So….you just got engaged! Congrats! You are super excited, telling your friends and family, enjoying the moment…then it hits you like a ton of bricks….AHHHH!!!! I have to plan a wedding! Did you know that more couples get engaged over the holidays than any other time of the year? So #1, you are not alone! #2 There are definitely a few things you need to do right away!:) #3…But don’t freak out!

Because this time of the year is the busiest wedding booking season for a lot of wedding vendors, its important for you to start thinking about what kind of wedding you would like to have. If you don’t stop to visualize and make a plan, you are going to be grasping at straws and in the end, your wedding will be less cohesive. If you start with an overall theme…your wedding will express exactly what you want it too.

In my 8 years of being in the wedding industry in photography, I have really seen some amazing weddings. Those couples have either started with a wedding planner or had a design plan in mind when they started the whole process.

I call this the 6 word rule.  EVERY time I meet  newly engaged couples, I ask them a few questions.  Usually, they haven’t really thought about the answers, and since I meet at the beginning of their wedding planning process, it helps them to define a plan in their mind.

2 important questions I ask are:

• Visually, how do you want your guests to perceive your wedding? Use 3 words to describe this.

Some ideas: romantic, colorful, bright, classic, elegant, creative, intimate, casual, different, unique, cozy, epic, formal, light, dim,

• After your guests leave and are walking to their car, they say to each other, ” Adam & Eve’s wedding was …..( fill in the blank with 3 words):

Some Ideas: Personal, Totally Them!, a Celebration, meaningful, crazy, crafty, family oriented, fun, a dance party, elegant, epic, classic, thoughtful, formal, casual, detailed, simple, relaxed, heartfelt, emotional, fabulous, easy, insightful, short, religious…you get the drift!

After you have selected your 6 words….bounce any and all ideas off these. This helps to eliminate some of the bazillion options available to your fingertip! Part of the battle is just eliminating what you DON’T want. This will help the things you do want to become more clear.

Example: Lets just say, my 6 words were: Creative, Romantic & Intimate and Personal, Simple and Heartfelt:

I might design my own altar and use lots of our personal love story for table names and invite inspiration. Like maybe using all the places we went on dates during the first part of our relationship….Alki, Golden Gardens, The Troll, Fremont, The Fry Museum….

I also would not get carried away with tons of decor, and make sure my wedding venue had great bones, and didn’t need alot…Like Swan’s Trail Farm or Herban Feast at Sodo Park.

After you have selected your words….Find a great website for wedding planning, like TheKnot, 100 layer cake or Once Wed (for great DIY projects!). Start a file with lots of bookmarks and just go to town! Its so important in the beginning to get some ideas going within your theme.

The next major step is to book a wedding venue. This will take some time and will determine your wedding date. All other wedding vendors depend on this date to know if they will be able to work with you. So take some time, find some venues you would like to see, and make some appointments. When visiting a wedding venue…make sure to bring a camera and take lots of pictures…and ask lots of questions!!! Bring a notebook and take lots of notes! Its hard to remember everything when visiting multiple venues, so depend on paper, not your brain!:) Wedding Brain is a lot like Pregnancy Brain…so don’t be too hard on yourself if you are a little forgetful and ditsy! You have a lot going on!:)

When looking at a venue…if you want great wedding pictures, you should look for a few good elements:

1. A place for indoor pictures with lots of natural light in case of rain.
   

   The Everett Station has tons of light...and an amazing staircase!

2. A large Bridal Suite for getting ready…and again, natural light is a plus!



3. Large spaces with a plain background….like the side of a building, a wall, alleys.
   

   I love the backs of buildings!

4. A field, trees, or a open area for outdoor group pictures.

5. Anything quirky or interesting….old rusty cars, tractors or train tracks.

Step #2 is to find a photographer! Photographers have limited amount of weddings they can shoot a season, so if you have your eye on one…your best bet is to email them asap! Find out if your date is available, and see if they are in your price range….a whole other blog about that is coming soon!:) You can always email me at kaylee@eylanderphotography.com :)

I hope this helps those of you who are in the beginning stages of planning your wedding! I know it can be overwhelming…stay focused on one task, mark it off your list, and try not to get frustrated! Remember…planning your wedding is supposed to be fun…and your engagement should be one of the most memorable times in your life! Take a deep breath and start enjoying every minute of it!

