(Photo credit: Alante Photography, Seattle)

Welcome to our last week of how to plan a wedding on a budget! I can’t believe we made it to the end! Thanks for sticking with me, and I sincerely hope it has been as fun and educational for you to read as it has been for me to write.

Here’s what we have covered so far:

• Saving Money on Invitations
• Saving Money on Flowers
• Saving Money on Venues (Part 1)
• Saving Money on Venues (Part 2)
• Saving Money on Catering

This week, we’ll be tackling wedding photography -
Photography is often one of the most important vendors for your wedding day. Besides your wedding planner and videographer (if having one), your photographer is the only other vendor that will be with you from start to finish on your wedding day. It is imperative that you both get along with him or her. If either one of you is not comfortable with you wedding photographer, it will show through in your photos.

Negotiate - but be respectful! While most couples find the cost of wedding photographers outrageous, do keep in mind that what you are not seeing is countless hours of behind the scenes work. Photographers spend an untold amount of time on sifting through the just plain bad photos, editing and doing touch-ups to the good photos, then compiling them into a format that is easy for you to look through and choose your favorites. So when you are negotiating price, remember to be respectful that a lot of time and energy past the wedding day goes into your photos and that these are memories you will have forever.

That being said, there are a lot of ways to negotiate what you’re getting in your package. As with the theme with everything else we’ve talked about, have a budget in mind as to what you want to spend. Here is a great example of where you should actually share that number in your first meeting with your potential photographer. This will help them guide you to the packages and products that are right for you and will fit within your budget. If you’re budget only allows for 6 hours of wedding coverage, don’t be afraid to ask for that 7 hour at no additional charge. Some will say ‘no’, but some will say ‘yes.’

Be sure you’re comparing apples to apples
If you are interviewing more than one photographer (which you should), be sure that you are comparing like costs. While one photographer may charge less per hour, they may charge more for the album or photos you’d like to order than the other photographer you interviewed. Be sure to get pricing charts from every photographer you interview so you can really see your overall cost, and what will be the best option for you. If you will not be purchasing an album or photos, your best option would be to use the less per hour photographer.

Find a Newbie
Often times, there are extremely talented photographers out there who are just looking at building their portfolios. You can search Craigslist.com or even your local college for wedding photographers. You can find some amazing deals out there using this option! Do be smart however – ask to see the work they’ve already done and you will need to enter into a formal contract with this person. Even if they don’t generally use one, have them draft one up explaining the type of service you’re receiving, how many photographers will be there and for how long, when the photos will be ready, etc. This will protect you if for some reason they fall through on their end.

Another great option is to shop the local, smaller wedding shows. Here, you may find a wedding photographer who can’t afford to get into the larger shows, but is a legitimate business again, just trying to bulk up their portfolio. Use the same tips I talked about in the catering segment to approach a photographer at a wedding show (remember cash talks, go in on the slower day, etc.).

Do keep in mind when using a new wedding photographer, that they might take longer than someone who has been doing this for years. You will need to build in extra time for photos.

Opt for a disc of images rather than an album
One of the biggest trends right now, especially with the growing popularity of Snapfish.com and other similar sites, is to look for a photographer who will just give you the disc of images rather than getting the traditional wedding album. This is a HUGE cost cutting option for you as albums are one of the biggest expenses.

You can generally find a photographer who will do a maximum image edit of 200 images, but give you all the remaining images unedited. This gives you access to getting your favorites all touched up and nice, but still, if you want to send your friend a copy of the photo they were in, you still have access to that.

Be sure that the photographer who does this option gives you a copy of their copyright release. Otherwise you may be up a creek when going to professionally print off your photos.

I’d love to hear how you saved money on finding your wedding photographer or if you have any additional questions. Just pop on over to the New Creations Facebook page, ‘like’ me, and ask away!

Check back next week to enter to win a $75 Pottery Barn gift card from New Creations!

About Rebecca
Rebecca Grant is owner of New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination. She has been in the wedding business over six years now, beginning her career in Honolulu, Hawaii, then moving back home to Seattle and launching my business here in November 2009. She’s now one of Seattle’s premiere wedding planners. Because of her experience in Hawaii, her specialty is working with Asia-Pacific Brides; specifically, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan weddings, however, she also does work a good portion of the time with traditional Western couples.

