Archive for the ‘Sacramento wedding magazine’ Category

The Couple:  Tage Flanigan and Josh Stimmel 

Wedding Date:  May 15, 2010 

Photography by True Love Photo 

Tell us a little about you and your beloved:  Josh and I met through mutual friends while living in South Lake Tahoe in 2000. Within days we became attached at the hip. After leaving Tahoe, we traveled and lived for sixmonths in his Volkswagon Bus until finally settling in Sacramento.

Being together for almost 10 years, he still managed to completely surprise me with his proposal. He proposed, on one knee, at our house the night before my 30th birthday. The next day we were able to share the news with a lot of our family and friends at my birthday party. 

What was the most amazing part of your day?  Hands down for me was Josh’s vows. He had stressed out for months about what he would say, and when the moment came, he had me in tears. His words were so beautiful and sweet, like nothing I could have ever imagined.

Also, walking down the aisle to a song my father wrote for my stepmother, “You Always Take My Blues Away,” was a very personal moment. It was also special for our families to meet for the first time. We both have large families, and we are close to all of them, so having everyone in one spot was awesome. 

What else would you like to share about your big day?  It was a Glamping wedding! Our site was a secluded retreat in Shenandoah Valley, on the banks on the Consumnes River.

It’s a weekend rental that included cabins and tents, so we were able to have 60 of our closest friends camp out with us the whole weekend. This made it so we were really able to spend some quality time with all our friends. From the hot tub under the stars, the camp fire at night, to jumping in the cold river to wake up in the morning, It was a beautiful and relaxing weekend. We were able to have our rehearsal dinner there on Friday night, and a nice big brunch on Sunday morning. 

I planned the wedding myself, and to see it all come together was amazing. While we did a lot of the initial set up ourselves, we made sure we had an all star vendor team to make the day run smoothly. My biggest recommendation is not skimping on the food or photographer. My guests said they would have paid to eat dinner that night, and I still am amazed by the beauty Beth with True Love Photo managed to capture in her shots. 

Ceremony & Reception Site:  Rancho Cicada Retreat 

Photographer:   True Love Photo 

Caterer:  All Seasons All Reasons Fine Catering 

Cake:  Lauren Barton from Michelangelo’s Restaurant 

Flowers:  Ambience Floral Design 

Favors:  Mini LED flashlights engraved with our names and wedding date. (We knew it would be dark at night and most guests wouldn’t bring a flashlight. I still see them on people’s key chains) 

Wedding Dress: House of Fashion 

Hair:  Savannah Blue of Rocket Science in New Orleans 

Make Up:  Tonia Williams 

DJ/Entertainment/Band:  DJ Larry Rodriguez and acoustic ceremony music by Evan Shuman and Nathan Jr. 

Linens:  Creative Coverings 

Rentals:  Classic Party Rentals 

Honeymoon location:  New Orleans 

First Dance Song: ”In Love With You”  by Erykah Badu & Stephen Marley 

Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?  Enjoy the experience and don’t let the small things stress you out. Don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family for help, that’s what they are there for. Be wise in deciding which DIY projects to do because it’s easy to get overwhelmed with last minute projects.  

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?  I wouldn’t have minded having someone video tape the toasts, they were fabulous, and I find it hard to remember what exactly was said. 

Photos courtesy of True Love Photo. 

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The Couple:  Carrie and Richard Putnam

Wedding Date:  May 1, 2010

Photography by Emily Heizer Photography

Tell us a little about you and your beloved:  We met on eHarmony in 2007 and had our first date at Bella Bru. We had a lot in common and soon were traveling back and forth between Sacramento and Auburn. We both work in Roseville and decided to buy a house in Lincoln to be close to work and our families. We love to travel, spend time with family, go wine tasting, ride quads and take drives to the coast.

What was the most amazing part of your day?  For Richard it was seeing Carrie walk down the pathway to the oak tree and seeing the wind lift her veil as she walked down with her dad. For Carrie it was reciting their own vows that they wrote for each other and the emotion that comes with reading them out loud.

What else would you like to share about your big day?   We were surrounded by fun, supportive friends and family in our wedding party and had a great time. We told Emily, our wedding photographer, that we wanted to have fun with taking pictures and it showed…especially with the pictures we took on the golf course.

We wanted to cut costs where we could and decided to print our own invitations, programs, name tents and table names. Even though the task of putting together all of the items took time and effort, we were so happy with the outcome.

We wanted our guests to have fun so while we were taking photographs, our friend Aaron Deter had a trivia game contest about us as a couple. The winners of the trivia were the first ones to start the buffet line.

Ceremony Site:  Serrano Country Club

Reception Venue:  Serrano Country Club

Photographer:  Emily Heizer Photography

Caterer:  Serrano Country Club

Cake:  Bella Bru Cafe

Flowers:  Flourish

Favors:  Wine Glasses

Wedding Dress:  Bridal Mart

Bridesmaid Dresses:  The bridesmaids used their own dresses

Hair and Makeup:  Jennifer Gilchrist

DJ/Entertainment/Band:  Matt Brys with Extreme Productions Entertianment

Honeymoon location:  We spent 18 days in Italy. We took a 14 day cruise around Italy and also spent time in Rome touring on our own. It was an amazing vacation and something that we have always wanted to do.

