Bride Blogger Emily | Nice to meet you!

Hello E&I Readers! My name is Emily, I recently got engaged in June to an awesome guy named Ryan.   He popped the question as we were standing on Lover's Beach in Cabo San Lucas with a gorgeous custom engagement ring from Brilliant Earth, which he designed himself-major props to him!  The best part was my sister captured every moment on camera!  Ryan and I live in Portland, Oregon with our Golden Retriever-Roxy.

The photos above were taken by my sweet sister, she had no idea this was happening!  The photos she took I will cherish forever- she did an amazing job of capturing every moment while crying tears of joy and excitement!  My engagement ring is gold- with a gorgeous hammered effect all around the band.  I cannot wait to design the wedding band with Ryan- that post will come later. :)

I am so excited to share with you my wedding inspirations over the next few months!  I am an avid blog-reader and since becoming engaged have enjoyed finding wedding blogs to obsess over now too.  Our wedding will be bright/colorful, rustic/DIY and budget friendly.  I hope I can help you with ideas on where to cut cost, when to splurge and in the end still have the gorgeous wedding of your dreams!

A few weeks ago Ryan and I finally booked the venue and picked our wedding date!  We had been going back and forth with the idea of a destination wedding in Mexico or staying local in Portland, Oregon.  We met half way and decided on a mini-destination wedding in beautiful Bend, Oregon.  Bend has stolen our hearts, we love taking weekend trips with friends/family and with an average of 300+ sunny days a year, what is not to like!  We picked a venue through the Bend Park and Recreation District called Aspen Hall-located in Shevlin Park.

 

 

Source: Top | Middle Left | Middle Right | Below

We fell in love right away with the venue!  Aspen Hall had everything we wanted with indoor/outdoor space and the gorgeous landscape of Central Oregon.  Another added bonus is it was well within our budget that we set aside for the venue space.

Before signing off I wanted to include a few photos that have caught my eye to shape the vision for our wedding.

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I love this table for the reception!  I think ivory, burlap or a light brown tablecloth will fit perfectly into the indoor space at Aspen Hall.  It will compliment the exposed craftsman-style wooden beams and the huge brick fireplace.

Sources: Top | Middle |  Bottom

My ideas around the ceremony altar are crafty, colorful yet simple.  We will get married with the small Lake as the backdrop, so I do not want something that is too overbearing as the nature being backdrop is gorgeous enough.

Source: Above |Below

Thank you for reading and cannot wait till my next post is ready!

Until next time-

Emily

Summer Style Engagement Shoot by Kimberly Macdonald Photography

From the photographer, Kimberly Macdonald Photography: I've been patiently (well thats a lie actually, Ive been very impatiently) waiting to share Valora & Kurtis’s styled engagement session because they’re just THAT darn cute! As a photographer, there’s this sense of overwhelming happiness when you know that the shots you are getting are amazing, and that feeling overwhelmed me for this entire shoot. Their images reflect who they are as a couple: sweet, playful, deeply in love, admiration for another, beautiful as individuals and as a couple, and fun.

Kurtis & Valora are getting married in the fall of this year and I just can not wait to capture their day! Both are extremely photogenic, such calm and happy demeanors, and honestly just a dream to photograph. Can you tell yet how much I adore them?

Photographer:  Kimberly Macdonald Photography //Floral Designer: Bella Vita Event Productions //Makeup Artist: Brittney Lee Artistry //Event Venue: Flying Cloud //Cake Designer:Occasional Cakes //Equipment Rentals:Pineapple Planet Productions

Beach Engagement Shoot by Camarie Photography

This lovely engagement shoot is so fun and romantic all at the same time. The beach lighting and sweet details make for a beautiful engagement session.

From the Photographer, Camarie Photography:  Miyoko and Jason have such a natural love for one another! I enjoyed every second of working with them and am excited to photograph their wedding in May as well. They were referred to me through Rose Wade events at Brookside Equestrian Center, where I will be getting married at as well this Fall!

Fun at the bar

  One of the things we were looking for in a venue - although it wasn't mandatory - was the ability to stock our own bar. And luckily for us, we found a venue that would allow us to do that. Not only will we save a good amount of money by bringing in our own alcohol, but we can customize which types of beverage we want to serve, and we can showcase some local wineries, breweries, and distilleries. Because we're saving on what we're serving, I thought it would be fun to make some bar accessories to make this a really fun part of the party. The bar will be the focal point of the cocktail hour between ceremony and dinner, so I thought it would be fun to infuse people's drinks with the spirit of the event: Bright, Bold, with a little quirk. Here are some of my favorite ideas I've found so far:

Source: Studio DIY

Source: Somewhere Splendid

Source: Scout Blog

These geometric stirrers definitely capture our aesthetic, and they're really cute! I think painting each facade a different color with a stirrer or two for 150 guests might be a bit much, though.