Meet Rebecca In Person! If you are located in the Seattle area, I am hosting an in-store Bridal Showcase at the Bellevue Square Pottery Barn tonight, Thursday, February 16 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.. There will be presentations beginning at 7 p.m. from some of Seattle’s top wedding pros. You can also wander around the store and see how you could spend that $75.00 gift card if you are the winner of next weeks drawing! All event attendees will receive a same day 10% off coupon good for anything in the store.

Can you believe we’re already in week five of our six-week series on how to save money on your wedding.  This week we’ll be covering the topic of food – and how to save money on your catering!

We touched on this topic a bit last week when we were covering venues. You may remember that one of the cost saving tips for an at-home wedding is to do a potluck style. Keep in mind when using this option, you may want to consider hiring an on-site clean up staff to handle all the set-up, keeping things refreshed and do all your clean up for you, making a potluck wedding a breeze.

Below are some more great tips on how to save money when hiring a caterer:

Full meal vs. heavy appetizers
A great way to save money is to plan your wedding for an off-peak time where guests necessarily won’t be expecting food. If you have a 1 p.m. ceremony, the reception should be underway by 2 p.m., and over by 6 p.m. You’ve just avoided the dinner hour, saving you sometimes thousands on your food alone! In this case, opting for heavy appetizers or even just a dessert and punch option is the way to go. I do think it is still nice to provide a little something for your guests to nibble on, but hello Costco! Re-plating a Costco platter to make it look a bit more ‘weddingish’ is a great way to provide large amounts of food at a fraction of the price.

Alcohol
Alcohol is one of those expenses that tends to creep up on people. A good rule of thumb is to count on about $6 per guest. This will allow for those that won’t be drinking to compensate for those that will drink too much. For cost cutting savings here, opt to just offer beer and wine, and be specific – ask for the brands you want used. It tremendously cuts down on the amount of alcohol your caterer has to bring in, therefore, passing the savings onto you. If you are lucky enough to have a venue where you can provide your own alcohol, you can save even more by purchasing the beer and wine yourself. Some great vendors here in the Seattle area are of course Costco and Wine World. Be sure you are staying in state compliance when providing your own alcohol by obtaining an alcohol permit (can be obtained at any liquor store location, fee is about $15) and be sure you have a licensed bartender. If you get caught without either one of these, forget all the cost-cutting you’ve done as you will be paying through the nose on fees.

If you really want to have hard liquor at your wedding, opt for a signature cocktail. This would be one drink offering that you and your fiancé come up with that is either one of your favs, or compliments your wedding colors. There are some great options out there!  Providing just one cocktail allows you to control your costs by just brining in the liquor needed for that one drink vs the thousands of options that are out there.

Disposable serving ware
Now I am definitely one for getting away with real plates if at all possible in your budget. I think they offer your guests a better ‘feel’ and a more substantial weight as to not have food end up on your lap. However, in meeting with your caterer, express to them that you are willing to use plastic cups and paper napkins. This will save you a substantial amount of money cutting back on the rental and cleaning fee for both. You may even be able to use this option fully, and ask to use plastic utensils and paper tablecloths as well. This would be a great option for a backyard wedding feel.

Keep the menu simple
Remember the same rule of thumb applies to food as it did to flowers. Try to use as many in-season, local products as possible. This will significantly cut down on the amount of food that needs to be brought in from out-of-area. Talk to your local berry growers to create a really great jam or jelly for your breads or to local corn growers for a great corn on the cob option.

You don’t need to provide a lot of variety for your guests to be fed well. This also cuts down on cost. Offering a great pasta option along with some sort of protein will keep your guests full and happy without you having to foot the bill for a full two protein dinner option.

I’d love to hear how you provided a great meal to your wedding guests with your cost-cutting tips. Check back for our last segment next week where we’ll be covering photography!

About Rebecca
Rebecca Grant is owner of New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination. She has been in the wedding business over six years now, beginning her career in Honolulu, Hawaii, then moving back home to Seattle and launching my business here in November 2009. She’s now one of Seattle’s premiere wedding planners. Because of her experience in Hawaii, her specialty is working with Asia-Pacific Brides; specifically, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan weddings, however, she also does work a good portion of the time with traditional Western couples.

