Carolyn was one of my happiest brides to date.  She could hardly contain the squeals of excitement.  Her enthusiasm was absolutely contagious, and I found it impossible not to walk around with a big goofy grin on my face!  I wasn’t the only one- there was SO much love for these two.  Lord Hill Farms was filled with a crowd very eager to wish these two nothing but love and happiness.  It was an especially joyful day, and Carolyn and Nate deserved nothing less than the heartfelt celebration that was their wedding day.  I am so thrilled that I got to play a little part in it all.

You’ll find a full list of vendors at the bottom.  Some of my own favortites from the day:

No.1 Carolyn and Nate’s wedding stationary (designed by Carolyn!).  SO lovely!

No.2 Their flower girl and ring bearer- the CUUUUTEST!

No.3 Their favors- coasters cut from trees off of Nate’s family property.

No.4 Cake smash.  How do they still look so cute with frosting everywhere?!  (Carolyn totally wins, by the way!)

No.5 The sparkler exit.  Few venues still allow these, so if yours does- do it!  They photograph so well, and it’s such a fun way to cap off the night!

Here is some of what Carolyn had to say about it all:

When we got engaged, we knew we’d have to work a little harder than most to decide what our wedding looked and felt like. Nate is very much an outdoorsy and wilderness type, and I’m definitely a city girl. He couldn’t believe it when I fell in love with our venue — a rustic barn in rural Snohomish. Lord Hill Farms was his perfect idea of our perfect day, and I was even surprised that it felt like “the one”! I guess I have a thing for outdoorsy-ness. =) Lord Hill ended being absolutely perfect. Even though it was 94 degrees and the hottest day of the summer in Seattle, the sun shone brightly and the barn sheltered us from the heat! Nate’s mother joked that we must’ve prayed a little too hard for sun in Seattle. =) …

We decided that while we didn’t need a ton of help with the planning (I’m very DIY and am a bit of a control freak!) but that we’d definitely need a day-of coordinator. We interview a few different women and then met Kirstie with Simply Wed. Not a single other woman compared to her — by the end of our 1 hour meeting (which actually lasted two hours) I felt like I had met a mind reader and a new best friend. She was so amazing throughout the process and I trusted her completely. I had no trouble delegating for once, she was a true professional and is even more organized than I am! I could rave about her for days. One picture I love is after we walked back down the aisle she was waiting to congratulate us and has the most giant smile on her face. She is amazing!

Next, we moved on to finding a photographer. Kirstie helped us with vendor recommendations and gave us a list with a wide range of style, pricing, and experience. We interview a few photographers but knew we landed on the perfect one when we met Kristen Honeycutt. Her darling studio in Kirkland is bright, clean and organized. We loved that Kristen showed us photography from a wedding start to finish, not just the best pictures from a few different weddings. It showed us that she does an amazing job with every shot she takes. She was a pro when I drilled her with some difficult questions (as a designer, we take a lot of our own photography, and I wanted no stone left unturned!) We loved her workflow, how she shoots at weddings, her turn around time, and most importantly for Nate and I, her personality. She made us so comfortable and kept us laughing. The pictures turned out absolutely beautiful and I still look through them almost every day. We love Kristen!

Next, we turned to our flowers. We had decided that this wasn’t THE most important thing to us, and that left us with a somewhat limited budget. We didn’t want it to look like we were on a budget for flowers though! After interviewing three different vendors, we chose Flora d’Amore. When we met with Chelsea, their wedding coordinator, she put in so much effort to come up with a plan that looked expensive and nice but didn’t break the bank. We reused our 10 bridesmaid bouquets and 10 aisle arrangements as the centerpieces! Nate was actually the flower guru between the two of us (there’s that outdoorsy-ness again) and after I’d show him pictures, he knew what the flowers were and what could look good with them. During our first appointment with Chelsea, she ran down to the Stadium Flowers Warehouse and brought us up examples of the flowers she thought completed our vision. No one else did that for us! It really helped us imagine our day. She was so easy to work with and did an amazing job….

