Katie made this peach colored bird cage veil

The coins came from different countries Katie and Luke had visited while traveling Europe together

Their first look was done on the beach!

Katie, along with her family, made the groomsmen boutonnieres.

The Olive Lawn at Estancia Hotel

They used different countries as table names. Passports were used as escort cards.

Katie’s father Tip created this wooden structure for their chalkboard frames to be placed on.

Instead of a champagne toast, the bride and groom wanted to include a touch of Ireland (where they lived while Katie did her student teaching) by having a Guinness Beer toast.

One of their songs “Galway Girl” played as guests clapped and cheered.

Guests got to take their own photos in Katie and Luke’s fun self made photo booth. The props sat in a vintage dresser with a chalk board sign.

The night ended with a packed dance floor and guests participating in Katie and Luke’s signature dance called “Let It Go”.

I know Katie and Luke will have many memories together and many more place to travel! Thank you for letting us experience a gorgeous California wedding!

Wedding Coordination: Green Orchid Events
Ceremony and Reception Venue: Estancia Hotel and Spa
Photography: Whitney of Whitney Darling Photography
Videography: J Video Productions
Disc Jockey: La Jolla DJs
Wedding Cake and Cupcakes: Elegant Dessert Designs
Officiant: Kevin Odor
Hair and Makeup: Jen and Tammy
Florist: Linda

Anya wanted a fun and “spiky” element for her bouquet. The bouquet consisted of Black Magic Roses, dark mini Calla Lilies, deep red Dahlias, and Chili Peppers.

First Look

Time to get married! The bride, groom, and their guests gathered in a stretch limo filled with drinks and snacks and headed up to Red Rock Canyon.

Next stop on their Las Vegas adventure was a guided tour of The Neon Museum.

After the tour guests were picked up in a Double Decker Bus and headed to the Welcome to Las Vegas Sign.

Their fun filled Vegas tour ended with a delicious dinner at Circo located inside of the Bellagio. Anya and Rob were so much fun to work with. I was sad their wedding had ended! I am glad I get to keep up with them on Facebook though and see all of their travels and journeys together! Keep on biking!

Wedding Planning and Coordination: Green Orchid Events
Photograpy: Adam Trujillo Photography
Bouquet and Boutonniere: Layers of Lovely
Hair and Makeup: Your Beauty Call
Officiant: Reverend Linda Venniro
Double Decker Bus: Double Decker Bus of Las Vegas
Stretch Limo: Earth Limos and Buses

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website * Email: angelica@greenorchidevents.com

With my wedding day fast approaching, I am looking forward to many things. I guess the thing that I am most looking forward to is our families coming together. Our complete families have never met since mine live in the Phoenix area and his Portland, Oregon. The rehearsal dinner will be the first time our siblings will meet, and that is a moment I have been waiting for. Of course, I am looking forward to marrying my best friend, but let’s be honest we live together so it is like we are practically married!

While meeting our wedding vendors, most of them asked what we were looking forward to the most on our wedding day. We both said on many occasions that we are looking forward to our guests enjoying themselves. Of course, I am looking forward to the beautiful floral arrangements that Nick and I have picked out as well as the food, lighting, song selections and every other detail we have spent months planning. Nick and I have created, what we think, are some really cool things for our guests. But above all, I am looking forward to our family and friends having a great time sharing in our wedding day.

-Beth

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When Nick and I were looking at venues, we visited different types of locations for our wedding.  We looked at banquet halls, hotels, casinos and golf courses.  Through the process, Nick and I liked different venues. My Oregon native fiancé was not too keen on getting married in a location decorated with traditional Southwest décor, and neither was I. Nick kept saying he wanted some place with a lot of greenery, so I did my best to search for venues that were green in the middle of the dessert.

