Yay. Now, I’m rested and back to blogging! Time for the reception for my beloved Karin and Forrest!  

The families:

Some more of the gorgeous flowers:

A few portraits of the bride and groom [and above them, in the tree, are Forrest's younger brothers!]

Forrest, after arriving, gave me a gift for Karin that he wanted to present to her in between the ceremony and reception. The card was written to her new name- so sweet! It was a stuffed animal and Karin loved it!

Hey! Look what I found! These look familiar!

Into the room we go! As guests entered, they were greeted by the amazing decor!!!

The cake fixed up pretty nicely!

We used the aisle clusters to tie to the bride and groom’s chairs! It looked fab.

Their favors, which I love! They read “Karin and Forrest… Have a bite on us!”

The grand entrance:

K & F walked into “Canned Heat” by Jamaraquai and it was amazing! They jumped onto the dance floor when they got there!

Toasts by the groom’s brother, Philip, and the bride’s best friend, Jorden [who is getting married next month!]:

And a few words from Karin’s dad, James:

My assistant [and sister], Rebeks, signing our picture in their polaroid guest book:

The bride and groom danced to “You Raise Me Up” and Karin sang to Forrest along with the song. It was too sweet! [And here, to follow, are my 500 pictures of JUST their first dance!!]:

And the big-dip-finale!

Straight into “Butterfly Kisses” with Karin and Dad. Her dad actually danced with her to this song years ago, when she was in the 7th grade! The sentiment of it made her choose it for their special day!

Getting ready for The Big Cut:

Now, K & F had mentioned that they were planning to possibly smear one another with frosting. But, you never know [as a coordinator] what is real and what’s joking, and what will really truly happen. When Karin tucked her napkin into her dress- I about died! Forrest quickly followed, tucking his into his shirt. So funny! And you know what, they needed it…

It went from south, to south POLE in a matter of seconds!

As long as it ends with a kiss, and a clean up, we’ll call it a night!

A pop into the restroom to check on the cleanliness, and a pleasant surprise from T.P.!

And me!

A few shots of their six engagement pictures that we blew up and hung on the walls for that extra touch:

Another few shots of the bride’s bouquet:

The Toss!

Caught by the Maid of Honor!

The Garter. And oh how much fun Forrest had with this one! We’ll start with the “pre-garter stretching” Forrest did:

Forrest, always looking for a laugh, acting like he can’t find it!

Hurrah!!

And a kiss before the toss:

And, the garter catcher putting the garter on the bouquet catcher… What good sports they are!

Their sparkler set up for their grand exit:

A quick change before the exit, and a snap shot of the groom, his brother, and the bride:

As the guests lined up outside, K & F relished in the last moments of their wedding, and enjoyed this first true moment alone!

Sparklers!!

For the pics of them leaving, I turned off my flash. You can’t really see them, but you can see how gorgeous the sparklers were! If I were better at photo editing, I could do something about it… but I don’t think I’m “there” yet!

And finally, ready for the ride away!

But wait… [yep, about 6 of their closest friends came out of the limo, one by one, after this! A little surprise- apparently they wanted to join K & F on their honeymoon. Not happening!!

All in all, the night went PERFECTLY. Our weather was clear, crisp, and gorgeous. Not one snag, not one problem the entire day! We really had such a blessed night, and the bride and groom got to shimmy and shake with good friends and family. I hope you two are getting some much-needed rest and time alone on your honeymoon!!!

Karin and Forrest are “that couple” to me. The couple that I wish was engaged for 3 years so I could hang out with them! The couple that trusts me with every step of the planning. The couple that focuses on their love for one another, and are able to let everything go and have a great time! But, sadly for me, Karin and Forrest were engaged for only 5 months! That’s the same length of time that I was engaged, so when they came to me, the week after their engagement, looking for guidance, direction and a short engagement, I knew we had a busy holiday season ahead!Finally, yesterday, we saw all of our hard work pay off! There are TONS of pictures from this event, so I’m going to keep the writing short and simple. From now on, enjoy the images and let a picture be worth a thousand words. You’ll get to see and experience the love of Karin and Forrest the way I have for the past half a year:Florals by the FAB Treasured Petal. I am still speechless over them![Krissy at work]K & F decided to do a water unity ceremony [blue and yellow make green- their wedding color], and communion during their ceremony.[LOVE that sister of mine. Not only did she straighten the programs that I didn't have the time or patience to figure out... but she did it with CLASS!]These place card trees were my labor of love, from start to finish!The weather forecast read something like this: “75% chance of showers, thunderstorms in the afternoon and 20-30 mph winds”. But, all we got was this:[phew!]Favors:They were such a hit, I think I only saw one or two towards the end of the reception. Everyone ate them and loved them!Some Details:Yes. That’s custom pillows. And yes. I made them.The naked cake:The surprise they kept from me:Nothing could describe them better! They are so fun-loving! I loved it!!Back to the ceremony:The programs were definitely another labor of love for me!!!Recognize him?Thanks sis, for the “working” pic of me!Forrest’s father officiated the ceremony.Hey good lookin’!Karin’s teary moment during the ceremony prompted Forrest to pull a tissue for his bride: And FINALLY- the KISS!  Mr. and Mrs. [!!!!!]     Now, I wasn’t going to do this blog in two parts, but since I’ve been having problems with my blog today [and I will NOT take credit for the spacing and layout of this one, because it re-started and failed on me quite a few times... sad face], I’m going to continue this blog a bit later. SO, stay tuned for the reception!!! 

