Saturday, May 29, 2010 Wedding

Flower petal wedding!
Pink rose petals were around every corner.
As soon as the bride got to BeckenRidge, she was busy decorating with her other bridesmaids. We made it easy for her with tables preset with white linens, and mirror tiles she rented from us.


Because this was a small wedding of less than 50 guests the bride decided to have only our black padded chairs set at her tables of white linens. It looked very elegant, and with her pink rose pedals sprinkled around the mirror tile center pieces, it created a beautiful look.

The most memorable thing about this wedding was, as I have mentioned the pink rose petals. When the bridal party arrived two girls spent most of the morning sitting next to buckets and buckets of pink roses. They took the petals off several dozen roses and put them in a tub that was then scattered down the aisle.

As she was about to walk down the aisle her dad and her exchanged a few last minute giggles and she began her journey to the path of pink.Dinner was a sit-down feast catered by Loustic Catering www.loustic.com. They have been here before and provided a delicious meat, potatoes and asparagus meal. Their presentation is great and the food is full of flavor. We enjoyed having them here to cater this wedding.

The reception was powered by the BeckenRidge Stereo, with an ipod plugged into it. It works well as long as the person controlling it knows what speakers to turn up, otherwise the base could shake the building! Everyone had a good time dancing in the middle of the room and getting drinks on occasion. They day ended as easily as it began.

Sunday, May 23rd Wedding

Two weddings in a row this weekend.

Sunday was a 50/50 chance to have the wedding ceremony down on the lawn and so to be hopeful we set up our white Italian chairs they rented from BeckenRidge. As it got closer to the start of the ceremony, the weather wasn't looking like it was going to cooperate. The decision was made to move the white Italian chairs, rented from BeckenRidge, up to the patio. The transition was lead by our very own Ken maintenance/vineyard/everything else guy, who with the help of a few other men was able to bring the chairs up to the patio and set-up for plan B.

Everyone arrived at the same time. It was a flood of cars coming into the parking lot. They had everything very organized on trays and carts, ready for easy transport that made it fast to decorate the room. Upon arrival the tables and chairs were preset to the diagram they wanted, but everything else was a blank slate. They brought in their own table cloths from another rental place, and went to town decorating. The florist was a family friend, who brought all the necessary items to make the table arrangements at BeckenRidge. It was very elegant to see each place setting preset with delicate china, and silverware. The look of the tables were very flattering.

The bride and bridesmaids were bustling around getting ready while also enjoying the tastiness of the Bella Package. Fruit, cheese, and crackers with some sparkling champagne and orange juice, set the tone for a fun day.

Alcyone Cafe and Catering (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Salem-OR/Alcyone-Cafe-Catering/272350087694?ref=ts&__a=11) was chosen to provide the food. They had a very professional staff personnel, and the chef was very friendly, as well as made fabulous food. We enjoyed having them cater at BeckenRidge, and would, with out a doubt, recommend them again.




Sweet music from a family member playing a cello, filled the patio as the ceremony started.




It was peaceful as the bride walked down the isle to her future husband. Several family members got up to speak about the true meaning of marriage and what it means between a man and a woman. The words were sweet and the moments tender.





Family was a huge part of this wedding, and as a gift to the bride and groom the two mothers got together and composed and performed a piece on BeckenRidge's baby grand piano. While they were playing, champagne was being passed around to create a smooth transition into the toasts.


DJ Sergio played great background music as dinner went on, and livened up the party when it was time to "bust-a-move".

Before we knew it, the limo arrived and the bride and groom were whisked away to their honeymoon.

Saturday, May 22nd Wedding

After raining all night and that morning it was an easy decision to put the ceremony on the patio, although, the family was able to enjoy the sunshine later that afternoon.

The mother of the bride arrived first with her daughter and other bridesmaids following closely behind. They were greeted with the Bella Package set up in the bride’s room for them. Yummy fruit, cheese, and crackers with of course ingredients for mimosas! The girls wasted no time getting ready when Jennifer Rand from Face Body and Beauty www.facebodybeauty.com arrived to do hair and make-up.

The guys were anxious to hang out in the Belvedere Groom’s room, with the Foosball table and Budweiser they ordered. They were also pleasantly surprised to find the Mother of the Bride had surprised them with customized beer steins for each groomsman.

While everyone was getting ready friends and family helped decorate and set the tables. We made it a little easier with the tables in place and set up with white linens rented from BeckenRidge. The decorations were fun pastel colors of green, pink, yellow, purple and blue. Coincidentally, (planned of course) the bridesmaid dresses were each of those different colors. It was great when they placed on the tables bowls of Easter colored M&M’s they had stocked up on just for the wedding! It was smart that they thought about that earlier, when things are only seasonal, you have to get it when it is available. Good thinking on their part. The M&M’s were accompanied by bowls of peanuts and chex-mix they brought. Also rented from BeckenRidge, was our white Italian chairs for all the tables inside and the ceremony seating outside on the patio.