But why the golf course option? Phoenix has some beautiful golf courses and besides the Botanical Gardens, they are really the only venues that seem like an oasis in the dessert. Growing up my father loved playing golf. He always told me I was his last chance to be able to caddy for one of his children in the US Open. I was horrible at golf; my favorite part was driving the golf carts. Even though I did not go pro with my great golf skills, golf courses have still been a constant in my life. Ocotillo Golf Resort was the venue we threw my dad’s surprise 60th birthday party at so I knew the food quality and how the catering team worked.

During the venue search with Nick, we made a stop at Ocotillo Golf Resort, and we loved the outdoor site as well as the indoor reception site that did not look like a traditional ballroom.

Nick and I did not know right off the bat that we wanted to get married at a golf course. We were open to looking at many different types of venues and found one that we both loved.  Nick and I had a list of our must haves, and we did not want to settle for anything less for our big day.

-Beth

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Nick and I have always had a strong relationship, but planning a large event that brings different people together can be a little stressful. Throughout the entire time of planning our wedding, we came across many items we did not agree on.  Chicken or fish, burgundy or champagne sash, traditional or modern music selections? With every option, when he said this, I said that. There was definitely a learning curve when it came to communicating effectively. Nick was great throughout the entire process. I told him early on that during different points throughout the planning, I would be stressed and he understood.

I have always been a detail oriented girl, sometimes to a fault! But, for what is the biggest day in my life, I was surprisingly carefree during the planning, or at least I think I was. Luckily, Nick is not writing this blog post, or we might get a completely different opinion! I realized early on that Nick had been thinking about our wedding for awhile as well. He had details he wanted integrated and I loved that. It went from being MY dream wedding to OUR dream wedding! I do not think I would have actually heard Nick’s ideas if I was still tied up on every little detail. After all, it is OUR wedding!

-Beth

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The biggest challenge Nick and I have faced during the planning process is trying to plan all of the details so that all of our guests will be happy. Since we have a diverse group of guests coming to our wedding, we wanted to make sure that all of them would enjoy themselves. We questioned everything along the planning process. Will our guests like the entrée choices we have picked out? Will they appreciate our nontraditional song selections? Will our guests like the personal touches we have added?

Of course, we know that it is our day and that as long as it is what we wanted, it will be a success. But, everyone at our wedding is very important to us and we want to make them feel that way. We want everyone to feel like a VIP at our wedding.

We determined right around our menu tasting at our venue that we cannot change what we have decided on because one or two of our guests would not like it. Some of our guests do not eat red meat, so do we not serve steak as to not offend those select few? We decided that we love steak too much! Instead, our venue will serve them other personal entrée selections. This way, they feel special because we respect their dietary choices, but the rest of us can have steak!!

I knew accommodating everyone would be hard and so Nick and I have really had to determine what to do on a case by case basis.

-Beth

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Mission Surprise Wedding started with us meeting at Hard Rock Hotel with the bride and groom. The bride thought they were going to be doing their bridal photos that day. The bride was Chinese and in the Chinese culture they do bridal photos in their wedding dress prior to the wedding, which helped keep the surprise going. We had a suite at the Hard Rock Hotel that the bride and groom got ready in. The bride Yanni thought Green Orchid Events was there to have a consultation with her and discuss services for her “future” wedding date. We had to giggle after the consultation because the way she had described how she wanted her wedding day was exactly the way we had planned it with the groom down to Sparkling Cider in a Champagne Flute because she doesn’t drink alcohol.

Once the bride and groom were ready for their “Bridal Photos”, photographer Steve Fogarty took them around the Hard Rock Hotel for a photo session. Meanwhile, we were in the suite flipping the space to become a wedding ceremony. Floral, candles, drinks, a wedding cake, the best friends, and an officiant were brought in to complete the ceremony. Once the photo session was completed, the bride and groom headed back to their suite. As they walked into their room, the bride thought they had walked into the wrong room and was hesitant to continue in. Once she realized what was going on she burst into tears and they walked down the aisle. It was one of the sweetest wedding ceremonies I have ever seen. You would think the surprise would end here…oh no! The groom surprised her the next day with a honeymoon to Europe! Talk about romantic!

