here: http://
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Save the date, in the making
Sara over at Constellation & Co shared some great pictures with us of our save the date cards in the making, check them out on her blog,
here: http://
here: http://
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Maid of Honor dress, colors and more
Leaps and bounds were made this week in our wedding planning, thanks to my sister, and Maid of Honor Hannah being in town all week. I took the day off of work on Friday and we dedicated the whole day to wedding planning. First we tried on dresses at, of course, my favorite store, Norstrom. We had a great time, and even my mom started the search for her wedding day outfit. While we had fun, and found some very pretty dresses, we did not find anything that we loved. So the next morning we headed over to J Crew where we were delightfully surprised by the selection of dresses for Hannah, not only did we find one dress we found two, one for her to wear to the rehearsal dinner and one for the big day, she looked so lovely in both we couldn't decide. During our search for the dress I also found myself defining our "wedding colors" our first color, purple, was the suggestion of Phil, and the other three colors, ivory, gold and blush, were added over the week and I picked out details for the event. Hannah's Maid of Honor dress is a beautiful deep purple, and we hope to find some gold and blush accents for her. Now that I have our wedding colors figured out, finding decorations for the venue should come easily.
Not only did Hannah and I take on the task of finding her the perfect dress we also met with the invitation designer, and the chef who will be creating a delicious meal. after meeting with them I am extremely excited to continue meeting with vendors and feel like wedding planning is in full swing, I only have 10,000 more items on my "to do" list.
Not only did Hannah and I take on the task of finding her the perfect dress we also met with the invitation designer, and the chef who will be creating a delicious meal. after meeting with them I am extremely excited to continue meeting with vendors and feel like wedding planning is in full swing, I only have 10,000 more items on my "to do" list.
Say Yes to the Dress
I am now one step closer to being ready for the wedding, I've purchased my dress!
I have been stalking the Vera Wang blog and website for months, looking for news of the fall sample sale. Finally just before Thanksgiving the new came that there would be a sample sale in December, and even better news, that the sale would take place in L.A., instead of the usual New York store.
My Mom and I made plans to travel to L.A. to check out the dresses, with hopes of finding an amazing dress, and get an amazing deal. I made several calls to the store in an attempt to find out what dresses would be in stock, sizes, and how many people they expected to show up. Unfortunately this was the first sample sale for the Vera Wang store in L.A., so David (who answered the phone every time I called) was unable to give me much information.
So we planned for the worst and hoped for the best...
Our luck started on Saturday when we were able to get seats with her buddy passes on an oversold flight direct to L.A., on our first try. We had been prepared to wait at the airport for a while tyring to get on a flight, so when we arrived in town earlier than expected we decided to spend the afternoon shopping in Beverly Hills. Our luck continued when the Saks bridal salon had a cancellation and I was able to spend a couple hours trying on gorgeous gowns (of course all designed by Vera Wang).
After an afternoon of shopping we headed over to the Vera Wang boutique on Melrose to scope out the crowd and determine if we were going to be camping out overnight in line. Much to our surprise the street was quite and no one was camping out. So we made a hotel reservation and planed to get there bright an early in the morning.
We showed up between 7 and 8 am the next morning expecting to see a line around the block only to find that we were the 4th car to arrive and no one had even gotten out of their cars yet! We spent the next couple hours in a tense game of "chicken"with the other brides staying warm in their parked cars, all of us wondering which bride was going to cave and get out of her car first and wait in line on the street. Finally at 9 am I couldn't take it anymore. Every time a pedestrian walked by with their dog I was convinced they were going to take the first spot in line, and I couldn't handle the suspense any more. So I got out of the car and managed to be the 3rd person in line by the time I got to the front door. A perfectly acceptable spot in line considering I later found out the first two brides in line had shown up at 9 pm the night before and 3 am. The had placed a skateboard and blanket down on the sidewalk to hold their spots. I'm not sure this would have worked in New York, but in layed back L.A. everyone seemed to be fine with that. I was just happy that we were able to sleep in a hotel for the night, and not camped out on the street.
By 11 am the line had grown to about 50 brides with their entourages. The doors opened everyone flooded in and it was a mad dash for dresses. I quickly grabbed the first three dresses I could get my hands on, and in the interest of trying on as many dresses as quickly as possible my mom and I staked out a spot on the floor and I proceeded to strip down and try on gown after gown. I quickly realized that they were all beautiful and I was going to have an extremely hard time selecting just one. After about 30 minutes I had my choices narrowed down to 2, then one of my absolute favorite dresses was put back on the rack by another bride who was not interested in it. I had tried on this dress half a dozen times and seemed to compare every other dress to it, so I was extremely excited when I was able to add it to my group of dresses to chose from. By this time everyone in the store seemed to be enthusiastically helping me choose, even the other brides came over to help me choose. In the end I chose a dress that I have been in love with for months, and actually tried on several previous times. It was very serendipitous that I found that particular dress, I really can't image any other dress being more perfect. As soon as I made my choice Terra, the manager and my best friend of the day brought out champagne for my mom and I to celebrate with before we headed back to Seattle. Overall I couldn't have asked for a better shopping experience!
