Tie the knot without doing a lot!

Love Conquers ALL!

2011-09-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hello Bloggers! What an amazing weekend it was as The Double Knot helped celebrate the marriage of Kandyce and Tyler. Unfortunately, the night before the wedding, the trailor containing all the decor, flowers, menus, programs, ceremony items, chair decor, candy station and more was stolen from the hotel parking lot. The family was distraught and threatened to call off the wedding, but The Double Knot wouldn't let them. A marriage is about love which is one thing that a theif can never take away from you. We still had the marriage license, the rings, the attire, the favors, the placecards, the amazing team of vendors, and a beautiful venue. There was most definitely going to be a wedding! We are so grateful that the Maya hotel brought in their florist, linens, and a professional candy station last minute to help complete the event. The Double Knot gathered up items from our vendors, friends, and family to finish it off! Thank goodness for social networking! It turned out to be a beautiful event with so much happiness and wonderful memories! It is truly amazing how a little teamwork can go a long ways! Special thanks to Photographer Dee Dee Dallas (D2 Photography), DJ Alan Meade (5 Star Mobile DJ), Officiant Alan Katz (SoCal Officiant), Cake by Rossmoor, and Sashes by Isabel (Dream Decor).

At the end of the day, I think we all have learned to appreciate what we have and remember why we are here! Weddings are about love and starting a new chapter in our lives, but sometimes we all get caught up in all the details of planning the event, that we forget to step back and think about why we are doing this. Even if there are no flowers or handmade menus, there is still love! That is why we are here! Nothing can stand in the way because LOVE CONQUERS ALL!! Here are the testimonials from the newlyweds and their family:

"You went above and beyond your job description to give us the most amazing wedding. You provided the emotional support and even brought supplies from your own wedding to give us the most amazing wedding. Our guest could not believe what you were able to do in 6 hours.
Your dedication to our wedding and our happiness was very heartfelt. Our wedding would have been ruined after the trailer with the entire supplies for the wedding and reception was stolen during our rehearsal dinner. Had you not been our coordinator we would have had to cancel the entire wedding the evening before .You were determined to give us the most amazing wedding in spite of what happened. We are forever grateful to you. You are second to none!" ~ Mother of the Bride

"We are truly in awe of you. You were the calm after the storm. Your quick actions and devotion to give us the wedding that the thief tried to steal from us is the only reason the wedding went off without a hitch. You convinced us to stand up for our love, face the world together and not to let what happened ruin our day. You stayed up all night making table names, creating centerpieces, making calls to vendors, friends and family to give us the most beautiful wedding. We never imagined the ceremony and reception would have looked so amazing. You continued to fight for our wedding when we gave up and wanted to call it off. We were married only because your hard work and dedication made our wedding happen. You are the most amazing wedding coordinator! We can never thank you enough for what you gave us. We are forever grateful.
Love and prayers always,
Tyler & Kandyce Earley"

This wedding was a true life lesson... When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Never give up on your dreams and remember to appreciate the things that no one can take away from you!

Linsey Got Married Too!!

2010-09-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hello there readers! It is official! Both of The Double Knot coordinators are now married!

On May 1, 2010, I (Linsey) got hitched at The Diamond Bar Golf Course! It was a beautiful day and there were hundreds of gorgeous pictures captured by David Esquire of David Esquire Photography!

We got married in front of the most picturesque gazebo and had way too much fun taking pictures with the bridal party. Thank you to Jennifer at The Diamond Bar Golf Course for making the planning process so easy! The room was all set up before I got there and she even helped create the best pictures by holding up my veil when we took pictures by the bridge!

But yes, I know you are all wondering If I did the whole thing myself? Nope! Even a wedding planner hires a coordinator for the actual day! I hired Jason Rhee of "In Good Company" to coordinate the days events, and he did a fantastic job! I wanted to be a bride for a day although it was something I was not used to!

It has been an interesting journey being on the other side of the cameras rather than standing in the background watching! I have to say that most of the wedding planning was very easy for me since I already knew which vendors I wanted! I got everything checked off the list as soon as I could. The most difficult things were the items that I don' t usually handle, like the guest list, sending out invites, and creating the seating chart!

Special thanks to Melanie of Bella Blooms for seeing my vision and creating the floral pieces that made the event so magical! My favorite flowers (blue & purple hydrangeas and tulips) were the original inspiration for my event. I wanted soft blue & purple hues to create a gardenesque environment with a hint of a fairy tale Disney theme! Every table was named after a different Disney ride, and the cake topper was a Precious Moments Prince Charming placing the shoe on the most adorable Precious Moments Cinderella.

