For more samples and information please visit: Huckleberry Karen Designs
Samples of Monograms
If you don't see something you like - just drop me an email huckleberrykarendesigns@gmail.com. I have created many custom monograms and invitations. I would love to help make your wedding personal!
Karen & Ben
April 30, 2006
Me and my sisters
Ben and best man (younger brother)
Future Husband!
My mom
Grandma welcoming me to the family!
We had to take this picture because my crazy ring bearer would not stand still!
First Dance
Friends and Family Having Fun
My dad and I getting down!
My beautiful girlfriends!
Twirling my Mother In Law
Dancing with one my best guy friends
My Bouquet
My bouquet had ranunculas, peonies, roses, bells of Ireland, and hypericum berries. My Bridesmaids carried shades of pink roses and they wore chocolate brown.
The Groom's boutonierre was a white ranuncula with a monkey talk (fern curly thingy).
I made little goodie bags for all the kids at the wedding. They contained a Wedding Coloring Book with games, playing cards, crayons, bubbles, a couple of snacks (popcorn and juice) and for the girls they got a litle crown with their name on it and the boys got little cars. They were a big hit and kept them busy during the cocktail hour and dinner.
Fortune Toss Bouquet
Site: Thomas Fogarty Winery, Woodside, CA (A) $4500Everything went very smoothly with Fogarty. They were always prompt when returning phone calls and they have a preferred catering and dj list. This actually made it easier for us since we had a list to pick from. The place is costly – but if you manage to get a date out of their “wedding season” then it’s definitely more affordable. The place is beautiful with gorgeous views. You don’t need much to decorate the place. ($4500 plus $500 deposit that is returned after the event). These prices reflect an "off season rate along with a Sunday). Saturdays are more expensive during the "wedding season" which is June - October.Photography: The Art of Emotion with Becky Burgin (A) $3500 plus tax (came out to be $3700)The pictures turned out beautiful - DH and I are very happy with them. Becky and her daughter, Erica did a really good djd organizing the groups for pictures. We were able to sneak a few bridal portraits and pics of just Ben and I. We also took engagement pictures and they came out pretty good. I’m glad that I took those because it let me know what to expect and to relax in front of the camera. Cons: She was late for our first appointment and the engagement pictures. Pros: Very responsive with phone calls and email. She was on time for the wedding! She knows her angles and lighting - really helps to ensure beautiful pictures. Becky's packages includes 9 hours but we did feel that we need that long. So we asked for 6 hours and she dropped the price from $4300 to $3500.Make Up and Hair – Professional Make Up Artistry with Maria Chang (A+) $500 for 2006. I can’t even say enough about Maria and her assistants. They were on time, great with my family and so on top of it. They were able to work around madness (Try 2 families, 4 bridesmaids, 6 nieces all trying to get ready!). They were calm and so much fun to be with. They made all of my bridesmaid look beyond gorgeous. But the best thing of all, they made me feel so glamorous and beautiful. I received so many compliments on my hair and make up throughout the day and night. The make-up and hair stayed put (and did not smudge on to anything else) even after 5 hours of dancing. Maria and her assistant touched me up for pictures. They helped me tape my dress to me so it wouldn’t fall, they had a steamer and steamed my dress. They are priceless. I felt a little guilty for paying so much money for their services but I don’t regret it at all. They were worth every penny! Her price have gone up and I think she charges $600 or $650 now.
Men's Tuxedoes - Men's Wearhouse (San Francisco) A $105.00
Rent 3 tuxes get one free. A We didn't have any problems with them - it all went really well. The store in San Francisco seemed very much on top of it and gave us deadlines when all the men should be fitted. Florist: Petalworks with April (A) $800 for cost and materials.
