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posted by Carie |
A couple of Sundays ago, Jennifer and I attended a baby shower for Nicole. It was hosted by Aimee, Carissa, and Lora, with floral help from Shannon. Aimee's home is so gorgeous and was decorated so beautifully for Nicole's shower.
Now, I had not seen Nicole since she got pregnant so it was such a trip to see her walk in with quite the baby bump! She looked gorgeous of course. She is truly glowing and is ALL belly. I don't know how she stays upright. |
| Carissa did all the food for the shower. Incredible! The salads in jars was just the most clever idea ever! Shake it up, stick a fork in it! Delicious. It was the best shower food we've ever had. |
| Mmmm....Peaches wrapped in prosciutto! So scrumptious. Even the crudites were exceptional with crispy zucchini, red bell pepper and sugar snap peas. |
| Of course there was a delightful selection of desserts from the fabulous Carissa of Sugar and Spice. Creme brulee, Macarons, chocolate mousse, peach cobbler, chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream frosting! Just to name a few. I was eyeing the desserts from the moment we arrived and Carissa had to keep an eye on me so I didn't dig into the dessert table too early! Jen and I grabbed a few nibbles on our way out the door. We can never get enough Sugar and Spice Specialty Desserts! Never! Personally I wish I could live on them. |
| Shannon with Flourish Designs provided some unbelievable flowers for the shower. They were breathtaking! |
| Check out Aimee's kitchen! |
| Lora Ward with A Day to Remember was in charge of games. I usually don't dig shower games but all of Lora's games were quick and super fun! First we had to make a baby out of play dough. They were judged by the mommy-to-be and the winner got a prize. We also played a team game where you had to drop 3 different sized clothes pins from waist level into a jar. This proved very difficult but luckily the team I was on won and we all got a darling prize. |
| Check out the play dough babies! Too funny! The little guy in the lower photo with the curl on his head was the winner and Shannon was the artist of this winning baby. Shannon was very creative and made a blankey, a diaper and even a little baby butt crack! |
| Nicole's baby shower hostesses incorporated lots of great ideas into this lovely shower. One of my favorite ideas was they asked for a book in lieu of a regular greeting card. This is so smart! Greeting cards can cost upwards of 5 bucks and get tossed in the trash immediately. The more expensive kids' books are only a buck or two more than that and can provide hours of entertainment while helping kids get familiar with words and reading. Too cool! Kudos to these fabulous party planners for all their creativity! |
| Here's the guest of honor opening gifts. She has a tiara on like any good princess and the sheepskin bean-y cap that Cory got the baby on top of her tiara. That's our NJ...always goofing around. What a fun mommy she will be! |
| Jen and I had to leave the shower a little early for a consult so Nicole opened our gifts first. This is the crib set up we got her off her registry. It's so cute with whales and boats. It looked so soft and snugly, we all wanted to take a nap on it! |
| Great shower ladies! Congratulations again to Nicole and Johnny whose baby boy is due in October. |
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Finding a Sacramento Wedding Planner - Talk of the Town Thursdays - 2Chic Events & Design |
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Office News
Posted by Carie - 9/9/10
Photographed by Jennifer
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posted by Carie |
This week's Talk of the Town Thursdays' post is all about 2Chic Events & Design. We have had the pleasure of working with Aimee Wendell and following her career for the past few years. Aimee has well over a decade of planning and design experience which she puts to great use helping brides bring their wedding day vision to life. Aimee and her entire team have a passion for planning and love what they do. It shows in their work! 2Chic Events & Design was voted #1 Best Wedding Planner in Sacramento on the KCRA-3 A-List! Also, they are the featured planner on Platinum Weddings, Season 5. Amazing!!!
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We caught up with the lovely Aimee recently and got to know her and 2Chic a little better....
How long have you been a wedding planner and designer and what made you choose this career? I have been an event planner and worked in the creative/design field for almost 15 years, with a background in planning corporate events for companies such as Disney and Warner Bros. Growing up, I wanted to be a set designer for the studios and. When I fell into event planning, I realized that it's similar to what I thought I would always be doing, but better! I formed my company about 3 years ago and decided to focus on weddings, which is about 95% of our business.
What is your favorite wedding element or moment? I'm slightly obsessed with unique place card displays and I love a fabulous cake! My favorite moment is always the speech by the Father of the Bride. It gets me every time!
Is there any detail you wish couples would stop incorporating into their wedding? I just like to break the mold any way I can! So, things like playing "Single Ladies" for the bouquet toss, having traditional favors {or any at all} and setting place cards on a standard table just make me cringe {a little}. I'll support it if my bride loves it, though.
What is the one thing you can't do your job without? My team. They are the glue that helps hold it all together. And, my iPhone!
Can you give us your price range for wedding planning services for a wedding with 100 guests? Services start at $1750 for planning and $300 for a la carte services. We typically customize all of our services to meet a clients specific needs and budget.