The ceremony was serenaded by Katrina Saroyan's beautiful harp music and our officiant, Alan Katz, kept us smiling and laughing throughout the whole thing! The reception included delicious food and dancing. We partied on into the night thanks to the music provided by Steve of Extreme DJ Service! He really knew how to get everyone to the dance floor! The whole day was magical thanks to the collaboration of great vendors! Thank you all! I can't wait to work with you on the next one! :)

Can We Be a Guest At a Wedding?

2010-09-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Amanda and Brandon Roberts!

I have been a guest at a wedding! Rare, but tantalizing! The groom of the newly married Roberts couple is a friend of ours from high school, and they exchanged their nuptials at the Heritage Museum in Santa Ana. It's a gorgeous Victorian style house with a beautiful outdoor gazebo and patio decked out with chandeliers! The weather was perfect and the bride was gorgeous! She wore a vintage headpiece passed down from family members that I thought was a stunning way to get your something old and borrowed!

My favorite part of the wedding was the food! We munched on burgers cooked on site by the Country Garden Caterers! Their food displays not only looked delicious, but they were beautifully ornately decorated to catch every one's eye. Me and another guest went running over to the display to take a picture of the tall orchid display they were setting up around the food. We couldn't decide if they were real or fake. Turns out they were fake, but they were gorgeous!

However, as a guest this time, I have to be honest with you, I had a hard time just sitting at my table and enjoying the wedding. Don't get me wrong! They wedding couldn't have been more enjoyable for guests, so props to the bride and groom for planning well done! But I like the view of a wedding from behind the scenes directing it all! I like to be behind the scenes watching the guests enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Just to do what I'm used to, I took a moment to chat with the DJ, Mike from Turtle Boy Studios about the timeline and what is going on behind the scenes. This is where I like to be! Don't worry, I did hit the dance floor and the photo booth before heading home for the night... which is weird because usually I'm the last person to leave the wedding as the coordinator. :) I'm looking forward to many weddings in my future, whatever the role! Congratulations Amanda and Brandon! This is a new chapter for you with many years of happiness in the future!

Weddings! I love weddings! Drinks all around!

2009-08-24T23:32:00.000-07:00

I apologize for taking so long to write! It has been so busy! Our high school friends got hitched in May, and I got engaged in June! Now I am planning my own wedding! I must say that it is so weird being on the other side! I realize now that I like being behind the scenes because I embarrass myself when I am in the center of attention! hehe. But enough about me!!

Our May wedding was a blast and a one-of-a-kind wedding! We were lucky enough to be the coordinators while still being a guest at parts of the reception. The reception took place in the backyard of the bride's parents house which is a medium sized backyard with a pool. At first we weren't sure how to fit 150 people in this backyard, but by using some space saving techniques we made it work even better than we thought it would!

How to save space:

Put the DJ in a creative spot! We put him on the balcony overlooking the back yard so he took up no space at all!
Use existing architecture! For a previous wedding, we tucked the place cards in tulle that was wrapped around the balcony post!
Use square tables! By lining up "picnic" type tables, we fit 150 chairs in a circle around the dance floor! We thought we would have to collapse some off the dance floor after dinner if we couldn't fit them in, but it saved so much space, that we didn't put any on the dance floor!
Put the cake out of the way of danger! We put the cake on the other side of the pool where people were not likely to damage it. It also helped spread out the onlookers when it came to c ake cutting time because they had to stay on the other side of the pool!
Use the house! We put the caterer inside, cleared the dining room of furniture and set up a buffet. Also, we set up the kitchen as a bar where the bartender served drinks. He even made margaritas!

The event was amazing! The tables circled the dance floor, which was great because when the dancing started, guests could stay seated. My favorite part was the bride and groom's first dance because their guests blew bubbles onto the dance floor while they waltzed across the floor! It was truly magical!! Bubbles everywhere!

The food was amazing! Thank you Blue Agave for helping us create another event with food that was amazing enough to make my mouth water!!

The first photo was taken by Susan Nunn Photography at a previous wedding, and the second and third photo was taken by Gabriel Owens Photography.

Leah Got Married!!

2009-04-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, Leah, one of The Double Knot's own, officially tied the knot and did so in style! The event took place at The Diamond Bar Center in Diamond Bar overlooking the beautiful valley just after the rain cleared up. Multiple tints of red roses combined with an asian flair created an event to remember!

