Matt & Danielle's Magical Wine Country wedding had touches of them, from sabering their champagne to Star Wars Cuff links. Who says the Bride has to have bridesmaids? All their best friends were guys, so the bride have all her best men standing with her on her side, her good side as she put it, bucking tradition once more by standing on the opposite side of "Tradition" I love how the clouds added just the right lighting for their beautiful day.

Beautifully captured by Arken Studios

There is just too much to love about this wedding from New Years Eve. The Location was Beautiful, right in the heart of San Francisco, atThe City Club. The Bride is an self proclaimed nerd, and I LOVED every minute of it from the Lord of the ring entry and photo booth, to the harry potter flask holder to the Enchanted garden dinner. No one wanted to leave the garden Amy Burke Designs created. Thank you Baby Blue Film for capturing the day so beautifully!

I'm honored that my first wedding to be published was Jason & Steven's Wedding from last October. Outword magazine made it their cover photo event. 

A little about Jason & Steven, they wanted a a day with family and friends to celebrate a decade of love they have shared. For two guys who spend their free time traveling and having adventures, and jumping out of planes it totally made my day when they said we want to get married ON the playground. It was just the right touch for these two. I'm sure it will be a wedding guests wont forget.

Scannable, is an off shoot of Evernote. What I LOVE about scannable is you can take a photo of the contract you just signed, and it will convert that photo into a PDF!!! It is a must when a vendor doesn't have an electronic signature capable contract. Or when you want a copy of the cake design, at the tasting but don't want to wait for it to be scanned and emailed to you. I don't know about you but my printer/scanner only likes to do what I want half the time. Scannable can be used for so much more, like taking photos of business cards and inputting them in your contacts. I love if I don't have to retype info. You can save it right to your Evernote account or share to your email or another app.

The next one is Dropbox, you can also add in Evernote they do a lot of the same things. I like Dropbox, they are both handy places to store your files in the cloud. So if I'm away from my desk, and don't have a couples binder handy, I can normally just look in the Dropbox folder I created for them on my phone or iPad and find what I need, heck I can use it on another computer and get the files too. This comes in super handy again when my printer doesn't want to be my friend, or I need info on the fly. You can also share these files. So if you put all your contracts in one folder for your wedding and you want your other half to have access to them, voila just invite them to the folder with a handy link. And you both have access to add new info. Cause wedding planning really is a team sport.

Hope these 2 apps help make your planning a little easier.

~Sarah

I totally get that you're getting quotes from professionals and thinking "that is more than I've ever spent on photos in my whole life, like added together"

I'm sure your friend has a nice camera, and heck they maybe even take really nice photos. My first question for you is have they ever shot a wedding before? Yes? Cool. How did you like the photos from the wedding?

Second, how long did they need for the family shots during cocktail hour? Can they command the attention of a group, can they also be discrete? Are they fast? Have you had them do engagement photos for you? Because if they aren't fast, people get bored easy and if they can't command attention then people won't listen when they are asked to move around and are directed.

Lastly, will you be heartbroken if your memories aren't captured? When the photo of your grandma doesn't happen? How about when people aren't staged right? Or when they don't figure out how to compensate for bad lighting, or you get less time with your guests because they take too long with your photos. Just some thoughts for you to think about.

Don't get me wrong everyone needs to start somewhere. Heck, I did friends weddings to start with, and they would say I did a good job. Your friend might be the same and just needs a break into the wedding industry. As your planner it is my job to tell you to think about these things so you know what you're signing off on.

Happy Planning!

~Sarah


Please note this is my iPhone shot of a PRO at work!

A good wedding DJ is worth their weight in gold. You need someone who can do more than get the party started, and play good music.

You also need someone who can command the attention of your guests. It makes me sad when a couple spends so much on their cake only to have no one pay attention during the cake cutting. They can elegantly get your over sharing uncle off the mic, or better yet make sure he didn't get it in the first place.

You need someone reliable, who gets that wrapping their cords and making their system look clean is also for safety.

Can they beat match? What is beat matching you ask? It's that seamless transition from one song to the next. When you use an iPod there is a blank space between your songs, if you use Pandora there will be Ads or strange songs that might kill the mood, or just aren't appropriate for a wedding. A good Wedding DJ will feel the energy of the crowd and and adjust their play list accordingly.

So with that being said, hire a Wedding Planner 😉 and they will send you to a great Wedding DJ who does this and more.

Happy New Year!!!

~Sarah

Photos by Scott MacDonald Wedding Photography

Last but NOT LEAST Michelle Feilecan Photography captured the day beautifully, as she always does. She loves her clients, she fades away in the background and you don't feel like she's there but CLEARLY when you see the photos she was. She went the extra mile for this wedding helping when the need arose and is just an absolute love to work with. It was hard to narrow the photos to use in this blog post. 

Bonus shot, because I just love their wedding rings, and the BEAUTIFUL bridal bouquet which was crafted by California Sister's Floral Design

I love when I find fun and unusual vendors for my clients to make their parties stand out to their guests. I was at a wedding show at the beginning of the season when I met Patricio, of Oyé Productions . They will come to your event and roll cigars for your guests on site, and teach them as the rolls about the cigar making process. It had a similar feel to wine tasting. They come with some already made on hand so people can start enjoying right away, while they are watching. The best part, is at the end of the night, should there be any leftover, you get to take them home with you. From what I saw just about everyone was interested in learning about this, even the non-smokers like myself were intrigued by the process.

VW Photo Booth is an emerging trend I saw starting last season.


VW Bus Booth

I love these for outdoor events, I think they are super charming, and add personality to your event. I love how the people at Das Bus have finished the inside of the bus with wood and plaid, topped with a marquee sign, and their whole fun retro vibe. They have a TRUNK of costumes for you and your guests to get goofy with, and walk away with really cute 2x6 photos. I love that the Bus has a life and name of its own, Bonnie.

VW Photo Bug Booth

The Photo Bug, is a super cute slightly smaller option. Rita Temple Photography Converted a 1969 VW Beetle into a photo booth, I love how it lights up and all their fun props.  If your venue has double doors they can even bring the bug inside it’s an unexpected photo booth for sure.

I’m not talking about the photos booths we grew up with at the County Fair, where you crammed as many people in as possible and half the faces were covered or cut off. This is more like the Step and Repeat off the Red carpet, (you know that space where the Paparazzi take photos of stars, and behind them is the name repeated behind them? That’s called a step and repeat) Ok, but instead of this party being sponsored by (insert you favorite brand name) you can have something pretty like sequins, or stripes, or brick wall.

The teams over at 2 Dudes & a Booth are amazing; they get good photos of your guests. You don’t have people blinking because they don’t know where to look or when the booth is going to take the photo, and the lighting is flattering. You can cram like 20 people in a photo instead of just 4 or 5 in a tiny box booth.  They are so EASY to work with, I literally only had to show them where to set up and they took care of the rest. You can have your photos printed on strips of 2x6 or 4x6, with a custom print on it to remind your guests which awesome party they were at. Their Props are great. But you know what I love about this is the digital files after the event and they look great. Heck I still have one as one of my profile shots on my Instagram account.  I totally look forward to working with these dudes again.