Is there anything you would like to add about 2Chic Events and Design? Hmmm, Well we love what we do! Our clients aren't just clients, they become friends as we go through this process together. My heart is in every wedding and I still cry at each and every one. We have a true passion for it and it I think that is what makes us great!
Thanks, Aimee! We love your passion! |
| We worked with Aimee and 2Chic Events & Design at last year's August NACE event out at Le Rivage. You will think I'm just saying this but it was my favorite NACE event last year hands down! It was the hottest day that month and Aimee's beautiful design created a "breezy" feeling all around. The colors were to-die-for and everyone just raved about how gorgeous everything looked. |
| It's the little details that make an event special and Aimee and her team are masters at all things details and pretty! |
We are super excited that we are working with Aimee on a wedding later this year. Watch for another post featuring 2Chic Events & Design when we'll have more fab photos and interview answers.
2Chic Events & Design is located at:
1931 H Street
Sacramento, CA 95811
{by appointment only}
916.390.7586
info@SacramentoWeddingPlanning.com |
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Taking Better Photographs - Photo Tip Tuesday Tip 10 - Using Reflectors |
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Office News
Posted by Jennifer - 9/7/10
Photographed by Jennifer
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posted by Jennifer |
Last week we talked about Black and White photos and we are continuing down the path of color in photos this week. You can review our past Tuesday Tips on the blog. This week, we're going to talk about the use of reflectors to enhance the color of your photo without having to lug huge lights to your outdoor location.
First off, what is a reflector you ask? Well it's really no more than just those large circular discs you put in your windshield of your car, aka car sun shades. But reflectors come in many different colors for the use of us photographers. Car shades usually come in silver and add a cooler color to your photos. My personal favorite color reflector is gold. This particular color adds more of that sunset color look to your photos....it's warm and glow-y.
How do you use a reflector? Well you use it to bounce light back into your subject. This allows you to put the sun behind you (or off to one side) and still get good light and color on your subjects.
Often when you are outside, the sun might be too harsh for your subject to look right into the sun. In this case, you will have to angle them away from the sun. But this means they will be in the shade, or the darker side. Notice this first series - the left is the one taken using a reflector and the one to the right is without the use of a reflector. Don't you think this makes a huge difference?
This particular photo was used in Bella Donna Bridal's new ad, with our model Rachel Andrews. |
Here is another example of being able to put your subjects right into the harsh daylight, using the sun as your back hair-light. You can see how the picture to the right, without use of a reflector, is much cooler (bluer) in color since they are in the shade. And once we put them into the sun (as the back hair light) and used a reflector to bounce the sun light back into their faces, it was plenty light enough and gave their faces that warm look.
This is Elizabeth and Claudio's wedding day at Morris Chapel. |
| Next time you are outside and need to put your subject (in particular faces) in the shady light - run to you car and be sure to grab that great reflector! Be sure to try out different colors too - you can do this by using large sheets of paper! |
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Preparing for Your Wedding Photos - Tip 9 - Getting Dressed - Things to Consider |
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Office News
Posted by Carie - 9/1/10
Photographed by Jennifer
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posted by Carie |
Getting dressed for your wedding day is obviously not like getting ready for any other event in your life. Unless you are a celebrity attending the Emmy's! Since most of us are real people, we want to share with you some insight on preparing for your wedding day. Of course, as photographers, this insight usually benefits us as well as it creates great photo opportunities as you can see in these photos from the wedding day of Nicole and John (January 2010).
An important thing to consider about getting ready for your big day is 'who will be in the room with me?' This behind the scenes crew should consist of your best and most helpful girlfriends and close family. Most Moms and Mother of the Grooms LOVE to be included in this part of the day. These are great gals to have on hand as they usually know a lot of tricks and will keep a cool head should anything go wrong with your preparation. Not to mention, it gives them a chance to impart any last minute words of wisdom. |
| Also, don't forget the grannies! Grandmothers will get a kick out of helping too and are great for keeping any little ones occupied while their mommy helps out bridey. |
| Most importantly, be sure one of your gals knows how to properly put on a veil and make sure she is in the room while you get ready. Also, if any special tools like a crochet needle for buttoning buttons will be needed, make sure you have one on hand. |
| And don't forget to smile (if that's your thing)! |
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Canon Cinema Caravan - We won! |
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Office News
Posted by Jennifer - 8/31/10
Photographed by Jennifer
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posted by Jennifer |
Less than a week ago, we posted about the Canon Cinema Caravan commercial competition - asking you all to go and watch and vote.
It was just announced today that we WON!
WOOHOO!!!!
HUGE thank you's go out to each and every one of you that voted. There were hundreds of you. Special thanks to the following people who really got the word out there: Dawn (our little model's mom), Terry, Carie, and all my family and friends who spread the word.
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Learn more about Jennifer on the team page
