Wedding Season.

I love weddings. I think they're beautiful and fun and exciting and magical and they make me feel all super happy and excited. So far this summer I've had the opportunity to attend five weddings. Actually, I've done more than attend them. I've had the pleasure of of somehow being actively involved in each of them.

Towards the end of June I assisted a Woodinville area wedding planning with a wedding at Novelty Hill - Januik.

This wedding had lots of great things going for it. First of all: the flowers were gorgeous. Maybe I favorite part. It was at this wedding that I was first introduced to Glassy Babies. Evidently these glass candle holders (small colored ones in between bouquets) were on Oprah's list of favorite things and if I understand correctly, they cost about $40 a piece and come in a huge variety of colors. I don't get what the hype is all about.

Another of my favorite features: definitely the paper lanterns. I really want to know where the bride found these. I think the different colors, shapes and sizes add so much dimension to the room. What an easy and fun way to decorate! Love it.

The place settings were simple but beautiful.

Another of the lovely centerpieces. I know you've already seen one but I couldn't decide which I liked best. This wedding also had a Molly Moon's truck serve ice cream to the guests. Yum! What a fun idea.

The second wedding of the summer: The Lewis-Raney wedding. I got to spend the first weekend of July watching my dear friend Lena marry the man of her dreams.

AND I was lucky enough to be one of her beloved bridesmaids. (Like my dress? T.J. Maxx. $40. Nine West. Perfect fit.)

Lena's decorations were fabulous and so uniquely Lena. The strips of fabric and lanterns and twinkle-lights set the perfect mood for this joyous event :)





The apple votives were my idea, thank you very much. So incredibly Yakima and the color of the apples fit perfectly -- couldn't resist. I did notice a few people actually munching on them though. Hmm...

The flowers came all of the way from Pike Place Market.









Wedding number three! This one was a lot more work for me, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Joy and her man Cody were married the third weekend in July at the Wine Country Farm in Dayton, Oregon and I had the pleasure of people their day-of wedding coordinator. It was a beautiful, sunny and extremely hot day but Steven and I worked hard to keep the party going. (I couldn't have done it without him.)

Aren't these centerpieces great? I have to admit, I didn't fully get the vision until I saw them on the tables. They were fun and simple but still made a very bold statement. Very Joy. That little cup holding the mints is one of their favors -- it says "Eat, Drink, and be Married" on the other side of it.

This place has a great view! What a beautiful spot for the ceremony. Afterwards Joy and Cody went for a ride in a horse-drawn carriage.

Dried flowers in buckets on shepherd hooks. And the coolest part: at the end of the party you pull out the flowers and the bucket is already full of birdseed to throw at the happily departing couple! Genius. Joy and I purchased the flowers from Pike Place back in early spring. Again, I didn't fully get the vision but they came together beautifully and how nice to not have to worry about putting together fresh flower arrangements at the last minute.

The 4th wedding was near the end of July. I had planned to assist a wedding planner at a wedding at the Harbor Club this particular evening but ended up subbing for another assistant at a wedding down the street. Here at the Olympic Sculpture Park.

Wow. What an interesting venue. Actually, the venue itself is pretty nice and the staff is amazing, so incredibly helpful, but I just can't imagine having to plan my wedding around this art! They did a great job though. They incorporated the raindrops into everything. The bright colors were actually really neat and definitely striking.

This I love. I want to create one for Steven and I. This was certainly one of my favorite things. The couple had a graphic designer (sister of the groom I believe) create all of their printed materials. It was a unique way to have a sense of continuity in this chaotic environment.

 The bar area outside. Yet another gorgeous day for a wedding.

Genius. I love how they covered the photo booth. Actually, I covered it, but I love how they measured it and had these things printed out. So so so cool. Everyone loves the photo booth. If it fits into the budget I think it's a great thing to have. Definitely works in place of favors. Wonder if the cost works out to be the same. (Although I think our favors were pretty great.)

 Wedding number 5. This was actually today and I'm not going to tell you where it was because I'm feeling a bit complainy about it at the moment. I had to work really really hard today and it was the first time I've assisted an event planner and thought it was really unfair that I wasn't being compensated. Mostly, I just wasn't warned about how much physical work there would be and I'm paying for it now. I would have at least brought a different pair of shoes.

And it did look pretty nice once we were done. Unfortunately, 5 hours later when the ceremony ended we then had to move the chairs back down to the main patio area and place them around the preset tables while trying to navigate our way around the 100+ people who were milling about drinking wine and fanning themselves. By this point it was 90 degrees and I was so sweaty and tired it was just ridiculous. (I might have felt better if I had had more to eat than a Mars bar and a large glass of chocolate milk all day.)

The candy buffet turned out great though. We made that little box off to the left to hold all of the little baggies that guests used to pack up the candy.

The cake stand was pretty cool. I had never seen one like that. I also really liked how they brought in all different kinds of china. The mis-matched pieces worked well together.

This was a very pink and purple wedding, which obviously isn't my thing, personally, but I thought everything looked fabulous! It was exactly what the bride wanted and she did a most excellent job of planning it all. I actually thing the pink and purple was a lot of fun and I'm impressed with all of the different ways she found to incorporate the colors.

It wasn't a terrible day and I'm glad I was able to help but let's just say I won't be going back to this venue unless I am attending a wedding or being paid a considerable amount :)

It's so fun to see how different everyone's "dream wedding" is. Well, I must admit, I have about 20 different dream weddings but still, it's cool how everyone has completely different visions for their weddings and how they can be so uniquely personalized.

Next weekend we get to attend the Piehler-Glazner wedding in Southern Oregon. We are so excited for Jeremy and Ronnie and cannot wait to celebrate with them and their amazing families! I figured that weekend might need it's own blog post.

And now it's time for me to get some sleep! Tomorrow I get to celebrate my own wedding day with my man. We have a fun day planned out and I just can't wait! It's going to be the best first anniversary ever.