Tag: portland wedding

Art of Weddings 2009 – a swankier kind of bridal show!

Posted on by Emee Pumarega
Art of Weddings Portland Wedding Planning Bridal Show

We are so excited to be invited back to participate in The Art of Weddings, a boutique bridal show happening on Thursday, January 8, 2009 from 5-8pm at LUXE Autohaus. Last year, it was held at the very swanky Secret Society Ballroom, and this year’s installment promises to be even more inventive and interesting!  The Art of Weddings team has enlisted the help of the CRAVE! Portland team — you know, the gals behind the extremely fun shopping parties? — to promote the event, and it looks to be even bigger and better this year.

Some of the highlights of the show’s offerings:

Stay tuned here for all kinds of news and buzz about the show.  You can even win tickets over at Simply Chic Weddings.  We look forward to seeing you there!

Money saving AND luxurious wedding transport option in PDX? WAY!

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Bmw-2aI can’t believe I overlooked this until now… I always knew about the rad Limo Bus offered by VIP PDX, but I never really scrolled down to their “Chauffeured Cars” page until today.  They have a Land Rover and a BMW 745Li, both at a rate of $80/hour plus gratuity.  But get this, the minimum is only 1 hour.  So many companies out there have 4 hour minimums on chauffeured cars and limos, and oftentimes I have clients who just want a transfer from church to reception, or from reception to hotel without a bunch of hoo-hah.  You can take a look right here on the VIP PDX website:  Rates for VIP Coach and VIP Chauffeured Vehicles Portland Oregon – VIP PDX.

Saturday Roundup

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

We are starting something new on the blog today: A Saturday Roundup!  In the Roundup, we'll recap the best of what we've seen in Portland weddings, wedding planning and wedding style this week, so you don't have to scroll all over creation (or Alltop) to find your goodies.

First things first: 50% off sale at Shoefly.com until Sunday. Heard about this from the PortlandPicks.com gals — thanks!

gold pumps sandal shoe, wedding shoe

Next, we have Ethical Wedding's review of The Green Bride Guide:

ethical weddings, green bride guide review 

Next, a topic near and dear to us Portlanders: Rain at the wedding, from Santa Barbara Wedding Chic. (I thought it didn't rain much in lovely Santa Barbara!) Photo below by Laura Novak.

Laura Novak Photography, rain wedding 

Our compatriots to the north (Seattle, that is) at What Junebug Loves have posted a Holiday Gift Guide.  Usually the term "holiday gift guide" is kinda ho-hum to me, but this one had: Bacon-of-the-Month!  Now you're talking!

Junebug's holiday gift guide, wedding planning, portland wedding

Finally, a pink idea for wedding toasts, holiday celebrations, or just to go with french fries:

Piper-Heidsieck Rose Sauvage (another tip from PortlandPicks–if you aren't a subscriber, you need to be!)

piper heidieck, champagne, wedding toast 

That's it for Saturday Roundup!  Have a great rest of the weekend, and if you have thoughts or feedback about anything you saw today, please do feel free to post them here!

Who’s watching the timeline?

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

NoveltytimefliesSometimes we meet with clients interested in wedding day coordination, and then don’t hear from them again.  We always wonder if they decided to work with a coordinator and how their weddings went. Most of the time we never find out, but recently we were talking with a caterer friend of ours who mentioned a bride’s name we recognized.

When we asked how the wedding went, they began with a weary, “Well….” and proceeded to tell the tale of a timeline gone way off track.  After the ceremony, the bride and groom were taken for several hours of photographs, while the guests ate and drank.  The bride and groom stopped to cut their cake and dance at 9pm, then departed.  The guests basically never saw them during the wedding.

It seems impossible, and yet it happened because no one was watching the timeline.  When I asked the caterer if any guests said anything, she said, “Oh, of course!  The guests were very upset to have traveled all that way for nothing.  But I was just responsible for the food.”  Evidently, the photographer had no vested interest in making sure the timeline moved along, as that person was concentrating on taking lots of pictures.  As long as they got their shot of the cake and the dance, they were happy.  But the guests were not, and surely when the bride and groom look back years from now, they won’t be happy either.

So who’s watching your timeline? The caterer? The photographer? The guests? Make sure you have a designated party who knows how you would like the day to flow, and who isn’t just focused on their one aspect of the wedding — someone who wants the entire day to go well, just like you.

hill country style

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

EnvieboutiqueWe love Austin–it’s no secret that we love to get away there when Portland skies turn rainy and gray.  Maybe because it’s like looking at Portland through a lens where fir trees are turned to live oaks, the Willamette is Town Lake (I guess it’s Lady Bird Lake now!), and spotted owls become salamanders.  One thing the two towns have in common is a signature, independent style, which you can see in all the locally-owned shops and boutiques.

There are too many of these to even hope I could make a comprehensive list, but I’ll at least try to shout out a few of my faves:  By George, Parts & Labour, Strut, Blackmail, Envie, and Fetish.  Great finds for wedding or engagement party stuff, bridesmaid stuff, gifts, or just when you need to look fab in general!

Photo: Envie Boutique

what not to wear to your wedding

Posted on by Emee Pumarega

Index-crystal I’m a big fan of What Not to Wear on TLC.  I love the transformation the show’s guests undergo from beginning to end.  A wedding can be a lot like that, where we go from the everyday, to the once-in-a-lifetime, on every level, including the bride’s look.

So I was so excited to hear that they were doing a wedding edition of the show: how fun! to see Stacy and Clinton work their magic on a bride.

And even cooler — I’ve found that this same service (minus the embarrassment of having to be on national TV) is available right here in Portland, from Inspire Style Coaching.  Jandi and her team will come to you, take measurements and do a style interview, to help you find the exact kind of dress that will work best with your body type.  No more guesswork and relying on salespeople to figure out what is going to look great; the Inspire Style methodology is an art and a science in itself.  The stylists will even go shopping with you, directing you to the right stores and boutiques that carry the exact look you’re shooting for.

For most people, the wedding dress is a huge part of the day — and a huge part of the stress!  How cool that there is a service like Inspire Style for those of us who don’t have Stacy and Clinton!