Our perfect picks: 4 wedding tips and tricks

Over the years we’ve gathered a few pieces of advice as well as a couple small tricks and we wanted to share a few of those with you.

Backup boutonniere

Between the hugging and taking their jacket on and off, the boutonniere can get a little beat up. Having a backup on hand can be nice to switch out!

Get your shoes first

Everyone gets excited about wedding dress shopping, but whether or not shoes are your weakness, we suggest picking out a pair early on. You’ll need them for fittings and it’s a good idea to start breaking them in.

Work backwards

When helping couples create a wedding day timeline, we often start with the key, hard and fast times (like when you need to leave the facility and ceremony start time) and work our way earlier in the day from those points.

Short & sweet rehearsal

Every officiant has a different way of doing things, but often we are helping run the rehearsal. Our approach is that we try to hit the high points and not go through every detail of the ceremony. Our advice: make sure to ask the officiant not to practice the pronouncement at the end!

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Party mixology: cocktail hour inspiration

As if we need an excuse to talk about pretty cocktails… here are some fun ideas that caught our eye for your next party or cocktail hour!

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Thursday’s three wedding reads

We’re looking forward to the weekend and doing some Fall activities (we can’t believe almost a year ago Amanda was super pregnant at the pumpkin patch!). Hope you have a wonderful Thursday :)

Breaking in

It’s tough to start a business in any industry (we know!) and the wedding industry can be extremely competitive. Preferred vendor lists can be handy, but they also can be problematic. This NYT article challenges how we think about those lists and what that does for diversity.

Make a wedding cake

Baking a wedding cake could be such a fun gift for a friend! A Beautiful Mess has a great tutorial if you’re considering doing this for yourself or a friend.

Beauty timeline

We love this helpful timeline from Seattle make-up artist Shalonda for planning out a beauty regimen leading up to your wedding.

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Planning with Perfectly Paired

It’s been a little while since we introduced ourselves and talked a little about wedding planning! We’re sisters, which makes for a different kind of working relationship, but for us it’s the dream. We finish each others sentences (and sandwiches) and we know the other person always has our back. A couple of fun facts about us: Isabelle was in crew and Amanda was in marching band in college #gohuskies

The pandemic was rough for so many reasons, but we really missed weddings. While we both also do other things outside the wedding industry, wedding planning is one of our favorite things to do together. We love the process of helping a couple through wedding planning and of course celebrating the day itself is always a blast.

Here are some resources in case you want to know more about what we do!

Start here with some quick planning advice

Wondering what a wedding day coordinator does?

One of the easiest DIY projects you can do that has a big impact

Check out what other couples have to say about working with us

If you’re thinking of booking us, check out this document to find out how we can help you! And of course send us a message :)

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Seattle dessert superlatives for your next party

We really love to bake things for parties because it’s fun (and usually helps the budget), but it doesn’t always make sense, plus there are some really tasty options out there! If you are planning a party, especially something like a shower, we wanted to share the places we would consider that are winners in both flavor and style.

Most likely to succeed

Le Fournil is a favorite lunch spot, but their pastry platters are really wonderful and a decent price. This is also perfect if you want to have a variety of options from fruit to chocolate to custard, plus gluten free options that fit right in.

Best dressed

If you’re on the hunt for macarons then you definitely need to try Black Magic Sweets. Besides being delicious, they are the most beautifully and uniquely decorated. These would be great as part of a dessert table or make the perfect favor. Also she just announced that all the packaging will soon be 100% compostable, which we definitely love.

Best smile

We’ll admit that cookies are not typically on our radar when it comes to buying fancy desserts, but we had to be thorough in writing this post and we’re so glad we found Bell’s Cookie Co. Great texture, fun flavor combinations that totally delivered and we really liked every one we tried. Cookies just make people smile! Plus you can always add some ice cream if you want to go the extra mile.

Most likely to give you warm fuzzy feelings

Maybe not the typical choice for a party, but pie is delicious and A Le Mode Pies is our pick. They have lovely flavors and a good selection if you wanted to have a couple options.

Best entertainer

We can almost guarantee that your guests have never been to a party that ended with tiny molten cakes, at least not ones this good. Hot Cakes is not a secret (we’ve waited in those lines…), but how amazing would it be to pull these out as a special treat for everyone?!

Cutest couple

Everyone probably has their favorite ice cream spot, and this is ours. Sweet Alchemy has created a beautiful relationship between sweet cream ice cream and tasty additions like strawberry rhubarb, UW honey, waffle brittle (personal favorite!) or chocolate Earl Grey. Ice cream is probably the easiest crowd-pleasing dessert to have on hand, so why not support a small business and get something just a little extra special.

Biggest flirt

We have had our eye on Deep Sea Sugar & Salt for a while with their mile high cakes in flavor combinations that make us drool, so this was the perfect excuse to make a trip to their shop ;) The flavors were delicious and all the cakes are super tender. Definitely warn your guests to save room for larger-than-life slices that are as tasty as they are impressive.

Best all around

So this isn’t a small business and we know most grocery stores do have desserts that would work, but if you’re looking to find something just a little bit nicer as well as convenient, we think Whole Foods is a great option. They have a wide selection of desserts and especially like their tarts for something that looks a little fancy.

Bonus points for probably having a location on your way to somewhere and as a solid last minute option.

The research for this post was *so rough*, but all the hard work was totally worth it ;) We have also previously shared the best cupcakes and a favorite spot for cake, which you should definitely check out. Happy planning!

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