Questions to ask your wedding venue

I am currently in the midst of planning my first wedding (besides my own)... eek! Luckily, the bride-to-be is a friend so no Bridezilla moments yet. This is a little unique because my friend's wedding is in Oregon and I now live in Utah. However, interstate planning is nbd these days due to a little thing I like to call technology.

The bride has a meeting today with her venue, the charmingly historic McMenamins Kennedy School:

The ceremony space

The reception space 

Here is the list of questions I sent the bride to ask the Kennedy School in their meeting:

• Catering - Do they provide the catering? If so, is there a minimum? 
• Alcohol - Do they provide the bar tending? Can you bring in your own alcohol or do you have to buy from them? If they miraculously allow you to bring your own wine, is there a corkage fee? Extra fees for bartenders? If they provide the alcohol, is there a minimum?
• Service charge - I assume they do their own catering (it's a restaurant), so what is their service charge? Do they expect tipping on top of that?
• Tables - Do they provide all tables and chairs? What about cake table, gift table, escort card table, etc.
• Linens - Do they provide any linens? If they provide anything (like linens, plates, glassware, etc.) ask to see samples.
• Layout for contingency plan - Ideally, the ceremony will be outside and the reception inside. If it is raining, what will the layout of the floor plan be for the ceremony and reception? 
• Cocktail hour - Location/set-up area?
• Payment - Make sure you know when deposits, final payments are due, etc.
• Rental time - Double check your actual rental time to make sure you have time for set-up/take-down, etc. What is the fee for an extra hour if you go over?
• Cake - Can you bring in your own cake? Do they provide a cutter or do you need to provide your own? Is there a fee if they do the cake cutting?
• Music - Can they accommodate a band or DJ? Do they have a sound system or would the DJ need to provide everything? Where are the outlets and how many do they have? 
• Parking - Do they have onsite parking?
• Coordination - What kind of coordination/assistance are they providing? 
• Vendors - Can you hire whoever you want? Do they have a list of preferred vendors? What about required vendors?
• Hotel - I know the Kennedy School has a hotel - do they offer a discount for wedding guests? If not, is there another local hotel they can refer you to that offers a discount?
• Signage - Is there signage directing people to the event locations?
• Slide show - Do they have a set-up for that or do you have to provide it?
• Decor - Any decor restrictions? Candles okay? Any hanging decor restrictions?
• Bride/Groom's room - Do they have rooms for you guys to hang out and get ready in?

This list is certainly not exhaustive, but should give any bride a good starting point when choosing a venue or meeting with them to discuss details. Most of these things are a good idea to know ahead of time as some of them can be real cost savers. For example, a venue that lets you bring your own alcohol can save you big bucks versus a venue that requires you to buy through them. Food for thought when venue shopping! 

Pregnancy Reveal Done Right

My friend Annie recently revealed she too is knocked up with the rest of my friends. She was trying to keep it a secret, but I'm basically an ultra detective and figured it out. Really, I just bluntly asked her and she was a terrible liar. But, that means I've been keeping this huge secret for way too long. She finally gave me permission to come up with some creatively awesome way to tell the rest of our friends that she was pregnant. After squealing with delight for way too long, I started researching ideas. When I thought all was lost and I was going to have to do something so 2011 with a Prego spaghetti sauce jar, I came across a pin for a fake US magazine cover. Typically, I am very against this sort of thing. It just isn't my style. However... I kept looking at that pin thinking about how it actually made sense in this situation. Annie keeping her pregnancy a secret this long was quite scandalous. The girl ran a Ragnar Relay in Vegas and pretended to drink for the past 10 weeks. Plus, our friends are very close and nosey. They ask inappropriate things that are really none of their business... hence why I found out before anyone else. So. After convincing Annie of how it was actually quite tabloidy that she kept the secret this long, she gave me permission to make a cover. 

Since I'm new to PSE, I thought this would take me quite a while. However, after some YouTube tutorials and trial and error, it actually didn't take me that long. My favorite part about this is that picture of Paige, Annie and Leslie was taken at Paige's baby shower... and they were all THREE pregnant - Paige and Leslie just didn't know it! 

