Let's Just Call It Jamie's First Wedding

I was so excited to see that Lukas Van Dyke had added Stacy (now Farris)'s wedding pictures. She has been a great friend of my best friend Jamie, so Jamie drove down from Santa Rosa to the wedding in Lancaster. That's when the story gets fun. See Jamie and I have always joked around about starting a wedding planning business and here I even started a blog, but through Stacy's wedding part of our dream has come to fruition.

So when Jamie arrived to the wedding rehearsal. Stacy asked her to do the wedding coordinating since the wedding coordinator had unexpectedly not been able to come. Jamie, being the servant she is, agreed. And from what I can see of Lukas' slideshow, it ran smoothly, not that I'm surprised. Jamie is one of those people who if you are lost in a city or your car gets towed she keeps you calm and is the most directionally gifted person I know.

So this is my dream: to convince Jamie to move to Seattle so that we can run our wedding planning business. Our visions are the same, our personalities compatible, and I believe with the two of our heads together we can bring brides' visions to fruitions and keep their budgets intact.

What Could Be Better?

A marriage is a lifetime whereas a wedding is a day. So when push comes to shove, the planning is of little importance.

I stumbled upon Budget Savvy Bride (http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/) which for someone who likes to save money just the title intrigued me, but on December 10th, there was a great post on this very subject of what is really important by a bride named Lesley. (http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/2010/12/10/lesleys-thoughts-on-the-wedding-vs-marriage/).

She says,

After hours of working on something and then having to re-do it because I wasn’t satisfied with the result, I had wasted an entire day and accomplished nothing. Nothing! I was tired, irritated, and so mad at myself for not being talented enough to make something that would stun my wedding guests with its awesomeness. I was so consumed with what others would think that about my crafty skills that I was making myself miserable when I couldn’t live up to my own unrealistic standards.

That night, I spent some time thinking and praying. And I realized…I’ve spent so much time and energy preparing for the wedding – what about preparing for the marriage? Yes, we’re doing pre-marital counselling and all that, but what about really spending my time and energy working on learning how to be a great wife, instead of obsessing over centerpieces? What about learning how to love and appreciate my fiance better, instead of re-painting another photo frame because I can’t decide what color it should be? Sure, the little details in a wedding are great, and they make the day extra-special and make the photographs look perfect. But I’m not perfect. And neither is Nate! And in the long run, what’s more valuable to me – knowing that on one day in my life someone admired my hand-lettered signs, or knowing that my marriage is thriving because we’ve taken the time to completely invest in each other?

I think that every bride (take that back every woman) can relate. We spend much of our lives imagining this ideal day and how we will make it special and unique that we lose sight of what God desires from us. So we must make a choice as we have to with each day, to decide whether we seek to do it for God's glory and know that what matters is that we exhibit Christ's relationship with the church not for us to impress all the people will know and become bridezillas when thinks don't go our way.

So ask yourself before you feel a planning meltdown coming on, What do I want to be remembered for? Ask yourself honestly. Do you want to be the beautiful bride with the most creative theme or do you want more? Do you want to grow old with your fiancé and be remembered by your children, grandchildren & great grandchildren for your selfless love for each other? I hope you are drawn to the more. We will make mistakes and have bad days, but by God's grace He uses broken vessels to show His power and how He changes us to be more like Jesus. What could be better?

Not all couples have an unlimited budget. Most of us do not hope to go into debt over our weddings and just like all things involving money. The best plan is to have a budget and stick to it. But where do you start? How do you know what is a realistic amount to pay a florist and baker? All these questions can drive a bride insane!

Thankfully I'm addicted to Real Simple and fancy that! They have a nifty budget worksheet! Love Love! Totally going to use this for my wedding!

http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/weddings/budget/wedding-budget-worksheet-00000000009135/index.html

Apologies for the short blog, but quality is better than quantity right?!

Their Colors Speak

What are the two gems you think of when you think bride? Diamonds? Pearls? Maybe a sapphire or an opal to take care of the “something blue” requirement. With all the other parts of wedding planning, choosing bridal jewelry tends to be an afterthought unless you have eyed your grandmother’s pearl necklace since you were a little girl. Yet when you start looking nothing seems to fit the beauty of that gown that you just chose.

