I’m so excited to share this post with you! You’ve heard about Rachelle and I, possibly a little too much and we’ve been dying to tell you more about the rest of the Champagne team. Although our team is continuously growing, we wanted you to get a glimpse into our world! In a couple weeks I’ll be posting more information about each of the individual girls, but I wanted to share a few photos from a recent photo shoot we did with Dayna and Clete Schroeder of Dayna Schroeder Photography. We had such a blast spending the afternoon with them! Dayna and Clete recently moved here from Chicago and although they are new to Portland, they are definitely not new to the industry! They are so extremely talented and we can’t wait for the opportunity to work with them again! For the photo shoot, we were lucky enough to have the talented Face Body Beauty do our hair and make up!! Thank you Jennifer Rand Walker and team for helping us glow!  Boy, is there a lot of talent in this post! Sorry for the over use of the word, but I can’t help it if it’s true!

Welcome our team of talented and beautiful ladies:

Left to right: [Rachelle, Patty, Amanda, Andrea, Racheal, Debbie, Allison, Danielle, Katie, Mandi]

We are known for our red shoes…so we thought, we should all have a pair!

We are all so excited for this summer and look forward to working with you!! Thank you for stopping by! Please contact us to set up your free, no obligation, consultation! Again, a huge huge thank you to Dayna and Clete of Dayna Schroeder Photography and Jennifer Rand Walker of Face Body Beauty and team! We had so much fun working with you all! More about the Champagne team will be coming soon to the blog!

Cheers,

Mandi, Rachelle & the Champagne team

Come hang out at the Perfect Wedding Guide Wedding Show next Saturday, March 20th from 12-4pm at The Downtown Portland Heathman where you’ll be entered to win a pair of diamond earrings [Joseph K Jewelers], a wedding dress [AniA Collection], and many more prizes announced every half hour! If you haven’t already, make sure to stop by 105.1 The Buzz website and enter to win a Month of Package from Champagne [That’s us!]! We look forward to meeting you next weekend!

I had the pleasure of working with Garrett Grove of Grove Weddings in August on Lydia and Burk’s Bohemian Beach wedding. We owe James Moes the credit of introducing us, as Garrett was actually the second photographer that day. Nonetheless, I was very impressed by his presence. He was very active about getting certain, unique shots from different perspectives, while maintaining a calm energy and focus. I wasn’t surprised at all when I got to see the images—he’s truly talented. While he acted as the second shooter for a friend, he is by no means second best, Lydia and Burk were lucky to have two really amazing photographers present on their wedding day! Read on to learn more about Garrett Grove and his photography business-

Rachelle: How would you describe your style and approach to photographing a wedding?

Garrett: The style of wedding photography I love is taking directed candid portraits of the couple during the portrait session and during the prep, ceremony & reception it would be a fairly hands off style of photojournalism.  I am constantly looking for the moments that when told together make a story of the day.  The funny, the beautiful, the embarrassing, the ironic and honest snippets that make up so many memories and the overall feel of your wedding day.  The approach/mentality that I strive for throughout the day is to be as assuring, personable, relaxed and light-hearted as I possibly can. 

Rachelle: Do you do other types of photography?

Garrett: Yes, my other passion is outdoor adventure commercial & editorial photography.

Rachelle: What do you love about weddings?

Garrett: I love that wedding are honest and authentic.  They are a very critical and important part of so many people’s lives and thus the photos that result are nearly a necessity.  It gives me a great deal of satisfaction knowing that every time I press the shutter button there is so much purpose and meaning behind it.

Rachelle: What do you do in your free time, when you don’t have a camera in hand?

Garrett: If I don’t have a camera in my hand you could pretty much guarantee that I am either outside or sharing a meal & drink with my wife and/or friends.

Rachelle: Why do you live in the NW?

Garrett: The NW keeps pulling my wife and I back because of the unique culture and the proximity to such natural beauty.

Rachelle: What type of clients are ideal for you? What do you look for in a client?

Garrett: My ideal clients?  Wow that is a hard one to pin down.  Some characteristics I really enjoy are enthusiasm, sincerity, simplicity, creativity and the confidence to make your wedding day unique.

Rachelle: Anything in particular you want people to know about you?

Garrett: I love to travel.  It is a passion and to incorporate that into a wedding photography would be a dream come true.

