The Gatekeepers Wedding | Woodland Romance

On a beautiful July afternoon, Ruth and Jake said their vows in front of their closest family and friends on the shores of Lake Tahoe. It was peaceful, quaint, and perfect! Influences of Texas, Reno, and California provided for a great party with lots of laughs. The details were simple - we utilized the beauty of nature and the wild lupins while incorporating pops of color with calla lilies, tulips, and sun flowers. It was a beautiful celebration!

Vendors:

Photography | JLM Creative

Flowers | Wanda's Flower Shop

Catering | Mountain Magic

Music | We Aint Saints

Venue | The Gatekeepers

One Fine Day Featured on Catherine Hall's Blog | A Wedding Conundrum

We are thrilled to be featured on Catherine Hall's blog! We wrote a guest post about the predicament many couple's face when inviting families to their wedding. It is always nice to invite the entire family to your wedding, but sometimes it's easier to either not invite the kids, or provide a kid-friendly environment. You can read the guest post here:

Catherine Hall Studios

Kids or no Kids: A Wedding Conundrum

Event planner Stephanie Anderson of One Fine Day and the brand-new wedding site, Tahoe Unveiled, authored a guest post for my blog. Stephanie is a talented professional with a gift for producing off-the-charts events. Today, she addresses a couple's inevitiable wedding conundrum.

Inviting kids to a wedding? A few of my brides have inquired about the difficulties of guests with kids. Although kids are lovely and can be very endearing, you may not want to hear crying and screaming on your wedding day. In addition, it can be pretty tricky to invite your friends and not their kids, especially if travel is involved. To avoid the hassle, the arguments, and any hard feelings, try one of these ideas:

1. Hire a babysitter. Inform your guests that a babysitter will take care of your kids throughout the ceremony and reception. For your slightly paranoid parents, you may want to hire someone with First Aid certification or from an agency. Ask your venue if they have a spare room you can use as the kid's room.

2. Kiddie Corner. Designate one or two tables at the reception to kids only. Garnish the table with GI Joes, coloring books, Pretty Pretty Princess, and Hungry Hippo (clearly my childhood favorites). If you are worried about the kids wandering off, hire a babysitter to sit at the table with them.

3. Hire a magician! Kids are easily distracted, so if games won’t cut it, then hire a clown or a magician to keep them entertained and away from your lime light!

Thank you Catherine for featuring One Fine Day on your blog!

To view Catherine Hall's new site or to learn more about Tahoe Unveiled, click on the following:

www.catherinehall.net

www.tahoeunveiled.com

Wedding Party Gift Idea

A lovely email from the Pottery Barn popped into my inbox today, so I decided to take a wee look. Turns out, they are having a sale! My clients often ask me for gift ideas for their wedding party, so I always keep this in the back of my mind when doing my daily online research. When perusing Pottery Barn's site today, I came across their Awning Striped Beach Towels - lovely thick towels with monogramming available ... and they are currently on sale! This is a perfect gift for a summer wedding near or at the beach/lake/water. Whether you have their full name or their initials embroidered onto the towel, your bridesmaids and groomsmen will greatly appreciate this gift!

Inspiration Board | Organic Elegance

We put together this inspiration board for Tahoe Unveiled (our sister company) and thought you might enjoy it! This board takes an organic approach to wedding style and shows how natural elements and a little creativity can be used to create a feeling of casual elegance.

Day 5 of the Wedding Festivities ~ The Farewell Brunch

After a spectacular night of dancing, playing ping-pong and corn hole, and sipping on margaritas, it was time to end the celebratory week! Just in case everyone didn't get enough of the stunning lake views, we planned a post-wedding brunch at Gar Woods. The private room has tall windows and a private balcony overlooking the lake. Guests were treated to a feast consisting of smoked salmon, fresh fruit, roast beef, roasted potatoes, and plenty more! For decor, I setup the lovely flower arrangements from the wedding. Congrats to Angela and Jeremy - have a wonderful time on your honeymoon in Maui!

Day 4 of the Wedding Festivities ~ The Wedding Day

After a year of planning, 855 emails, countless phone calls, and several meetings, the much anticipated wedding day is here! The setup required 30 solid hours of labor, 20 crew members, a 30 foot truck, a pick-up truck and trailer, a sprinter, a Jeep Cherokee, a minivan, and a subaru - each packed to the brim! As the venue was built in the 1900's, we had a few challenges loading and unloading. The path leading from the driveway to the front door was 2.5 ft wide and 175 yards long. You can imagine the problems this posed for unloading couches, fire pits, and all sorts of equipment. We managed to gain access to a side road, which allowed us to drive 100 yds closer to the entrance. We still had to battle the rocks jutting out of the path, the stone steps, and a narrow doorway. Once everything was unloaded the stacks and piles were daunting. But, with the incredible A team on board - Bellissima Floral, Crux Events & Party Rents, and One Fine Day's team, we pulled it off with ease!

At 2:30pm, the furniture was in place, candles were lit, and the guests started to arrive. I took a few snapshots with my iphone  - obviously these are not even close to what Catherine Hall will produce, but they will give you a little glimpse!

Top left - the ceremony took place on the beach with benches built by Crux Events, petals covering the altar, and a lovely lounge setting in the back. Top right - Bellissima dressed up the chandeliers to modernize the look of the 110 year old dining room. Bottom - intimate lounge settings overlooking the lake were placed on the decks, lawn, and beach.