Luckily there is a website where talented artisans have created almost every style imaginable. I’m addicted to Etsy.com. I could spend hours upon hours on this website, especially the jewelry section. Anyone who knows me is not surprised by this statement. So I’m not surprised that within this website is a hidden gem a wedding page (http://www.etsy.com/category/weddings) . Vendors who make wedding jewelry, head pieces, invitations, decorations, anything you can imagine. Just click that link and I dare you not to spend hours on it.

One of my brother and sister-in-law’s friends from back in college days, Gillian, has recently started selling wedding jewelry on Etsy at her shop, Scarlet Oak (http://www.etsy.com/shop/scarletoak ).

Here’s a link to a real bride wearing these (http://www.thefrenzelsblog.com/2010/10/05/kristyn-mike-married-pomona-wedding-photographer/ ) On a different note, I love love love the bridesmaids dresses. I’ve never met Kristyn & Mike but I love their style!

Anyway back to Etsy and jewelry...From a different seller Plumb Crazy, these Vintage Romance Bridal Earrings are beautiful and classic. They are timeless and they seem to transport you to a far off castle. How can you not feel like a princess with these dangling from your ears?(http://www.etsy.com/listing/58248712/vintage-romance-bridal-earrings-silver?ref=cat2_gallery_12 ).

Then these Bermuda Blue Swarovski Crystal Teardrop earrings from AzureTreasures fill that “something blue” in an elegant, memorable fashion (http://www.etsy.com/listing/60699813/bermuda-blue-swarovski-crystal-teardrop?ref=cat2_gallery_3 ).

These gems have life in them: their colors speak, say what words fail of.

~George Eliot

Through the Lens of Lukas VanDyke

BASED OUT OF: Southern California

PRICING: Engagement sessions are free if you meet any of the conditions (otherwise they are $450) 1. He does your wedding 2. Already have a date and venue booked and he has the date available and you want to see how you look through his camera 3. Super creative idea that he has never done (you'll have to go to his website to see more specifics); Wedding packages include images, proof books, wall print, but he is flexible with people who are on tighter budgets.

When I was a student at Master’s and someone got engaged or wanted good headshots, there were only a handful of photographers that were used—Lukas VanDyke was one of them. I even had him do a series of headshots for my college graduation.

He is one of those guys who you naturally feel comfortable with him and although I have never met her, his wife, Suzy, seems to complement him in every way. Then you add on his artistic flare that seems to catch details that a bride and groom will wish they could remember and you have a winning combination.

His humility and his desire to be helpful to his couple are exhibited in each of his weddings and his blogposts. He even has a 3 part blog series that helps a couple choose a wedding photographer (http://www.lukasvandyke.com/?p=4454 ). His blog is a treasure trove of insight (http://www.lukasvandyke.com/?p=2740 ) and beautiful images and his willingness to travel for weddings makes him a candidate even if you live outside of Southern California. I even read a comment from a girl stating that she regrets not getting Lukas to shoot her wedding in Alaska. I think that is testimony enough...

The Writer & The Idea

Well if you're wandering around blogs and trip across mine. You may wonder who the writer is... wedding planner, bride-to-be, or just a blogger. Well I am the last one!

Basically the idea of this blog stemmed from my roommate (who is a bride-to-be) and I (one of her bridesmaids) searching the internet endlessly for quality wedding vendors versus popular (also known as overpriced, take advantage of this one-time event). Most couples have their visions, but to find people who can make it happen without high cost and high stress is stress-inducing in and of itself. I uttered these words to her, "I wish there was just a website that was organized in a way that gives people like us real people who are trustworthy and who do good work." I scanned through photographers' and florists' websites that I knew and thought, 'Hey, you could do this!'" So this is the beginning of a project that hopefully will organize the chaos of wedding planning and make it a bit more enjoyable and less stressful.

So enjoy and if you have an suggestions please let me know, especially for different regions of the country or fun ideas you have seen from different websites or weddings or even wisdom of how to enjoy that special day. My experience is limited, but yours and mine combined along with our imaginations are able to make this special day of someone's a little bit more of what it should be.