Portland Wedding Coordinator

Color Scope: Electric Plum

Spring is here, and I am in love with the spring plums. I like to call it "electric plum" because it seems to have more energy than plain old purple.  It's not exactly purple, there's a little warmth, a bit of pink and raspberry in there.  This would be a great main color with ivory, gold, silver, or graphite as the neutrals.  You could even throw in some chartreuse or a bit of spring green. Darling!

Spring



Purple n Lime

Many thanks to the users of Polyvore for these images! Click the above links to go to their pages.

Love, June boutique line, now on Etsy

Did you know that about 8 million pounds of fabric waste is not recycled and is landfilled every year? (Source, ALA Waste Recycling) "But what if you didn't cut the fabric?" Love, June Bridal asked this question, and has now launched an innovative wedding gown line that is eco-friendly and reduces waste.  How so?  By using natural fibers such as silk and cotton and by creating designs that don't require cutting the fabric, virtually eliminating fabric waste. This boutique line, as described on their Etsy profile page, "is created from only squares and rectangles"!

Sounds crazy, no? But the gowns are ethereal, feminine, sexy, and a serious departure from the typical, A-line strapless wedding gown. If you have been agonizing over stiff, shiny, scratchy, heavily beaded gowns, and saying to yourself, "this just isn't me!" I implore you to take a look at these exotic and different designs.

12 Weeks to a Perfect Wedding by Signature Events

I am always amazed by the wedding coordinator talent that we have in Portland. Earlier this year, we had the chance to chat with Kerry Garrow of Signature Weddings and Events at the Portland Bridal Show, and she showed me a brand new product that is going to be very helpful to those getting married. I was a little bit jealous I hadn't developed it first!  :-)

It's called "12 Weeks to a Perfect Wedding", and is a class she will be teaching that takes you to a different wedding venue each week. Each class has a specific focus of several topics to cover, and will also showcase Kerry's expertly-curated list of featured vendors, many of whom will be offering exclusive packages to class participants.

This is a great way to have access to a planner's expertise at an affordable rate, or to make sure that one's pre-planning is impeccable before turning things over to a wedding day coordinator.

Visit the website to learn more about the class.

Little Black Book - An incredible wedding resource!

So many of you have heard of Style Me Pretty, an exquisite blog written by Abby Larson and company. We love their beautiful, well-edited blog, and the interesting resources on the site.

But did you know that Style Me Pretty brings that wonderful taste and selection to their vendor list as well? They call it "The Little Black Book", and EJP Events is pleased to note that we made the list.

You should definitely visit there, grab a glass of wine, and peruse the lovely real weddings, as well as the Little Black Book blog. Plenty of ideas to get your wedding planning flowing!

Saturday Roundup: Charlotte's Weddings and More - Open House recap

We were so excited to be invited to participate last Wednesday in the very first open house at Charlotte's Weddings and More, a premier bridal salon located on the west side of Portland, in Beaverton. Charlotte's has a wonderful reputation for over 20 years of service, which is so important when you are trusting a retail business with such a big part of the wedding. I was surprised how large the bridal salon was, and impressed by the number of private dressing rooms they had. Definitely a great spot for the client who is looking for a hands-on, one-on-one customer service experience.

Here are a few of the other businesses who were there.  I have to give special shout-outs to Bella Bloom Florals , and Urbaca Salon, two businesses I wasn't familiar with previously, but who had great displays and services going at the event.  Perhaps you'll check them out sometime!

Shumaker Photography
Bella Bloom Florals
August Veils
Hybrid Moon
Catering by Laurie
Fitness Together
Urbaca Salon
Event Cosmetics
EJP Events
All Wright Music

When can we meet? whenisgood.net

After creating this list of interactive wedding planning tools, I recently found one more that really is so useful, it merits its own blog post: whenisgood.net .  While not strictly for wedding planning, whenisgood.net is wonderful, simply because it does one thing well: allows you to specify "when is good" for everyone involved in a meeting.  Simply click and highlight several dates and times that work for you, create an email to send to everyone you would like to invite to the meeting, and send. Your invitees also click their available times, and eventually a good date for everyone emerges.

For busy wedding planners and brides trying to coordinate the multitude of vendor interviews, looking for a free, easy to use online tool, whenisgood.net is super helpful!

Saturday Roundup: Photography Eye Candy

Photography is one of the things clients tell us is THE most important part of the wedding.  It's also important in the planning process: by looking at pictures of weddings past, you can get ideas of what to do and not do at your own.  You can borrow decor ideas, be moved by emotions, and even check out photos of your own wedding site in action to figure out your own layout.

So I was thrilled when Joe Milton emailed me about the International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers' recent contest winners.  Many of our very own Portland photographers such as David Barss and Amy Prutch are featured as winners.  The images are amazing and inspiring.  Please do visit and look around!

 

Also, David dropped by the other night at our Bridal Loft Open House, and in addition to bringing some very special presents (gorgeous, huge, blown-up portraits of Love, June Bridal's newest gowns) and speaking during Event Cosmetics' makeup seminar, he also tipped me off to myportlandphotographer.com , another eye-candy website featuring all-local Portland and Willamette Valley photographers posting their latest greatest shots. If you are venue shopping I highly recommend it!

Interview with 1st Comes Love ... Handcrafted, custom invitations

EJP Events recently had the pleasure of working with 1st Comes Love on a few projects, and also helping them out in their booth at a recent Bridal Show.  We loved getting to know Roopal Shah and her family during this process!  Emee had the chance to ask Roopal a few questions about the world of invitation design...

EP:  Tell me a little bit about your design philosophy.
RS: My design aesthetic tends to be simple and clean, more modern than traditional.  I like to focus on capturing emotions and translating them into designs that find the right mix of ideas, ink and paper.  The invitation is usually the first glimpse that your guests have to the tone and feel of your wedding; it's important that the invitation capture the feeling of the wedding day.

EP:  How did you become involved in the design of custom wedding invitations?
RS: My foray into invitation design began with family projects; from bridal shower invitations to my first son's birth announcement.  My background was in retail and merchandising, so I've always had a love of pattern and color.  The shift from working with textiles to paper was pretty seamless.  Wedding invitations are such exciting projects to work on because each couple is so unique.

EP:  Share one of your favorite creations to date.
RS: The Celia Invitation was created in shades of purple and green.  The borders and embellishments are all created out of lasercut paper and handcut to fit each individual invitation.

EP: Are there any new items that you are now making because of client demand, that in the beginning you did not offer?
RS: Boxed invitations are fun to create for clients who are having destination weddings or uniquely themed weddings.  The pocket style invitation is still in high demand because of the hundreds of color and finish options available.

EP: What printing techniques are offered at 1st Comes Love? Which are your favorite or most popular?
RS:  We offer everything from flat printing, thermography to letter press.  The most popular printing style is flat printing because it's economical and it allows clients to really focus on the details of the invitation: the crystals, ribbons, textures, and paper.