Building a business with your sister?

For some the idea of being in business with a sibling can range from "unlikely" to "are you crazy," but we almost wonder why we didn't start sooner (technically we had a pretty successful lemonade stand in the 90s despite living halfway up a very steep hill). We have always been close - we actually loved the matching outfits our mom made and every time someone asked if we were twins - although we definitely didn't truly appreciate it until we got older.

Once we started our wedding day coordination business, we began to notice other sisters in this unique working relationship and wanted to share a few that inspire us!

Belinda & Venise

Shout-out to some other PNW sisters who are all about cocktails with Simple Goodness Sisters. We have some of their syrups (such unique flavors!) as well as the cool floral salt and sugar rimmers. And now they are starting a soda shop that looks absolutely adorable!

Elsie & Emma

We have followed and loved A Beautiful Mess for years - their blog is full of great recipes, crafts and decorating ideas! Over the years they have had a variety of fun projects including a make-up line, book, happy mail cards and now a podcast. They are so full of inspiration and seem to have such a great sister dynamic.

Kaylee Melissa

& Anna Laura

If you haven’t seen Kaylee Melissa’s hair tutorials you are really missing out. She’s been on YouTube for a long time and is seriously good at all things hair. Recently her sister joined the team (lots of behind the scenes, but we love seeing her in front of the camera now too!) and they are so fun together.

We also have one honorary mention for Clea & Joanna from The Home Edit - not technically sisters, but their co-dependency makes us really feel seen. They are all over the place now with their Netflix special and books, but we’ve been watching their Instagram stories for years and they are pretty entertaining, highly recommend. Sisters, given or chosen, are pretty special :)

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The two part honeymoon?

We started hearing about this trend more in the last few years and as it turns out, Isabelle and her fiancé (now husband) decided to do it too! Now to be fair, this was in part because of COVID (which even further restricted their options), but they had originally liked this idea to begin with. (PS Amanda and her husband did the long-plane-ride-international-vacation and looking back, although they were young and full of energy, the idea of a more low-key getaway right after the wedding sounds genius)

Twice the fun

Ok, who doesn’t want an excuse to have two vacations anyway…?! The main appeal of going this route is that you would do a more low key getaway (read: very little planning involved when you already have a lot going on) after a big/exhausting wedding. Go crazy planning something for your one year anniversary with that international destination you’ve always wanted to visit!

Budget conscious

Weddings are expensive and we always emphasize that the budget should be at the forefront of planning. So for many couples the wedding will be the big ticket item this year and then they can save up for a bigger vacation the following year. A small road trip where planes and passports are not required and the budget focuses on some nice meals and massages can be a perfect way to celebrate without breaking the bank.

Notes from Isabelle

One thing that attracted us to the idea of a “two-part” honeymoon was that we knew we wanted the focus of our “first” honeymoon to be more on us and less on the location (in the planning as well as the time/energy to get there and all the fun things to explore in a vacation spot) but we still wanted to do a bigger trip to celebrate our marriage. It also means we could take a chunk of time off from work for the lead-up, wedding, and honeymoon and then take another chunk off later for a longer trip without asking our employers for a month off all at one time.

Overall we loved that we could pack up the the car, take a short road trip, and get to just relax for a few days. Then we didn’t have to spend much time getting home so that we weren’t exhausted by the time we got back, plus we had a day to unpack before jumping back in to work. We are also having lots of fun thinking of things we can do once we can travel again!

All that said…

COVID has really thrown a lot out the window and made many aspects of wedding (and honeymoon) planning laughable. If you’re able to take that big vacation you’ve been dreaming about, do it! And be safe :) But if there are travel restrictions in place and you feel stuck, we hope you can still find something relaxing to do and know there will be opportunities in the future!

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Thursday’s three wedding reads

Rounding up some fun as well as thought-provoking posts from around the internet today!

