Nicole & Chris | San Jose Wedding | Boulder Ridge Golf Club

Photo by Tom Vo Photography

Nicole and Chris were married at the Golf Club at Boulder Ridge in San Jose last spring and I’m so happy to finally have some time to sit down and write about their wedding day.

These two are amazing people and I was just so honored to be able to work with them.  Nicole was one of the most organized brides I’ve ever seen!  She took so much care in every step of the planning process… from selecting vendors (and she put together an AWESOME team!), to making sure all of their out-of-town guests had everything they needed, to putting together beautiful modern ceremony and reception details.  Chris was very involved as well and together they just created a gorgeous, fun and meaningful day.

Here are a few of the details from their wedding that I’m just crazy about:

• Nicole is from the East Coast and met Chris in New York City, so I loved that she brought a little bit of the city to their day with the NYC map ring pillow that she found on Etsy and the ring shots with that day’s copy of the New York Times.
• Their ceremony, officiated by Irene Kane of Ceremonies & Celebrations, had the sweetest ring warming. It was an intimate group already, but passing the ring around for everyone to add their blessings was such a personal way for all of their loved ones to participate in the ceremony.
• Probably my most favorite detail of all was the ice cream truck that they brought in for a surprise after-dinner treat for their guests. And I’m not talking just any ice cream truck…it was TreatBot, which is an ice cream truck AND a mobile karaoke machine. It was so fun and just so them! I didn’t try any, but heard that the Ube Purple Yam flavor was pretty incredible!
• And there was just so much more! I can’t leave out the view and the fantastic team from Boulder Ridge and the gorgeous bright jewel-tone florals by Huckleberry Karen Designs that decorated the day!

These photos from Tom Vo Photography totally bring back great memories from Nicole and Chris’ wedding. Hope you enjoy!

Happy anniversary, Chris and Nicole! I can’t believe it has been a year! Cheers to many, many more years of happiness and best wishes in everything you do!

Planner  |  Kristy Meinhardt Weddings 

Venue | The Golf Club at Boulder Ridge

Photography | Tom Vo Photography

Florist | Huckleberry Karen Designs

Stationery & Signage | Simplicity Papers

Officiant | Ceremonies & Celebrations/Irene Kane

Hair & Makeup | Get Flawless/Lucy-Zayne Nsour

Ice Cream Truck  |  Treatbot

 

DIY Favor Boxes | Kristy Meinhardt Weddings | Half Moon Bay Wedding Planner

Hooray, I’m finally back with some weekend crafting inspiration!

I discovered this project on It’s Always Autumn last year when I was looking for a DIY treat box tutorial for the loads of Christmas cookies I usually bake to hand out over the holidays.  I’ve found that most of the favor or treat boxes that you find in stores usually don’t hold very much and I wanted a DIY option that I could make larger if I wanted.  This project is super easy and is also a great way to use up extra cardstock or scrapbook paper that you may have on hand.  Plus it’s just so much cuter than giving cookies on a paper plate!

Supplies:

• Cardstock paper
• Double stick tape
• Sheet protectors
• Wax paper
• Ribbon, twine, washi tape (and whatever else you want to dress up your boxes with)
• Cookies/treats

Tools:

• Paper cutter
• Scoring tool with scoring board
• Cricut (or other circle paper cutter)
• Scissors

Steps:

1. Start with two sheets of cardstock that are 8 ½ x 8 ½ inches.
2. Cut a circle in one of the pieces of cardstock for the top box.  I used my Cricut Mini, but you can use whatever circle cutter you have.
3. Use a scoring board to score 2 inches from all sides for the bottom box and score the next line over from all sides for the top box, making it just slightly bigger so that it will fit over the bottom box.
4. Cut a 4-inch square from your sheet protector and tape it into the inside of the top box for the circle.
5. Cut flaps as shown below.
6. Form the box by creasing at your score marks.
7. Fold down the corners and add your double stick tape.
8. Adhere the corner flaps to the inside of the top and bottom flaps.
9. Use wax paper to line the box.
10. Fill with goodies and decorate as you wish!

The final product is a 4.5-inch box that I was able to fit six medium size cookies into.  For embellishments, I tied a sprig of rosemary (because I like the scent) and a few berries with some red twine.  And the stamp is our Christmas stamp that I got from Amber Housley.

Note: I just made about 20 of these and they are a bit time consuming.  If you’re doing a lot, like for wedding favors or welcome treats for out of town guests, I recommend having a crafting party (and I totally LOVE crafting parties, especially for weddings!) so that you can set up an assembly line of your bridal party, friends and family and crank these out faster.