Any other of your wedding vendor(s) you’d like to call out?  We had family friends Janet Arnold and Ann Ince of Ann’s Flowers put together the centerpieces and other side table decorations. They incorporated flowers that were in my bouquet into the decorations and also purple lights to match the colors we had infused throughout the wedding. The decorations were amazing and we loved them!

First Dance Song:  The Way You Look Tonight by Frank Sinatra

Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?  Research and price out different locations for your event. We wanted a place that we could feel comfortable and be the only wedding that day at the facility. The staff at Serrano was amazing and accommodated each and every request we had.

We also created a wedding Web site that gave information about us and our gift registry. We wanted gift cards or bon voyage gifts we could use on our cruise. We had information on the Web site on how to contact the cruise line to give us a gift. It was a great tool in getting out information for our guests.

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?  We wouldn’t do anything different however we would’ve liked to have a longer reception. With an open bar and an adults only reception, the party was just getting started when everything came to an end.

Photos courtesy of Emily Heizer Photography

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The Couple:  Heather Loehr and Kristopher Tomlin 

Wedding Date:  May 30, 2010 

Photography by Jaclyn Photography 

Tell us a little about you and your beloved:  Kristopher and I had been together for quite sometime and in August of 2009, while vacationing in Kauai with friends, Kristopher decided it was finally time to “pop” the question. 

I immediately said yes, with tears streaming down my face with shear delight and love! We had planned a long engagement and then at the beginning of the year we got a huge surprise that we were expecting, so as Easter approached we made the decision to bump up the wedding. 

We surprised our parents on Easter that we were going to get married in two months and that we were having it at my parent’s home in Gold River. Everyone was so supportive and helped us get the wedding of our dreams. Once the place was selected everything else just fell into place. 

What was the most amazing part of your day?  The fact that we were able to get married amongst our closest family and friends and in my parent’s back yard made the day feel extremely special. We wanted the event to be an intimate wedding with the people who knew us and loved us! It was a spectacular day. 

What else would you like to share about your big day?  I wanted the wedding to have a cocktail party feeling, and we decided not to do the traditional stuff. We opted for a dessert table with fabulous desserts made by my mom and also with the help of a few local bakeries really made the desserts feel special and everyone was able to get a bite of something they loved. My favorite part of the reception was seeing everyone enjoy the Cigar Bar area where we served some fabulous ports and cognac. It was fun to see everyone having such a great time, laughing and enjoying themselves. 

Ceremony Site:  Bride’s parent’s home in Gold River 

Reception Venue:  Bride’s parent’s home in Gold River 

Photographer:  Jaclyn Photography 

Videographer:  Two students from Art Institute of Sacramento, Rachel Behrmann & Brandi Anderson 

Wedding Planner:  Myself. I am hoping to begin an event planning business, so I took on all the details of planning the wedding with a couple great assistants . . . my mom and one of my best friends Marcus Marquez of the L Wine Lounge and Urban Kitchen 

Caterer:  L Wine Lounge and Urban Kitchen 

Cake:  Babycakes did the cupcakes, Bella Bru did the cheesecake, Strawberries from Shari’s Berries and other goodies provided by my mom, Joyce Loehr 

Flowers:  Blooming Art 

Favors:  Carrie West, who is a good friend of the family, did my wedding favors – fabulous sugar cookies that tied into our wedding invitation. 

Wedding Dress:  I had my dress made and designed by Caren Templet. She was AMAZING and getting me exactly what I had envisioned for my day! 

Bridesmaid Dresses:  We had no bridesmaids and our 13 year old son, Ty, stood up for both of us. 

Hair:  My hair was a combination of both my mother (she is a hair dresser) and myself. 

Makeup: Becky Weisz (she works for Benefit inside the Roseville Galleria) 

Invitations: TJ Strandberg of INK&IRON on Etsy, amazing invites and she pulled it out so quickly for me! 

DJ/Entertainment/Band:  Lindsey Cook, she is an amazing up and coming musician who plays acoustic guitar and sings. 

Honeymoon location:  Maui. . . it was perfect! 

Any other of your wedding vendor(s) you’d like to call out?  I want to say thank you to my girlfriend Kerrie Kelly for actually doing the honors of marrying us on our very special day. It was amazing to have someone you know and love marry you. 

First Dance Song:  We didn’t do the traditional first dance, but I did choose to walk down the aisle to Mama’s Song by Carrie Underwood. Sang by Lindsey Cook. 

Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?   The best thing for me was only having two months to pull it all together. I recommend doing it this way. It left no room for second guessing yourself and made you go with your gut reaction which is usually always right! My other piece of advice is to always do what YOU want to do and make sure that it is the wedding is about you and your future spouse. It makes it very special and the beginning of a great marriage. 

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?   There is nothing I would change. I got the wedding I never dreamed I wanted and then some…I got to marry my best friend! 

Photos courtesy of Jaclyn Photography 

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We are so thrilled that our great friend, Carissa Jones, has opened up a store front for Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts! 

Go satisfy your sweet tooth…head over to 1201 F Street and check out Carissa’s new digs!

Congratulations Carissa!  We can’t wait to check out the new home of Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts!

See more photos of Carissa’s new tasty shop on Facebook!

Photos courtesy of Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts.

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