I have been stalking the Vera Wang blog and website for months, looking for news of the fall sample sale. Finally just before Thanksgiving the new came that there would be a sample sale in December, and even better news, that the sale would take place in L.A., instead of the usual New York store.
My Mom and I made plans to travel to L.A. to check out the dresses, with hopes of finding an amazing dress, and get an amazing deal. I made several calls to the store in an attempt to find out what dresses would be in stock, sizes, and how many people they expected to show up. Unfortunately this was the first sample sale for the Vera Wang store in L.A., so David (who answered the phone every time I called) was unable to give me much information.
So we planned for the worst and hoped for the best...
Our luck started on Saturday when we were able to get seats with her buddy passes on an oversold flight direct to L.A., on our first try. We had been prepared to wait at the airport for a while tyring to get on a flight, so when we arrived in town earlier than expected we decided to spend the afternoon shopping in Beverly Hills. Our luck continued when the Saks bridal salon had a cancellation and I was able to spend a couple hours trying on gorgeous gowns (of course all designed by Vera Wang).
After an afternoon of shopping we headed over to the Vera Wang boutique on Melrose to scope out the crowd and determine if we were going to be camping out overnight in line. Much to our surprise the street was quite and no one was camping out. So we made a hotel reservation and planed to get there bright an early in the morning.
We showed up between 7 and 8 am the next morning expecting to see a line around the block only to find that we were the 4th car to arrive and no one had even gotten out of their cars yet! We spent the next couple hours in a tense game of "chicken"with the other brides staying warm in their parked cars, all of us wondering which bride was going to cave and get out of her car first and wait in line on the street. Finally at 9 am I couldn't take it anymore. Every time a pedestrian walked by with their dog I was convinced they were going to take the first spot in line, and I couldn't handle the suspense any more. So I got out of the car and managed to be the 3rd person in line by the time I got to the front door. A perfectly acceptable spot in line considering I later found out the first two brides in line had shown up at 9 pm the night before and 3 am. The had placed a skateboard and blanket down on the sidewalk to hold their spots. I'm not sure this would have worked in New York, but in layed back L.A. everyone seemed to be fine with that. I was just happy that we were able to sleep in a hotel for the night, and not camped out on the street.
By 11 am the line had grown to about 50 brides with their entourages. The doors opened everyone flooded in and it was a mad dash for dresses. I quickly grabbed the first three dresses I could get my hands on, and in the interest of trying on as many dresses as quickly as possible my mom and I staked out a spot on the floor and I proceeded to strip down and try on gown after gown. I quickly realized that they were all beautiful and I was going to have an extremely hard time selecting just one. After about 30 minutes I had my choices narrowed down to 2, then one of my absolute favorite dresses was put back on the rack by another bride who was not interested in it. I had tried on this dress half a dozen times and seemed to compare every other dress to it, so I was extremely excited when I was able to add it to my group of dresses to chose from. By this time everyone in the store seemed to be enthusiastically helping me choose, even the other brides came over to help me choose. In the end I chose a dress that I have been in love with for months, and actually tried on several previous times. It was very serendipitous that I found that particular dress, I really can't image any other dress being more perfect. As soon as I made my choice Terra, the manager and my best friend of the day brought out champagne for my mom and I to celebrate with before we headed back to Seattle. Overall I couldn't have asked for a better shopping experience!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Hotel rooms
Hello, I hope this post finds you all well, and enjoying your extra daylight this evening. Phil and I busy working on wedding logistics excitedly counting down the days till July 7th! We still have much to do, but we (I'm) are enjoying all the planning and preparation. I'm meeting with our wedding invitation designer this week and hope to have the final invitations printed and mailed out by the end of the month! Another project I've been working on is a block or rooms for our guests. Phil has been traveling the country for the last two years, working on his Marriott VIP status, so we contacted the Marriott Renaissance hotel in Seattle about a block of rooms for our friends and family. They are able to give us a very good rate on nice rooms in downtown Seattle.
About the hotel:
Rooms will be $159 per night if you chose to book in the block. The hotel is located right in the heart of downtown Seattle, just blocks away from many of Seattle's most famous landmarks, like Pike Place Market, and the Space Needle. You may check out the hotel web page here for more information. Renaissance Seattle Hotel
Getting there:
Seattle recently opened a light rail train service from the airport to downtown. The train is $2.75 one way, and leaves the airport about every 15 minutes and makes a handful of stops before arriving downtown, then it is just about 3 blocks to the hotel from the train stop. A cab ride from the Airport to Seattle is about $35-$40, or shuttles from the airport run about $15.