Source: Confetti Pop

Instead, I think I'll buy plain wood faceted beads and we'll casually dip dye them in bright colors like these ones I found on etsy. After I round up the supplies I'll be sure to share how they turn out! Now that the weather is cooling down and we're coming inside from a seattle summer I've got DIYs up my sleeve left and right!

Source: Like Beads 8

 What are your ideas for sprucing up drinks for your guests

Boho Beautiful Engagement Shoot by Amy Cloud Photography

This engagement shoot is so magical, so beautiful. Amy Cloud Photography did such an amazing job capturing these two. And her outfits? I'm loving both the boho look and the sequin backless dress. She looks incredible, am I right?

Sushi Proposal Story by Jaye Kogut Photography

This is such a sweet little proposal story. Jaye Kogut Photography captured it beautifully. These photos definitely portray the raw emotion that is a proposal story. Read on, it is pretty darn cute!

From the photographer, Jaye Kogut Photography: Mark had asked me to document his proposal to his girlfriend, Kelly. He was so excited about doing this that he planned it down to the music the restaurant would play while they dined! Mark took Kelly to their favorite restaurant -a tiny sushi place in the heart of Belmar, New Jersey. The tables were adorned with flowers and the staff knew what Mark had up his sleeve! The wait staff had garnished a separate plate with rose shaped sushi and hearts with the words "Will you marry me?" on it. Mark got down on one knee in front of the entire restaurant and asked Kelly to marry him. Caught by complete surprise and a few tears, she said 'Yes!' No proposal would be complete with out a champagne toast!

Ciao From Italia

Ciao from Italia! As most of you know by now I've been planning a destination wedding (and a little trip for myself) for about a year now. And finally, finally, it has all come together! We are almost half way through our trip right now and heading to the Amalfi Coast. So far we have seen Venice, Florence and Scansano. It has been absolutely amazing. I'll be sharing more of my favorite shops and restaurants when we get back but suffice it to say, you should all go to Italy. Here are a few snapshots from my Instagram. There is so much more where these came from.

Letterpress at home

According to most wedding ettiquette guides, the time to send save the dates is approximately 6 months before your big day. Well, last week marked 7 months to go for us, so time to get cranking on getting Save the Dates ready, stamped, and out the door!

Source: Designspiration

I've been thinking for a little while about what I wanted to do, whether I wanted to buy something off the shelf, have something designed for us, or make it on my own. There are tons of ideas on my Big Day and Pretty Paper pinterest boards that are all across the charts. We're still toying with the idea of having our invites custom designed, so I decided I would save some money on the save the dates and DIY them.

Source: Lifestyle Crafts

My friend Jenny has a Letterpress set up from Lifestyle Crafts (the first generation of the one seen here) that she let me play with recently, and I was surprised that it really was an easy way to get a quality letterpress look on your own. I spent some time in photoshop and then I've ordered a custom plate and am ready to get printing. It arrived about a week after I ordered it and the customer service folks at Lifestyle were great in helping me tweak a couple things to get the best quality image.

Source: The Ravenna Girls

The nice thing about having plates made is that you have a 6" x 8" surface area to order, so you can get extra images to use for escort cards, coasters, or stationery with your new married name. Our Save the Date design is just the upper left portion of the image above. I deconstructed our custom pattern, and also added some components like calligraphy we had done for some address stamps last Christmas (calligraphy by A Fabulous Fete). Hopefully some of these components I will be able to use again and again.

Source: Oh So Beautiful Paper

I have the plate in hand and now I'm just waiting to choose which paper I'll use. I have some beautiful teal watercolor paper and was originally planning to do a painted treatment similar to this beautiful piece, but I'm not sure thats going to work with the letterpress ink so I'm still in brainstorming mode. Will keep you posted! I'm also sharing some sneak peeks of the process on my instagram account (I'm @ravennagirlb) if you want to follow along there!

Outdoor Brunch Bridal Shower

A few weeks back we showered the bride with an intimate brunch, lots of mimosas and wonderful friends. I produced the floral and a lot of quiche but Liz of 346 Living and Melissa of House To Home Blog did the rest! Doesn't it all just look so beautiful? Michelle, our lovely bride is now in Denmark on her way to Italy for her Italian destination wedding. I've been working on this one for a long time and couldn't be more excited to see it all come together!

{Ilana + Jeff} Woodsie Engagement by Erich Mcvey

I've got a good one for you today! Ilana + Jeff took to the woodsie countryside for their beautiful engagement shoot. You might know Ilana as the founder of the bridesmaid dress shopping site Weddington Way. I've had the pleasure of meeting both of them on several occasions and my oh my are they one great couple. I'm quickly becoming obsessed with Erich McVey who shot this engagement session. So dreamy.