Awesome lighting, beautiful sunsets, and feeding some ducks is all in a day’s fun for Lindsay and Bobby’s engagement session by David & Sherry Buck.

I love how comfortable and in love Lindsay and Bobby are. Its like they’re not even aware they are being photographed.

Happy Monday!

Today I’m dreaming about being on the beach. As I stay warm inside today I’m basking in jealousy over this barefoot beach engagement session by Jennifer Creed | Photographer.

Jennifer said Kathleen wore the dress from her first date with Scott for their engagement session! What a cute idea and something to keep in mind for your upcoming session!

TGIF!

Looking for something to put in your welcome bags? Your guests will love edibles, maps, itineraries, and a little something to make them feel at home. They traveled to share in your special day, so why not give them something special.

Homemade granola bars are the perfect addition to your welcome bags. Wrap them in waxed paper or something that will not dry them out. Seal the granola bar with a personalized sticker including ingredients as well as a “made on” date. This will be the perfect addition to any welcome bag!

I love this chewy granola bar recipe because the texture is very much like a cookie. They are perfect for the budget and taste SO good!

Chewy Granola Bars

Makes 25 squares (Recipe courtesy of Vegetarian Times)

• 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt, divided
• 2/3 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine oats, flour, baking soda and 1/4 tsp. salt in bowl. Stir in apricots, chocolate chips and walnuts.

Beat brown sugar, maple syrup, almond butter, oil and egg whites with electric beater until smooth. Stir in oat mixture.

Spread mixture in prepared baking dish, and pat down firmly. Sprinkle top with remaining salt. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until firm. Cool 20 minutes before slicing into bars. Unmold, and store in airtight container.

Photo courtesy of Migi’s Kitchen.

Describe the proposal.

We went to a very nice steak house on Valentine’s Day called 3 forks. We sat down and had crab and shrimp appetizers and a bottle of red wine to start the night out. We had amazing steaks for dinner and then it was time for dessert.

The waiter brought out a silver platter and on the platter was an amazing piece of chocolate cake and on the platter in chocolate icing it said will you marry me? Everyone in the dining room started clapping for us and the wait staff brought us Champagne to celebrate!

We were getting married in Crested Butte, and we wanted the stationary to be a hint as to what our destination wedding would feel like.

Our flowers were in many different shades of white. I wanted elegant flowers. We chose green and champagne accents to give the wedding a clean crisp feel.

The centerpieces were hydrangeas and orchids. The flowers ended up being our favorite design element of the day.

When I started looking for my dress I tried on a few dresses but nothing caught my eye. I was looking for something very unique.

When I tried on the Maggie Soterro dress on I felt like a fairy princess. The detail was very intricate, and I knew it would look beautiful against the backdrop of Mt. Crested Butte.

We had a bride’s cake and a groom’s cake. The bride’s cake was in the romantic style I was using throughout the wedding. The groom’s cake was a chocolate cake dedicated to Jason’s love of The University of Texas.

Venue: The Club at Crested Butte

Ceremony & Cocktail Hour Music: Tyler Hansen

Photography: Alison White Photography

Florist: Misty Mountain Too

Cake: Cakes By Erika

Wedding Planner: Crested Butte Events

DJ: High Mountain DJ’s

Dress: Maggie Sottero

Hair: The Cut Above

Its the number one question everyone in the wedding industry gets… Should I hire a wedding planner? You may have read some of our recent real wedding posts that brides are gushing over the best decision they made for their wedding, and it was hiring a wedding planner!

So we asked Michele Steyn, owner of Passionately Weddings in South Africa the top reasons couples should hire a wedding planner and I’m so excited for Michele to be our guest blogger on LDW.

Enjoy!

One of the first questions I am always asked by prospective clients is why they should hire a wedding planner. What is the benefit to the couple? Well here are my top 8 reasons why you should hire a professional to assist you with your planning process.

1. Saves Time

Planning a wedding is ONE of the most time consuming events that you will ever be involved in. A wedding planner will always save you time as they have the contacts and the knowledge to make the process easier and less hectic.

2. Saves Money

This is probably the one reason that makes most Grooms happy. Weddings are expensive but a good wedding planner would have made many contacts in the field and will be able to assist you to get the best for your money. They will assist with creating budgets and helping you to stick to it. They have a large database of service providers and have worked with most of them frequently and its easier for a Planner to negotiate rates on your behalf.

3. Dreams

A wedding planner can assist you in making your dream a reality by listening to what you envision and putting you in touch with the best service providers to create your dream. They will offer advice to make sure that your dream is a doable proposition.

4. They work only for you!!

Most venues include a “Wedding Coordinator” in your venue fee. They promise to look after all aspects of the wedding for you. However this only encompasses everything that pertains to the venue only ie catering, set up etc. All the other details they leave to you. An independent wedding planner works only for you, so they will ensure that ALL aspects of your day come together the way it is meant too and will work with the venue coordinator to ensure your Big day is special.

5. Acts as a “go to” person

Your wedding planner will be the one person on the wedding day that has all of your service provider’s details, has drawn up a schedule for all concerned to work with, and will make sure that all crises are handled timeously so that you and your guests are totally unaware there ever was a problem.

6. Forgotten

As a wedding planner I have worked with so many brides who have forgotten little details. Sometimes they are details that cannot be forgotten for instance – with an outdoor ceremony, have you remembered to have a back up weather plan? I had one bride who had booked a stunning guest house for her wedding and a beautiful suite for her to get ready in, and when I asked her where the groom was going to get ready she said…”oh, probably in the guest bathroom”. She had forgotten that her hubby to be also needed somewhere to get dressed!! And its these little “forgotten” items that your planner will remind you about and make sure is solved.

7. Mediator

A good wedding planner will also act as a mediator to help keep everyone relaxed and happy. Its not easy keeping everyone happy on the day but the wedding planner will help to alleviate any stressful issues. Its always easier to communicate with your future Mother in law that “my wedding planner thinks…..” rather than cause any unnecessary drama.

8. Minimises Stress

Probably one of the most important reasons is this. Your wedding planner will minimize your stress allowing you to relax and enjoy your wedding day knowing that someone is taking care of all the little details for you.

Describe the proposal.

Amazing! Bill made it into a private concert. His cousin played the guitar, my father played a song on the violin, and Bill played the piano. He decorated the church where we would later get married with candles and twinkle lights.

He played 4 times in between a video he made of photos of us and my favorite movies. We followed it up with a champagne toast.

For the flowers I wanted them to look like they were just pulled from the garden. I also added a locket of photos of both of my grandfathers who passed away.

We wanted simple and elegant for our cake. There was no design feature except the real grapes on top. My family owns a winery, so we wanted the theme to look like vineyard elegance.

Photography: Melissa McFadden Photography

Venue: Private Residence

Florist: Amore’ Floral Designs

Catering: Someone’s in the Kitchen

Cake: Kim Wheeler Cakes

Wine: Abeja Inn & Winery

Music: Grey Door Music Company

Ceremony: First Presbyterian Church

Linens & Coverings: Save-on-crafts.com

Rentals: Sun Rental

Dress: Nordstrom

Dress Designer: Amsale

Shoes: Badgley Mischka