A Look Back: Lauren + Brian

The one thing that stuck out for me on our wedding day was simply being surrounded by our family and friends. To look around and see all the faces from the various points in Brian and I’s lives coming together to celebrate us was overwhelming…in a fabulous way!

My favorite part of the wedding planning process was…all of it! I love weddings and so being able to plan my own, with lots of help from Lori, plus family and friends, was so much fun. I still remember invitation making sessions with my girlfriends, centerpiece creating sessions with my mom, mother-in-law, and friends, and my aunts testing and perfecting boozy marshmallow recipes for our s’mores bar. To be able to see everything come together and really reflect what Brian and I wanted was amazing!

It has been five years since that fabulous party we threw! Today, Brian and I have our complete family. We welcomed our first son, Jack, in November 2013 and our second son, Oliver, in August 2015. Lots of baseball, football, fort building, running (they never stop moving!), hiking and snuggles from them both. I work as a school psychologist and counselor in the Edmonds School District and Brian is a mechanical engineer.

Some advice to other couples…RELAX! Planning should be fun. Keep it simple. Stay true to who you and your partner are and what you both want. Hire a wedding planner….seriously, the best money we spent!

A Look Back: Nicole + Morgan

Today we are looking back at Nicole + Morgan, who said I Do on August 5, 2011 at Snoqualmie Ridge Golf Club.

The main thing that stands out from our wedding is remembering the love we felt from sharing the day with family and friends. It was such a perfect day. One I will never forget! Plus I got to marry my best friend!

We celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary this past August and recently celebrated again in Maui with our kiddos. I am a stay at home mom of a 3-year-old boy and a 1-year-old daughter. I have an Etsy shop, London Noah Designs where I sell my handmade bandanna bibs for littles. Life is good!

My favorite part of the planning process was when we actually made decisions. Ha ha! Booking the venue, saying "Yes" to my dress and cupcake tasting are my top 3 things. And having Elegant Affairs' guidance made everything sooooo much easier.

My advice to couples planning their wedding is to hire a wedding planner. Hire a wedding planner! And hire a wedding planner. I couldn't have done it without my amazing sister and her team. 

Well, I am so thankful my sister is a wedding planner. I think I was clueless to the whole process and I also had a hard time making decisions. I cried a lot because I couldn't make decisions. Haha. She calmed me down and relieved me of so much anxiety. I was so lucky that she sent me weekly timelines of things that needed to be completed. Some might say working with family can be difficult but in my case, it was the best thing ever! And to top it off I was honored to have her stand by my side as my Maid of Honor! Multi-tasking at its finest! Thank you sissy for making the process a whole lot easier and my wedding day stress-free. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day thanks to her!

Also, set your budget from the beginning and stick to it! Thankfully I didn't have Pinterest when I got married because it can give amazing but EXPENSIVE ideas. 

Oh ya, did I mention hire a wedding planner?!

A Look Back: Holly + Derek

One thing that stuck out from our wedding day was our ceremony. Our officiant (who happens to be one of our best friends!) did a unique ceremony in which she did a "he said" "she said" version of how we met, our story, and where we were looking to be in the future. It was fun, beautiful, and created a moment to both honor our past and look forward to our future. I had so many people tell me afterwards that it was one of their favorite ceremonies they had been to!

Life has been great since that beautiful October day at The Pickering Barn. We celebrated 4 years of marriage on October 6th. We welcomed our first baby - a sweet boy named Brody in March, so we are now officially a family of three! I work as a Family Support Liaison in the Tacoma School District and Derek is the Chef/Owner of the restaurant The Table on Tacoma's 6th Avenue. The restaurant just celebrated 1 year of being open in July and we are so grateful for the community we've built there. We are living out our dreams one day at a time and look forward to what the future holds!

Favorite part of the wedding planning process - well, OF COURSE the cake tasting; but other than that, I loved picking out my dress. I flipped through The Knot magazine and circled any dress I loved. I then looked up the designers I circled and cross-referenced what boutiques in the area sold the designers I was interested in. I ended up getting my dress from a boutique in Burien called Pearls and Lace. The experience was everything I could've hoped for. Friendly sales associates, no pressure to buy, and the purchase of my Maggie Sottero dress which I LOVED!

The best piece of advice I give to my friends getting married is to get a wedding planner. Seriously. I am in no way organized enough to take care of all those details and having someone to help me through the process was a life-saver and took so much stress off me. It allowed me to actually enjoy my wedding day knowing everything was taken care of! Hands down, if it's in the budget - get a wedding planner!