We were able to print these out and attach them to real US magazines. Annie then handed them out to everyone at a Christmas party as their "lame Christmas present" and voila! Pregnancy reveal done right!

Taylor's Photoshoot

As you know, my husband and I recently got a Canon DSLR camera. I swear to you, he is a camera-hog. He happens to know more than I do about DSLR's (or actually... any camera). I really am trying to learn and I'm not 100% sure he's on board. In fact, I just decided. He's not on board. But that's okay because I actually enjoy the editing process more.

We recently went to visit my family in gorgeous Oregon where we decided to practice on my little sister who is a senior in HS. Her fake senior photo shoot was pretty bomb.

Mat's Fave

LOVE this one.

Yes. I know. She's a beaut. These pictures don't even do her justice. Check out her REAL senior photos here! The fun part about having a nice camera is the editing process (at least for me). Plus there are sooooo many resources on Pinterest to at least help you come out with decent (maybe not profesh) pics.

Pinterest Craft Project Attempt #106

I've tried my fair share of Pinterest craft projects, some successful and some turned out a bit like this:

That being said, I decided to take another chance on myself and Pinterest craftiness. I am in the midst of planning a bitchin' lovely Valentine's party, and thought I'd make my friends Valentine's presents this year. I completely failed on the Christmas gift front so I'm doing V-day presents instead. Since I think I'm a professional at anything I attempt, I decided to use my newly minted graphic design skills. Because, you know, I have Photoshop so that must mean I can do a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g. Here was my Pinspiration:

If you check out the original designer's Etsy shop, she has tons of cute printables. I especially love the Diet Coke one. I have to love you A LOT to love you more than Diet Coke... Anyways, back to my attempt as a graphic designer. I decided to make one for myself first because anything in Photoshop takes me about 3 hours the first time I do it. The second time it takes 15 minutes and typically looks better. While I don't think mine is as clean or pretty looking, I do think it looks good enough to display in my house. 

Uhhhhh, please excuse the Christmas tree in the background... no it's not January 15th and my tree isn't still up... 

I think it looks pretty darn cute on our sofa table, if I do say so myself. And yes, my child is named Dexter...
and he has four legs.

Once I accomplished that, I decided to make framed printable for my friends. A few of my friends will receive V-day gifts of printables similar to mine. However, my recent-baby-having friends got something a little different. 

Please excuse the glare - I haven't quite figured out how to take an amazing picture yet. But, I thought this subway art baby project turned out quite cute. I was able to use some inside jokes (aka calling their baby "The Hulk" and the Dad posting a picture of baby Graham with #NFLDraft2036) which I think makes this more personable than the every day subway art printables you see.

Out of all my printables though, I think this one might be my favorite:

This one goes to my amazing friend Sarah who is a lucky alum of the University of Oregon - GO DUCKS! This one was so much fun to make and could be easily personalized to whatever your team/alma mater might be.

With all my Valentine's gifts taken care of, I'm moving on to the actual party planning. I'm thinking red and gold with white accents. In fact, I think I better get myself to Hobby Lobby & Ikea right... now...

FYI: I've received a few requests to put my tutorials up for PSE on how I made these. Unfortunately, I'm really not comfortable doing that at this time. I am such a newb to PSE that I pretty much google everything - hence why it takes me 3 hours to do a project the first time and then 10 minutes after that. I promise that once I feel more comfortable with the program I will pass on my words of wisdom... if I even have those... In the meantime, feel free to contact me with requests for printables. I am really happy to make these for anyone that asks! Especially if you're a Duck fan... special pricing! :)

Paige's Muppet Baby Shower... oh my!

Now, when newly-pregnant Paige told me she wanted a Muppet-themed baby shower, I went into semi-panic mode. How scary and cheesy was this going to turn out?! After a few shallow breaths, I reminded myself that we could make it as Muppety or Non-Muppety as we wanted. However, as I dove in Pinterest-searching, I realized there actually weren't as many Muppet themed parties as I thought. Apparently, Paige is about 20 years behind the times.

