Well folks, we made it.

We can officially say that we have survived one of the hardest years for all of us. The year COVID came and destroyed our travel, gatherings and hopes of a large wedding among many other things.

But, it wasn’t all completely terrible.

We met some amazing new clients for 2021. We worked with vendors we have been yearning to work with. We created some amazing styled shoots. And we helped some couples get married safely and celebrate in one of the hardest years to do so.

So, I present to you, 2020 in the world of The Bubbly Soirée…. There’s a lot more personal photos than usual, so enjoy!

January

The beginning of the year brought a busy schedule of visiting wedding shows, looking at new venues and getting everything in place for the new year.

At the end of the month, I was able to see another new venue, The Press Room in Tacoma for a Tacoma NACE meeting. It was so amazing, we did a styled shoot there later in the year!

After speaking at my first wedding show at the end of the month, it was time to move on to an exciting February!

February

February brought our first wedding of the year: a 300 guest wedding at the Agriplex in the WA State Fairgrounds in Puyallup. We loved their energy, the chill vibe and all the love that surrounded Madison and Bryan on their wedding day.

The following weekend we were back in the same building for another wedding show-the South Sound Wedding Show. I spoke for the second time ever and was so thrilled to have some of my best vendor friends cheering me on.

March

March started off with a last minute table at the Foss Waterway Seaport open house after my school fundraiser was postponed (now canceled).

You know what happened after that…

We celebrated my daughter’s birthday at the end of the month hoping to have an actual birthday party later on. She was still able to celebrate by sharing cupcakes with her friends, over zoom.

april

April was…at home….

We spent a lot of time doing remote learning, baking, canceling trips, and drinking wine.

No exciting photos from that month. :)

May

May brought more time at home, and I started to make some masks for my family.

Wedding planning was still happening as we anxiously waited for some sort of guidance from the governor at the beginning of the month. Dates and venues were changing but late summer/fall weddings remained hopeful.

Here is a photo of myself and a couple of clients when we toured their changed venue choice as of May.

june

With school being remote for the remainder of the school year and my family reunion canceled, we decided to hit the road in our travel trailer to see Yellowstone right after it reopened. We were there at the right time, apparently, because I hear the park became overcrowded as the summer went on.

july

With my own weddings being postponed or canceled, it allowed me time to go back to Seabrook to help them on the venue side of things. They are in Phase 3 for WA and could therefore have more guests at weddings at the time.

Later on in the month, I had the pleasure of designing a styled shoot with the wonderful Courtney Bowlden. We had an amazing shoot at the Lairmont Manor in Bellingham that was later featured on Style Me Pretty! Such an amazing thing for this challenging year. So many thanks to the amazing vendors who were part of the shoot: Jessica Vann-Campbell Flowers, My Delightful Decor, Emerald City Cocktails, BBJ Linen, CORT Party Rentals, and our beautiful model, Ayana.

August

In August we had our first, and last, large event since covid hit. Skating in before receptions were canceled again, Alex and Josh were married in Cle Elum, within another Phase 3 county. Their day was joyful, fun and had an amazing group of friends and family who were there through thick or thin.

september

September was a great month. Carl and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary, the kids went back to school, (remotely, of course) and we helped two couples get married!

Theresa and Francis had originally planned to get married in the middle of October, but decided to reschedule their big wedding until fall of 2021 and then have a small elopement on the same day this year. We worked quickly, and within 3 weeks of the change, they became husband and wife at Rein Fire Ranch in a beautiful small ceremony surrounded by their closest family and friends.

Madison and Conor were finally able to get married at the end of September surrounded by 30 of their favorite people. It was a long road to get there, but we were all thrilled to see them get married. More about their wedding and planning can be found in this blog post.

october

Carl and I traveled to Phoenix finally (after originally planning to go in April and then September) to do a venue walkthrough for Jill and Matt’s New Years Day wedding there. The weather was hot and the company was great.

I had the pleasure of doing other venue walkthroughs more close to home, as well as some rental/decor meetings. Bring on the copper accents!

november

What a crazy and exciting month this was! I turned 40 and Carl surprised me with a wonderful (and safe) birthday party with some of my closest friends and family.

I also had the pleasure of doing another styled shoot, which was selected for the BBJ/La Tavola Linen lookbook! Working with some phenomenal vendors in a gorgeous venue, we created something I’m incredibly proud of. More details about this shoot can be found HERE.

December

The final month in this wacky year!

We spent the month prepping for Christmas while trying to do as many festive things as possible.

I also worked to prepare for our upcoming trip to Phoenix again over New Years for Jill and Matt’s wedding on January 1st. I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year, than a beautiful and fun wedding.

So much love to you and your close ones. I hope you all remain healthy and in good spirits, because we all need some 2021 in our life right now.

Cheers to the New Year!

~Shiloh