To catch up see our earlier posts in the series:

Saving Money on Invitations
Saving Money on Flowers
Saving Money on Venues (Part 1)
Saving Money on Venues (Part 2)

(Photo credit: Jason Koenig)

Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope you are as excited as I am about week four of our six-week series on getting married on a budget. This week we’ll be wrapping up the two-part segment covering wedding venues (see last week’s part here) and what you can do to cut costs on what can often be one of the largest parts of your wedding budget.

Cash talks
Okay, for those of you who know me, you know that I don’t believe in going into debt for your wedding day. One of the biggest hidden secrets on cost cutting tips for your wedding is to use the green! This is not something most venues generally advertise. You will need to ask for the cash discounts, but they’re out there, so don’t be afraid to go for it. Below are the main things you should ask for when using cash.

Ask for a discount because you’re not using a credit card. Right off the bat, you’ve just saved yourself the 3-4% credit card service fee.

Let them know that you only budgeted X amount of dollars for your venue, and that you can pay them in cash. Generally, they will come down to meet you. (Be realistic here, if the venue is over your budget by $10,000, no, they won’t meet you. But if you’re looking at a Friday or Sunday especially, and the venue is about $3,000-$4,000 out of reach, more than likely you will get it).

Hint: You can use ‘Cash Talks’ with almost any vendor to get a better deal!!

Pros and cons of a private home
Private homes can often be some of the most beautiful and intimate weddings I’ve ever planned or attended, and I’m sure you can say the same. They offer that feeling of home, warmth, and familiarity that is so wonderful at weddings. There are definitely some hidden fees associated with having a wedding at home that should not be overlooked.

Bathrooms - Yup, first and foremost. Does the home have enough restrooms (or does the homeowner even want guests tromping through their home) to support your guest count? If not, you will need to consider bringing in some less than glamorous porta-potties. A really cost-saving company that I’ve used (and they’re nation-wide) is United Site Services. They have been a really great company to work with, and offer many options.

Lighting - If your wedding will be outdoors at the home, you will need some sort of lighting, especially if your party will go well into the evening. Consider using Christmas lights, outdoor lanterns, monkey lights, and candles to give adequate lighting to your event. Remember your guests (and photographer) want to see your first dance and cake cutting, so be sure to plan appropriately for time of day and to have enough light.

Catering - I think a great cost-cutting tip that fits great into an at-home wedding is to do a potluck style. If you don’t want to worry about someone always being available to help restock food, etc. there are some great companies out there that offer day-of services to help with the serving part of your wedding. One here locally is The Invisible Hostess. They will even clean up the guests dishes before the end of the reception, and have them ready to go when the guests are!

Shelter - If your guest count exceeds what you can accommodate inside, and need to move the party outdoors, you will need to be sure you are prepared for inclement weather. Especially here in Seattle our summers are unpredictable weather wise, and you need to have a back-up plan. Tent rentals are surprisingly expensive and need to be thought of as part of your budget. The average 100 person tent runs about $2,000. What you need to know here is that you have up until that tent is loaded onto the truck before you get charged for it. So if you make the decision that a tent will not be needed, call the company ASAP to cancel that order. You should however, pre-order it so it is available in case it’s needed

Public Parks
Using a public park is a HUGE cost saving location for your ceremony. Most parks around the Seattle area do require a park permit. Also, there are some around here that don’t allow professional photography (Bellevue Botanical Gardens for instance), so do your homework. But, finding a less used public park location can often be beautiful, private, and very inexpensive. Parsons Gardens up on Queen Ann is a beautiful little hidden gem tucked away from the hustle and bustle of Kerry Park (the more popular option). Most park rental fees range from $50-$150 depending on the location and time of year.

Use a venue that lets you bring in your own caterer
Finding a location that doesn’t lock you into a food and beverage minimum is a must to finding extra money in your budget. Negotiating with your own caterer on your menu selections, amount of food served, etc. will save you tremendous amounts of money. Remember, cash talks here too! Be sure you are aware of how much staff will be on-site, what the hours of service will be, and if there are any travel fees. Make sure you are aware of all costs up front (including taxes), so you know where to cut if you are over-budget. Many times you can cut extra linens, opt for paper plates, plastic cups, and disposable serve ware to cut significant costs on catering. Also be sure you are watching your food selections. Obviously, steak and salmon will run you more than prime rib and pasta, so choose your menu wisely, and don’t be afraid to ask your caterer for a more cost effective menu selection.

This segments us right into catering – which is our topic for next week! Check back next Wednesday for money-saving tips for catering.