Going to the Wedding:
I will be setting up a shuttle service to help guests staying at the hotel get to and from the wedding venue, Golden Gardens. The venue parking is limited and we want everyone to have a good time and not worry about driving home. Hopefully this can also eliminate the need for many of you to rent a car, unless you have some other sight seeing you want to do! There is an abundance of beautiful scenery in Washington, Mount Rainier National Park, and the San Juan Islands are just a couple that come to mind. However when the rain stops in Seattle (as it typically does in July, knock on wood) Seattle can become a beautiful walkable city if you chose to forgo a car rental and rely on your own two feet/public transportation.
My goal today is to find out who is interested in a room at the Renaissance Hotel, and if so how many nights. The Wedding is on Saturday July 7th. If you have an interest please let me know as soon as possible, so I may give the hotel a best guess on how many rooms they should hold for our group. The 4th of July is the Wednesday before the wedding so rooms are starting to fill up fast. If you are interested in other hotels, I am happy to give you a list of alternate hotels in the area.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Karla and Phil
P.s. the 4th of July is a fun experience in Seattle, they load up a barge in Lake Union with fireworks, and set them off about 10 pm (Seattle family 4th) We'll watch the fireworks from Alki Beach where we plan to have a bar-b-Que set up for anyone who would like to join the the festivities
About the hotel:
Rooms will be $159 per night if you chose to book in the block. The hotel is located right in the heart of downtown Seattle, just blocks away from many of Seattle's most famous landmarks, like Pike Place Market, and the Space Needle. You may check out the hotel web page here for more information. Renaissance Seattle Hotel
Getting there:
Seattle recently opened a light rail train service from the airport to downtown. The train is $2.75 one way, and leaves the airport about every 15 minutes and makes a handful of stops before arriving downtown, then it is just about 3 blocks to the hotel from the train stop. A cab ride from the Airport to Seattle is about $35-$40, or shuttles from the airport run about $15.
Going to the Wedding:
I will be setting up a shuttle service to help guests staying at the hotel get to and from the wedding venue, Golden Gardens. The venue parking is limited and we want everyone to have a good time and not worry about driving home. Hopefully this can also eliminate the need for many of you to rent a car, unless you have some other sight seeing you want to do! There is an abundance of beautiful scenery in Washington, Mount Rainier National Park, and the San Juan Islands are just a couple that come to mind. However when the rain stops in Seattle (as it typically does in July, knock on wood) Seattle can become a beautiful walkable city if you chose to forgo a car rental and rely on your own two feet/public transportation.
My goal today is to find out who is interested in a room at the Renaissance Hotel, and if so how many nights. The Wedding is on Saturday July 7th. If you have an interest please let me know as soon as possible, so I may give the hotel a best guess on how many rooms they should hold for our group. The 4th of July is the Wednesday before the wedding so rooms are starting to fill up fast. If you are interested in other hotels, I am happy to give you a list of alternate hotels in the area.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon!
Karla and Phil
P.s. the 4th of July is a fun experience in Seattle, they load up a barge in Lake Union with fireworks, and set them off about 10 pm (Seattle family 4th) We'll watch the fireworks from Alki Beach where we plan to have a bar-b-Que set up for anyone who would like to join the the festivities
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Venue is booked
The wedding planning is officially underway, and Golden Gardens has been booked for the wedding venue! I called ahead to get the information on reserving the Golden Gardens Bathouse for our wedding ceremony and receiption, and the parks department informed me that applications were taken on a first come first serve basis, and that she had seen people line up as early as 4 am to reserve their date. So at 3:30 am on Friday morning Hannah and I woke up and headed over to the parks department to reserve my day. When we got there already two other brides were in line, luckily they were reserving different dates than the date I wanted, so by 4 am 3 of the 4 Saturdays in July were already spoken for.
As the morning went on more brides showed up, and the early morning swimmers going to the pool next door entertained us with their speculations as to why a line up of 10+ women were camped outside the parks department office. We were asked if we were protesting, having a bible study, or tailgaiting for the pool! My favorite was when someone told me I couldn't possibly be getting married because I looked only 16! Maybe I should go out with out make up more often... :)
Around 6:50 am the office opened and by 7 am I had successfully reserved our date of 7/7/2012! Now the real planning can finally get started!
As the morning went on more brides showed up, and the early morning swimmers going to the pool next door entertained us with their speculations as to why a line up of 10+ women were camped outside the parks department office. We were asked if we were protesting, having a bible study, or tailgaiting for the pool! My favorite was when someone told me I couldn't possibly be getting married because I looked only 16! Maybe I should go out with out make up more often... :)
Around 6:50 am the office opened and by 7 am I had successfully reserved our date of 7/7/2012! Now the real planning can finally get started!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Moving to July!
Phil and I have decided to move the wedding date to July 2012! We originally were planning on Memorial Day weekend in May 2012, however after realizing some scheduling conflicts we have decided July will be a much better time for a Seattle Wedding. We are still planing to go to Golden Gardens, and now the chance of it being a warm sunny beautiful day are much better. The 4th of July is on a Wednesday this year, so we'd like to piggy back on the holiday festivities and hold the wedding the first weekend in July. Now I just have to figure out how to work in some fireworks to the ceremony... :)
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