Sarah and Keenan reached out to me through Wedding Wire well over a year in advance from their wedding date. They were booked at Bell Harbor International Center and using a nautical theme to bring the whole day together. They booked my day of coordination package with clean-up. Sarah and Keenan live in California, so it was important for them to have a coordinator that would help keep them on schedule with planning and have good communication with their vendors. They noticed in 3 months (December-February) of planning, the venue was not very responsive to them when they were trying to coordinate their rentals. Come the end of March, Sarah and Keenan received a phone call from the venue that no couple ever wants to receive, let alone 5 months before your wedding date. The venue they had selected, within the center, would no longer be available for their wedding date as the Port of Seattle and the cruise commissioner were moving up the remodel date. After trying to work with the venue on spicing up the new location, Sarah and Keenan decided to cut ties and find another venue.

Willows Lodge happened to have a cancellation a week prior on the date Keenan and Sarah needed, so plans were set to move their wedding to Woodinville. In the end, this venue ended up working out to be perfect venue and really fit Sarah and Kennan better. Sarah and Keenan are such sweet and vibrant people and compliment each other so well. Such jokesters they are! I met with Keenan at the venue when he was up for a visit in June to finalize the catering menu, but I didn't get a chance to meet Sarah until two days before the wedding. Most of our planning had been via email.

Switching your venue 5 months prior to your wedding can be very stressful, but with a great event manager at the venue, Jenn, re-planning went great. Since Sarah and Keenan had their other vendors in place, we had the time to concentrate on redesigning their theme and decor and planning out the venue set-up and food. Sarah and Keenan switched from a nautical theme to lavender and herbs with the lavender color being most prominent and enhanced with ivory, sage and gold.

Willows lodge does 2 events in a day. Sarah and Keenan had the afternoon slot which means our set-up didn't start until 3:00 pm with a 5:00 pm ceremony. Right at 3:00 pm the lodge started the room flip and my assistant and I worked right along side them with our set-up of flowers and decor. Set-up went on as scheduled. While setting up, pictures were taking place around the grounds. Willows Lodge is not only a beautiful place for a wedding, but a gorgeous place for photos. The guest table were set with an ivory tablecloth, gold charger, a lavender cookie at each place setting for a favor and a vase with lavender surrounded with votive candle holders and a table number. Out in the courtyard sat the guest book table, gift table and escort card table. The escort cards were handmade folded cards adorned with a sprig of lavender clipped on.

Sarah, Keenan and the bridal party were in hiding by 4:40 pm. During this down time, they signed the marriage license and Ketubah. The Ketubah was then taken out to be displayed during the ceremony. Sarah is Jewish and Kennan is Polynesian so it was very important that both of their religions/cultures be a part of their ceremony. The ceremony started at 5:00 pm and was a beautiful blend of both Sarah and Keenan. Following the ceremony, Sarah and Keenan went for some more photos while the guests enjoyed a cocktail hour and were encouraged to find their escort card to direct them to their table for the evening.

Once each guest had found their seat for the evening, Sarah and Keenan were introduced into the reception and went straight into their first dance as husband and wife. Following their first dance was the HaMotzi prayer and bread cutting, which lead into a buffet dinner. The HaMotzi bread was served to each guest to enjoy with their dinner.

Once each guest had made their way through the buffet a short slideshow was played which led into toasts. Toasts were given by four people, The matron of honor, best man, mother of the groom and father of the bride with a surprise toast from one of the groom's brothers. These toasts had the guests laughing and aahhhing over sentiment. Toasts turned into the cake cutting and the cake cutting turned into the father-daughter dance and a choreographed mother-son dance. Since incorporating each of their religions was a big focus of the night, Sarah and Keenan finished the traditional events of with a Hora and asked that all guests please join them on the dance floor, which I believe almost every person did! Once the Hora came to a close the dance floor opened and everyone had a great time dancing to great music. Around 9:30 pm; late night snacks of breakfast sandwiches and hash browns were brought out (on request of the groom). Come 11:00 pm, the guesst filtered out and the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Morrison came to a close.

Thank you Sarah and Keenan for letting me be a part of your special day! I really enjoyed getting to know both of you!

VENUE// WILLOWS LODGE, WOODINVILLE, WA
DAY OF COORDINATION// CASSIE RENAE EVENTS, LLC
PHOTOGRAPHY// MARISSA RICK PHOTOGRAPHY
CATERING AND BARTENDING// WILLOWS LODGE
CAKE// BORCHINNIS BAKERY
FLOWERS// WHOLESALE FLOWERS ASSEMBLED BY BRIDE AND BRIDAL PARTY
DJ// HEADSMILE PRODUCTIONS
OFFICIANT// JESSICA GREEN, PERSONAL FRIEND
RENTALS// PALISADE
HAIR AND MAKE-UP// SORRIDA SALON
MAKE-UP// FLAWLESS BEAUTY BAR
RENTALS// WILLOWS LODGE

Where has the time gone?!? It feels like just yesterday I was 13, Laura was five and I was babysitting her. Now I was helping plan her wedding! This was a really special wedding to me. I have known the Beaty’s for 18 years. I have watched Laura grow up. I was very honored when they asked me to coordinate the Beaty-Dillon wedding. What a fun adventure!

