Archive for the ‘Sacramento Wedding Planning’ Category

Welcome back to another installment of Real Weddings Magazine’s Partner Profiles!

This week we highlight the beautiful Fearon DeWeese of Fearon May Events and Engaged Now What?. Fearon is one busy girl! Not only does she run two great businesses, she’s the mastermind and coordinator behind the annual Lavish and Fabulous event! Take it away, Fearon…

Fearon May Events

Tell us a little about your company?  Fearon May Events is an event planning and wedding design company.

When did you establish your business?  May 2010 but I have been in the wedding industry for over 11 years.

What sets you apart from your competition?  We create weddings that are personal and designed to fit the bride and groom’s personality, interest and style.

Where do you find inspiration?  I love Pinterest and I also find inspiration, believe it or not, from wandering around Home Goods.

What trend do you see coming for weddings this year?  A big trend I see this year is creative menus. I think more brides and grooms are moving away from the traditional beef and chicken to food stations, tacos and hamburgers especially from food trucks. I also see a creativeness with desserts such as gourmet popsicles and pushup cake pops.

Do you regularly blog? If so, what’s your blog site?  I blog with really important stuff, not so much everyday. You can read my blog here.

Do you Facebook?  Yes, you can ”like” me on Facebook here.

What’s your favorite local restaurant?  I love Jack’s Urban Eats.

What’s your favorite local charity?  I am doing an event for 1st Touch Foundation & The Athlete’s Closet. It’s a great organization.

What is your favorite fun thing to do locally?  I love to get drinks with friends. I am a socialite and love to meet and mingle with other wedding professionals.

What are you most grateful for in life?  I am very grateful for a loving husband that is very supportive of everything that I do and is always there for me.

What advice would you can give to brides and grooms getting married today?  Get a videographer!!!! The day goes by so fast and at the end of the day all you have left are your wedding pictures. Most couples don’t think of a videographer as something they HAVE to have and decide not to have it. Every bride and groom that I know who did not have a videographer regret it so much. Pictures are wonderful but they only capture a moment. Video you actually get to hear the words, music and experience of you wedding day. Here your father’s speech, watch your first dance, and relive the event of your life over and over. My husband and I watch our wedding video every year on our anniversary.

Find out more about Fearon DeWeese, her businesses and upcoming events by visiting her Web site, Blog, and Facebook Page!

Photos Credits in order of appearance: ”Spanish Eyes” photos courtesy of Eye Connoisseur Photography, “All you need is Love” photos courtesy of Carmen Salazar Photography, “Urban Cowboy” photos courtesy of Christopher Kight Photographers, “Heavy Metal” photos courtesy of XSiGHT Photography & Video, “Moulin Rouge” photos courtesy of Sharpe Photographers, “Havana Nights” and “Walk Down the Aisle” photos courtesy of Shoop’s Photography.

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Welcome back to another installment of Real Weddings Magazine’s Partner Profiles!

This week we highlight the lovely Amrit Dhillon-Bains from Anaïs Event Planning & Design. Amrit’s attention to detail and colorful creative talents will blow you away! Take it away Amrit!

Anaïs Event Planning

Tell us a little about your company?  We are a boutique special events company that specializes in planning and designing Southeast Asian weddings and celebrations.

What sets you apart from your competition?  My acerbic wit! No really, I believe our close focus on the individual personalities of the couple sets us apart.

Where do you find inspiration?  Everywhere! Although, the most magical inspirations come from our fabulous clients and their personal love stories!

When you opened shop, what was your promise to your customers?  It’s the same today – attention to detail you won’t find anywhere else.

Do you have any hidden talents?  Well, you see, I’m a speed reader. I was born with a rare genetic condition that allows me to excel at reading (and auto-correct atrocious spelling and poor grammar in my mind while doing so)! On rare occasions, I’ve carried this over to live conversations. Yes, results were tragic at best.

What trend do you see coming for weddings in the next year?  Couples are booking their vendors early. A blessing really, since cultural weddings come with an average guest count of 400+. The sooner you begin planning – the better in control you are!

Do you regularly blog? If so, what’s your blog site?  Yes, at www.anaisevents.com/blog

Do you Facebook?  Oh yes, a little too frequently I must admit but if we don’t, we get requests for new content. We’ve been kept on our toes. www.facebook.com/anaisevents

What’s your favorite local restaurant?  Paesanos

What’s your favorite local charity?  Anything I can help with!

Do you have secret vice or indulgence? What is it?  BJ’s chocolate chip ‘pizookie.’ Yum!

What are you most grateful for in life?  Every minute.

If you were to plan your own wedding, or re-do your wedding, what elements would be most important to you?  Photography. Instead of letting the wallet decide, I would listen to the heart!