Did you save big on a venue? What was your secret? What are some of your favorite Northwest venues? If you have specific venue questions – leave a comment here or head over to the New Creations Facebook page and ask Rebecca – she’d be happy to help!

About Rebecca
Rebecca Grant is owner of New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination. She has been in the wedding business over six years now, beginning her career in Honolulu, Hawaii, then moving back home to Seattle and launching my business here in November 2009. She’s now one of Seattle’s premiere wedding planners. Because of her experience in Hawaii, her specialty is working with Asia-Pacific Brides; specifically, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan weddings, however, she also does work a good portion of the time with traditional Western couples.

To catch up see our earlier posts in the series:

Saving Money on Invitations
Saving Money on Flowers
Saving Money on Venues (Part 1)

p.s. If you live in the Seattle/Eastside area, come say hi at a free event I am hosting tomorrow evening, February 2, 2012, at The Hollywood Schoolhouse in Woodinville. Event runs from 6  to 9 p.m., and will be featuring several awesome wedding vendors, casino tables, bar, food, a photo booth, and much more! It’s going to be ‘Old Hollywood, at the Hollywood Schoolhouse.’ I’d love to see you there, so come by and say hi!

It’s week two of our six-week series on getting married on a budget and this week learn tips and tricks for saving money on your wedding flowers! (Last week: Saving Money on Invitations).

Flowers are one of the most integral parts of your wedding day’s overall look and theme. Not only are flowers heavy hitters in the look of your wedding, but they can often bring a heavy hit to your wallet. According to Florist Tiffany Saul from offbeatbride.com, wedding florists generally work on a 3x markup.  Over 75% of florists use a 5x markup on wedding flowers – this means your costs can add up quick!

Here are some tips and tricks to save money on flowers for your big day:

Set a budget
If you are trying to plan a wedding on a budget, be sure you know how much money you have allocated for floral, and stick to it! Make your florist work within your budget. Don’t hesitate to ask what is a typical budget they work with before  you go in for an in-person interview. If you are looking at a florist online and they do beautiful work, but their average budget they work with is over $5,000, more than likely this is not your florist. Narrow it down to about three florists who you have called and who fit your flower budget and set up in-person appointments. At the appointment, ask to see their portfolios of actual weddings they’ve done, not a FTD floral book- this is not their work and don’t be fooled that it is.

Think local and in-season
Once you’ve found a florist who you get along well with, you’ve seen their work and fits within your budget, the next steps are to discuss your floral design with them. One of the biggest cost saving tips is to use as many locally grown flowers as possible. Ask your florist which blooms will be in season during your wedding month. If it’s a December wedding, you may be limited to using a mixture of berries and greens, which keeps it simple and beautiful! On the other hand, during your summer wedding, using locally grown hydrangeas, or garden roses might be the way to go.

Think big
Larger blooms (heads) will often get you more bang for your buck. Think about it, using tiny flowers, berries, and such is going to take a lot more stems to get a high visual impact. Larger headed flowers such as hydrangea’s, lilly’s, rhodies, sunflowers and peonies are going to give you that striking look of ‘a lot’ of flowers with using significantly less stems – therefore cutting down on your cost.  Also, think about using a good amount of ‘filler.’  This can often be found locally as well by using ferns, hydrangea leaves, etc.

Get to know your Farmers’ Market
In Seattle we are blessed in the spring and summer months to have some amazing farmers’ markets, not to mention Pike Place year round (although selection does vary). Often, if you are able to form a relationship with your local flower distributer through these markets, you can let them know you are getting married and would like them to provide your flowers. This will ensure not only getting a great deal on your flowers, but that they will order enough of them to cover your wedding in addition to their normal market business. Going the market route does not allow you much control over your color palette either, so if you are committed to having coral as your only flower color, this option may not be for you.

Do be aware however, that you will need to designate someone to go pick up your flowers for you, often on the same day as your wedding (as most farmers markets and weddings are on Saturdays). This does not leave you much room for error.

Markets are great options for the bride who likes that garden feel and who doesn’t stress over the details.

Read more

Photo credit: Alante Photography

Welcome to the first article of our six week series on getting married on a budget!  This week we will be covering the fine art of wedding invitations!