After some considerable searching, I came across a few pins that were eventually used for the Pinspiration. If I do say so myself, I think it turned out pretty amazing.

I found this awesome graphic designer through Etsy who created all of our printables!
Printables are seriously the way to go. You print and cut them out yourself, saving mucho buckos. 

Tracy, the master of cake pops, was at it again.

I think my favorite part of the shower was that we came up with clever Muppet-inspired names for all the food. We had a Meep! Meep! Meat and Cheese platter, Gar-Gonzo Bean Salad, Wocka Wocka! Wine, and Dr. Teeth's Secret Stash just to name a few. 

Excuse-moi... Ham Sandwiches?!

                         

As an inside joke, we made a signature drink for the honoree as she and her husband so lovingly
nicknamed their baby in the womb "The Hulk." 

In her infinite wisdom, Paige wanted her shower to be a real party, hence the plentiful beer and wine selection.

In an effort to make this shower more class and less nast, we decided to use some flowers for added pizazz. Annie came up with the idea of floating yellow roses and orange daisies in square vases. Pretty much the easiest but prettiest way to dress up a boring table. Also, instead of doing a full cake and cupcakes, we did cake pops (Paige's request), a candy bar and a popcorn bar. That was fun and easy because we provided to-go bags so they could double as a favor as well. (Although, thanks to Annie, we also had "real" favors too. Paige is spoiled.)

Please excuse my iPhone photo on this really fancy and oh-so-professional blog... 

In addition to banners and invitations, Brigitte also created super cute toppers that we punched out
with a 1.5" scalloped hole punched and then Tracy backed with adorable printed paper with
thicker-double sided tape - this gave them a 3D look in real life. 

Stratler & Waldorf's Perfect for Heckling Popcorn

We attached the favor tags ("Mahna, Mahna") to sample-size Bare Minerals lip glosses as favors. Annie has the hook up and got these at an amazing discount... and then somehow I made it home with 4 in my purse... 

Our true colors had to come out!

While I think we were all medicating with deep drinks of wine when the Muppet theme was first requested, I have to say it is one of the most unique shower themes I've seen yet. And thanks to a little Pinspiration, creative vision, and one heck of a graphic designer, our party was definitely more classy than cheesy. Cheers to Paige for giving us such a challenge! :)

Photography: Haley Hodges Photography
Printables: Bitty Birdie Design 

Cards, Cards and More Cards

With my newest obsession of Photoshop Elements, I have made a few really fun projects for myself and friends. I've already posted my own family Christmas card, but I also made a card for my friend Leslie who just had her baby. She wanted to do a combo Xmas card + birth announcement, so we went for something simple that I found on Pinterest. All I had to do was download the PSD template, spend hours doing what I'm sure a real photog could do in 2 minutes, and voila! Card ready for print.

Front (pic taken by the Dad!)

Back

It's the Holiday Season at the Sheep Camp!

My husband Mat's family has a ranch in Utah (aka the Sheep Camp) and this year we went there to take Christmas card photos. While I'm no big fan of getting my picture taken these days, I have to say the scenery and backgrounds were gorg.

The Old Cabin at the Sheep Camp. Mat & I are in a fight over which is better: this black/white OR...

This in-color edit?

The fact that Dexter is laying down is a success... looking at the camera is just asking way too much. 

Awwww, mother-daughter moment.

Somehow, she is the Dexter Whisperer.

Mat & his siblings

After the blood, sweat and tears involved in this photo shoot, here is our finished Christmas card:

Front

Back

I found these ridiculously adorable cards on Etsy, and the REAL photographer from the Sheep Camp photo shoot took the front picture. The real photog also happens to be Mat's cousin and she is, in a word, amazing. She did all of our engagements and wedding photos and is basically da bomb. Book her while she's hot. She is a real photog; Mat and I are wannabe's.