I always think pictures like this are funny:

In other news: tonight is the rehearsal for Karin and Forrest and I a sooo excited for this weekend! It’s going to be an amazingly huge event full of fun details and definitely, above all else, beaming with LOVE!

First off: I’m noticing that I blog… a LOT. Not sure how many people enjoy my randomness, my photos, my thoughts. But, heck, personal blogs are about personality and my “professional” blog can be nothing other than ME! At least there’s always new things to look at!

Now, as I said in my last post, our floral class last night was canceled because we went to a design show. So, Yesterday morning Steph and I made the trek to LA and spent some money on flowers. I really wanted to try the idea of making a bouquet and putting it in a clear glass vase, unbound. It makes the stems look twisted around and I thought that’d be really gorgeous. When we started:

Yes, we DEFINITELY splurged and ended up with one pack of each: roses, tulips, mums, gerbera daisies, calla lilies, and TWO packs of ranunculus [my favorite flower!!]. Since it’s spring, it wasn’t so bad on our wallets- but the beauty we have to show for it is worth EVERY penny!

And, of course, Stephanie’s:

And, the BEST arrangement of the day was our “overflow” mini arrangement. I bound this one like a bouquet with a tiny ribbon. Just FYI, the ribbon wrapping this is about 1/4″ thick probably. So, it’s tiny!

I’m not sure we were planning to do purple when we stepped into the market… but, hey, it came at us like a TON of bricks and the flowers all just fell together in place. It’s my favorite so far [and it's convincing me personally that it's easier to design with more expensive flowers... uh oh!]. Hope you enjoyed. I am currently enjoying their presence!

of what’s to come:

Just a note: Today’s floral class was cancelled because yesterday we attended Shinoda’s spring floral design show. SO, Steph and I made the trek up to the Los Angeles flower market and splurged on some gorgeous flowers and made two STUNNING arrangements. We love them. Tomorrow, I’ll grace you with their presence. But for now, see what I’ve been up to as of last night:

So, about once every six weeks or so, I completely clean out my fridge. Last night, I went semi-neurotic and actually switched around the shelves and changed up the order of what went where. Here’s how it ended up [if the pictures don't do it justice]:

Top shelf: bread products

Middle shelf: fruits, veggies, and similar products [note the large blank space]

Bottom shelf: drinks!

Top drawer: cheeeeses [and this little drawer is packed]

Bottom left drawer: meats

Bottom right drawer: fresh produce

Was this a boring post? Hopefully the flowers tomorrow will be even more of a pleasant surprise. But, between last night and tonight I have completely given my kitchen a much needed over-haul. Maybe next time I’ll give you a preview of my pantry and the “basket system” that is enforced. It’s amazing!

While we’re kind of on the subject of graphic design [by the post below], I figured there’s no better time to debut a new monogram I just whipped up for Brook and Dan [my nearly-weds for January of 09!].

Okay, I didn’t just “whip” it up with ease, but the final result has been SO worth it!

Do you LOVE or what?? The wedding will be a spanish/mediterranean feel with a color theme of this soft buttery yellow and avocado green with an ivory base. It’s just so yummy!

So…. a big change for me!

Okay. The change is not that big. And you know what? I’ll bet not much will change. Ha! But, never the less, my new cards for all of your eager eyes to see! HOT off the press…

Aren’t they just so NOW with their sleek, all-black back?? I ? them!

And, for an extra-appealing post: another HOT off the press moment [courtesy of A. Auer as always...]:

Kristin of the [amazingly gorgeous and ever-talented] Treasured Petal ordered BRAND new letterpressed business cards and BRAND new stickers with her BRAND new logo! Just had to show off how absolutely fabulous they turned out!

And just in the nick of time! This lovely pair tie the knot next weekend! Check back for the blog on their wedding, but until then, these gorgeous images from Eric Slay of Paperwhite Photography:

Just a little hint hint at their wedding decor: we’re blowing these 6 pictures up LARGE and IN CHARGE to go on the back wall of their reception venue. As Christian would say: fierce.