June 21, 2008

Finding a Local NW Wedding Business

Do you live in Washington, Oregon or Idaho? Are you planning a wedding? NWweddingplace.com is just where you need to spend some planning time on the web. We have vendor listings in 20 major wedding categories (from venues to formalwear, photography, pre-marriage counselors & more) for all cities in those 3 Pacific Northwest states.

Here's how it works: go to our "Locate Vendors" page. Select your state, enter your city name (or a nearby city), select a category from the drop-down box, and press "Search!". Your search results will post automatically, giving you your vendor options in that city and category.

If you are a NW wedding-related business owner, search for your listing. Please contact us if you do not find yourself! We'd love to add you. Your assistance helps us bring comprehensive NW wedding information to our community.

June 19, 2008

It's Wedding Time in the Pacific Northwest


It's official... wedding season has begun! Traditionally, June through Sept are the 4 busiest wedding months across the country, and especially in the Pacific Northwest. Here, we count on some warmer temps and less rain during that 4 month span. However, for all those hopeful brides and grooms wanting a June outdoor wedding in the Pacific NW, our weather has not been cooperating yet! I guess it could be worse. The rain hasn't been excessive, just cold temperatures for this time of year. In fact, the coldest June on record since 1917...

Honestly, that's how outdoor weddings go though in the NW. No month is completely "safe"! Thinking about which month to have your NW wedding in? We offer an extensive article on our main site called "Choosing Your Wedding Month in the Northwest". Each month has it's quirks, benefits and things to consider.

Do you have any outdoor wedding backup plans you'd like to share with our community? What are your creative "Plan B's"? Let us know!

June 12, 2008

Need a Cheap Wedding Dress?



Happy Wedding Planning!

OK, so cheap wedding dress isn't entirely accurate... but...
Are you looking for an inexpensive wedding dress? Do you want a wedding gown that's great quality, yet you're planning a wedding on a budget? Maybe you have destination wedding plans? A warm weather, summer wedding? Simple, yet elegant style?

If you answered yes to any (or all) of these questions, NWweddingshop may have just what you're looking for. We have a dozen, high-quality, low cost, custom fit wedding dress options available - most are right around $300! Please visit our shop online section at http://www.nwweddingshop.com/ now for details and more photos.

If you don't find exactly what you need there, call us at 360-951-6400 and let's chat!

June 6, 2008

Who Cares About an Eco-Friendly Wedding?

Hi brides and grooms...
We're collecting information about "green" weddings and eco-friendly wedding plans. Are you implementing anything earth friendly for your upcoming wedding? Would you like to but aren't sure how? Did you recently get married and have a green wedding? We'd love to hear from you. I can just imagine all the excellent ideas that people have!

At NWweddingplace.com, we have several articles to help you get "green" wedding ideas now. First, check out "15 Easiest Reception Table Decor Ideas Ever", and "Green Wedding Tips" for great ideas and suggestions.

Share this Blog with your friends :-)

June 2, 2008

Destination Wedding On-Location Report!



Posted by Sarah - "Ask Sarah"

I had the awesome pleasure of attending a destination wedding in Maui. What a romantic setting for your special day... Warm weather, sandy beaches, swaying palm trees, gorgeous flowers, all perfect ingredients for a wedding day.

The setting was at a gorgeous resort/hotel. When we walked in, the first thing you notice is the paradise within the hotel. In the middle of the hotel is an "outside that's inside." So let me explain a little further, it has a beautiful coy fish pond, a waterfall, huge, beautiful trees, and flowers, in the middle of the hotel. So you could walk outside your hotel room and overlook into this beautiful mini-paradise. Not only that, but the hotel had a beautiful backyard view of the beach! So you could imagine, their pictures will be amazing.

Back to the wedding... It was on Sunday evening at 5pm. The wedding took place on one of the hotel lawns that onlooked the private beach. The setting was gorgeous. The bride's colors were light pink and light yellow. So as you walked up the lawn, the grassy aisle way was laden with pink and yellow rose petals. The groomsmen were already in place at the front in light, beige suits with nice ties to match. A bit more casual for the Hawaii destination wedding. While we all waited for the bridesmaid to start in, there was a soloist at the front with a guitar. He was a Hawaiian local serenading us with soft, love songs. Then the first bridesmaid started walking down. The dresses were gorgeous! Each bridesmaid alternated in pink or yellow, flowing, above the knee length dresses. Apparently the maid of honor is a fashion designer in Australia and actually made a few of the bridesmaid dresses, they really were fabulous. The bridesmaid bouquets were very full and beautiful with light pink and yellow roses, and a darker pink as well. The maid of honor walked down in a darker beige/brown dress she made, so she got to stand out a bit. Then the adorable flower girls and ring bearers... The girls were in these beautiful white dresses, and the chiffon bottom parts of their dresses had fabric roses attached all over.

The bride... she was gorgeous! Her hair was up and pulled a bit to the side. She had two beautiful roses adorned in her hair as well, for beautiful extra detail. Her dress was an ivory, chiffon. It was a strapless dress, with a bit of fabric that overlapped in the front, just an inch or so, to add a small ruffle along the top of the dress. The dress was fitted, and then towards the bottom cascaded out a bit, to be beautiful and flowy. The back dipped a little bit below her shoulders, and at the bottom of her back, there was a fabric rose of the same fabric as the dress, and from their extra fabric cascaded down to add to the drama and beauty of its intended subtle simplicity, but certainly class and elegance.

The ceremony began with the Hawaiian pastor opening up and greeting the "paparazzi" (that was us, he referred to us as, the guests - lol!) He was great, very well spoken, almost a performer with his long, extra enunciated, lingering words, which gave a great affect for the ceremony. After the vows were said, and he pronounced them husband and wife, we were serenaded some more by the soloist.

The bride and groom took photos after the ceremony and then they also had a videographer that captured the whole ceremony. The reception was in the hotel, next to the coy fish pond I mentioned earlier. It was technically outside, but it was under a covered area. The reception tables had white linens, and the center pieces were rectangular vases with gorgeous rose bouquets and greenery. Each seat had a name card, which I actually thought was a nice added detail. Normally I'm not in favor of place cards, but then can actually make for less awkwardness if done very thoughtfully.

They had hors d'oeuvres waiting for us (lamb chops, curry chicken kabobs), and a full open bar. I think hors d'oeuvres are a nice touch, especially when you and your groom take photos after the wedding. You don't want your crowd to get hungry. :-) Once the bride and groom arrived we began with a salad, had the choice of prawns, fillet mignon, or fish for our main course, and finished with a yummy custard, pie dessert. I had the prawns, and they were so yummy!

Time to cut the cake. The wedding cake was smaller as a result of us already having dessert, but totally cute! Two round tiers, with frosting dots as details placed intently all around the cake. The bride got her new hubby good with the "bite" of cake all over his face. ;o)

The toasts were great from the best man and maid of honor. Then came the bouquet and garter toss. My boyfriend was the lucky garter catcher - lol!

One of my favorite details was the DJ playing soft jazz songs as background music. I have to say that was great for the atmosphere, and a detail I may want to add at my own future wedding.

There was a short amount of dancing, father/daughter, mother/son dance, and then of course the encouragement to get the rest of the guests out on the dance floor. The wedding ended fairly early after that. The entire ordeal was fascinating, certainly an elegant evening, and full of wonderful things to see.