April and I worked out a barter where I helped her with wedding events and she would design my flowers.April was great! I gave her some creative freedom – ideas and flowers that I liked and she was able to create beautiful centerpieces. I wanted something that wasn’t matchy-matchy and she was able to have a different look for each table and still maintain a continuity with my colors and personality. She also rented this gorgeous arch and decorated it really well. I received many compliments on all the flowers. I loved my bouquet and the kissing balls she made for the ceremony. Guests were able to take flowers and centerpieces home and I was told that they lasted for a while. Cake: Bravos Bakery with Sonja Bravo (A+) $490 (including delivery & set-up)Square cake with 3 tiers. Fed aout 120-150pplYummy. So yummy. The cake was exactly how I imagined it. I had a 3 tier square cake. She used buttercream frosting with a brown fondant band decorating the bottom of each tier. Each layer was different. We had chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, chocolate cake with berry mousse and then white cake with strawberries and whip cream. Again, so many people talked about how good the cake was and how they even had seconds! Sonja was great to work with and easy to get a hold of. She uses all fresh ingredients and you can definitely taste it. She was very flexible while working with us and worked out the best deal for us (we were on a budget). Day of Coordinator – Dream A Little Dream Events with Kathryn Kalabokes (A+) about $500
I booked Kathryn when she had an Open House. When I met her I really liked her and felt that our personalities fit well. She gave me a discount (10%) since I booked right there so that is why my price is lower than her usual prices. I also booked her in 2005 before she was super popular! Kathryn was great! She put together a detailed timeline, was accessible and easy to communicate with. She had an assistant with her so I had 2 people to tend to all the little details I had put together. Everything was ran very smoothly and if anything went wrong, I surely didn’t know about it! Which is exactly what I wanted. High recommendDJ: Big Fun DJ with Henry Kim (A+) $845 for 5 hours of music.
Henry was a pleasure to work with. All of our meetings and communication went smoothly. Nothing cheesy – everything went as planned and he played on the songs we asked him to. He was great! Henry does not charge for set up and breaking down. So the 5 hours is for music.Calligraphy – Dream A Little Dream Events with Kathryn Kalabokes (A+) $1.00 per envelope
Kathryn also did the calligraphy on my invitations. They turned out really nice – I received many compliments on the calligraphy. I think her prices are reasonable and had a quick turn around time. Invitations: Smashing Cards with Ashley (A+) $230.00 for the design, print and cut.
I assembled on my own.Ashley was so easy to work with. I sent her some ideas of what I was looking for. She always got back to me in a timely manner and was very patient with any minor changes with fonts or size. The paper quality and printing she used had a nice quality to it and sent me samples so I could look and touch the invitations on different types of paper. I was very pleased with Ashley and what she designed for us. She was able to reflect our personalities which I really loved. PIB
Brides Dress: ebay $1800 plus shipping ($75)
I was determined to find a "deal" for my wedding dress. I spent many days scouring the internet. I would go to Salons that would have sample sales and tried on many dresses. I found a Romonona Keveza dress on ebay that I loved. I really liked the obi sash so I looked around the bay area to see who carried so I could try it on. A salon in Sacramento had a sample and so I drove up to check it out. It didn't let GREAT on me and there were other dresses that were more flattering. But those other dresses just did not feel like "me". So I went ahead and made a bid for the dress and won. My mom had to do some major alterations on the dress but it was worth it to me at the end. If my mother was not a seamstress (she used to alter wedding dresses for salons) then it would have cost me a lot. Maybe if I was more patiend I would have found a better dress but it turned out fine for me. I just had to stop looking at dresses and thinking think that the grass was greener!
Bride Shoes & Accessories:
Necklace & earrings: Kohl's for $34 & $14
Shoes: Chinese Laundry on Zappos for $25 and flip flops at Macy's for $12 When I told my mother I was wearing flip flops she was dismayed to say the least. So I bought the Chinese Laundry shoes to appease her but I didn't wear them at all. I knew that nobody would look at my feet and that if people did see they would know it was very "me". I had to pay $25 to get my mom off my back and it was worth the $$.
Hairpin: Tradewind Tiaras and it's called the Olivia Pin for $24 plus shipping ($5?) The pin was beautiful and did the trick. I wanted something sparkly in my hair but I didn't want to pay alot. This website has a lot options at affordable prices. Worth a look!
Bridesmaid Dresses: Netbride $105 per dress (BM paid for the dresses and shoes)
We decided on a Dessy dress style #1986. The dress shown on the website looks funky but I liked it in person. I ordered the dresses online through Netbride and the process was pretty quick and painless. They came 2 months early and the girls had plenty of time to get things altered.