What advice would you can give to brides and grooms getting married today?  A wedding is a party, not a performance. If at the end of the day you’re married to the one you love, then everything went perfectly. This wisdom is courtesy of Pinterest by the way, a site that will change your life.

Anything else you’d like to share with Real Weddings Magazine’s brides?  Remember to take a moment every now and then to breathe, laugh and enjoy each other as you plan your BIG day. It’ll all be over very soon but those memories will stay golden!

Find out more about Amrit and Anaïs Event Planning & Design by visiting her Web site, Blog, and Facebook Page!

Photos courtesy of Anaïs Event Planning & Design and their respective photographer.

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The Couple:  Krista Belli & Justin Hyde

Wedding Date:  June 11, 2011

Photography by Grandeur Photography

Tell us a little about you and your beloved:  We met eight years ago at Rio Americano High School and became friends. We began dating in April of 2009 and eloped on Coronado Beach in San Diego on May 27, 2010. Justin works for the United States Coast Guard and we were given orders to move to Long Beach in the spring of 2010. We wanted a personal ceremony between the two of us because of our big move, but also wanted to celebrate with our families in Sacramento, which is why we had our beautiful wedding this past June in Rocklin. Justin is an active duty member, and I am finishing my degree in English Education.

What was the most amazing part of your day?  Our photographer took us off site to a ranch in Lincoln for a bridal session before the ceremony because she knew horses are a big part of my life. We were able to take beautiful pictures next to an old 1940s dairy barn and with a Dutch Warmblood horse (my favorite!).

What else would you like to share about your big day?  We created our own ceremony, which a friend of the family officiated for us. There were about 100 guests who attended, including new friends from our new home in Long Beach. We began our reception with the “watermelon crawl” and served salmon, chicken, rice pilaf, a summer salad, beer and wine. We had homemade decorations for the tables as well as wedding favors and a blown up picture from our engagement session instead of a guest book for our guests to sign. I would describe our wedding as “romantic elegant.” Overall, it was a successful evening and a beautiful wedding!

Ceremony Site & Reception Venue & Caterer:  Sunset Whitney Golf Club

Photographer:  Grandeur Photography

Cake:  Sassy Sweets by Monique

Flowers:  Brothers Popodopoulis

Favors:  DIY by Jayme Hyde

Wedding Dress:  Dreamnette Bridal

Bridesmaid Dresses:  David’s Bridal

Hair:  Megan Keyes of Article Salon

Make-up:  Jennifer Granatelli

Invitations:  Hallmark

Honeymoon location:  Oahu, HI

Any other of your wedding vendor(s) you’d like to call out?  The amazing ladies at Alterations To Go in Carmichael!

First Dance Song:  “Crazy Girl” by Eli Young Band

Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now?  Start early…something always seems to go haywire the closer you get to your wedding date! Relax and have fun with it. No one notices the hiccups at the end of it all, just that they had a blast dancing the night away with the new couple.

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?  We would have hired a DJ had we known better, but decided to create our own play list and set it up to a sound system instead. We wound up having a few people mess with it and play their own songs all night!

Photos courtesy of Grandeur Photography.

Check out the Real Weddings Contest Page! Great bridal loot for real Sacramento-area brides!

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!

When in doubt, ask a planner! That’s the advice we would give any bride-to-be in need of some professional backup.

And, one of the best around is Kate Miller Events. Based in Downtown Sacramento on Q Street, the company opened shop in 2008, though leader Kate Miller has been active in the event planning sector for eight years.

Fortunately for Real Weddings Brides, Kate Miller Events shares this expertise, offering a regular blog with fabulous ideas, observations and insights on wedding planning.

We love the pages and pages of inspiring images and cool entries like, how to write the perfect wedding toast and how to stylishly incorporate balloons into a wedding reception. We dig their creativity and genius. You will too!

Visit them at katemillerevents.com

Blog Post by Always a Bridesmaid Columnist Darren Elms.

Photo courtesy of Kate Miller Events.

Check out the Real Weddings Contest Page! Great bridal loot for real Sacramento-area brides!

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!

The Couple:  Natalie and Ryan King

Wedding Date:  October 1, 2010

Photography by The Memory Journalists

Tell us a little about you and your beloved:  Ryan and I both went to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo for college and were assigned to be senior project partners. With Ryan’s great sense of humor and my love for laughing, we became good friends immediately.

We were both in long distance relationships at the time, but stayed friends even after graduation when Ryan moved back to Sacramento. Two years later I moved to Davis to attend graduate school. We were both single at the time and started dating.

