Sara Elizabeth Weddings turns ONE!

The first birthday of my own company, Sara Elizabeth Weddings, was an exciting event to plan! I realized my dream of how to make my interests and strengths work together and haven't looked back since.  My first year had its highs and lows, learning experiences and building of friendships; it was amazing to see my dream come to life.

I wanted to say thank you to the people who've supported me through that time; family, friends, wedding vendors and of course my amazing clients. I wanted the birthday party to be a time of celebration while featuring elements of my brand!

When I picked the day of the party it came as a nice surprise that it fell on National Doughnut Day. It was only fitting that I served my favorite doughnuts from HyVee, everyone loved them!  

I LOVE flowers and it wouldn't have been a true Sara Elizabeth Weddings birthday party without them,, especially peonies! A local florist, Lavish Floral Design. designed beautiful floral crowns for myself and my dog Lemon, I cannot resist a good pup pic, and a bouquet. I knew I wanted a bouquet that was a little untraditional and asked for a floral hoop, it had my favorite flowers and full of bright colors, just gorgeous!  The balloons came as a sweet surprise from the owner of Lavish Floral Design, they were the perfect touch to the day!

I love custom photo walls and wanted to incorporate one into the party, I wanted it to be fun and colorful. I ended up with DIY project on my hands with one of my favorite art mediums, liquid and paper gold foil, and brightly colored paint-chips.  My guests loved the photo wall and were able to take home a memory with the popular Fuji Film pictures!

Courtney Dueppengiesser is an amazing photographer and captured the features that make me and Sara Elizabeth Weddings unique. The day was perfect and everything I had hoped for! 

I always tell my clients that their stationery sets the tone for the event so I had to follow my own advice when planning the party. I designed the invitations on Paperless Post and with the help of Invited by LamaWorks I made sure they represented my style; full of color!   

As a welcome gift to new clients I present them with a box of house-made macaroons from one of my favorite restaurants, Thyme Square Café, it only seemed right that they made an appearance at the birthday bash.

During my first year of business I launched PopUp Weddings in my local market, it was an exciting and important launch for Sara Elizabeth Weddings and I wanted to capture it in the first year’s highlights.

A fellow wedding vendor, stationer LOin London, sketched an illustration to depict me as an event planner and it included my essential and favorite items; clipboard, ribbon, pineapples, bouquet of flowers, red lipstick and my dog Lemon! 

The pineapple is a symbol for "welcome" and "hospitality", and that is how I want every friend, wedding vendor and couple to feel when they meet me; that is why it is a part of my logo. My first pineapple came from my grandmother as a Christmas gift, a small decorative pill box, and has always held a special place with me. The pineapple is a staple in the Sara Elizabeth Weddings brand, it was only fitting to be a part of the day!

Thank you for an amazing first year and many more to come!