Wedding Dress, Ring bearer Tux (A) www.ebay.comI got both of these things off of e-bay. My dress was great (a sample from a store) and came pressed and dry cleaned. I don’t think this store sells dresses regularly though. The Ring Bearer tux was great. I don’t have the info on me but if you email me – I could probably dig up the info somewhere!
Flower Girl Dresses: Jessica McClintock Outlet, San Francisco: A $75 for 2 dresses
The selection here is really hit or miss. If you go with an open mind then you might come out buying something but if you haves something specific in mind then the chances of you finding it at the outlet are slim. The place has tons of dresses to sift through and the sizes and colors vary. You may find a dress you love but it may be slightly marked or damaged. That's the part that stinks cause you won't find another one that is in your size and clean. But it's worth a look because they have great sales on flower girl dresses, Jr. Bridesmaids stuff, BM dresses. I found my Chinese Banquet dress there and it was 75% off so I paid $18 for it!
Ceremony Programs that I made. I used vellum for the outside cover from Paper Source. Pink paper for the inner layer. My program had 4 pages. I used brown thread to sew it all together with a zig zag stitch. Only 3 programs were messed up because of bad stitching or my sewing machine ate it up. I figured it was faster to do this than to tie ribbon on each program. This ended up costing about $0.30 a program. Whoo-hoo!
I made 2 mock versions. One with the polkadots and one plain pink. I decided to go with the plain pink because it was cheaper...but the polkadots are darn cute.
Page One
Page two and three
Last Page with the Thank You note from FI and I If you are interested in my template, just e-mail me at karen_changer at yahoo dot com.
Flowergirl shirt I made from an iron on transfer. I designed it on Powerpoint, printed on an inkjet printer and ironed on a white shirt
Flowergirl baskets
Flowergirl gifts I made. Purses are from Michael's ($3) and I bought the iron on initials and put them on the back of the skirt to personalize them. Cute!
Jr. Bridesmaid presents I got at Nordstom's Rack for $7 each. They have nailpolish, lotions, scrubs and lipgloss. My nieces are 10, 13 and 15 yrs. old.
Ringbearer gift. My nephew is almost 3 years old and loves trucks! I bought a canvas bag and ironed his name on. I bought his toy from Target for $13.
Family pictures. Frames are from Nordstroms rack. I decorated it with pink and brown ribbon.
Welcome Wreaths I made for 2 posts in our cocktail area. I bought the grapevine wreaths from Michael's ($4 each). I also bought the letters from Michael's ($3 each). I decorated it with our baby pics. My florist will add flowers if time allows. I loved how they turned out!
Poem that will be placed on each table. It basically says that each table needs to sing a song with the word "love" in it for FI and I to kiss. No clinking of the glasses for us! We're going to make our guests work to have us kiss :) My nephew Chris (Ringbearer) and niece Jamie (flowegirl). They are too cute! flower ideas Bridal Bouquet that April from Petalworks (www.petalworks.com) made. Mine will look similar to this. Kissing balls from knottie Calicayman's wedding. Love them! Fun and funky bout for FI. We'll use ranunculas and the monkeytail (curly thingy). Cakes! Bridesmaid Shoes Bridal Shoes - Chinese Laundry called Mink The Dress - Romona Keveza RK930 also called Jackie Back of Dress Flower Girl Dresses with a pink or brown sash < Hair & Make UP Trial with Professional Makeup Artistry (Maria Chang). Maria was phenomenal. I showed her a picture and she was able to recreate it perfectly! Please ignore the hairpin! This is not the one I will be using but it gives you the general idea!
My nephew Chris (Ringbearer) and niece Jamie (flowegirl). They are too cute! flower ideas
Bridal Bouquet that April from Petalworks (www.petalworks.com) made. Mine will look similar to this.
Kissing balls from knottie Calicayman's wedding. Love them!
Fun and funky bout for FI. We'll use ranunculas and the monkeytail (curly thingy). Cakes! Bridesmaid Shoes Bridal Shoes - Chinese Laundry called Mink The Dress - Romona Keveza RK930 also called Jackie Back of Dress Flower Girl Dresses with a pink or brown sash < Hair & Make UP Trial with Professional Makeup Artistry (Maria Chang). Maria was phenomenal. I showed her a picture and she was able to recreate it perfectly! Please ignore the hairpin! This is not the one I will be using but it gives you the general idea!