Paul & Alison -

Alison is our niece and was even our flower girl in our wedding.   It was such a great honor when she asked us if we could capture their wedding– which took place on our 18^th anniversary weekend.

Alison first met Paul while working at summer camp.  He was teaching outdoor education and stayed for the summer to be a lifeguard.  Alison came up for the summer to counsel 4-6^th graders.  Alison wanted to start a conversation with Paul (because of his awesome sideburns) so she offered him some Red Vines licorice.  He said he’d have one, but Alison said, “No, you have to take 2, licorice is eaten in Twos.”   So Alison started things off with how obsessive compulsive she is, and the rest is history!  Well, almost…

They dated for a while and broke up for 9 months and wound up back together again.  So by the time August 25^th 2008 came around (their 1 year anniversary of round 2 of dating), she totally thought Paul was going to propose.  But instead, he took her to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and gave her a necklace and jewelry box.  About 4 months later, Paul called Alison while she was in school and said that they needed to get together to take “couples pictures” for his mom’s Christmas card.   While they were getting their pictures taken, in between poses, Paul said, “Wait, I have something I want you to wear for the next picture.”  Then it happened.  He got on one knee, held her hand, and said, “Alison Rose, I love you very much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.  Will you marry me and be my wife?”  Alison cried VERY happy and excited tears.  She was so surprised, thrilled, and “Oh my Goodness Gracious Sakes Alive EXCITED!”  Pretty cool that they were able to have those extremely precious moments captured in photographs!

Alison and Paul decided to be married in a church (which fortunately allowed them to use their sanctuary free of charge because Alison was interning with their children’s ministry).   Paul’s parents live nearby the church and have a huge backyard, which was perfect for their outdoor reception.

Their colors were chocolate brown and green.  Alison’s favorite color is green but couldn’t find a shade of green that didn’t make her girlfriends look “icky” so she decided on brown dresses and had the guys in brown Dickies with green vests.   They were on an extremely tight budget and were super creative on everything.  Their table centerpieces were made from various green bottles (cleaning labels from Stella Artois, Perrier, Pellegrino, and wine bottles).  They tied brown and green ribbon on them and filled them with white flowers.  Super cool, simple, and super inexpensive!

Perfect day for a couple who are perfect for each other!

To read Paul & Alison’s full story click here.

Photography by:
Imagery Concepts Photography
800 IC PHOTO 

All Photography by:

Kyle & Michelle -

Gotta love technology!  Michelle and Kyle first met on a website designed for college students called collegeclub.com (similar to MySpace and Facebook, but just for college students).  It turns out that they actually attended the same college and lived right down the street from each other!

After quite a bit of talking online, they decided it was finally time to meet in person.   They arranged their first meeting at a nearby school library.  Michelle told Kyle what she was going to wear so he could find her.   Last minute, Michelle changed her mind on her outfit…completely forgetting to tell Kyle.   Needless to say, they didn’t meet because Kyle couldn’t find her!  Second try – the plan was to have Kyle meet Michelle while she was at her friend’s house.   Michelle ended up changing her mind on meeting him, but apparently he didn’t get the message and showed up anyway!  Talk about Michelle being surprised!   Unfortunately, they only spoke briefly and he went home.  Third time was a charm—they met at Denny’s for coffee and dessert.  From that moment on…inseparable!

Immediately, Michelle was attracted Kyle’s sense of humor.  He is always making her laugh and they constantly have little inside jokes with each other.  “Kyle has always made me feel like we are not only a couple but we are a team working with each other to get through the hard stuff in life,” Michelle describes.

They were together almost 8 ½ years before they got engaged!  He wanted to graduate law school before getting married, but Michelle, on the other hand, bugged Kyle for many years about getting married (including the families!).   When Michelle approached her 30^th birthday, Kyle asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she simply said,“ I want to get married.”    So they decided to get married.  Nothing fancy, but oh so perfect!

They chose Kimberly Crest in Redlands for their May wedding venue.  Although they looked at many other places online, it was love at first sight with Kimberly Crest.  The location even came with the most amazing wedding coordinator, Katherine Scott Blom.   Michelle was won over by her talent and skills to conduct a wedding, as well as her vast knowledge of choice wedding vendors.

