good one.

I remember about two months after Tommy and I got married, someone was asking me about our wedding day (she was getting married in a couple of months) and was asking me if, “it really was the best day of my life?” Because you know, that is what everyone always says…#BEST DAY EVER!

At first I remember telling her yes, absolutely! Then I suddenly stopped myself as I thought about this question more and I told her no. No, it was not the best day of my life. Shocker, I know. But the reason why it wasn’t the best day of my life was because I didn’t want to choose one “best day.”

I have been with my husband for 10+ years, married for under 1 and while our wedding day was absolutely amazing (I wouldn’t change one single thing about it), it didn’t seem fair to call it the best day ever. How was I supposed to choose and put so much pressure on just one day, when I felt like there were so many other best days in our relationship over the years that we’ve been together?

Like the time we had a Seattle tourists date through Pike Place and went on The Great Wheel, when I surprised him on Valentine’s Day in his extended stay hotel room in New York, watching The Lion King on Broadway, when we celebrated NYE in New Orleans, when we spent the day determining the best Cheese Steaks in Philly (Dalessandros hands down), the time we bathed elephants in Thailand, saw John Legend in concert before he was JOHN LEGEND! (my absolute favorite singer), went to Edmonds beach for a picnic and watched the sunset, ordered Chinese food for a family of five (even though it was just for the two of us) and stuffed our faces at home on the couch, when we went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants E.pulo Bistro, the day we got the keys to our house, when we drank Big Mamas at Jalapeños in Bellingham, took a road trip along the Oregon coast, that first day home with Edgar…I could go on and on.

So why would I want to and how could I choose just one day, our wedding, as the best day ever when we have already had so many best days and we still have so many more to come (fingers crossed).

But for the sake of reminiscing, I have uploaded some photos of our wedding. Because who wouldn’t want to look back, to remember and relive at least one of their best days ever. 🙂

Rehearsal Dinner Dreams

Nicole1 Comment

I’ve had this blog post written and saved for a while now but it never felt like the right time to share with all the coronavirus news out there. I decided today that I would share anyway in case someone is looking for a distraction from the news or looking to read about something other than corona. Enjoy!

Any excuse to plan something (birthday, night out, weekend with friends, vacation, etc.) gets me excited and this was the same for our rehearsal dinner. We decided to have our rehearsal dinner at our wedding venue at Trinity Tree Farm since we could easily do our wedding day walk through and then enjoy the rest of the time with our closest friends and family.

Rentals: Our venue supplied the tables and chairs for our outdoor dinner. We used Miller’s Rent-All in Edmonds to rent our dishes, silverware, napkins and tablecloths. Super easy to pick up/drop off and would recommend if you ever need to rent something for a party or event.

Flowers: One of my bridesmaids mom is a Master Gardener (her yard looks like something out of The Secret Garden, it is seriously so magical and so amazing). She offered to make centerpieces with flowers picked from her garden and they turned out BEAUTIFUL!

Catering/Bartender: We used Crescent Moon Catering and decided on The Pacific North West Feast. We had salmon tarts (my fav item), caprese bites, green salad, roasted potatoes, mixed veggies, salmon fillets and rolls. The food felt elegant, healthy and was affordable. We had the bartender set everything up in warming trays to save money. She also helped break everything down, cleaned up and gave us boxes of the leftover food. I would definitely recommend this catering company! They have a lot of options to choose from and prices that reflect delicious food. For drinks we bought beer, wine and champagne from Costco and had our bartender serve that.

Glassware: I just love those classic little champagne/martini/cocktail glasses (not exactly sure what they’re called) and wanted to use them at our rehearsal dinner. I went to Goodwill and found a bunch that were mixed for about $8.00. (I told the clerk these were for our wedding and he gave me a discount. They typically give a discount if you ask and are polite). I loved how they looked on the table. We used these mini glasses for a champagne toast and my mom said the most loving and heartfelt words (made me cry). You could probably find some on Offer Up or Marketplace as well.

Decorations: My sister-in-law surprised us with a bulletin board full of pictures of Tommy and I growing up. There were lots of hilarious photos and in some pictures it was hard to tell who was who (since we were both chubby, curly blonde hair, blue eyed babies). For the dinner menus I used the same design template from our wedding and just changed the food items. Template found here. I had some fresh lavender from the weekend before when I went to the Lavender Festival and tied it to the napkins. My father-in-law built us a Corn Hole set for our wedding day and we brought that as well.

Gifts: I also gave my bridesmaids part of their wedding gifts. I purchased plain denim jackets from Target. Used my Cricut to design and cut out “Babe” letters and ironed on the gold vinyl. Then I hand painted the flower in different colors and similar designs (I just used acrylic paint from Michaels). I remember being so excited to give them these jackets and loved how they turned out!

Beautiful weather + location, bomb food + drinks, the best friends + family, handsome hubby. Couldn’t ask for anything more.

Bridal Shower Dreams – Mercer Island, WA

Nicole2 Comments

Today I was reminiscing and looking through photos of my bridal shower in June 2019 and thought I would share! My in-laws hosted the shower (my husbands cousins) at their moms home in Mercer Island and it was the perfect day.

I had my makeup done in the morning (for the first time ever besides one time when I got fake eye lashes glued on for Halloween). The makeup artist was the same artist who did my makeup for my wedding so this was my wedding day trial. I loved how it came out! (Future brides – I recommend scheduling your makeup trial the same day as you will be out and about. This way you can see how well it lasts and can show your friends/family.) Joey Van Pelt was amazing and made me feel so beautiful. Check her out if you are looking for a talented makeup artist in the Washington area.

My best friend picked me up and we drove to my in-laws house. Once we walked through the door, I was immediately greeted by my closest girlfriends and beautiful women in my family.

We drank champagne from the “Bubbly Bar” (because who doesn’t love a Bubbly Bar), mingled on the patio in the sunshine, took some photos (Dress is from Lulus-find it here) and played some games before sitting down to eat together.

My bridesmaids but together 3 games. 1. How Old Was The Bride? The girls guessed how old I was in each photo (even my mom had a hard time remember my age on some pictures) How Old Card Template found here. 2. Advice for the bride. We took a polaroid together and then they put all the photos and advice cards in a scrapbook. I also put all my cards in the book because I love saving cards and looking back on them. You can find the Advice Card Template here. 3. Does the Bride really know the Groom? I always get nervous being the center of attention but this was a fun game to play. And for the record I know Tommy pretty well 🙂 Bride knows the Groom Template found here.

We ate a delicious lunch and enjoyed each others company (my cousin in-law gave a little toast that made me tear up a bit). It felt so special to have had many of the important women in my life all eating together in one place.

Later I opened gifts in front of everyone in the living room. (Always nerve-racking being the center of attention but I felt at ease with my best friends there). I just remember feeling so grateful and so very loved.

We had dessert that my talented sister-in-law and mother-in-law made before saying goodbye to everyone. (I don’t have the exact dessert recipes but here is one that looks similar if you are interested). Then after the shower some of my girlfriends and I went out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants in Edmonds, 190 Sunset for dinner and martinis.

To say I felt the love this day is an understatement. I will always cherish these memories and I feel so very lucky to have many beautiful women in my life who I can call my best friends and family.