It didn’t take long for us to fall madly in love and a year later Ryan completely surprised me with his proposal. We went to dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House on a random Monday night and were seated near a window overlooking the patio which had Christmas lights on all the trees. Ryan ordered an appetizer and a bottle of wine and before I knew it, the waiter had brought a bottle of wine with a custom-label on it. It had a picture of us, the date, and said “Will You Marry Me?, In love and looking forward to a beautiful life with you. Love, Ryan.” Ryan was down on one knee, hands shaking and we both had tears in our eyes. It was perfect!

We are now living in Sacramento, working at civil engineering firms, and love to do anything to bring a smile to the other’s face.

What was the most amazing part of your day?   Ryan says, “The most amazing part of my day was standing at the end of the church aisle, anxiously waiting for my soon-to-be wife standing behind the big doors. When the doors opened, I saw the most beautiful bride begin to walk towards me to start our new life together. I was filled with emotions, but realized I was the luckiest man alive being able to marry my best friend. It was amazing to have so many wonderful family and friends together joining us on our marriage celebration. The whole wedding was one amazing sacrament.”

What else would you like to share about your big day?  We had lots of family traveling from out of town, so we planned a casual BBQ at a local park the day after our wedding. We had it catered so no one had to worry about anything, and everyone could just visit and have a great time. This was a great opportunity for us to spend time with family and friends that we didn’t get to visit with at the wedding.

Ceremony Site:  St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Sacramento. Ryan’s parents were married there so it held a special place in our hearts.

Reception Venue:  Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg. We LOVED this venue and John Carvalho and Marnie Stiles are amazing!

Photographer:  The Memory Journalists. We cannot believe how many compliments we received from our family and guests about how great our photographers were. We absolutely love the entire team at The Memory Journalists and could not be happier with our photos.

Videographer:  The Memory Journalists

Wedding Planner:  Danielle Massari at A Petite Affair. I wasn’t going to hire a wedding planner, but I am SO happy we hired Danielle because she is fabulous throughout all of the planning and the day of the wedding. She is so incredibly creative, detail-oriented, and just made the entire process so enjoyable and fun. And everything was absolutely perfect on our day.

Caterer:  Asante Catering. The food was delicious and they were awesome to work with.

Cake: We had a very small cake to cut into, but our main dessert was frozen yogurt and toppings from Yogurtagogo.

Flowers:  Galeazi’s Floral Designs. I absolutely LOVED my flowers and all of the creative details that Stefanie included.

Favors:  We had purchased a barrel of wine from Carvalho Family Winery and bottled it for our guests.

Wedding Dress:  House of Fashion

Bridesmaid Dresses:  J Crew. I chose the color and fabric and let my bridesmaids choose a style that they each loved.

Hair:  Kim Kirtlan at Strands Salon. Although now she works at Michael Mason Salon.  She was great! I started off wanting an up-do, but after 2 trials I realized that since I never wear my hair up (unless I’m running). I didn’t want it up for my wedding…it just wasn’t “me.” So we started from scratch with my hair down…and I loved it!

Makeup: Tessa Matsis at Strands Salon. I could not have been happier with my makeup!  I wanted something natural and that I wouldn’t have to worry about for the entire day… Tessa did a great job.

Invitations:  Costco. We designed and printed the invitation inserts (maps, registry/hotel info, etc) and all other stationery (ceremony programs, placecards, etc) at Paper Garden Boutique.

DJ/Entertainment/Band:  Music on the Move DJs. Doug kept the crowd entertained with games and great music…we could not have made a better choice!

Honeymoon Location:  Sandals St. Lucia resort (We would definitely recommend an all-inclusive resort!)

Any other of your wedding vendor(s) you’d like to call out?:  I think we got them all up there. They were all so patient with us, gave us great ideas and did an amazing job…we would highly recommend all of them!

First Dance Song:  “Then” by Brad Paisley. Ryan surprised me with a single red rose at the beginning of the song. It was such a special moment for us…nothing else mattered except the two of us at that moment.

Any advice you’d give our readers who are planning their weddings right now?  Make every aspect of your wedding personal to you, your fiancé and your families. Don’t do something that doesn’t have a special meaning to the both of you. Ryan’s piece of advice: Finish all your wedding planning at least one week prior to your big day. As a groom, it was extremely nice being completely done a week before and not having a stressed out bride before the wedding.

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance?  There is not a single thing we would have done differently. We had a large guest list (we both have large families), so the budget was more than we had hoped. But being able to have our dream wedding, great vendors, and all of our family and friends there to celebrate meant so much to the both of us….we would not have changed a thing.

And remember: When things are getting stressful or you’re starting to worry if everything will go as planned on your wedding day, just remember all that matters is the two of you getting married…the rest is just celebrating that moment. So if you’re married at the end of the day, everything went just right.

Photos courtesy of The Memory Journalists.

Check out the Real Weddings Contest Page! Great bridal loot for real Sacramento-area brides!

Subscribe to the Real Weddings Magazine Blog!