Wedding Planning and Coordination: Green Orchid Events
Hair and Makeup: Lori White – lala {@} altf.com
Photography: Steve Fogarty
Venue: Hard Rock Hotel
Officiant: Reverend Judy Irving

Feel free to email me with your thoughts and comments! I’d love to hear from you! angelica@greenorchidevents.com

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They booked the World Market Center for both their ceremony and reception. Location in downtown Las Vegas, World Market Center is mainly used as a showcase for the furnishings industry. Years ago, I had worked the Las Vegas Market as a convention model so it was exciting to be back there coordinating a wedding.

The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place out on the terrace. But we had to move the wedding inside due to extremely cold weather. In fact, I believe it snowed no more than an hour before I arrived for set up. The reception took place on the top floor at Worldview on Sixteen with a spectacular view of the city. Guests feasted on a tapas menu by Renaissance Catering. Entertainment was provided by Sight and Sound Events and also included karaoke in the adjacent room!

Chinese and Japanese traditions were both incorporated: Chinese firecrackers were used to ward off the evil spirits

A very Asian inspired ceremony site included paper lanterns, paper cranes, and parasols. This was a last minute design by Enchanted Florist since we had to move the ceremony location from the terrace to this first floor indoor location.

A few of their bridal portraits by Erwin of Apertura!

Their favors were jars of honey.

They wanted Winnie the Pooh guarding the honey and I just happened to have a big talking Winnie the Pooh so I brought that along for them to borrow.

I loved Grace’s bouquet that included Billy Balls and paper cranes.

Grace’s father gave one of the most heartfelt speeches I’ve ever heard.

Traditional Chinese signature scroll.

Grace changed into a traditional Chinese dress, the qi pao.

Wedding Planning, Design, and Coordination: Green Orchid Events
Photography: Erwin Darmali of Apertura
Venue: World Market Center
Caterer: Renaissance Catering
Makeup/Hair: Makeup in the 702
Floral: Enchanted Florist
Linens and Rentals: RSVP Party
DJ & Karaoke: Sight and Sound Events
Transportation: Double Decker Bus Company for guests; Lucky Limo for bridal party

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Thank you Olga Wilson of Dott Photography for these amazing photos. Jane and Gene are the sweetest couple and I loved working with them! Congratulations again!

There was a lot of bling at this wedding!

An emotional First Look. I LOVE when couples decide on this.

I just loved her beautiful pink bouquet with feathers against her elegant wedding dress.

After the ceremony, Jane switched out her white crystal sash for a black floral beaded lace sash.

They wanted whimsical cupcakes with butterflies and edible diamonds on top. So pretty and delicious!

Swarovski crystal Champagne flutes.

Gene got in the fountain for a photo. They were up for anything!

Wedding Planning, Design, and Coordination: Green Orchid Events
Photography: Olga Wilson of Dott Photography
Ceremony: Andalusian Garden at Loews Lake Las Vegas.
Reception: Lotus Court at Loews Lake Las Vegas.
Officiant: Rabbi Mel Hecht
Hair/Makeup: Lori White – lala {@} altf.com
Floral and Linens: Flora Couture by Floral 2000
Specialty Linens: Wildflower Linens
Cupcakes: Gimme Some Sugar
Ceremony Entertainment: Harpist from Classical Entertainment
Reception Entertainment: Singer Brian Starr with sound equipment from Sight and Sound Events

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Tiffany has been a long time friend of mine and I remember when she was planning her original wedding a few years ago. You can check out the rest of that story in the 1st wedding issue of 944 magazine. Thank you Adam Trujillo Photography for these beautiful photos. To see additional photos from their engagement session, visit his blog!

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For a complimentary consultation for wedding planning services, please email us: juliet@greenorchidevents.com

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