Besides shopping for the wedding dress, deciding on your date, and nailing down your venue(s), invitations are one of the first things within the planning process that should be started. As a general rule of thumb, wedding invitations should be mailed out no later than three (3) months prior to the wedding date. This is especially true if you have many guests traveling in from out of town.

There are many options for invitations – ranging from $1.50 a piece to substantially more. Depending on the size of your guest list this can add up fast. But as with most elements for your wedding – you have choices!

Before you begin, determine your budget + needs
Before you even think about design, consider what you will need within your invitation. What’s important to you and what isn’t – things like directions to your venue(s), local hotels close to your venue, fun activities for your guests to do while they’re in town, your RSVP card, and so on. Keep in mind, the more you add to your invitation, the more it will weigh, therefore driving up the cost of postage. Have a budget in mind and try to make your invitation work within that.

The FREE option – Wedding Websites
A more modern alternative to the traditional wedding invitation (and growing in popularity) are wedding websites. Some popular ones can be found on WeddingWire.com or Mywedding.com. These are very user friendly and allow you to share a lot of information to your guests very quickly, and best of all, they’re FREE! Within these sites you can download photos of you and your fiancé, update guests on where you’re registered, spread the save-the-dates, even down to giving your guests a timeline of the wedding day, and keeping track of RSVPs.

TRADITIONAL INVITATIONS
Now if you’re like me and prefer the traditional mailed invitation (there’s just something about opening up a card in the mail), there are ways to cut costs here. There are great DIY wedding invitation websites and I have personally used Cardsandpockets.com for my own wedding invitations and loved them! They offer live online chat options and are available by phone. There are about seven people in the main office, so if you tend to call in a lot (yours truly), you will more than likely get to know them by name, and they offer amazing one-on-one service. There are countless other invitation sites out there, so just do a Google search, and find the site that fits you best.

• Minted.com
• The Knot Wedding Shop
• Snapfish

Shop around online, watch for coupon codes, FREE shipping
Take some time to shop around – both online and locally. Not only will this give you good ideas for design but it will help you find the best deal. If you’re ordering online sign up for the website e-newsletters so you can watch for free shipping or coupon code offers. You can always call or use online chat to ask for a bigger discount – can’t hurt to ask!

Don’t discount a local company that will make your invitations and let you come pick them up. This will save shipping costs. Ask to see last years invitation designs which might be discounted or check online for clearanced designs.

Your design – keep it simple to save
Once you’ve found the site you’re comfortable working with, the next step is to work on design. Be sure you stay consistent with your overall wedding theme, color palette and style. Working through online invitation sites allows you to search through thousands of pre-set templates. This can often be a bit overwhelming. Narrow down your search by entering a few boundaries. You can often enter in a cap of the price you want to spend, the size/style you want, and narrow it down even more by choosing your colors. From there, search through the templates and more than likely, you will find one that fits your criteria.

• Non-standard shapes such as a square will cost you more in postage than the traditional card size.
• Special die-cuts (special shaped paper) will substantially increase the price.
• Embellishments like bows, tissue, embossing and more will substantially increase in your price.
• Stick to black text if you can – adding additional colors means extra costs. Black is easy to read and always classic.
• Stick to an un-lined envelope, a standard shaped card, a set template, and minimal inserts for the best deal.

RSVP card – or not?
As far as invitation inserts are concerned, less is better. Often times you can get your RSVP cards included with your invitation order. A cost-cutting tip here is to order it in a postcard size. Put the recipients address, your return address and the postcard postage on one side, and the other have your wording for your RSVP. The cost difference between actually having your RSVP in an envelope versus just making it a postcard style is $0.29 cents versus your standard card cost of $0.44 cents – right there a savings of $0.15 cents per invitation!

If it were me, I would opt to communicate all my other information via my wedding website, except for directions to the venue. Often, out-of-towners will just bring the invitation with them while they are driving to your venue, and it it nice to have everything all in one place. This can be an at-home print project on regular paper, and either inserted, or glued to the back of your wedding invitation.

DIY invitations
Don’t discount making your own wedding invitations! These days there are so many different options – you can buy pre-made kits from Michaels or JoAnns (make sure and use your coupons!) – and you can dress them up with homemade embellishments. Or you can start from scratch and pick up supplies from a paper store like PaperZone (which by the way is going out of business and has some great discounts right now!).