Rachelle: If you had unlimited funds- what would be your dream vacation?

Garrett: So many options!  A few would be to travel all over Canada & the States in a camper van with my wife for a year in order to soak in other cultures and ski/climb.  Another would be to live in the country side of Japan for a winter and ski the amazing powder they have there.

Rachelle: Thank you, Garrett, for telling us more about you and your passion! We look forward to working with you soon! Make sure to check out Garrett’s website and blog!

Cheers,

Mandi & Rachelle

Thank you all for entering the Proposal Contest! We will be announcing a winner later this week! Thank you for visiting our blog! We offer a free no-obligation consultation to learn more about wedding coordination and if we are the right match for you! Contact .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) today!

We had so much fun reading the love story entries last week that we couldn’t help but have another contest! This time we want to hear your proposal stories! Whether you’ve been engaged for 5 days or married for 50 years, we want to hear how he [or now days maybe she : )] proposed! We will pick a winner on Saturday, March 6th, 2010 and announce the winner soon after. We encourage all of you, who entered our love story and everyone who was too shy to tell their story, to share with us the day you got engaged!

We can’t wait to read your stories!!

Details:

How to enter:

In the comment section of this post answer the following questions:
[1] Your name:
[2] Your fiance/spouse name:
[3] How did you meet?
[4] When did he/she propose?
[5] How did he/she propose?

What you win:*

A $50 gift certificate for a local Portland restaurant. Who doesn’t love going out to dinner?

When to enter:

Now until Saturday, March 6th, 2010 at 10:00 pm.

Who can enter:

Engaged and married couples.

We will be picking a winner by the following Monday, March 8th, 2010.

*Entries only valid in the United States. 

Cheers,

Mandi & Rachelle

Make sure you mark your calendars: Perfect Wedding Guide is having a wedding show at The Heathman Hotel and Restaurant on March 20th, 2010 at 12:00-4:00pm. Giveaway’s every half hour including a wedding dress from AniA Collection, diamond earrings from Joseph K! We look forward to seeing you there! Details here!

Thank you for stopping by our blog! We’d love to meet you! We offer free no obligation consultations so you’re able to see if you’re in need of a wedding coordinator and if we’re the right match! .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) now to set up an appointment! We have a few basic packages and also offer custom packages to fit your needs!

Last year Rachelle Bell of Champagne Wedding & Event Coordination married the man of her dreams! Rachelle and Donny are perfect for each other. They love each other in a way that makes you want what they have instantly after meeting them. Here’s a glimpse into Rachelle and Donny’s wedding…

Photographs by Paul Rich Studio

Mandi: What was your favorite thing about your wedding?

Rachelle: I loved that I was able to be in a frame of mind to literally soak up all of the special moments. I think some people [my family and fiancé] worried that being a perfectionist during other people’s wedding days would transfer to me not being able to relinquish control on my own wedding day. On the contrary, I knew to simply sit back and enjoy every moment—and that’s exactly what Donny and I did, it was such a special day. I can’t say I have a favorite thing—all of it together made it so perfect. I did love my dress… : )

Mandi: What was most important to you while planning your wedding?

Rachelle: Making sure to keep our guests entertained and having fun. They all made a very long trip to be there for us, so we wanted to make sure that they were very involved in all of the activities. We planned an island tour the day before the wedding that was such a fun experience for all of us to have together. I’ve seen that island two dozen times, but having that experience with everyone there was something unique and fun for me.

Mandi: What did you like most about being engaged?

Rachelle: How excited Donny was every time he’d look at my hand and see a ring on my finger—he would literally get giddy. We were both just really happy and excited to get married to each other. I also loved how excited our families were for us too—they were all just beaming, all the time when we’d talk about the wedding.

Photographs by Paul Rich Studio

Mandi: Was it harder or easier to plan your own wedding given your profession…explain.

Rachelle: Planning was easy when it came down to getting things done, but I’m actually so accustomed to doing what OTHER people want, that it took me a while to figure out what Donny and I wanted. However, once it dawned on us that we shouldn’t be planning a local wedding with 400 guests, but should go to where we love—all the pieces fell into place. I’m a strong believer that the venue and location help dictate what the theme and feeling of the wedding will be. So I didn’t have a set color scheme or theme in mind until I had time to think about the location more. All of our planning choices simply reflected us in our everyday lives—the food, the music selections, the attire…

Mandi: How would you describe the style of your wedding?

