{ Portland Wedding Coordinator Loves } Weddings in the Oregon Wine Country

I am right in the middle of the busy pre-summer planning season. Many couples are putting the finishing touches on their vendor lists, but quite a few are just getting started on their Summer 2012 planning. This means lots of site selection appointments for me with venue tours all over the area, especially the wine country. I thought I'd share a few of my favorite Oregon Wine Country and Willamette Valley wedding venues with you.

Zenith Vineyards

Red Ridge Farms

Youngberg Hill Vineyards

Brookside Inn on Abbey Road

Ponzi Vineyard

 

 

{ Front Row Fashion } A Novel Romance: Elizabeth Dye / The English Dept. Runway Report

Sunday, I attended A Novel Romance, the spring presentation from Elizabeth Dye’s bridal salon, The English Dept. Established in 2005, her shop is a can’t-miss stop for local and destination-Portland brides looking for sweet, offbeat dresses. Here are a few of my favorites from the show (no laughing! I’m a coordinator, not a photographer):

Click any image for a larger version.

    Nicole-miller-stretch-silk-gown
1. Nicole Miller, 2. Nicole Miller.

English-dept-fashion-show    Ivy-aster-anemone-gown
3. Not known, 4. “Anemone” by Ivy & Aster.

 

Portland-wedding-miss-bianca    The-english-dept-miss-bianca
5. “Miss Bianca” by Elizabeth Dye.
My sideview photo doesn’t do it justice, so I’m including a catalogue photo, 6., above, from Wedding Inspirasi.

 

Jenny-yoo-poetry    Love-yu-poppy-tulle-gown
7. “Poetry”, Jenny Yoo  8. “Poppy”, Love Yu.
The tulle netting overlay on “Poppy” was soft, touchable,
and draped wonderfully.
And I loved the little chartreuse flower added on to the Jenny Yoo gown.

 

Two-if-by-sea-elizabeth-dye-gownThe show closed with this cloud-blue, one-of-a-kind creation by Elizabeth Dye, “Two if By Sea” (above).

Although I must say my personal favorites were these two sweet dresses, “Romy” by Jenny Yoo; and “Sweet Pea” by Ivy & Aster (below).

Portland-wedding-gown-romy    Sweet-pea-ivy-aster-side
10. “Romy”, Jenny Yoo; 11. “Sweet Pea”, Ivy & Aster.
“Sweet Pea” has a wonderful swiss-dot textured overlay (click to enlarge).

Not only are these designs darling and perfect for an Oregon wedding, they both have pockets. This appeals to my practical-coordinator side (what bride wants to carry a clutch everywhere on her wedding day just to have lip gloss and dusting papers close at hand?) as well as my fandom side (if you’re familiar with my favorite TV wedding ever, you know why a wedding gown has GOT to have pockets).

Many more photos of these gowns are available at The English Dept.’s website and this post from Squirrel and Starling.

Know of any other great local Portland wedding gown fashion shows or trunk shows? Send me an email.

An Oregon Garden Wedding Inspiration for a Stylish Manhattan Bride

I was so excited to be contacted by another out-of-towner this week who will be planning her Oregon summer wedding, working long-distance from Manhattan. Her big priorities are food and photography. She sent along a few photos of her intended style and I thought I would go through our past event file to put together a few photos to  convey my initial thought process for site selection and other possible details. Here goes:

Oregon-wedding-stylish-insp
Oregon-foodie-wedding-inspi

All photos are from real weddings coordinated and planned by EJP Events.

Full size photos and photographer credits after the cut.

Continue reading “An Oregon Garden Wedding Inspiration for a Stylish Manhattan Bride”

{ Design Roundup } 5 sites to help you choose a wedding color scheme

orange peach and yellow flowers
Chuttersnap on Unsplash

You’re engaged, you’ve got the venue and the date, and are so excited to get going on planning! Yet, you’re stuck on what the wedding will actually look like. Envisioning the final event means you need to pick invitations, table linens, flowers, lighting, and all the assorted goodies that go with your big party. And of course you’ve got to start with a color or two (or a few!) that hopefully go together.