Last minute checks:

• Proofread - Save yourself the time and money by making sure to proofread, proofread, proofread. Have at least three people read it over to just make sure. You don’t want to order your invitations and then find a glaring typo that requires you to re-order them.
• Confirm postage amount before mailing - Put an invitation together and bring it to the post office to confirm the necessary postage – before mailing them out – this keeps you from overpaying or ending up with them returned to sender.
• Double-check addresses - Also double-check your guest addresses, invitations that are returned to sender cost extra postage – plus they ruin the outside envelope and require another one.

Whatever you choose to do for your invitations – remember it’s just a small part of your big day.

Check back next Wednesday for money saving tips on flowers!

How did you save on wedding invitations? Do you have questions or suggestions about invitations? You can leave a comment on this post or contact Rebecca through her New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination Facebook page.

-Rebecca

About Rebecca
Rebecca Grant is owner of New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination. She has been in the wedding business over six years now, beginning her career in Honolulu, Hawaii, then moving back home to Seattle and launching my business here in November 2009. She’s now one of Seattle’s premiere wedding planners. Because of her experience in Hawaii, her specialty is working with Asia-Pacific Brides; specifically, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan weddings, however, she also does work a good portion of the time with traditional Western couples.

Rebecca would love to help you with your invitations – whether it’s design, printing ideas or more. This past year she planned a wedding in 20 days only knowing the bride’s favorite colors were pink and green – and she designed the elegant invites pictured at the top of the page.

Photo credit: Clane Gessel Photography

Over the holidays you or someone you know might have got engaged! Congratulations! I personally don’t know much about weddings (other than planning mine eight years ago), but my friend Rebecca from New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination is a premiere Northwest wedding planner and she agreed to do a six-part series sharing some of her secrets for saving money on your big day! She is soooo good. We are very lucky that she’s agreed to do this series – her insider tips are so valuable. Check back every Wednesday at 11 a.m. from now through Valentine’s Day for the latest topic. . . 

We’ll start off this week with a short introduction from Rebecca: As a devoted reader of Queen Bee Coupons, the first thing you will want to know about your wedding is how to SAVE MONEY! Rest assured, I am here to help!

Here’s the plan. Over the next six weeks, I will bring you a unique series of cost saving tips on how to plan your wedding on a budget. We will discuss ‘big bucket vendors’ each week such as invitations, flowers, photography, venue, and catering. However, if you are a bride who has a specific cost cutting question, I will be more than happy to answer any individual questions you may have.

For specific questions, or to weigh in on topics with tips or tricks that you have found useful for your wedding day, head on over to the New Creations Wedding Facebook page, and become a fan of my page today to start the conversation or just leave a comment on this page. I look forward to truly helping you plan the wedding of your dreams with a budget that won’t break the bank!

Now I know that Queen Bee readers LOVE a great giveaway, and this series will be no exception!! At the end of the six weeks – we’ll be doing a giveaway that I guarantee with come in handy for that registry of yours! So watch for that in February.

Photo credits Alante Photography

About Rebecca
My name is Rebecca Grant, and I am the owner of New Creations Wedding Design & Coordination. I have been in the awesome wedding biz for over six years now, beginning my career in Honolulu, Hawaii, then moving back home to Seattle and launching my business here in November 2009. Because of my experience in Hawaii, my specialty is working with Asia-Pacific Brides; specifically, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian and Samoan weddings, however, I do work a good portion of the time with traditional Western couples.

The focus of New Creations is to truly have each wedding be unique and tell your love story in one amazing day. My goal is to have your guests know you better after leaving your wedding than they did before. My business caters to what the couple needs in providing anything from ‘Day-of planning services’, to ‘Complete Design & Coordination’, to Consulting work with Asian customs and traditions. I have been the featured speaker at Wedding Network USA – a nationwide organization for wedding professionals, and constantly keep up on current wedding trends through professional organizations and continually pushing myself to create amazing events. I am also the exclusive referred wedding planner of Pottery Barn Bellevue Square (where-hint, hint-if you register there you will receive a 1-hour complimentary wedding design consult with me! Approximately 1 week later you will receive a customized idea board putting our conversation about you wedding design in photos to help guide your vision).

I have been so incredibly blessed to be doing what I love every day, and I look forward to sharing that knowledge with you!

Leave a comment on this post if you have a specific wedding question! We’ll try and answer them all. Another great source for asking question is the New Creations Wedding Facebook page!