The overall look was romantic, organic, and very comfortable. I can't wait to see Catherine Hall's photos - stay tuned!

Day 3 of the Wedding Festivities ~ The Welcome Dinner

Instead of a traditional Rehearsal Dinner, Angela and Jeremy decided to have a Welcome Dinner. Since all of their friends and family traveled to celebrate their wedding, they invited everyone. Guests arrived to a beautiful setting at the Blue Onion Cafe on Old Brockway golf course. Flowers arranged by Bellissima Floral had a freshly picked feel to them, which blended nicely with the crisp yellow umbrellas! Although the setting was casual, Angela dressed it up a bit with a gorgeous Vera Wang cocktail style dress. The kids ran around on the grass, while the adults enjoyed mingling and viewing the "Who's that guy" album that Angela and Jeremy created to help their guests get to know each another. Everything involving this couple is paired with humor!

Day 2 of the Wedding Festivities ~ River Rafting

To start the celebratory week, we have arranged for all of the guests to enjoy a lazy float down the Truckee river with the bride and groom. Guests met in a parking lot where we arranged for buses to drive them to the starting point. Sunscreen was lathered, liability forms signed, and cold beverages ready to be cracked open. After the 2 1/2 hour long float, guests enjoyed lunch and cocktails on the River Ranch's patio.

Day 1 of the Wedding Festivities ~ Gift Bags

As guests rolled in and checked into their hotel rooms, they were greeted with a lovely gift bag. This was not your generic gift bag - it was a beautiful bag complete with Tahoe House Bakery goodies (grill seasoning, fruit preserves & crackers), a lovely letter explaining all of the various activities, and a card made by One Fine Day that noted the various things to see and do in Tahoe. Four hours and 115 miles later, all bags have been delivered to 110 very excited guests!

Breakdown of a Week-Long Wedding Celebration

This weekend we are preparing for a very exciting and complex wedding. The daily

events have been geared towards entertaining their guests while providing a hassle free vacation. All ages have been invited and every detail has been thought of and seen to. When I first met with Angela and Jeremy, the bride and groom, they requested a non-traditional celebration - no first dances, no formal traditions, and absolutely no fuss. This morphed into a week-long celebration of pure Tahoe fun blended with bikinis, Vera Wang dresses, sumptuous food, and lakefront vows. Follow us for the next few days as we document the daily events and trials & tribulations of planning a flawless celebration for Angela and Jeremy's wedding!

Inspiration Board | Rustic Elegance with Whimsical Accents Part II

A few days ago we posted a couple inspiration boards for a client getting married at The Cornerstone Gardens. They are seeking a rustic elegant wedding with various whimsical and unexpected accents. The colors are fresh yellows, greens, and creams; the style is Pottery Barn meets Martha Stewart! Take a look at our inspirational collages:

The bride loves the idea of using mason jars for the rustic side of her wedding, but used in a more creative fashion. She would also like various unexpected accents, hence the book covers with love-words on the book bind and the newspaper flowers. The final style accent in this collage is "romance" - which is where we find the oversized hurricane vases, floating candles, and petals blanketing a path. The remaining images here represent rustic signage to direct the guests, lounge furniture for the cocktail party, and a signature cocktail.

Since the wedding will take place in 3 locations at the Cornerstone Gardens, it is important to direct the guests - what better way than simple wooden signs with white paint? We have toyed with the idea of using benches for the ceremony and then re-purposing them as lounge furniture during dancing in the Barn - the image above shows the benches but dressed with pillows to incorporate color!

As I mentioned in the previous collage, the bride loves mason jars - so I pulled a few examples of using them as vases and water glasses - but adding a simple tag to dress up the look.  The remaining images in this inspiration board reflect the look and feel of the wedding - utilizing wooden farm tables with a table runner, jam as favors, simple table number tags, and a monogrammed sweetheart table. The possibilities are always endless. We shall have to wait and see how all of these details will be refined!

Inspiration Board | Rustic Elegance with Whimsical Accents Part I

I created these inspiration boards for a client seeking rustic elegance with touches of whimsical, unique, and unexpected notions. The wedding is slated for The Cornerstone Gardens in Napa Valley, CA. The venue is a designers dream with three incredible locations for the wedding: the vineyard lawn for the ceremony, the wedding garden featuring an open tent for dinner, and the garden barn for dancing! There are so many creative avenues - I love it! Take a look at some of our ideas:

The bride's ideal colors are fresh yellows and greens. She would like the flowers to look complete and polished, but freshly picked from the garden. Both the bride and groom's style is fun, crafty, and creative hence the incorporation of unique elements including: colorful buttons for decor, a hallway table as an accent piece, a selection of colorful beverages in a galvanized tub, and croquet to keep the guests entertained.

There are oodles of ways to display your escort cards. The bride requested some form of hanging with clothespins. I took this and ran with it. Here we have flower seed packets, antique postcards, gift bags and escort cards as one, and a few more fun styles. In addition, I threw in the seating board, as the colors and style fit perfectly with the couple's wedding features.

Stay tuned for more of their inspiration boards!

Annie X Photographie | Engagement Pics

Nothing like big smiles and a little snow for an engagement shoot! Sam and Tim spent their engagement session with the very talented Annie X in downtown Truckee, CA. Annie is fabulous at finding fun locations for creative shots. It helps when the town comes with a fake, old-fashioned gas station! This weekend, the two will tie the knot in Squaw Valley! Enjoy their engagement photos below and stay tuned to see the wedding photos shortly!