Would you…

Do a big or small wedding kiss? Cup of Jo always asks the right questions. Also a funny post on wedding bloopers!

Planning a backyard wedding?

We think backyard weddings are going to be even more popular these days and Sarah, one of our favorite wedding photographers, has some great advice for you.

Important history lesson

We need to continue examining every aspect of our lives and American culture, and weddings are no exception. Read this post and watch her conversation about Plantation weddings.

Garden Party (virtual) Bridal Shower!

We are so excited to share this post with you today! Partly because some of the details are just too cute we couldn’t wait to show you, but also we hope it can be helpful if you’re trying to plan a virtual party.

Let’s start with the fun stuff!

Party details

*Amanda here* My biggest concern was wanting to still make it feel special for the guests and for Isabelle. Since so much of it wouldn’t be tangible, I decided to send real invites in the mail. I like craft projects so this was fun for me, but there are also easy and inexpensive options if you don’t want to DIY, but like the idea of sending something out.

The other thing I really wanted to do was send some kind of favor. I also figured that I wasn’t going to be spending money to feed everyone or do lots of decorations, so it made sense to reallocate that to favors! I ended up working with Funky Cold Co. who makes the CUTEST custom cookies and they were also so tasty. They did an amazing job making the design match the invites! The cookies came individually wrapped and then I put them in boxes (with a little bubble wrap). The week before the party, out of state ones got mailed, some I delivered and some were picked up.

Another thing we did to make it more personal was to offer people the option to come by the day before or the morning of the party to drop off a gift (and possibly pick up their favor) so they could say hi and see Isabelle in person. It feels like it’s been so long since seeing most of our friends, it was so nice to see people, even for a few minutes!

We had a very small gathering with my mom and two bridesmaids, which was probably the best/safest option for doing anything in person. Especially considering we had wanted it to be in the garden, but #seattleweather so we had to be inside. We did make fun garden party afternoon tea food (crumpets! scones! tiny sandwiches!) and got dressed up for the first time in… months? Overall so glad it worked out and while it wasn’t what we originally imagined, it turned out pretty well.

What we would change

I think the trickiest part that we didn’t totally anticipate is how much focus would be on Isabelle. Sure, the party is about her, but in a regular setting people are mingling, chatting with her or each other and everyone is taking breaks to eat. Isabelle ended up being the sole ‘entertainment’, if you will, and therefore kind of keeping the conversation going the whole time. I felt bad she hardly took a bite of her food until it was over!

Even without planned games, it probably lasted about 2 hours with everyone doing intros, talking about the wedding, opening gifts, chatting. So I’m not really sure we needed organized games etc. However, if we had come up with a game, especially one that could involve a breakout session, it might have been easier for Isabelle to take a break. I think the better way to do it would maybe be to schedule the zoom call with everyone for just a portion of the time or do individual zoom calls with guests at specific times, but this all depends on how many people you’re having in person (outside!) as well as virtually. One of the best parts was that any out of town guests who wouldn’t normally make it were able to join, so there is definitely an upside to this new ‘tradition’!

Good luck planning your own virtual party and let us know if you have any questions!

Isabelle & Galen's Wedding - it happened!

Despite all the craziness of this year and the stop and start wedding planning process that almost drove us insane, Isabelle and Galen got married last weekend! There is so much we have planned to share (including photos from the amazing photographer who was so fun to work with) - from the DIY details to vendors they worked with to how everything worked out… including a few things that didn’t. But overall the day was so lovely, they were gorgeous and are currently enjoying a much needed vacation :)

As we mentioned in our Instagram post, we also are aware of the newest policy in Washington State regarding weddings and understand how frustrating these changes are going to be for many people. Pretty much nothing this year is going how we expected (!) and it is totally ok to take the pandemic seriously AND be angry that it’s ruining your plans. It won’t last forever and parties and hugging will resume, so we’re holding on to that hope. In the mean time, let us know if we can help!

Much love,

Amanda + Isabelle