WTR Update

I am currently in the process of closing down With This Ring. We have started homeschooling our boys and I am taking on more work at my church. Both of these things are very near and dear to my heart and so with knowing my clients would not be getting my full attention I have decided to end my time as a wedding planner. I will be finishing out my contracted brides but no longer taking on any new clients. Thank you wedding industry for 10 wonderful years in the business!

Time for a new adventure

Alexander and Asher, my precious boys

The last 10 years of being a wedding planner has been a great adventure and one I will always look back on with fond memories. Although I am eagerly looking on to my next adventure. A few months back I felt the pull to go back and finish my college education and where that is still a goal I am not going to be able to start as soon as I had hoped. As I work toward that goal my husband and I have made some decisions for our family that is requiring me to be at home more and if you haven't looked at the picture above, I have two very good and happy reasons to be doing this. In the fall of this year we will be keeping our oldest home for school and begin early education activities with our "baby". In this change I am sad to not be working so closely with brides and wedding vendors, but more than happy to be home more enjoying this precious time with my kids.

If you don't know me very well you might not know that I love to sew and knit/crochet. Because I am a woman who likes to be busy I am going to be working on some side sewing projects in my free time. You can view my work on my Facebook page, Second Stitch. This business allows me to be home more with my boys and gives me a creative outlet and the freedom to only work on projects when I have the time.

If you are in need of a planner I would be happy to refer you to those I trust in the industry. Thank you to everyone who made these last 10 years a joy and pleasure to be working with in the crazy fun wedding industry.

AM Northwest - Getting ready for the big day

Every month I have the honor of doing a segment on AM Northwest. Every time I finish the it I feel like I barely scratched the surface of all the things I wanted to share. So from now on I am going to post all my segment notes with a link to the segment on here as a way to share more of my advice and thoughts. If there's one thing I love to do, it's share ideas/advice/knowledge to help brides have a more enjoyable wedding day!
Pre wedding prep

• Everyone can start preparing for the big day not just the bride and groom. Mom's, Dad's, bridal party, even guests
• Almost everyone tells me they want to loose a few pounds before the wedding
• Make sure to loose it in a healthy way and I suggest doing it as a group with a professional. You don't want anyone passing out on the big day because they are on an unsafe diet or exercise routine
• There are other areas you can/need prepare besides weight. Skin, nails, teeth, hair
  For the bride:
• Make sure to do a trial run on hair and makeup
• Do the trail run on a day you have something fun going on, bridal shower, date night, bachelorette party, etc.
• When buying a dress don't be over confident in how much you can loose. A dress can only be let out a size or two depending on the seam allowance.  
  Wedding day prep:
• Try and get to bed at a good time and expect to have a hard time falling asleep because of excitement and anticipation
• Drink lots of water
• Eat breakfast
• Have snacks to eat throughout the day and/or an assigned person for delivering food to the bride and grooms room. If possible have stuff for the entire bridal party.
• Have a professional do your hair and make up. I had a bad experience doing my own hair and I regret it because it's now in all my pictures and I can't get it back.

Tight Budget 2014 Promotion

Josh and Alea - July 2014 One of my smallest budget weddings

We all have our own version of a tight budget. To some having $20,000 for their wedding would be a dream come true and to others it barely scratches the surface. I am a firm believer that even the tightest budget wedding needs a planner and can benefit from having one.

Last summer I planned a wedding for a couple in Salem who wanted to spend $10,000 or less on a wedding for 100+ guests and knew they needed help. Not only did I see it as a fun challenge, but a great responsibly to help this couple have a beautiful wedding. The one thing I was determined to do was NOT have any DIY projects. Every single thing was done by a wedding professional and they were able to sit back and enjoy their day. 

As I have been preparing for the 2014 wedding season I have decided to embrace the "tight" budget weddings and offer a limited quantity deal. The details are as follow...

1. Have between $8-$10K for the wedding

2. Be open to venues outside the Portland metro area

3. Have a expected attendance no more than approx. 150 people

If you or someone you know fits this description and is interested in setting up a consultation, please call or email me kzuniga@withthisringwedding.com - 503-383-9141

Below are some additional pictures from Josh and Alea's wedding shot by Sela Photography, enjoy!!!

AM Northwest - February segment

I love to give gifts, so much, that I have a small savings account I put money into each month to fund my purchases. When I got married I had the best time going out and getting gifts for my girls. I loved spending the time thinking of each girl and what she meant to me as a friend and what things about her I knew so I could purchase her the most meaningful gift. 

That might not be your style, you might hate shopping, and if that's the case then you are in luck because there are a ton of ideas out there for bridal party gifts. On my February segment we spent a little time talking about how to plan for it, what to give and when to give it. There never seems to be enough time to share all my ideas but I hope that this at least gives you a place to start.

In for the long hall

A little while ago I was starting to move towards the sale of With This Ring. We had a couple people interested and pursue the purchase into some pretty deep conversations. After the last person backed out and decided to go another route my husband and I started discussing our options. To make a long story short, I have decide to not actively pursue the sale of my business but spend more time focusing on reaching the brides that fit me best. It's easy to get caught up in the fast paced life of being a wedding vendor, but for me, I want to slow down and focus a bit more on the quality of my service. I have always held myself and my staff to a high level of service, so this next year I am going to focus getting my team to the next level. I believe if I am going to grow as a person and a planner I can never be totally happy with what I'm doing. I always need to be looking at how I can do better, be more effect, find more exciting and fun ways to get to know my clients. I don't want to be just about how many weddings I do in a season, I want to be more about the brides and how I made their day more special. I feel like to much stress is but on couples to have the biggest and most unique wedding, but really as long as they are staying try to themselves, that uniqueness is going to come through. No two couples are the same and you can use the sam linens, mason jars, venue as 100 people before you and it still won't be exactly the same. I'm okay with that, I want to help my brides find their uniqueness through conversations over coffee and pulling things off of shelves and playing around with decor. I want more than anything to give my brides the feeling that I know them so well that it feels like a friend is fluffing their train just before they walk down the aisle!

The picture above was the Salem Dream Wedding Workshop I hosted today at the Salem Convention Center. Standing back and listening to these wonderful vendors share their knowledge and try to help these brides make sense out of the wedding planning process, it was fun for me. I love sharing knowledge and connecting people. SO as of right now that's what I'm gonna do! I might have thought I was done with the wedding industry, but fate as it seems, has other ideas 

The event side of things

I have had the joy of doing some really great events in my career. One of my favorite is a bridal shower I helped an aunt plan for her favorite niece. She really wanted to go all out and transform an ordinary conference room into a hot pink and green sassy party. She spared no expense on chairs, linen's, fabric drape, party favors, cupcakes and food. She wanted to play a game or two but didn't want the traditional toilet paper bride type games, so I was set with the challenge of coming up with something fun but not cheesy.

What was so fun for me about this event was the one on one time I got with the aunt and how not stressful it was. There weren't all the same stresses on the day of the event that you can run into with a bride, she was so excited to show up and see all the work her aunt put into the event for her. AND to top it off, I got to work with some of my regular wedding pro friends. Megan from Red Pearl designs did the invites. Courtney from Flip Flop Sounds did the lighting and all my rentals came from the wonderful Linda at Barclay Event Rentals. 

Sometimes I just love to sit back and plan an event that is a touch more simple than a wedding but still really well put together!