Category: Wedding Planning

Color story: Chartreuse, lime green, and apple green

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

 

One of our favorite color palettes is inspired by the brilliant 'Chartreuse, lime green, apple green' …or whatever you want to call it! This color has been on our radar for the past few summers with some of our most memorable weddings featuring chartreuse as either their main or accent color. Chartreuse was the focus of our client's vision and brought the wedding design to vibrant life, so we'd like to help you do the same!

Chartreuse is a bold color and by using this vibrant shade you're sure to leave an impression on your guests. Chartreuse can be used in a variety of ways, including bridesmaid dresses, table decor, floral arrangements or on top of your cake! Elements for those who enjoy small color splashes may include one of our favorites, colored shoes. Colored shoes are a fun way for a bride to add personality to her traditional white dress. 

Your color palette can be a combination of shades ranging from neutral to pastel. First, we recommend getting really familiar with the focal points of your wedding space, since the existing colors of your venue can greatly influence your them. Additionally, your wedding colors  create the emotional tone of your wedding. Chartreuse created a romantic, high-energy mood for our bride's weddings, all of which were memorable affairs. We hope that choosing your wedding colors is a fun experience and that chartreuse may come as an inspiration!

Rooftop weddings and wedding venues in Portland

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Want an outdoor venue but don’t want to stray too far from the Portland city center? Consider a rooftop venue as your very own urban serenity. Rooftop venues serve as your private panorama to a breathtaking view of Rose City. Portland’s rooftop venues offer your guests a first hand glimpse of the visual treasures of Portland. Rooftop venues provide a modern, romantic atmosphere for your wedding and Portland’s rooftop venues are among the best! Three Portland rooftop locations include Hotel deLuxe, Embassy Suites Portland Downtown and DeSoto Rooftop Terrace.

Hotel deLuxe is known for its old Hollywood style elegance. While they have an indoor meeting facility, they also have a rooftop space available for your outdoor wedding. This venue is perfect for any glamorous bride!

Rooftop Wedding at Hotel Deluxe by Kate Kelly
Photo credit: Kate Kelly Photography

Embassy Suites Portland Downtown is located in the heart of Rose City. This historic venue is surrounded by Portland’s city lights and an excellent choice for a night time wedding.

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Photo courtesy Embassy Suites Portland on Facebook

DeSoto Rooftop Terrace is an intimate venue nestled in Portland’s ambiance of the Pearl District. This modern venue has rustic elements which creates a fashionable urban style.

Rooftop Wedding at DeSoto Rooftop Terrace by Evrim Icoz Portland Photographer

Photo credit Evrim Icoz Photography

Rooftop venues are a fun and trendy place to tie the knot. However, they are much more rare than other outdoor venues, therefore be sure to book your ideal venue in advance. Additional logistics to consider; most rooftop venues need tenting and additional decor in order to create your wedding vision. In some cases, they do not have an indoor component or have very limited indoor amenities.

We like rooftop venues because they can be a “blank slate” for design, meaning that they can transform to fit your ideal wedding style. Additionally, if the rooftop belongs to a hotel, then you have the added convenience of hotel amenities. Specifically in Portland, you can enjoy city attractions, outdoor views and be within close proximity to lodging. Hotel rooftop venues are a great option if your guest list consists of a large amount of out of town guests.

Booking the perfect rooftop venue is the first step in planning your unique wedding. A rooftop wedding is a chic alternative to the ordinary outdoor wedding. Imagine yourself surrounded by the beautiful Portland skyline as you dance beneath the stars and toast among the clouds. Cheers!

– Lauren Gilbertson, edited by Emee Pumarega

“Is it weird to get married on Independence Day?”

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Happy Fourth of July! I remember I was once actually asked this question by a couple at a bridal show. Perhaps they thought the idea of independence was not a good backdrop to a an event that it all about merging families and interdependence. I say — go ahead and get married July Fourth Weekend if you want! Check out some of our tips on great places for Fourth of July weddings in Portland on Examiner.com:

Also, thought we'd celebrate a couple of our favorite past Fourth of July weekend weddings and say, Happy Anniversary!

