Kate & David at the Barns at Wesleyan

Kate's mom, Lisa, called me a few months before Kate and David's wedding. She was concerned with mostly the ceremony at the Memorial Chapel at Wesleyan University and everything going smoothly there and transitioning to the Barns at Wesleyan Hills. Since most of the planning was already done, I offered our Rehearsal & Day of services. She thought this was exactly what they needed, especially since the Reverend who would be marrying Kate and David was not going to be attending the rehearsal and there is no one at the chapel who does that. We quickly set up a meeting with Kate and Lisa and they hired us soon after. About a month later we had our "detail" meeting where we finalized all details of the wedding and I got to meet the groom and also father of the bride. 

Here are some great images that portray the beautiful day that Kate and David had. Thanks to Alissa Dineen Photography for sharing!

Ashley & Josh's Wedding Weekend in Camden, ME

I first met Ashley last year. She was planning a quaint wedding at a CT B&B and she hired me as her day-of coordinator. Living in Seattle, she really wanted someone local to help with finalizing all of the details as the big day got closer. Somewhere along the way, plans fell through with her venue and she planned to have her wedding at the Whitehall Inn in Camden, ME. She frantically emailed me asking if I would be willing to travel for her wedding. I jumped at the opportunity to work my first "destination wedding" and I'm so glad I did! When I first agreed, I wasn't pregnant, but in February I found out I was expecting baby #2. Still willing to travel, my plans just changed a bit. My husband was my assistant instead of one of the girls that usually helps me out. We turned this trip into a mini babymoon, leaving our 2 year old son to spend one night each with both grandmothers. We had such a great time!

After 5 hours of driving, we stopped at the Sea Basket for lunch. Not a bad find, but if we drove a little further up there were many more places to eat that looked like they might have been a bit better.

This was the first time I had been to Camden, ME so when we arrived I wanted to check out the ceremony site prior to the rehearsal. This is Camden Hills State Park. A beautiful place for a wedding!

I was lucky enough to have the cutest assistant this weekend :) He's the best!!!

After conducting the rehearsal, we had the night to ourselves to enjoy. We had a great dinner at the Waterfront overlooking the harbor.

When we returned to our room, I had one more duty to perform. I offered to put together the centerpieces for the seemingly overwhelmed bride.

Baby's breath and hydrangea!

The day of the wedding, I was able to setup at the inn prior to going to the park to setup. Here are the pretty place cards.

And the sweetheart table...

Thanks to a very helpful hubby, we had the chairs set up in the morning. It was a HOT day and I was happy that he did this for me.

The gorgeous ceremony...

And a boat decided to drive by in the middle of it...

The happily married couple...

And they were off to take pictures at Mt. Battie...

This wedding was so much fun and we were happy to be included. Congratulations again to Ashley and Josh!!

Do I Really Have a 2 Year Old?!?!

I find it absolutely mind-boggling that I now am the mother of a 2 year old (not to mention with another newborn on the way!). These last 2 years have been fun, crazy, incredible and they FLEW BY. Since I went all out with Kyle's first birthday party, complete with a pony and a hailstorm, I told myself that I wouldn't go as big this year. Who was I kidding? I'm an event planner for Pete's sake! I did tone it down a little, but I'll say this: next year its pizza and cake at Chuck E Cheese (or something like that). Until the next first birthday for the new baby anyway ;)

So this year we went with a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme. One thing I wanted to splurge on was the cake since I saw so many great ideas on Pinterest. Of cours, I'm not a baker, so I left it to the pros. This AMAZING (and delicious) cake was made by Sweet Confections by Amanda in Wallingford. Seriously, call her for your next event. She is just as sweet as her creations and she does amazing work. Support small businesses, people!!

One thing that I did try to make are these Oreo Mickey cookies from Pinterest. Note: they are a bit harder to make than they seem.

This was before the guests arrived or the food was set up, so its a little bare, but this was my "Hot Diggity Dog Hotdog Bar". I hand-painted the sign and bought the hotdog holders from Target. Once the food was served, I put bowls of chopped onions, baked beans, ketchup, mustard and relish on the table with the hotdog buns and tray of grilled hotdogs and guests served themselves. The burgers and sides were on another table. I wanted to keep this one separate and cohesive to the theme.

These were my centerpieces and they were super easy to make! I found the character printables online here and cut them out. Then I glued them to foam board for a more sturdy backing and a popsicle stick to stand them up in the pots. I filled the pots with some shredded paper and there you go! By the way, the pots were $1 at Target so these were totally affordable decorations.

And here's our gift table with another hand-painted sign by yours truly. I put a bucket of Mickey Mouse ears on the table so that when the kids walked in they could take a pair and wear them during the party.

I had asked a local ice cream man to come by the party. Here is the birthday boy with his daddy choosing his treat. After we had to pry him out of the pool, of course.

Adults and kids gathered around for a cool treat. It was SO HOT that day!

After the ice cream treat came another surprise for Kyle. Mickey and Minnie crashed the party!

I thought Kyle would love it, but as you can see from the last picture he screamed his head off whenever they were close by. Guess we don't have to take a trip to Disney any time soon!

All in all, it was a great day! Can't wait to have 2 crazy boys to plan parties for!!