Before we knew it, the bride was walking down the isle. Johanna Respini www.johannarespini.com, not a stranger to BeckenRidge, officiated the wedding. She has worked up here many times before, and was happy to find out the bride and groom choose BeckenRidge as their venue.

The DJ, a new vendor to us, but one we would definitely recommend again was Jeffe from True Love sound Mobile DJ and Multimedia Services http://www.truelovesound.com/ (541) 684-4598.

He and his wife were great. They came to rehearsal and did a great job on the wedding day.

After the ceremony the bridal party sneaked away and ready themselves to be introduced to the guests. The bridal party reentered through the front doors and the DJ announced who they were and a little bit about them. This is a cool idea that we are seeing more of this year.

While things were happening inside the main room, BeckenRidge and family helped move chairs off the covered patio after the ceremony. Later in the evening the food buffet tables were placed on the covered patio to allow for more dance space inside. They did all the first dances and even a money dance which was a huge success, some who were waiting to dance with the bride and groom didn't get to by the time the song finished. :(

As said before the sun came out and warmed us towards the end of the evening making for a great send off for the bride and groom.

Tuesday, May 18th Wedding

Well we wish the weather was a little more corporative today as it was on Saturday, but we have a few more clouds and wind that is keeping it very cool.

There wasn't too many vendors working this event, they choose to have the family pitch in and help. They were all running at top speed turning the room into a masterpiece. They had a little help from BeckenRidge with already having the tables and chairs in place along with the chair covers they rented from us. The real work came with adding the linens, centerpieces (that they put together here), plates and water goblets. Busy bees they all were and the end result was beautiful.

Josh Hudson (photographer) was capturing every detail of the day. The bride was busy getting ready in her room while the guys (opted out of the Belvedere Room) finished their attire in the bathrooms. They were ready very soon and started taking their photos in the vineyard. Oh spring time in Oregon, so wish it was more predictable.

They kept with their Plan A having the ceremony on the lawn and reception inside, with only 60 or so guests switching to a Plan B would of been easy. The main reception room was set in sheer shades of purple, orange roses, floating candles and curly willow. The bride was looking to having a low lighting intimate affair for the reception. In order to achieve this we turned down the lights in the main room and closed all the blinds.


The ceremony went off as planned on the lawn with dark looming clouds all around. Right before the bride was to make her entrance for the ceremony the clouds broke bringing the sunshine and a rainbow in the distance beyond the metal arch. Everything just happened so perfectly.

They had a friend play the baby grand piano and sing using BeckenRidge's wireless mic and sound system. Instead of a DJ they brought in their ipod and had their coordinator run BeckenRidge's sound system. The sound system worked great, until they really wanted to turn up the volume for dancing but the speakers really couldn't keep up. Luckily their were only a couple songs during this time.


Special Occasions catering http://www.specialo.tzo.com/ was present for the food, setting the buffet table beautifully. As always there was lots of food left over for them to enjoy later.

They did the bouquet and garter toss on the lawn giving them plenty of space and not have to worry about hitting any of the ceiling fans.

As the skies darkened the lights around the building lite up. The contrast of the white limo http://www.sunshinelimoservice.com/ and the building was great for pictures. The bride & groom took a few more pictures around and on top of the limo (missed those shots) before heading to the beach for their wedding night.

Sat. May 15th Wedding

Where to begin, so much was happening all day...

Well the day couldn't of been better, temperture was just right and everything ran perfectly all day.

Let's see the photographers Brian and Leah (and the soon arrival of Wellington) Rupp arrived to start checking out the location with this being their first time at BeckenRidge. Both were so sweet and super easy to work with. They received the 101 on the Phylloxera Virus and ended up having their shoes treated to prevent the virus from spreading. I can't wait to see the pictures they took throughout the day.




Well the girls arrived next, had them settled in with the Bella package of fruit, cheese, crackers and semi traditional Mimosa's in the bride's dressing room.

Liz their coordinator wasted no time and started decorating. BeckenRidge already had the main room & patios set with tables, Italian chairs and ivory table clothes. They brought in a green crush overlay's with chocolate colored napkins which really made a pop in contrast. The napkins where wrapped around the plates with the favor bag for the candy buffet. The candy buffet & cake (Liz also made their cake http://www.artisancakecompany.com/ amazing) where all on one table along with a huge board behind them with the bride & groom's names, elegantly done by the groom. Really eye catching.

