We are so blessed to announce that Lisa Clement of Clemente's Fresh Seafood Restaurant and Market in Astoria has accepted our invitation to cater the wedding on Aug 23rd this year.
Jaylin and I had our hands full with the decision coming down to two very capable and talented caterers, but in the end it was Lisa's commitment to both value and quality that won us over!!
Lisa and her Husband have a very reputable and growing restaurant and catering business in Astoria. They have been well reviewed, and as a matter of fact a very nice article was written about them in the Coast Weekend Magazine last month in the midst of us trying to make our decision.
It was a real journey for Jaylin and I as we experienced what could probably be considered the first "big test" for us in the middle of the whole wedding planning process. Not only were we trying to book "Big Food" in the middle of Hood to Coast weekend...but you see...the other caterer/restaurant owner, was a good friend of mine. I have to admit, I thought I was just being helpful, but maybe I was lobbying a little for them as well since it would have been totally user friendly in my opinion at the time. I brought them into the mix after Jay had worked very diligently to find the other company, in order to make sure we were going to get the best deal, but I wasn't really being very sensitive to the idea that Jaylin had really worked hard on finding Clemente's and that she was very proud of herself for getting it done. Oops!...little did I know that my sweet girl had really done her homework on this one, and frankly, I was very impressed that even after I muddied things up good, Jaylin just looked at me and said, "You know what...let's give them both a shot." We did, and much to my delight, Lisa and her team just absolutely came through. jaylin certainly knows how to pick 'em, and I gotta say that we both feel not only like we are getting tremendous value here, but we really feel like there was nobody we would have rather found than Lisa Clement and her company! We are very impressed with the capabilities and the sense of importance that Lisa put on making us feel understood, not to mention totally working within our budget., and for the record, I am VERY impressed also with the hard work and time Jaylin put into this one. What a great partner I have, she is so awesome!! It has been a great "Trust Building" experience for Jaylin and I and we are so thrilled with the end result!!
Anyhow - here is the link to the article in Coast Weekend Magazine about Clemente's, and if you get a chance to head to the coast between now and the wedding, go check them out...and tell them Jaylin and Wayne sent you!!
Now - the Photographer...this one we worked on side by side (good lessons learned from the catering project) and if you know us, we are both very artistic and expressive people who pay a LOT of attention to great art and people who have the ability to express amazing detail in their work. We also have very diverse tastes in what we each find visually stimulating - so there was a little "Mutual-Navigation" to be done on this one. The net-net? We both really belive our wedding Photographer has exactly the ability to deliver a very artistic final result, with the unique approach he takes to both document artisitically, as well as give us a very journalistic view of the day. He is truly a talented guy, and a wonderful Human.
We are totally thrilled to have Daniel Stark of Daniel Stark Photography as our wedding photographer.
Daniel has a wide range of interests and talents from shooting editorials as a photojournalist, taking "life" images as well as amazing landscape shots...but we think his true passion comes through in his unique and honest ability to capture the joy and emotion of weddings...
just take a look at his site here...we're sure you will agree.
Daniel is a graduate of the University of Oregon and his work has been featured in many publications, not the least of which is National Geographic Magazine.
Daniel has been very sweet in communicating with us, and we feel his genuine kind and caring personality will lend itself so well to the day and the memories we want to create. Jaylin and I both agree that he is the kind of guy who will really go out of his way to get a great shot, and we love the way that even his "posed" shots have a sense of balance that goes well beyond just making sure that people are organized from "Tallest to Smallest'...
We will be getting an Engagement photo session with Daniel very soon, including the kids, and look forward to sharing those photos here with all of you ASAP.
That's it for now - more to follow....
Wayne-O
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