Laura is a grade school teacher so The Hollywood Schoolhouse was a perfect fit for the ceremony and reception. I love the look and feel of the building. Wood and brick accents make the best backdrop for photos! The grounds around the venue are kept up beautifully. Laura knew what she wanted, but didn’t want to do a whole lot of the planning. However, her mother, Susan, loves planning! So Susan dove right in to bring Laura’s ideas together.

Laura knew she wanted a whimsical garden feel to the day with hints of her profession intertwined. Her vision turned out more beautiful than I could have imagined. The venue already set the perfect backdrop and she brought in apple green, coral and cream accents with her colors. Laura and her mother fell in LOVE with this amazing book arch they found at the Seattle Wedding Show and they complemented it with big bundles of baby’s breath. It was the perfect look in front of white sheer curtains for Laura and Grady’s ceremony. Laura and Grady each had four attendants standing with them, two handsome ring bearers and the most adorable little flower girl. The girls wore knee length chiffon dresses, different styles, in gray and the guys were dressed in gray suits. Laura was a stunning bride in her long lace strapless gown and cathedral length veil. She wore her hair up with simple and elegant make-up and jewelry. Laura is definitely not five anymore!

The ceremony was a perfect 20 minutes. Their good friend officiated and it was beautiful and heartfelt. Wonderful words of wisdom and advice. Laura and Grady also had two close friends play and sing their ceremomy music. Following the ceremony was a cocktail hour outside so we could transition the ceremony into the reception. It was a beautiful sunny 75 degrees. The guests enjoyed the bar and passed appetizers while the new husband and wife enjoyed some quiet time upstairs signing the marriage license and taking a breather before the reception festivities. As soon as the room was transferred over, guests were invited in to find their escort card. The escort cards were printed on a cream paper to match the invitations and programs and each one was inserted into a decorative binder clip and stood in a tray of silver decorative pebbles. Once each guest found their table and got their drink of choice, the bride and groom were introduce into the reception. The tables were adorned with white linens, a large round mirror, painted white books, glassy baby’s, thin vases with flowers and a painted white wooden apple with a pencil holding the table number. Very creative and perfect. Each place setting had homemade jam, the bride’s moms specialty, for the guests to take home and enjoy.

To kick off the reception, Grady’s brother Conor and his wife hosted a little game. They would hold up a sign with a word or phrase and if it pertained to you, you were asked to stand. After standing, Laura and Grady tried to guess what was on the sign based on who was standing. This was very fun and a great way to get the guests involved. Following the game was dinner. It was a lovely array of food that everyone seemed to enjoy.

After dinner, were some heartfelt toasts from Kristina – maid of honor, Conor – best man, Shannon – matron of honor and Mark – bride’s father. Each toast was thought out well beforehand and very meaningful to both Laura and Grady. This couple was definitely surrounded by a room full of love. From toasts, they moved onto the cake cutting. Laura and Grady chose a small cutting cake and to serve their guests cookies and milk for dessert, a favorite for the couple. The first dance was next and Laura and Grady danced to a song sung by Annie and Jonah, long time family friends. It is the first wedding I have ever planned or been to that has done something like this. Following the first dance, was the father-daughter dance and then the mother-son dance. I had to hold back tears through each dance. I don’t normally cry at weddings…but, this one almost brought on the tears a few times.

Then, the traditional event all the singles had been waiting for…or not. The bouquet and garter toss. First up, the bouquet toss. Laura and Grady are still in their early twenties, so they had a good crowd to throw into. A good friend of Laura’s happily caught the bouquet. Grady took the guys outside for a garter toss…with a soccer ball and a good friend of his was the lucky guy to catch it. Everyone seemed to want to catch the bouquet and garter.

With the traditional events done, it was time for everyone to get their party on and show off their dance moves. Everyone was very eager to get out on the dance floor. The DJ, Yoshi, was phenomenal and really kept the crowd going. As fast as the party started, it came to an end and before anyone knew it we were sending Laura and Grady off through a tunnel of sparklers.

What a fabulous day. What an honor to be asked to play such a big role for someone so special to me. Laura and Grady I wish you nothing but the best in this adventure and I can’t wait to see what life has in store for you!

VENUE// THE HOLLYWOOD SCHOOLHOUSE
DAY OF COORDINATION// CASSIE RENAE EVENTS, LLC
PHOTOGRAPHY// MATTHEW LAND STUDIOS
VIDEOGRAPHY// LANCE WATTS FILMS
CATERING// THE HOLLYWOOD SCHOOLHOUSE
CAKE// BELLEVUE QFC
FLOWERS// BEE’S FLORIST
CEREMONY ARCH// LOLA CREATIVE
DJ// YOSHI WITH BUGSIE PRODUCTIONS
OFFICIANT// SETH THOMAS – FRIEND OF THE BRIDE AND GROOM
CEREMONY MUSICIANS// MICHAEL AND ERIN – FRIENDS OF THE BRIDE AND GROOM
HAIR// JAMIE HAWKES
MAKE-UP// MAKEUP BY JUSTINE
INVITATIONS, PROGRAMS AND OTHER PRINTED MATERIAL// DESIGNED BY DJ MORGAN, LETTERPRESS BY CORBIN WATKINS