And the most important part of course is the treats that you fill them with!  These yummy White Chocolate Blueberry Oatmeal cookies are honestly my favorite cookies EVER.

Happy weekend, friends!

Find a Way | Kristy Meinhardt Weddings | Half Moon Bay Wedding Planner

I realize I’m a few weeks behind with this, but it’s still January so HAPPY 2014 EVERYONE!  Last year was a year of complete growth and restructuring for me.   Baby #2 and a new home will do that to you!  And, while I’m incredibly grateful for all the joy and the change that 2013 brought, I was also super ready for this New Year to begin.  I think I was ready like last July actually!

So I’ll start this post with a confession.  Last year I had every intention of going through a great (I mean GREAT!) goal setting process that Lara Casey featured on her blog for the New Year.  I read all the posts in January, started the steps (I think I made it to #3 of 14) and I even went so far as to print out the entire series and put everything in it’s own little folder.  (Yes, I realize how wasteful that is but I’m a total paper girl!)  And then, after all that, I kept “set 2013 goals” as an action item on my incredibly unrealistic to-do list for the entire year.  I’m not even kidding.  All. Year. Long.

That’s kind of how things went for me last year.  Lots of great stuff that I wanted to do on my mind and my to-do list, yet not a lot of checking off or completing going on.  And I’ll give myself a little credit, because I did have a one month old and a three year old at the beginning of 2013.  Plus I orchestrated a super huge move and got us settled into our new home in the middle of the year, so it wasn’t like the whole year was a loss.  Just a lot of the things I wanted to do for myself and for my business that seemed to be brushed to the side.  So just imagine how happy I was to see Lara’s series, with improvements even, on her blog again this year.  This year I’m ready!

So I’ve taken some time over the last few weeks to work my way through the steps and I’m happy to report that I now have ten well thought out goals and a plan of how to make those goals happen this year.  I won’t bore you with all of them or even how they came to be but I did want to share one little part of the process with you.  One of the steps is to select a word to represent your year and this year my word is “do.”  I feel like I’ve spent the last couple years planning, getting ready for, and dreaming about what I want my life to be like.  And then I held all these things in my heart because I didn’t feel that I was enough or that I had the ability or time to make these things a reality.  Bottom line, I can’t tell you how good it feels to have a plan and how excited and ready I am for this year!

For 2014, I actually went a step further from finding my word and I have a quote that goes along with it to serve as a sort of motto.  Last year, my motto was borrowed from Emily Ley’s “I will hold myself to a standard of grace, not perfection.”  (Geez, I still love those words so much!)  This year I borrowed from Diana Nyad’s words “Find a way.”  Most of the obstacles that I need to overcome to conquer these goals (from a husband’s busy work schedule, to two adorable little ones who still need me 24/7, to stepping out of my own way and realizing that I really have it in me to work these things out) are still there.  But this year I’m going to do my best to find a way to make the important things in my heart happen and I have a plan to do just that.

If you’re not familiar with Lara Casey, I really recommend following her work and maybe setting some goals of your own if you haven’t already.  (This goal setting process that she has is so good!  And she does mention several times in the blog posts that it doesn’t matter if it’s January, or July, or November…start anytime!)  Visit her blog for more information.

Wishing everyone a fantastic 2014!  Let’s all find a way to make our dreams happen this year!

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Today is my parent’s 42nd wedding anniversary and this picture is one of my favorites of their wedding party.

My mom planned the wedding while my dad was away in Vietnam and she was unsure what their exact wedding date would be for most of her planning. When my dad surprised her by returning for her birthday on November 17, they began finalizing the details and they married a month later in the chapel at Brophy College Prep in Phoenix (my dad’s alma mater).

Happy Anniversary Ronnie & Christina!

Photo by Lori Rittinger Photography

Those of you who are parents will understand that, when you first welcome a new baby into your home, you go through what I can only describe as a storm.  It’s certainly a good storm, but you have to rearrange everything in your life to work around your new little addition.  I feel like that’s what the last six months have been for me.  And before you know it, you realize that far too much time has gone by without a blog post!

I’m currently on vacation with the family (our first as a family of four) and being away has given me a much-needed breather to be able to plan some of the things I’ve been trying to get to since the baby arrived.  There is so much to catch you up on including my first wedding of 2013 on April 27 (congrats Chris and Nicole!), a ton of new DIY wedding projects and a few other exciting things to come later this year.  All that will be on the blog very soon!  But for now I just wanted to take a few minutes to wish one of my favorite couples of all time a happy anniversary.