Michelle couldn’t wait to start the fun and try on wedding dresses.  It didn’t take long for her to find THE dress.  She knew the moment she tried it on because it didn’t weight a ton like the others, plus it felt comfortable and pretty.  She especially loved the details of the stitching and sequencing, and the unique style of the back of the dress.   Above all, she really just couldn’t wait to be married to Kyle and to be his wife!

They chose dusty rose and green as the colors for their spring wedding.  The bridesmaid’s dresses were green with a pink bow and the groomsmen wore black tuxes with green vests.  Michelle and her mom went down to the L.A. flower mart and purchased flowers at a great price and had fun creating beautiful centerpieces for the reception tables.

One of Michelle’s greatest memories from preparing for the wedding was taking dance lessons with her father, dancing to the Beatles song “Michelle.”   During the wedding reception, even Michelle’s grandparents rocked the dance floor that night bringing back the good ole days of their youth.

Kyle & Michelle’s advise to future brides:

“Make sure you provide your minister/officiant with specific directions on what you want to occur during your ceremony.  Discuss with your fiance’ and plan what you want to include in your ceremony prior to meeting with the minister/officiant.  Do not assume that your minister/officiant knows what you want without providing them with details.  A little bit of planning now will ensure a successful ceremony for your wedding.”

No matter how busy and stressed out you may become, wedding planning only happens once in a lifetime.  Enjoy every bit of it!

To read Kyle & Michelle’s full story click here

Vendor Friends that helped to make there day special:

Venue -
Kimberly Crest House & Gardens
Katherine Scott Blom, Wedding Coordinator
www.kimberlycrest.org

DJ -
Paul Harms, Owner
Main Event Productions
www.maindjs.com

Cake -
Michelle’s Bakery
www.michelles-online.com

Caterer -
Bon Appetit
www.bamco.com

Photography -
Imagery Concepts Photography
800 IC PHOTO 

All Photography by:

Steve & Jennifer –

Four typed pages of their love story; how do we even begin summarizing?  It’s certainly not going to be easy!   Anyone who desires to have the “warm fuzzies” just needs to read Jennifer’s entire story.

Jennifer had just purchased a new home and was waiting for escrow to close.   She had some guys come around and offer to landscape her entire backyard for a ridiculously low price (you know the saying, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is!)   This concerned Jennifer’s brother who recommended that she get another bid from a reputable contractor.   He suggested that she talk to the guy who did his own backyard – Steve.  Ahhh, and so our story begins!

It all started the day before Thanksgiving, 2008.  Steve arrived at Jennifer’s new home.  Immediately when she opened the door, she was attracted to his “strikingly handsome” appearance.   She completely forgot about the mess that her two dachshunds were making in the house she “technically” didn’t even own yet!

The next day, on Thanksgiving, they thought of each other all day; both curious to learn more.   On that Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, Steve called Jennifer and suggested they meet at Starbucks to “go over the bid.”   The next thing you know, the hours flew and Steve asked Jennifer out to dinner the following night.  Of course she agreed!

After dinner, Jennifer took a huge leap of faith and shared something with Steve that could have ended things before they even began.  She told him that she was a Christian and that her faith was important to her.  To Jennifer’s great relief, Steve felt the same….whew!   Just six short months later, they went on their first vacation together—to the river in Laughlin.   After a fun-filled day on the river, they enjoyed dinner and some fun at the tables (BTW, Steve likes Black Jack but Jennifer prefers to spend her hard-earned cash on more tangible things that she can take home in bags!).  Later that night, while sitting together on the beach of the river, Steve asked Jennifer to marry him.  Jennifer described it as,  “the perfect intimate moment” between the two of them that she’ll never forget.

The newly engaged Jennifer (a planner at heart) was super excited to get everything done by summer’s end before she went back to work.   Everything was coming  together effortlessly; their dream venue (Monteleone Meadows), the photographer (Imagery Conepts), the DJ (Paul Harms with Main Event Productions), the videographer (John Goolsby with GodFather Films), the cake (Jodee’s Bakery)—everything they had hoped for!  Unfortunately, things quickly began to get stressful when adding up the numbers.   Rather than postponing the wedding (which they almost had to do), they painfully made the decision to change the venue to their local neighborhood clubhouse at Heritage Lakes.  They were able to keep the vendors that were important to them and were creative and saved where they could.  (Someday they still hope to have an event at their dream venue of Monteleone Meadows.)

