EE Celebration | Tuscan Wedding {part 2}

A Very Talented Vendor Team:

Photography - One Fine Day 

Venue - Villa Siena

Planner - Meant2Be Events

Stationery / Details - The Event Essentials

Entertainment - SKM Entertainment

Flowers: Blume Events

Cake: Piece of Cake

Linens: BBJ Linen

Mad Hatter Tea Party | Tokyo

The 3rd Annual NACE "Event Elements" competition was held on June 22nd at the Arizona Grand Resort. It was an awesome opportunity to see a room filled with some of the most creative minded individual's work brought to life. The tablescapes were out of this world! Its truly incredible to see how each person interoperates their category. This year it was Tokyo, Paris, Rio, and Cairo. We teetered between Tokyo and Paris, but in the end we chose to bring Tokyo to life.

By the order of the Queen of Hearts,
You are hereby invited to a very merry unbirthday party

Now, statistics prove that you’ve one birthday.
Imagine, just one birthday every year!

Ah, but there are three hundred and sixty four unbirthdays
Precisely why we are gathered here

Because it’s a very merry unbirthday to you!
To me! Yes, you! …. Oh Me!
Lets all congratulate with another cup of tea!

Find your Queen’s Men and take a seat
Enjoy a light snack and a sweet sushi treat.

A Garden with confections, characters and chatter
Don’t miss this fabulous tea party, hosted by the Mad Hatter!

For being our guests, we have a small favor
That is taken with you to later savor!

Eat Me! Drink Me! And don’t be late!
Join us as we celebrate

And down the rabbit hole we shall go
To Disneyland in Tokyo

Photography rocked out by the AMAZING Ben Quillinan of BQ Photography (shots 1-3, 7-11) and Stuart Thurlkill of Eyes 2 See Photography (shots 4 - 6). THANK you for your talented work!!

Over the top florals provided by the ingenious husband and wife team, Kevin and Shauna, from Your Event Florist.  Thank you for listening to my concepts then rocking the design out of the ball park!

Stunning linens provided by the ever-so-wonderful Laurie Southwick from Southwick Linens! Thank you for going above and beyond for me at all times!

Rentals provided by the simply talented Ginia from Y-Knot Party Rentals. Thank you for always being there to help me, even why my creative ideas go crazy!

And I can't go without a HUGE HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to my loving and hard working husband and amazing friends Regina from Meant2Be Events and Anthony from Kool Party Rentals for helping me set up, telling me when things didn't flow right, and creative talents for this amazing table!! Your work, time, effort and positive energy was sincerely appreciated!! I couldn't have won without you! THANK YOU!

I'm honored to work with such amazing people!!

{Congratulations Melissa and Seth}

Congratulations Melissa and Seth! You two were absolutely breathtaking and thank you for including us in such an amazing event milestone in your life.  We are forever grateful!  Other than the mouse crawling up my pant leg, I can say this grande affair was as close to perfect as possible!  We wish nothing but the best for your journey of marriage together! XoXo!

Photography by the amazingly talented Jane Zarzynski!!!  Thank You!

{BQ Photography - Portrait Session Fundraiser}

A great photographer friend of mine, Ben Quillinan from BQ Photography, sent out a postcard for a photography fundraiser in the Phoenix area. I think it's a fabulous cause and would be the perfect time for someone to get started on their holiday portraits, baby photos, or even quick engagement pics for a super cool save the date card. Check him out. His work is utterly AMAZING!!

From Ben - Hello, I recently mailed a card for a portrait fundraiser I'm currently doing. Through November, my regular session fee is discounted to $150 and all of those session proceeds will be donated to Childhelp, an organization dedicated to the prevention and treatment of child abuse. They're a wonderful group and I'm very excited to be contributing to their cause this year. Hopefully you received that card and have passed on the details to everyone you know. Please call me with any questions and to schedule your portraits soon.

Don't forget to tell him Kim sent you and he will take extra special care for me!!

{Tomorrow -- DIY: G is for .......}

{FREE Photography Contest}

Rachael at MetImages is hosting a contest for complimentary wedding day photography coverage for an Arizona wedding!

What does this mean? This means you can enter our contest for a chance to win your wedding day photography! Rachael will be the shooter for your wedding and included is coverage from 2 hours prior to the ceremony all the way to an hour after your first dance, an online gallery of your images for 3 months and a gorgeous set of casual albums.

To enter please email us at contest@metimages.com

Tell us in 1,000 words or less what makes your Arizona wedding UNIQUE. Entry deadline is June 22, 2008. The team at Metropolitan Imageworks will collectively judge the entries and the winner will be announced on our blog on July 1, 2008.

The contest rules are as follows:

The contest is open to anyone having a wedding anywhere in the state of Arizona. (Hence us asking what makes your Arizona wedding unique.)

Entrants must have a wedding date set! We also prefer you have a venue secured as well.

Entrants may not already have a valid contract with another photographer. (No contract interference on our end.)

Your wedding must fall on a date I am not already booked. (I have many dates available in prime AZ wedding season.)

Prize includes my shooting, online gallery for 3 months and casual album set. (All items non-transferable. Winner may purchase additional items.)

Please contact them with additional questions. 

Good luck!

Congratulations Larry and Julie

From all of us at the Event Essentials would like to send a big CONGRATULATIONS to our beautiful bride and groom!! Larry and Julie were married in Phoenix on July 14, 2007. Thank you for allowing us to make your gorgeous invitations and help with the small details!! Best wishes to our newest and happiest couple!!

Trash the Dress

I recently came across a really cool website/blog called "Trash That Dress" --- for brides who like to take creative photography while trashing their wedding gown. It's a really great site, but what makes it even better is that I did a little trash that dress session in a wedding gown. Actually, it wasn't my "actual" wedding dress, but it was the first dress I bought (yes, I can admit that I was a 2 dress bride). When I got the first bit of dirt on it, I was totally sad because it was a beautiful gown. But then, I got over it and we had a BLAST!!. Check out my pictures and check out the website. http://trashthedress.com/

Check out my sexy shoes


Girls ~ Garters ~ Grease! OH MY!


Rhino in the Desert


Standing in the dirt in a white dress is FUN!!


Ahhh the first sign of a bad stain!


And yes, it has officially been trashed!!


Photography taken by Shelly Ivy -- Ivy Studios www.azweddingphotographer.com