Ronnie and Christina were married three years ago at Elliston Vineyards in Sunol, CA.  They live in Florida and planned everything from afar via phone and internet, not even having the chance to see the venue in person before the big day.  So imagine my fear, as their venue coordinator, when I was heading to meet them for their rehearsal.  I just kept repeating to myself…I pray they like it, I pray they like it, I pray they like it.  And thankfully they both did!

Ronnie and Christina are honestly two of the nicest, most gracious and caring people you will ever meet and it was such an honor for me to be part of their wedding day. And as you can see from the picture above, they’re adorable!  Congrats to you both and cheers to many more!

Photo by Lori Rittinger Photography

Introducing Baby Jameson!

“You were born with potential

You were born with goodness and trust

You were born with ideals and dreams

You were born with greatness

You were born with wings

You are not meant for crawling, so don’t

You have wings

Learn to use them and fly.”

~ Rumi

At 7:32am on Wednesday, November 28, we welcomed Jameson Walter Meinhardt into our little family!  He arrived at a hearty 9 pounds 15.1 ounces and 21.5 inches, which means that all the newborn sized clothes we had for him didn’t even stand a chance!  Although we’re a little blurry-eyed from lack of sleep, the whole family is adjusting well and ever so happy that he’s here!

I have a few blog posts planned in the next few weeks, but will otherwise be back to work full-time on January 1.  I’m still checking emails though, so feel free to email me at kristy@kristymeinhardtweddings.com if you need anything.

Wishing everyone a joyful holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and start of the holiday season!  It’s early in the morning on Thanksgiving Day and, as I write this, I’m still pregnant.  I’m pretty tired, but extremely grateful to have my husband at home and my in-laws in town.  They’ve all been a huge help!  I’m also thankful that I had the time and energy this week to do our grocery shopping for today’s meal, plan out our table, put together a cute pumpkin centerpiece (that’s it pictured above) and even bake a few pies.  All things I love about this time of year!  (Side note: I pinned a great recipe on Pinterest from A Beautiful Mess for a brownie pecan pie and I can’t WAIT to taste it!  I’ll let you know if it’s good, but really…how could it not be?!)

After David and I got married, Thanksgiving quickly became “our” holiday in the Meinhardt home.  He’s a fire fighter and works his fair share of holidays, but we try to take vacation around Thanksgiving every year to visit our family since they all live out of town and start some family traditions of our own.  I thought I’d share one tradition that I started a few years ago…our “I am thankful for” cards.

Happy Anniversary Neal & Lynn!

I’m a day and a half late on this one, but I couldn’t go without wishing Neal and Lynn a very happy one-year anniversary!  Last year, on 11-11-11, they tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony on the patio at Hotel De Anza in downtown San Jose, with an elegant dinner reception following at Paolo’s Restaurant, and I was honored that they let me help in the planning.

DIY Painted Bottle Centerpieces

If you ever visit my home, you will probably notice that I almost always have fresh cut flowers around the house.  I try to shop our local farmer’s market every week, but if I’m short on time, I will pick up a bunch at the store or even just cut a few blooms from our yard to put in a bud vase.  Anything to have fresh flowers in the house.  So, when I saw this pin for DIY bottle centerpieces, I knew this was something I needed to try.

The Next Few Months

My growing family

As I get closer to d-day in this pregnancy (I’m due Nov. 28, but I honestly feel like I could pop any day!), I wanted to write a short post on what my plans are and what you can expect from me over the next few months.

• I plan to slow down for “maternity leave” beginning Nov. 1 to give me time to focus on the final preparations for this little guy’s arrival.  After the baby comes, I will devote the month of December to my family.  (For some reason, I must like the craziness of having holiday babies.  In addition to welcoming our new arrival around Thanksgiving, my daughter’s third birthday is a few days before Christmas.  I’m sure that won’t be stressful in the coming years!)
• Although I won’t be as available as I usually am starting next month, I will still check email and voicemail on a regular basis.  If you contact me, I maybe won’t be as quick to respond, but you can still expect a reply as soon as I can possibly get to it.  Should be within a few days max.
• I’ll continue to be present within my social media networks as much as possible, including on my Facebook page, Pinterest, Instagram and here on the blog.  And as soon as I have a picture of the most handsome boy in the universe, know that it will be posted across them all!
• Baring any unexpected difficulties, I plan to be back in full-force on January 1.

I’m of course a planner at heart so I’m finding the “not-knowing” a little frustrating, even the second time around.  If you need to contact me, please still do.  I promise to get back in touch with you as soon as I possibly can.  And if you’re among the lucky couples getting engaged this holiday season, congrats!  I can’t wait to talk with you about your wedding!