Shortly there after the guys arrived and made a beeline for the Belvedere Room. Like the girls the boys received some special attention too. With rental of the Belvedere Room the guys had their own porch, Foosball table, satellite TV, stereo, poker set and bathroom. They also had the pleasure of munching down some meat, cheese and crackers. To wash all of that food down they choose to have some Mirror Pond to keep from being parched. I wasn't able to take pictures in there before the guys were already getting ready. So I will have to wait on Brian Rupp to send me some decent shots of the Belvedere Room.

Before you knew it the bridal party started taking pictures, while the rest of the vendors arrived. First of the vendors, was the florist they were in and out so fast I didn't catch their name, but the simple centerpieces were elegant and an easy clean up.

The metal arch had a little extra pizazz this time. It was really quite stunning, but I don't think the camera captured it to the fullest. Liz hung crystal beads from the arch adding some new dimensions to it. It really looked awesome with the Bride & Groom standing underneath & walking through it.

Next came Premiere Catering http://www.premierecatering.biz/, if you have the chance to check these guys out for your wedding, do so. Michael, Peter, Jon and their staff were amazing to work with and all very friendly. The food oh my, was mouth watering starting with the presentation to that first & last bite. Having two buffet stations was nice & helped with the traffic flow. From a venue point of view, they were professional, considerate to the property and staff, and stayed to the very end making sure every detail was taken care of.

DJ Ryan rolled in a couple hours before the ceremony to setup inside the main room and on the lawn. He did a great job, and really catered to the crowd with the music, they were movin and grovin to some oldies but goodies.

The baby grand had some stage time too, they had a friend play the piano for the first dance and the groom's sister sang "At Last" it was great!!!

Before you knew it guests were lining up outside to send off the bride and groom. I wish I would of gotten a picture of it, it was pretty cool looking. I will post it from Brian & Leah when I see those pictures. Overall the day was perfect and fun.

First wedding of the 2010 Season

Well the birds are singing the clouds are breaking up showing us some blue skies and we are loving the warmth on our faces.

What a perfect day for a wedding, a little chilly for those that came from Hawaii and Arizona but so far they are managing. :)

The florist arrived with beautiful arrangements for the front doors and arches along with the bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres. All very simple and easy to clean up at the end of the day.

Adding to their easy setup they choose to rent BeckenRidge ivory linens and Italian chairs inside and out (we took care of all the setup & tear down).

The bride and her attendants arrived in style, DC Limousine http://www.dcoregon.com/ dropped off the girls and went back to pickup the next group.

Tanya from KGB Designs Photography arrived shortly there after with her crew ready to start documenting the day. Before I could turn around Marion from Myraid Cakes http://www.myriadcakedesign.com/ arrived and actually decorated the cake on site, cool to watch.

We had a new caterer Yummies Cowboy Cuisine 541-891-1208 from Klamath Falls, can't believe they came this far, but Norm & Virgina (owners) insist they will go anywhere. The food was mouth watering, the display was very simple and the humor from Norm never ended. :) The whole staff was very pleasant and great to be around.

Things moved along smoothly, the arrival of the Oregon State Acappella Group and the ring bearer, I have to say, were the highlight. The Acappella Group was a first for BeckenRidge and to see these guys sing stopped even the song birds for a moment. The all black attire with an OSU orange tie was very fitting for this group.

The orange and black didn't stop there, the ring bearer took the orange to a whole new power. Check this out. I wish I would of gotten a picture of the bride (rocken Beaver orange heals) & groom's (Converse w/ orange shoe laces) shoes too.

This group definitely had traditional and non traditional points during their wedding day. The bride & groom opted not to see each other before the ceremony. However, the difference for the ceremony was the guys entered on the pathway by the water fountain and the girls entered from the covered patio path.

Then they met on the lawn and this also went for the bride and meeting her dad (dad first time seeing her in her dress) on the lawn and then continued walking towards the arbor.

After the ceremony they had a receiving line on the lawn then went into pictures while guest busied themselves with appetizers, wine and beer on the covered patio.

They did have the traditional toast, dancing, tossing the bouquet and garter toss all fun and emotional, especially during the toast for the bride.

As the evening winded down guest began to leave and the bride and groom said their goodbye's and purposely made it that they were the last to leave. This I must say was the most nontraditional thing they did all day. It was great to see them fully enjoying the last bit of their time overlooking the vineyard and spending it with each other.

The limo did come back for them with no departing goodbye's from their guest, I felt it was my duty to take the last picture of them getting into their limo and riding into the sunset. It was a great day and what a better way to start off the 2010 wedding season.

Featured on Portland Style Unveiled

So we are super excited about being featured on Portland Style Unvelied. If you haven't had a chance yet to check it out, you need not wait any longer the link is below. :)

http://portlandstyleunveiled.com/portlandrealweddings/georgette-and-charles.html

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures.

Stuido I Do did a wonderful job with a unique style and always a pleasure to work with Bryce photographer/owner at Studio I Do http://www.studioido.net/.