“But I like everything!” you say. Or maybe, “Our site has this weird carpet and I’m not sure what goes with it.” Or possibly, “I don’t want my wedding to look too matchy-matchy.” How do you decide on a color palette that, while not as lasting as a bedroom paint job, is still super-important and something you’ll remember for years to come? Here are five tools and websites I like to use when I help clients formulate their color ideas.

1. Adobe Color Extract From Image – Adobe Inc.’s Color tool makes it possible for you to take a photo of your site (or any photo, for that matter) and extrapolate a color scheme from it. Click on “Create” > “From an Image” and upload your photo and wow! You can also select different moods for the same picture. A great tool if you are feeling a bit stumped. You do need to create an account if you want to save your palettes.

2. ColourLOVERS A bit broader in scope, ColourLOVERS covers not just weddings, but other design solutions such as graphic, print, and web; interior design; and fine art. Users are encouraged to get social by creating accounts, uploading patterns, and sharing with the community.

3. Design Seeds This blogger takes hundreds of artful photos and applies her own aesthetic to draw out each custom color palette. A wonderful inspiration site on their blog and Instagram.

4. The Perfect Palette This blog updates several times a week with wedding color inspiration. You can search the whole site by color family to find exactly what you want.

5. You knew I would mention Pinterest. If you’re following my boards already, you know how addicted I am and how you can be sure to see a 2am pin from me on your dashboard now and then. If you haven’t had the pleasure of using this site, it is a sort of visual Twitter where you can “pin” just about any image on the Web to a virtual bulletin board, keeping all of your ideas in one place. You can create as many boards as you like and name them anything, from “Color Inspiration” to “Cute Pictures of Pugs“. All boards are public, so you can search the site for your desired color scheme or idea and re-pin other folks’ images to your boards. All of the above tools can be used in some way along with Pinterest.

Are there any other great color tools you’re using to design your wedding? Please share with me in the comments as well.

Are you killing off your wedding vision before it even happens?

Couple-planning-wedding-vision

Image: Bufferchuck on Flickr.

"We really want an open bar, but we probably can't afford it."

"I love the idea of live music, but it probably won't work in our venue."

"We really pictured guests walking with us from ceremony to reception, but it seems like logistically it would be too hard."

The above statements are just a few I've heard this week from my couples just starting their planning. Notice anything? They are self-editing before they've even begun planning. They are killing off their wedding vision even before it has had a chance to stretch out and take its first breath.

It's sad to me when I see couples assuming that they can't have what they want, that it will be too hard, that they should just settle for the venue or setup that will be easy, so they can stop worrying. Later they'll look back and wish they had just held out for those few things they really wanted that would make the day special and worthwhile to them. In addition, those special touches (which might seem a lot of work at the time) will be their first statement as a married couple.

So, don't self-edit. Don't give up. If you have an amazing idea, get it down on paper. Pin it on Pinterest. Talk to a wedding professional who may have seen something just like it before and can help you get there. Do something — just don't let it die before you give it a chance to be part of your wedding day.

Check for availability with The Portland Wedding Coordinator!

Book An Appointment

To book your first appointment, please check our appointment calendar below. If you don’t see your preferred time, email us at info@ejpevents.com, and we can adjust to your schedule. Once you have chosen an appointment time, simply email us at info@ejpevents.com to request the time, or call us at 503-284-6756 to schedule by phone. You’ll receive a confirmation shortly after.

EJP Events offers a 30-minute initial complimentary phone consultation to discuss your event needs and create a proposal. It is meant as a casual conversation and introduction to the business. We also can book working in-person or remote consultations at the cost of $75/hr, to address specific issues and work on your event, such as: develop venue/vendor lists, create preliminary budgets, or provide assistance with initial concept, design, and strategy. If you wish to book more time for an hourly consultation to work on a specific task, just let us know at the time you make your appointment.

We look forward to meeting with you and talking all about your wedding!