I love people in love…..especially when i can see a bride and groom in love on their wedding day. I love to see them looking across the room at the reception…and you can just see in their eyes how much they love each other. This is the way Sean and Kim looked at each other on their wedding day. It just made me so happy. Then later on, as the reception progressed, I noticed Kim’s mom and dad, as well as Sean’s mom and dad, dancing with each other on the dance floor…having fun, laughing and looking lovingly into each other’s eyes. I think that love is something you have to work hard at, maintain and cultivate…just like growing a plant (like I am failing at right now!). It takes water, sun, weeding, fertilizer and love to make a plant grow….and if it doesn’t have some of those elements, your plant is going to die. In my case, my tomato plants are dying from lack of water….boo. Anyway….love is good….but its not a set it and forget it kind of thing….

Ok….back to Sean and Kim! I just loved her Flamenco style wedding dress, (from From the Gown Up in Cute Downtown Snohomish! You have to go there!) and amazing Steve Madden Hot Pink wedding shoes ( I also wore steve madden hot pink wedding shoes!). This dress/ shoe combo was one of my very very favorites in all my years as a wedding photographer! So fun! Kim also wore some big bling on her ears, fingers and wrist…which brought the whole look together! So much fun!

I thought this old quaint church, Swan’s Trail Chapel, built in 1915 deserved a saloon style shot.

Snohomish Wedding Vendors:

Photography: Kaylee Eylander Photography

Wedding Dress: From the Gown Up, Snohomish, WA

Wedding Venue: Swan’s Trail Chapel, Snohomish WA

Catering: La Palmera, Mill Creek, WA (the yummiest taco salad ever!!)

I love it when people that are like me hire me. I love hot pink….Kim’s wedding party’s shoes were all different kinds of hot pink. I love peonies. Her wedding party bouquets were peonies (and they smelled amazing!). I love all different kinds of dresses….you guessed it…the girls had all different kinds of black dresses…..somehow, even though the girls were all wearing different dresses, it all came together beautifully….ps…I love things that are not all matchy matchy. All my kitchen chairs are different, but painted white with different shades of turquoise on the seats (maybe a future blog post!). I also have been collecting different kinds of blue and white dishes…that don’t match each other….Some people just don’t get it…but its right up my ally.

Anyway…back to Sean and Kim’s wedding! I just loved this new wedding venue in Snohomish, WA called Swan’s Trail Chapel. It is so amazing! It had so many places to shoot…and it was just so fun! I loved the nostolgia and quaintness of this place…it was built in 1915! Wow!

Snohomish Wedding Vendors:

Photography: Kaylee Eylander Photography

Wedding Dress: From the Gown Up, Snohomish, WA

Wedding Venue: Swan’s Trail Chapel, Snohomish WA

Catering: La Palmera, Mill Creek, WA (the yummiest taco salad ever!!)

Last Friday we got to spend the day at the ever lovely Lord Hill Farms. What a wonderful place for a wedding!  I loved the white washed barns, the rustic beams and all the little twinkle lights in the reception area. One of my favorite parts about Lord Hill Farms is the variety in photo opp sites! So many places to choose from. The view, the barns, the pond, the dock and the fields….and then the stairs, the large windows and the doorways! If I had all day, I might be able to capture all of them!

And…on to Dave and Beth. What a quality, fun couple they are. They have so much in common: Both are High School Teachers in Snohomish County, Both are of Norwegian  decent (Dave = 100%, Beth= 25%), both love people (this was evident as they spent their time speaking to and hugging almost every person at their reception) and they both love to laugh.  It was a joy to see them both enjoying their day so much. We loved spending the day with them! Here’s just a few of them on their wedding day!  Wedding Venue: Lord Hill Farms, Snohomish, Washington

Amazing Flowers: Abbi Barr at Fancy Plants : Contact: abbi@fancyplantsdesign.com