As for our dessert for our guests to eat, we chose to have a Seattle tradition, Top Pot Doughnuts. This had a more special meaning for Nate and I — it was where he took me on our first date in 2008! The doughnuts were custom in our colors, yellow, grey/silver, and white. They went like hot cakes and we loved being able to share this memory with our friends and family.

I had so many gut feelings during the planning stage, and one of my favorites was when I found my dress. I had initially had a completely different idea of what I wanted, but the second I put on my Paloma Blanca gown, I fell in love. It just felt right and I loved that I could dance in it! My shoes came next and I couldn’t resist the grey, sparkly Jimmy Choos sitting on the shelf in Nordstrom. I remember calling my mom right after I got them and told her I found my perfect shoes. I emailed her a pic and we both screamed when she saw them! We get excited over amazing things =)…

Something that was very exciting for me was designing our wedding suite and wedding website. This is something a visual designer dreams of! Nate and I worked together to find a look and feel that really represented us. We both love numbers; he’s a engineer and I love math. We chose to highlight our date and used that throughout. We wanted to pull in the rustic feel by using brown craft paper and a custom white stamp. Our save the dates were a tri-fold card that included four little stickers for our guests’ calendars. The invitations were hand stitched and assembled with the help of our wedding party — even some of the groomsmen participated! I calligraphed each envelope as well. I love looking back at what Nate and I created together and it’s still one of my favorite pieces I’ve designed.

As for our other details, Pinterest definitely played a huge part. I am so appreciative for all the brides, coordinators, photographers, and bloggers that have wonderful ideas! We had striped straws with flags for table cards, stained wood with wood-burned numbers for the tables, and a “heritage wall” where we displayed wedding pictures from our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Our thank you gifts were pretty unique though, and we thought up the idea without Pinterest. Nate’s dad helped us cut down a few trees off of his parents’ 9-acre property, and then sliced them into 1/2″ slices. I designed three custom stamps. One showed the Lord Hill Farms barn, another showed the Cascade Mountains which you can see from Lord Hill Farms, and the third had our names and date. We stamped our names and date on one side and then stamped the other two every other one for the backside. Each guest received a set tied together with twine. We love seeing them on our friends’ coffee tables!

We were so happy with how everything turned out for our wedding day. We have the most loving and generous family, friends, and wedding party. One of my most favorite memories is when we left our hotel for the venue. My maid and matron of honor planned a party bus for the bridesmaids, but on the way, we made a change in plans and picked up the groomsmen and Nate too! I hid behind the hanging dresses the whole time (except for a few peeks!) and remember thinking to myself what I lucky girl I was.

I wouldn’t trade a single thing about our day. We had over 225 guests from all over the US, Canada, and Europe that showered us with love and joy. It was one of the funnest nights of my life and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than the moment Nate said “I do”.

VENDOR RESOURCES:

Photography: Kristen Honeycutt Photo Co.  www.kristenhoneycutt.com

Wedding Coordination: Simply Wed; www.simplywed.com

Venue/Catering: Lord Hill Farms; www.lordhillfarms.com

Florist: Flora d’Amore; www.floradamore.com

Branding, Design, Calligraphy: Carolyn Kach (bride) www.carolynkach.com

Rings: Bride: Shane Co.; Groom: Creative Tactics Unlimited http://www.creativetactics.net/

Bride’s Gown: Paloma Blanca (http://www.palomablanca.com/) from La Belle Elaine’s (http://www.labelleelaines.com/)

Bride’s Shoes: Jimmy Choo (http://www.jimmychoo.com/) from Nordstrom (www.nordstrom.com)

Bridesmaid Dresses: B2 by Jasmine Bridal (http://www.jasminebridal.com) from Moms, Maids, and More (http://www.momsmaidsandmore.com/)

Groom/Groomsmen Suits: Men’s Wearhouse (www.menswearhouse.com)

Bride and Bridesmaid Hair and Makeup: Colette Elkins

Donuts: Top Pot Doughnuts (http://www.toppotdoughnuts.com/)

Cake: Bailey Jones