Sarah & Jayd
09 . 10 . 10
I was hired in May to plan a wedding on September 10th (she was a bridesmaid for the wedding I planned in March). When I say plan, I don't mean a little decorating here and there. I met with the bride and her mom every other week, met with ALL vendors, went to bridal fittings, picked out bridesmaid dresses, tuxedos, flowers, invitations, musician, went cake tasting, interviewed caterers, went to bridals, and engagement photo shoots, made hair appointments, bustled, decorated, and more....I was full-on J-Lo (just missing the headset, and the big "backyard"). So here's how it went....
These pictures were from the day of the photo shoots. We went to a farm in the morning for the engagements. When I got in the truck with Jayd and Sarah, Jayd just had a bunch of clothes in the back, and asked me to pick something! They're a pretty easy going couple. After that, we were supposed to take Sarah to her hair appointment and pick up the tux for the bridals later that afternoon. Well, Sarah didn't know that the salon was in LEHI! So, I quickly called a salon in Salt Lake for an emergency up-do. Jayd took a little snooze in the lobby, and changed into his tux in the bathroom. We headed to the capitol for bridals, then had a quick sandwich while on our way to Heritage Park for some less formal bridals. It was a CrAzY day, but super fun!
Sarah had SEVEN bridesmaids. It was a challenge finding seven modest bridesmaid dressed for a modest price. But I did it! And I even bought one for me (a different color of course!) I made a collage of shoes that would be appropriate to wear with the dress, and wrapped them up with lots of ribbon for Sarah to deliver to her bridesmaids. On the wedding day, I walked onto the balcony to find the bridesmaids spray painting their shoes - seriuosly! I wish I got some photos of the bridesmaids - they were all stunning :)
These were the "thank-you" gifts for people helping with the FIVE bridal showers! V-chocolate carmel covered pretzels....just embellished in her colors!
The Big Day
The morning of the wedding, I headed over to the brides house to help her with her make-up, and finishing touches. I then met the mother of the groom to pick up a few things for the luncheon, and delivered them to the Canterbury. After that I ran home to finish cutting and painting the wood signs for the reception. Then I met them (and the photographer and videographer) at the temple to help with the veil, bustling, pinning, and tucking for the pictures. Meanwhile, Frank was at the residence in holladay (where the reception was being held) to meet the rental company and to help set things up. After the temple, I got them to the luncheon, and took their formal clothes over to the Oakhills residence.
These were the signs throughout the neighborhood. The "feel" I wanted for the whole thing was RUSTIC ELEGANCE. Rustic from the groom and elegant from the bride. So, these signs represented the groom. I cut the wood myself with a table saw, stainted, nailed, and painted! The bride and groom were pretty casual, so I wanted it to look somewhat "thrown together", and fun!
Frank was escorting guests from their car to the reception in a golf cart I decorated with ribbon, and tissue puff balls in their colors. I was running around so much that I never got a picture - it was pretty cute...and the golf cart wasn't bad either! The property entrance had walls of waterfalls. It was a gorgeous setting! The sign in table was a little bit traditional. I used two satin tablecloths to bustle (for volume). The floral arrangement (by my sister) was stunning...7 feet tall!
After the sign in table, a little stone path lined with shepherds hooks and lanterns led you to the PARTAY!
There were a bunch of hallways right when you walk in, so I decided NOT to really decorate them, and do something a little more graphic. Instead of a photo table, I blew up photos from their bridal shoot to poster size and framed them to create a "gallery". Uplight under each photo really created some drama. I told them they should wallpaper their new apartment with the photos - they have no idea what to do with them :)
I had Sarah and Jayd standing on a rug under a crystal chandelier. I think it's elegant to have "indoor decor" in the outdoors. Perfect mix of rustic, and elegant. Just really simple.
The catering was done by Culinary Crafts, and was amazingly delicious AND beautiful. Here's the menu:
"Itallian Sizzling Caesar"
Chef sautes chicken for the fragrant sizzling new age caesar. Romaine, grape tomatoes, red onion, olives, cucumber, house-made asiago croutons, and fresh shaved parmesan
"House-made Artisan Breads"
"Flaming Crepe Stations"
crepes cooked over an open flame with choice of
Flaming crepe suzett with berries and cream
or
Flaming caramelized apples foster with vanilla bean whipped cream
(again....didn't get great pictures cuz I was running around like a crazy person!)
"Flavoured Water Station"
(it looks fancier with a "u", right?)
For the candy table, I used lamps and filled apothecary jars with apple gumballs, caramels, fortune cookies, tootsie rolls, root beer barrels, and sour straws. The jars for were for display only, so I bought some wood planters from ikea (to represent the groom - rustic), and added frames to the fronts with decorated tongs for serving. I just got little brown bags and scalloped the edges to finish 'em off.
The centerpieces were B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L as always...Julie does amazing arrangements. These were not exception. The were all different greens in dark wood planter boxes with tall sticks coming out the center. Linens were chocolate satin with bronze organza overlay - if that means anything to anyone!
Bar tables around the pool were topped off with just a smaller version of the dining centerpieces, but in a glass cylinder.
I didn't get a great picture of this area, but there's a really neat fire pit, so I decided to have the wedding video shown in that area. We bought tons of green and brown throw pillows to create a casual place to hang out, get warm by the fire, and watch the video.
The pool was lined with candles, and plant groupings, simple but beautiful...especially at dusk!
So, this part is a little fresh for me to write about...I get all red in the face just thinking about it! So, there's this round cement pad off the pool. I thought this would be the perfect place to display the wedding cake. It was four tiers - huge - beautiful - delicious. I rented a gazebo, chandlier, bar table, double linens for bustling, candles, flowers....
THE CAKE NEVER CAME!
Yup, I even saw the cake lady in person less than two weeks before to give her the invitation, map, directions, schedule for the day, color samples, and a final look at the plans. I was still worried on the wedding day, so I tried calling her at noon - no answer. Called her about five times when Frank finally drove to her house. She thought it was the 23rd !#$%^ Seriously! So I sent Frank to Wal-Mart to find two of the plainest, brownest, roundest cakes he could find. We took 'em back to the catering tent where we literally threw something together. A little ribbon, flowers, extra centerpeice, different levels, and tons of candles and.....VOILA! The story gets even better, but I'll end it there because this post is already WAY TOO LONG!
We had a sparkler send off (I decorated the grooms pick-up) and they drove off into the sunset, with me trailing behind screaming, "take me...take me" I think I needed a honeymoon more that they did! Instead, I cleaned up, then rented a Uhaul to pick up my stuff the next day! GOOD TIMES :)
Rock Climbing
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