The first picture is of Leah becoming the bride! These photos are not professional photos, but they are still a lot of fun!

It truly is amazing how planning a wedding for your own family can feel so different! Fortunately, it felt very easy because we have done so many before. The hardest part was completing the details that we don't normally get to do: creating the guest list, planning speeches, determining seating charts, and posing for pictures! So much fun it was to be on the other side of the camera!

Using great vendors makes a difference at an event where timing is crucial and teamwork is essential. We had over a half dozen vendors come in and transform the entire ballroom in less than two hours! It was gorgeous with the uplighting and floral displays!

Although we planned Leah's wedding ourself, we hired a wedding coordinator to help out on the actual day of the event. Like what we provide for our clients, our coordinator organized the vendors, and gave us peace of mind. We knew that each element of the wedding was in it's place and there was someone there to make sure of it. Besides, the florist and the baker isn't going to set up the guest book table, direct guests, decorate the honeymoon suite, provide an emergency kit or organize the processional and someone has to do it!

The Double Knot in Two Places at Once!

2008-10-19T12:57:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to me how every wedding is so incredibly different, but they all contain the same ingredients! This year has shown us an amazing array of events from overlooking the ocean on a cliff in Malibu to backyard tent weddings, they are all so unique and fun!

The photos to the right and left were taken by Jared Dever of Amberglow Studios. He did an amazing job capturing the wedding we did in Malibu back in May! It was quite a storybook setting with the Stone Manor overlooking the ocean!

Leah and I stopped running around for a quick pose for the camera! We have our two way radios that help us magically be in two places at once! This is how we managed to have the bridesmaids and groomsmen walk from the opposite sides of the Stone Manor! The guests commented that we looked like twin JLo's from The Wedding Planner Movie! What a compliment! :)

Having two coordinators is essential to creating a flawless event. For example, sometimes it is tricky to keep the bride and groom away from each other before the ceremony, but with The Double Knot, you can be sure that nothing will happen. One coordinator stays with the guys, and the other stays with the girls! Easy as pie, especially since we have our two-way radio communication.

Adventures at Tech Space!

2008-09-29T22:24:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

This weekend we coordinated an awesome wedding at a neat little place called Tech Space in Aliso Viejo!

The happy couple own a gallery of their art and displayed some of it at their cocktail/loungy style wedding reception. It was totally swanky and stylistic. We had five different mixed drinks featured at our bar with names like "pre-nup," and "cold feet."

Soiree catering had beautifully displayed tray passed hor dourves. They did a wonderful job and had food with amazing flavor! I usually don't like shrimp that much, but they wrapped it in basil and proscuitto, and it was amazing! Then they had skewers with filet mignon and a piece of portobello mushroom. The first bite I took was better than the second bite, and to my surprise, the first bite was the mushroom! I don't like mushrooms! :) Yea, the lighting was dark, so we couldn't see much of what we were eating. It was also our first taste of sushi! Yum!

Then, when we were outside in the dark cleaning up the ceremony site, we had an incredible encounter with a huge raccoon! He climbed up the side of the gazebo and watched us stack chairs. If we got too close while trying to take a picture of him, he started hissing at us! We didn't know if he was friendly or dangerous, so we backed off. :)

The ceremony was beautiful, but it didn't start until it was dark! Thank you to our photographer, Kerry of L7 Studios for recommending and providing us with soft lighting to illuminate the gazebo!

We also brought in some luminaries to line the garden and the aisle. They are a really fun, easy, and inexpensive way to bring magic into a dark environment! They brighten up dark corners and make dark gardens a safer place to wander. I think we set up around 200 of em all over the garden and ceremony location! It was very warm and inviting to our guests so they knew they were headed in the right direction!

The reception was complete with beautiful glowing paper lanterns and simple hydrangea centerpieces. We even had a lounge for our guests to crash on after hitting the dance floor... or the bar! :)

To top it all off, the people attending were so fun and amiable! Thank you for such a great time!

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I did writing it! Sorry I'm not that great of a photographer! Our website will hopefully have better pictures soon!

Welcome!

2008-09-29T15:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Leah and I here at The Double Knot thank you kindly for taking time out of your busy schedule to read this blog! The plan is to fill this blog with updates about our thoughts, advice, our upcoming events and recent experiences.

The photo to the right was taken by one of our fabulous photographers, DeeDee Dallas of D2 Photography! More of her photos can be seen on our website as well.

Please come back soon and check out the updates! Thanks!