{Real Wedding} Beautiful Bald Head Island Wedding

This beautiful Bald Head Island wedding I found via photographer Abigail Seymour's blog just drips with details that I love. It's no secret that I have a love for all things girly....anything ruffles, feminine, romantic, or pink, etc. just makes me swoon.

I think these bridesmaids dresses are so adorable!! And the Vera Wang bridal gown ~ oh what's not to love?!

You can see more of Abigail Seymour's photography of the entire wedding here!

{Real Wedding} Charming South Carolina

The simplicity and style of this Charleston, South Carolina wedding are so well put together, they almost seem effortless. This wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty, but I headed over to Simply Bloom Photography to see all the gorgeous images and read the behind the scenes details and specifics about how this well styled wedding came together!

{Real Weddings}: Pinkalicious Details

I loved working with Jaclyn and her mom, Donna, on her wedding to her college sweetheart, Patrick. Jaclyn and her mom coordinated every details and pulled pink hues into every aspect

of the wedding, including the bridesmaid dresses, floral centerpieces, candy station,

the wedding cake and favor bags.

Jaclyn and Pat are truly a marriage made in heaven. I have never been so incredibly touched by a father of the groom's speech, I can assure you there was not a dry eye in the ballroom.

I was so blessed to come to know both of these families and felt honored to be a part of such an amazing day in their lives.

The groom's father is world renowned Christian author Mike Yorkey, and you can find more about his books and ministry by clicking here.

Photography by Victor Sizemore

Venue: The Balboa Bay Club and Resort, Newport Beach

Congratulations Jaclyn & Patrick!

{Real Weddings}: Sunset Color Palette

This is one of my favorite color palettes. When I first met Kim she told me she wanted to use sunset colors as her inspiration, since her fiance had proposed to her at sunset. We hired Square Root Designs to help design the overall look of the ceremony & reception at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. Jeff at SRD did a fabulous job with the decor and didn't miss a single detail, down to iridescent table linens custom made to match the bridesmaid dresses.

The entire ballroom just glowed with an intense, gorgeous orange hue.

Photos by Jon of Barber Photography

Congratulations Kim & Chuck!

{Real Weddings} Tiffany & Jared at Saddleback Church

Since 2004 I have been blessed to be the Wedding Director for Saddleback Church in Lake Forest where Pastor Rick Warren is the Senior Pastor . My family loves Saddleback Church and how incredible that I get to work with brides & grooms that are starting their life together as husband and wife on our campus.

These are images from Tiffany & Jared's wedding, an adorable couple that I enjoyed getting to know. I love how Tiffany used "Tiffany blue" as an accent color and paired it with Tangerine, a gorgeous color combination!!

Congratulations Tiffany & Jared!!

Transforming a Tennis Court into a Opulent Ballroom

Shelley's wedding was one of the most amazing weddings to put together! Her family owns a huge custom built home on tons of land in Anaheim Hills, CA and Shelley had always known that she would have her wedding at home. When they hired me I met with them out at their property and we talked about all the different vignettes we could use for different aspect of the cerebration; the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception. They were expecting approximately 250 guests and we wanted to utilize different areas of the property throughout the evening so there would be a continual flow for the guests from one area to the next.

They have a beautiful grassy area that was the perfect setting for her ceremony,

which accommodated 250 chairs, and aisle runner, wrought iron gates and custom

built floral gazebo.

We decided to utilize the pool area for the cocktails and hors d'oeuvre reception, bringing

in lounge furniture, floating floral arrangements and alternating high and low boy tables

with gorgeous linens.

The reception, we decided, would be to tent the tennis courts. It was GORGEOUS (as you can see from the photo above!) We draped the inside of the tent with fabric which disguised the fact that it was a tent. We brought in white carpeting, trees, and a white dance floor. We hung chandeliers from the ceiling, and used ambient lighting and pin spots to fill the room with a warm glow. It transformed from a tented tennis court to an opulent ballroom!

Her family's entire backyard became a magical winter wonderland, which couldn't have been more perfect for her December 28 wedding.

Congratulations Shelley & Mike!

Florals and decor by Square Root Designs

Photography by Michael with Memories by Michael

{Real Weddings}: Destination - Ireland

When my husband proposed to me in Big Bear, CA, I instantly started to plan when and

how we would get married. Doing something completely different than I have ever

done for any of my clients was really important to me. I wanted a unique location, and I wanted and intimate and sacred ceremony.

I knew it had to be a destination wedding. I have been planning and coordinating weddings in Southern CA for over a decade and wanted to celebrate in a way that didn't seem like "work".

We discussed lots of options and the idea of getting married in a castle in Ireland came up. When I began my research I started getting the standard industry lingo responses such as

"we only do 1 event per day in our ballroom", "you can't use our grounds for a ceremony",

"our minimum food & beverage minimums are" etc., etc. and I quickly realized that many

of the "castles" in Ireland are really just hotels with a castle facade and hotel policies.

I didn't want that - at all.

So I dug deeper, and researched more, and came across exactly what I wanted when I found The Markree Castle. It is a 350 year old owner occupied castle rich with history. The contact at the Markree told me in our first conversation that they even had a chapel inside the castle and we could use that for our ceremony at no additional charge. Sold!

What we experienced when we arrived at The Markree surpassed any and all of my expectations. It was gorgeous. Absolutely GORGEOUS! We travelled to Ireland in November (off season) so there was only 1 other guest staying in the guest rooms at the time we were there. There were areas that were closed off to the public, since the Cooper family still lives there, but we had the dining room, the chapel, the lobby, and the bar all to ourselves. Their hospitality, service and food was more incredible than I would ever have hoped for. If you ever get a chance to travel to Ireland I would recommend staying at The Markree Castle and definitely visit their website to read more about it's amazing history.

It was a dream come true. Everything was perfect.

We flew photographer Frank Salas to Ireland to capture our wedding ceremony and he did an outstanding job! Thanks to Frank's amazing work, our wedding was featured in several magazines both here in the US and in Ireland.

Here is a sneak peek into the thousands of amazing photos that Frank took!

This is a view of the side of the castle...

My husband and I in the lobby of the castle and around the grounds outside

This was the beautiful chapel inside of the castle where we had our ceremony, wrote our own vows and my brother (an ordained minister) performed our ceremony

The gorgeous dining room

A view of the castle at night, the end of a perfect day

{Real Weddings} Monochromatic Elegance

When Frederique first hired me to plan her wedding at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel I knew we were going to be a great fit! Frederique has impeccable taste and put effort into each and every detail. She loves monochromatic, simple, elegance. She wanted her wedding to be romantic, the key words was romantic and we carried that theme throughout the wedding.

Flowers & decor by Square Root Designs

Photography by Jon with Barber Photography

Congratulations Frederique & Andres!

{Real Weddings} Nolan North & Jill Murray

Sometimes a picture just speaks a thousand words.

This is one of those pictures.

On a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean, I coordinated the wedding of Jill Murray to

Nolan North (most famously known as Dr. Chris Ramsey on Port Charles). I so enjoyed

getting to know Jill and Nolan during the wedding planning and they are 2 of the most humble and down to earth people you could ever meet. They graciously invited me to join them for their rehearsal dinner and after meeting their families I could see why they are so grounded. The amazing love between Nolan and Jill is undeniable and I was so honored to share in the happiness of their special day!

Congratulations Nolan & Jill!!

Jill and Nolan have given me permission to post pictures from their wedding celebration.