Kelli and Randall, 2004

Images by Fritz Photography

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Fourth-of-july-wedding-weekend-2
  

Jill and Tom, 2009

Images by Altura Studio

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To all of you getting married this Independence Day weekend, congratulations!

{ Discoveries } Hi-Fi Weddings, a blog about love and music

Posted on by Emee Pumarega
Hi-fi-weddings-music-djs-first-dance-songs

We have to give a shout-out to Hi Fi Weddings, a blog we've just discovered. I know how important music is to our clients — over half of the brides and grooms we talk to say that music and dancing are the most important part of their party.

Hi Fi Weddings celebrates the music that you choose for your wedding in great detail, from posts about real weddings and the music they used, to music-themed invitations, fun favors and gifts, and just about anything music.

The great thing too is that the blog covers far more than your typical Top 40 and mainstream wedding music choices. As a music lover who rarely finds compatriots in musical taste, nay not even of the spousal variety ("What, you don't want Morrissey's cover of Moon River for our first dance?"), I highly appreciate that Ashley, the editor, has put together several playlist suggestions for your wedding featuring everything from Otis Redding to Devendra Banhart. Play on!

Make it a White Friday instead, and set your wedding planning intentions

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Wait! Before you make one more Black Friday purchase, stop for a minute! If you're recently engaged and hoping to have your wedding in 2010, why not take a little time this holiday weekend to set your intentions around what's really important for your celebration? A little pre-planning before the plunge of wedding shopping can go a long way.

1. Have your families met yet? Ideally, your families will meet before the wedding day. FIgure out a way to make this happen if it hasn't already.

2. Have you set your budget yet? There are many budget planning tools online, or you can email me with the subject line "I read your 11/27 blog" and I'll send you the one I use for my full-service clients — free!

3. Have you started on your guest list? Your budget will give you an idea of how many guests you can have. It's not a perfect rule of thumb, but just to get you started, consider on the casual end (in the Portland, Oregon area), a budget of $50-100 per person; then, a more elaborate celebration will have a budget from $100-500 per person. Reducing your guest list is the easiest way to reduce your budget.

(Of course, all you really need is your intended and the witnesses, but these guidelines should work for anyone hoping to host a celebration with more than a dinner-party number of guests and some kind of food, drink, and entertainment.)

Another way to think about budget is to consider a favorite restaurant whose food you would love to have at your wedding. What did you pay per person the last time you went there on a date and had appetizers, dinner, and a few drinks? Take that number and double it (in order to budget 50% on catering and 50% on the other things like planning, venue rental, entertainment, documentation, printing, etc) and that can be a rough budget for you.

4. Have you discussed your shared vision with your fiance(e)? On The 2000 Dollar Wedding Blog, Sara Cotner discusses how she and her fiance "started with the end in mind". No matter what your wedding budget might be, this is great advice.

So take a few moments during this holiday weekend to be thankful for this exciting time, and to set your intentions and get your wedding planning started right. Who knows–maybe eliminating one Black Friday impulse purchase will allow you to get something you really hoped for for the wedding.

From Oregon Bride Magazine – “The cutest wedding favors” – A Loterìa-inspired wedding favor

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Did you catch our feature in the most recent Oregon Bride Magazine? We were asked to put together a unique favor with uniquely Northwestern local ingredients and design. Working with Roopal Shah of 1st Comes Love, we had a ton of fun creating this Loteria-inspired wedding favor with a tattoo/rock-n-roll twist.

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“Put a spin on the usual symbol of love with these chocolates in the shape of a bleeding heart, brushed in 23K gold leaf from Alma Chocolate. The Mexican Loteria design spices up the 100% recyclable package. Produced by Emee Pumarega of EJP Events (503.284.6756; ejpevents.com); graphic design by Roopal Shah of 1st Comes Love. $14 each; $5 with less expensive Alma truffles. (Photo by Jeremy Dunham)”

via www.orbridemag.com