On December 18, 2009, they enjoyed an outdoor ceremony, perfect weather (upper 70’s), snow-capped mountains as their backdrop, and crystal clear skies! Their Christmas wedding featured colors of deep red, gold, and ivory with their monogram as a constant theme.  The flowers were a deep red with a touch of green, and some “bling” of course!   For Jennifer, her most memorable moment was their brief carriage ride together directly after the ceremony.   Steve’s most memorable moment was when he saw his beautiful bride step off the carriage and walk down the isle…even with his sunglasses on!

Jennifer’s advise to future couples:

“Enjoy Every Moment” and do not let the stress take the fun away from the TRUE reason you decided to get married.  Together, choose what vendors are the most important.  Set a budget and stick to it!!!  But most of all, have fun because it will be over before you know it.

No matter where you live, what you have, as long as you have each other, you’ll be OK, and that’s what truly matters the most.

To read Jennifer and Steve’s  full story, click here.

Vendor friends who helped make their day perfect with us:

Main Event Productions: DJ – Paul Harms, owner
Godfather Films: Godfather Films – John Goolsby, owner

Photography by:
Imagery Concepts Photography
800 IC PHOTO 

All Photography by:

Jake & Lindsey -

It’s been said that friends know you best…that’s exactly how Jake & Lindsey found each other.
Jake’s best friend and Lindsey’s best friend (who happened to be married to each other) thought these two would be good for each other…and they were right!

Jake immediately felt “it” when they first met while Lindsey tried to comprehend that this amazing guy was even REAL.   For 5 months, Lindsey pretty much ignored Jake, trying to find flaws that just weren’t there.   Lindsey finally embraced the opportunity God had given her.   Thankfully, Jake wasn’t tired of waiting!

Lindsey describes Jake as hilarious, handsome, with a magnetic personality with an “aura” that makes him seem trustworthy and safe.  In addition to treating her like a queen, he plays the guitar and piano beautifully, plus he can sing!  No wonder Lindsey thought he wasn’t REAL!

Jake describes Lindsey as the most beautiful person he had ever met.  The fact that she ignored him made her all the more attractive to him!  He loves her excitement for life and is amazed by her love for family and God.

After the 5 months of” ignoring Jake” and 7 months of “real dating,” they took a trip to Arizona to do some sight-seeing.  When deciding what to do for dinner, Jake said he would figure something out (which he NEVER does!).  He took Lindsey to a nice Italian restaurant (he even made reservations).  After 20 minutes of nervous chat, Jake said he had to use the restroom…he got up then got down on one knee!    All Lindsey truly remembers were his shaking hands, watery eyes, amazing passion in his words, and the fact that he first tried to put the ring on the wrong hand!

Jake and Lindsey were married at Kimberly Crest House and Gardens in Redlands.  They chose Kimberly Crest because they loved the garden feel and the beautiful view, plus it was interesting and reminded them of their beginnings.  Big bonus, it came with an amazing coordinator, Katherine Blom!  They received SO MANY compliments on how beautiful the venue was.  Lindsey wore the perfect vintage style dress complimenting her overall theme…simple elegance with a romantic flair.

Soft pale yellow and chocolate brown natural colors perfectly complimented the natural beauty of Kimberly Crest.  She chose tiger lilies and calla lilies as her main flower because they are more “wild” and big.   Kimberly Crest itself is gorgeous, not requiring much in terms of flowers and decorations.  Can you tell that most of her flowers were not even real?

Lindsey’s word of advice–don’t let all the stress of deadlines and planning dull one of the most exciting times in your life.  Remember what it’s all about.  For Lindsey, she couldn’t wait to call Jake her husband, “having a true forever best friend.”   Lindsey, cheesy is good!

To read Jake & Lindsey’ss full story, click here.

Vendor friends who helped make their day perfect with us:

Kimberly Crest House & Gardens: Katherine Blom, Coordinator
Main Event Productions: DJ – Paul Harms, owner

Photography by:
Imagery Concepts Photography
800 IC PHOTO 

All Photography by: