Down on the Farm

Meagan & Cory
10/10/15

Meagan and Cory got married at one of my favorite venues, Quail Haven Farm in Vista, CA. The James wedding was my second time getting to work with Lindy at the Farm and she is simply the best! I love working there because Lindy is amazing, her team is so helpful, and the space attracts the kindest, most down to earth brides.

The weather was perfect for Meagan and Cory’s day with family from all over, including Australia! They had a taco man, churro cart, and lots of dancing. Every single detail was thought through by Meagan, the most organized and relaxed bride I have ever worked with! At the rehearsal Meagan surrendered her giant binder to me and was able to relax and enjoy the weekend with her family and friends. My favorite thing about my job is making sure a bride gets to truly enjoy their wedding day knowing that they don’t have to worry about a single thing! I’m thankful that I got to work with Lindi again and for the chance to help Meagan create the day of her dreams!

xoxo,

Amanda Grace

Wedding Tip Wednesday: Favors

Making favors for your guests can be a fun part of the wedding planning and crafting process! Sometimes your family may want to pitch in a help create whatever you choose to do. Your favors can be a treat the bride and groom love, something from a country you’ve traveled to or have family from, something fun that matches the theme of your wedding or something homemade from your family secret recipe book! Choosing a simple way to say thank you to guests can be a fun project for your family to work on together!

For Will and Grace’s wedding, Grace used to work at a bakery so her friends gifted the bride and groom with homemade loaves of bread for guests to take home. Ashley’s and Drew’s family planted small succulents for their guests that doubled as escort cards for their desert wedding. Since Cory was from Australia, Meagan and Cory chose to give guests Australian candies as a take away. Jamie and Mark shared homemade caramels with their guests as a parting gift. At their Angel’s Stadium reception, Lindi and Steve’s wedding guests enjoyed peanuts and ballpark gummies. It’s always so fun to see the unique ideas brides and grooms come up with to say thank you to their guests!

Below are some ideas to help you brainstorm the perfect favor for the people who help you celebrate!

xoxo,

Amanda Grace

Sunny San Diego Afternoon

Jamie & Mark
9/20/15

Jamie and I were friends in college and I remember spending hours upon hours studying on her couch late into the night. When Jamie told me she was getting married and friends would be flying in from all over the country, I instantly marked my calendar! It was so fun working with Jamie because she was so easy-going and organized. After dinner one night (before she even got officially engaged!), we spent months going through details and thinking about the best way to make her vision come to life.

Her wedding day was nothing short of stunning. Jamie and Mark tied the knot at Carmel Mountain Ranch Golf Course on a beautiful afternoon in Sunny San Diego. Jamie looked gorgeous and every detail had an elegant touch of Jamie and Mark. Her sweet nature is one that is so inviting and warm and when I met Mark, he was the same way! The way they make each other smile and when they laugh together, it’s infectious. It was such a joy to work with Jamie and get to know Mark and see friends from college come to town to celebrate such a sweet couple!

xoxo,

Amanda Grace

Wedding Tip Wednesday: Photographers

Choosing a photographer within your budget and with a style you love to capture the most exciting day of your life isn’t always easy. Once you decide who to work with, communicating with them exactly what you want from them can sometimes be a challenge. I recommend keeping a running list as you plan of moments or details you want to make sure to remember have them shoot. When we sit down to start talking about your wedding, I’ll give you a list of shots you’re sure to want to capture that you can customize and give to your photographer. This makes family photos, detail pictures and bridal party shots go a lot faster so you can get to celebrating with your guests!

Here’s my top 3 tips for choosing a photographer:

1.       Make sure you look at the style of their work. Everyone is a little different. Explore their website and blog. Are they used to do weddings? Shooting a wedding day is a lot different than a normal photoshoot. Make sure they are familiar with all it will entail.

2.       Thoroughly look over the contract they give you and make sure you understand every little piece. Some people only agree to be at your wedding for a few hours, if you want getting ready photos and pictures of the sendoff, make sure you account for all the hours! Remember you only get married once so make sure they give you what you are looking for!

3.       Are they going to bring a second shooter? Having a second shoot on site at your wedding is always helpful to capture the groom’s face when he first sees the bride and the bride as she walks down the aisle. One photographer can be taking pictures of guests at cocktail hour while the other does family pictures following the ceremony. If at all possible, having one male and one female photographer is ideal so you can get pictures of the guys and gals getting ready at the same time!

xoxo,
Amanda Grace

Showered in Blessings

Will & Grace
11/1/14

Grace and I went to high school together and became good friends our senior year on Homecoming Court. We went our separate ways for college but kind of stayed in contact over the years. When Grace got engaged to this mystery man from college I had to reconnect with her! We talked wedding details and that’s when the dream of starting a small business coordinating events for people I love was born!

Family was always the most important thing to Grace and her family. Growing up everyone knew the Hobgood kids had each other’s backs and nothing was more important to them than each other. When I met Will’s family, it was obvious this was true for him and his family too and it made perfect sense why they were perfect together. I immediately fell in love with the Potts who traveled from Florida to California for their sweet wedding. I got to spend the whole morning setting up and getting to know them as they shared stories about Will and Grace.

The Potts tied the knot at Quail Haven Farm in Vista, CA. It was my first time working with Lindy Waldman, the owner, and she was the best! With an all outdoor venue and rain in the forecast ALL DAY, we knew we were going to face some challenges. The cocktail area and parking arenas had flooding but Lindi’s team rented shuttles and brought guests up to the ceremony safely as I worked to move cocktail hour to the covered reception space. Despite the rain, the whole day was showered in blessings!

Just in time for the ceremony, the rain let up and the sun came out! It wasn’t long after the ceremony concluded and they were done taking pictures that the rain began again. Despite the cold and the rain, guests enjoyed dancing, celebrating, and the mini dessert bar from the bakery Grace used to work at. Right after they got married, Will and Grace moved to Florida and just recently had their first little girl Kinley, who is adorable as can be!

xoxo,

Amanda Grace

 

Where Did This Thing Start Anyways?

So many people ask me how I got into events. How did you get started? So what did you go to school for? Is it the best job ever? I love to share the journey that has brought me to where I am today!

I'm just going to be honest...I didn’t go to school for this stuff. But I have been around events for as long as I could remember. My mom always planned the best parties with the greatest themes and matching dishes and killer menus. She loves to entertain and a love for hospitality was ingrained in me from a young age. I used to love planning games for slumber parties with my American Girl magazines, coordinating logistics for events at the dance studio where I grew up, being in student government and organizing lunch activities or helping my mom with events at church. In college I started interning with the events department my freshman year and had several opportunities to be a part of creating and planning events for students and donors when I attended Biola. It was in these roles that my love for events grew and I realized this is what I was born to do. Before I got to plan the most popular event on campus for 4,000 people though, I was standing in a parking lot as an usher welcoming guests and helping them find a place to park. The little jobs are what made me appreciate ALL the people I work with and the jobs they do to make an event happen.

People think event planning is the most fun, exciting and glamorous job. It sure is wonderful but it certainly isn’t all roses and cupcakes! I will admit though, what I get to do, the people I work with, the stories I hear and the love I get to witness makes every toilet I end up cleaning, late Saturday hours and tired feet so worth it! Nothing brings me more joy than the look on a groom’s face when he sees his bride, the father daughter dance that always seem to make me cry or the way a room full of loved ones is excited to celebrate newlyweds!

In October 2014 I reached out to a friend from high school who was getting married and simply offered to help her if she needed anything. Little did I know that a dream would be born after dinner in small burger joint in San Clemente! A month later I was coordinating a wedding in North San Diego and I had created a simple website and gotten some business cards printed. Through word of mouth I booked a few more weddings here and there and after months of prayer, late nights, looking at fonts, writing, uploading and planning, I am so excited to finally share Grace in the Details with you!

So to answer your questions, my journey with events started with some American Girl magazines, the best mom/party planner in town, standing in a parking lot as an usher, and in a little burger joint in San Clemente. I didn’t go to wedding planning school but I have had so much experience working in the field that I’ve learned more than I ever could in a classroom. And yes, no matter how many toilets I clean, crying bridesmaids I deal with or stressed out moms I grab a glass of wine for, I have a pretty great job!

xoxo,

Amand Grace

An old, blurry pictures from the year I realized this is what I was born to do!

An old, blurry pictures from the year I realized this is what I was born to do!

Grace in the Details

I’m thankful you’ve found your way to my new blog here on Grace in the Details. I am excited to share with you the stories I get to be a part of, the visions I bring to life, the sweet people I get to work with and my passion for creating the most thoughtful and memorable experience for you and your guests.

I truly believe my role as an event coordinator, planner, designer and dreamer is to create an environment for you; an environment for you, a space to celebrate, remember, rejoice, learn, gather and laugh with loved ones. My heart is for people to share in life together. To create the space for stories to be written that will be told for years to come.

So this is it! Check out the events I’ve had the privilege of creating with clients turned sweet friends (some sweet friends turned clients), envision your perfect day, and let’s make a time to meet and talk about what you’re dreaming of planning! Grace in the Details is something so close to my heart that I truly desire to share with people. I’m passionate about making your vision come to life; to pay attention to the details, to care about the little things, to worry about it all so you don’t have to. My job is to handle all the stress so you can enjoy your day!

Stay tuned for exciting recaps of what I’ve been working on the last year:)

xoxo,

Amanda Grace