Rachelle: Eclectic, Beach, Colorful, Celebration, Relaxed… Our biggest priority was to have a great party. The live bands really helped with that aspect, as well as the amazing people and to-die-for food!

Mandi: What are a few details you incorporated it to make it unique to you and Donny?

Rachelle:
We both had a grandmother named June—and both our grandmas were very dear to us. We wanted to honor them so we made favors that would remind us and our families of them. 

Also, we wrote our own vows, so instead of a formal program [which just wouldn’t have fit into our style of wedding anyway] we printed the vows on the program so everyone could follow along.

We also wanted our guests to know that we valued their presence during the ceremony—so we passed our rings around to everyone and asked them to instill their best advice and best wishes into them. It was a very symbolic action, but we still love the idea of it.

Photographs by Paul Rich Studio

Mandi: How did you pick St. Lucia for your destination?

Rachelle: The location was a natural choice for us, as I grew up visiting the island year after year, and Donny is such a water guy. It made perfect sense for us to get away and spend two weeks with our closest friends and family. Since I am so busy, in the Summers, with other weddings—I often miss out on the family get-togethers. I couldn’t really see myself having a wedding day that lasted only a few hours since our guest list was pretty large. So another part of the decision was in splitting the guest list up, it made it so Donny and I could [try to] spend more quality time with our guests. We had two receptions—one at my parents home and one at his parents home when we returned. They were both laid back, bbq style receptions with music, bubbly, and cake—gotta love it! I have to say, the ONLY thing that I didn’t love about our destination wedding was that Sugar [our dog] couldn’t be there.

Mandi: Any advice you’d offer to those planning a destination wedding?

Rachelle: Before you book a wedding somewhere consider a few details that will impact your planning significantly—
Do you speak the language?
Are you at all familiar with the location?
Is there a big time zone difference?
Do they provide a coordinator to help you?
Also consider where all of your guests will be traveling from- is it an accessible destination?

Photographs by Paul Rich Studio

Mandi: Thank you, Rachelle, for sharing a little about your wedding with us!

Cheers,

Mandi & Rachelle

Make sure to enter our love story contest! Details here. We will be announcing a winner on Sunday, February 14th, 2010.

Thank you for stopping by our blog! We’d love to meet you! We offer free no obligation consultations so you’re able to see if you’re in need of a wedding coordinator and if we’re the right match! .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) us now to set up an appointment!

In honor of Valentine’s day coming up this weekend, we decided to put together a fun little giveaway to celebrate love and continue with the theme of love all week! Though I’ve never been one to be too excited about Valentine’s day because for one I think you should do nice things for each other all of the time. Secondly, it ends up making singles wish they had someone [I’ve been there…We’ve all been there!], but we couldn’t help but spread the love!

We partnered up with Paul Rich of Paul Rich Studio who is giving away a photo session! Check out a sampling of some engagement and family sessions below and at the bottom of the post you’ll find the rules and how to enter in the giveaway!

What you can win:

Complimentary engagement session (up to 2 hours of photography).  Session to be scheduled with Paul Rich Studio based on availability and in the Portland, Oregon area.

OR

Complimentary family photo session of up to 5 family members.  Session to be scheduled with Paul Rich Studio based on availability and in the Portland, Oregon area.

What you have to do to enter to win:

All you need to do is, in the comment section in this post, answer the following questions by Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 8pm and we will pick our favorite story for the winner on Sunday, February 14th, 2010 [Valentine’s Day]!

[1] Where did you meet?
[2] How long have you been together?
[3] What do you love most about the love of your life?
[4] Your love story:

Who can win:

Anyone who is in love and has a story to tell! Whether you’re 20 or 70, we want to hear your love story!

Rachelle and Donny [and their adorable beagle, Sugar] engagement photo by Paul Rich Studio
Later this week, we will be featuring a few images from Champagne’s Rachelle Bell and her husband Donny’s wedding as part of our “week of love”.

We can’t wait to read your love stories! Ready, set… go enter! : )

Cheers,

Mandi & Rachelle

Thank you for stopping by our blog! We’d love to meet you! We offer free no obligation consultations so you’re able to see if you’re in need of a wedding coordinator and if we’re the right match! .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) us now to set up an appointment!