Welcome to Blog of the Sierra Nevada's Greatest Wedding Getaway

Here is a meeting place for those in love and planning their own "greatest celebration"; a haven for our magisterial couples of years past whose memories should always be a couple keystrokes away; and a warm welcome for those recently inaugurated into the living dream of their Forest House wedding.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Cupcake Crazy!

Are you as crazy about cupcakes as we are?










Are you having a cake or cupcakes at your weeding?


Kathryn.. Your Lady in Black and Wedding Director


Advise to our B&G from Kathryn: "Do not loose focus and spend all of your time and energy on "things" for the day. Focus on the experiences of the day in itself."

Congratulations and welcome to the Forest House Lodge family!

My name is Kathryn Gardenhire, Wedding Director at the Forest House Lodge and I am very much looking forward to working with you to make your special day an unforgettable one! To help start you off with planning I have included a packet of “homework” as I like to call it. It will help me begin your planning process and assist me as well in reaching your every expectation of wedding organization.

In addition to the planning process, I also coordinate multiple events throughout the year that serve various functions for you as a Bride and Groom. Through these events you will be able to meet other Brides and Grooms, get to know staff, and get a taste of our incredible cuisine. These events will also allow you to observe the warm, friendly, and extremely fun environment that our Lodge provides and what’s more, we get to know you better and find out the special, little details that fulfill your dreams on your big day!

I want you know that I am here for you every step of the way. Please feel free to contact me anytime whether through email or phone. I definitely prefer email due to its speed and its ability save requests or ideas you have; I then have the ability to search and find. Unlike most coordinators and directors in our industry, I organize and direct close to 80 weddings a year and usually have 80 to 95 Brides and Grooms on our books at any one time. As one might assume I am a very busy person, but I am never too busy for you! Please do not hesitate to call or email me with any questions you may have. 

Lastly, I am also available for planning consultations on Wednesdays and Thursdays or any day we do not have a wedding. These one-on-one consultations generally take
about 2 hours and are priceless! I urge you to find time to come up and play so we can go through your details, wishes and hopes to53g6ether. Everyone here at Forest House Lodge looks forward to helping make your dr3eam day everything you hoped for and more!

Much love and happy planning,
Kathryn Gardenhire 
Wedding Director 
foresthouselodge@yahoo.com 
916.969.7108


Fun Facts about Kathryn: 

Favorite color is mustard yellow
She eats a primal diet and enjoys bacon and cheddar mashed fauxtatoes
She was born in Decantur, IL and raised in GlenCarbon, IL
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Laura..Your Service Manager!


Dear Bride and Groom,

Hello and congratulations on your big day! My name is Laura Wilburn and I am the Service Manager here at Forest House Lodge. Along with the Wedding Director, and the culinary and bar team, my staff of event technicians and servers and I will be attending to every detail to make sure your day is everything you imagine it to be.

Our industry is one that is based on warm care and detailed perfection, so my 25 years of experience in the field have allowed me to meet the challenges of the changing needs and requests of more than 70 weddings per year. As your service manager, I will be there for you from the set up of your customized banquet room through all of your meals and hors d’ouevres to assisting the coordination of wedding details and specifics.
My greatest focus is to ensure that, during your wedding day, you have peace of mind and a stress-free atmosphere as you prepare to enjoy your time with your new spouse, your family and friends. 

Please feel free to contact me via my email with our Wedding Director so I am free to pass information along as well.

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Welcome to the Forest House family!

Laura Wilburn
Service Manager foresthouselaura@gmail.com

Chef Mark


Chefs Advise for our Brides and Grooms; Eat off the same fork now & then. It is very sensual and reminds people of your connection. 
(Do it in public.) 

To Our Brides, Grooms, Friends and Family,

Like so many young professionals, I began my culinary career as a young man simply wanting to survive and sustain a lifestyle. How things change...that was 1975 and in thirty-five years I have had the good fortune to meet and work with some of the most incredible and influential people in the culinary industry. These incredible luminaries helped shape my career and skills, and they taught me the essence of food, they taught me the elation of fine cuisine. Of these experiences, it is Forest House Lodge that has allowed me to “give back” to people through one of the highest forms of love I know - cooking for others. I am so glad that you have chosen to trust us in serving you on your day.

Our kitchen team that will be preparing your cuisine has over 70 years of collective experience and are proficient in many types of cuisine and are always keeping up with trends in health and diet, organic farming, and in sustainable foods as well. We understand how important the tradition of sharing a meal is and what a great part food plays in the making of your special day. We strive to make everything we produce during your event the best we have ever done and our goal is to give you quality beyond your wildest expectations.

We are always open to suggestions, our non-wedding days are available for consultations and we are always up for a challenge! My kitchen has a motto in fact, and it might suffice to tell you that we live by it each and every weekend: “Making Memories, Delivering Dreams and (my personal favorite) Exceeding Expectations”. My intent is that our tastings instill the confidence in our quality and a belief that
we can surpass your goals for this cornerstone event in your life.

Please feel free to converse with me at your tasting so we can further the details of your culinary plans. I do love to talk food! To your love, health and long life.

S.M. Cook Executive Chef Forest House Lodge 

Some fun facts about Chef:


2 girls
He was born and raised in Naples Italy as a Navy Brat
His hobby is music
Favorite colors are Red and Gold

8 Way to get your Groom involved...


I found some awesome ideas on how to get your Groom involved in the planning process. Thank you OffBeat Bride. 


1. Talk to him

It's a common misconception that the bride plans the wedding and it is the role of the groom to just show up wearing a suit. If your guy hasn't participated in the planning yet, it could be that he has no idea that he's even allowed to! So the first step is to come right out and say, "I'd like us to plan our wedding together." If you're lucky that'll be all it takes to get him to enthusiastically climb aboard the crazy wedding planning train! If not, no worries, keep reading…

2. Support & encourage his ideas

You can't ask him to be involved and then shoot down all of his ideas. He's gonna get frustrated with that pretty quickly and then you've blown your chance to have him as your partner in planning. 
Offbeat Bride reader, Kathleen, put it well when she said, "Give him support and encouragement. When James comes to me with an idea I usually just tell him that if it is important to him and if he thinks it will make our day better, then let's go for it! Which is why I am having a graveyard/tombstone wedding cake — despite the fact that our wedding is nowhere near Halloween."

3. Relax Your Inner Control Freak

Once you've mastered being supportive of your groom's ideas, then you gotta be willing to go along with those ideas even if they didn't fit your overall wedding concept.


Insurance..How and what to purchase for the Forest House





Forest House Insurance Information
Below is a listing of the information generally needed to securely insure and protect both yourself and your wedding investment through liability and cancellation coverage.
Liability
Title of Policy: Special Event Limited Liability with Host Alcohol (required) Additional Insured to be named on your policy:
  • Patrick and Monica Nickel
  • Nickel Corporation
  • Forest Ranch Associates
    Address:
  • 24590 Main Street Foresthill, California 95631

    • $1 Million in coverage
    • Radiant and Emerald Package: 24 hour coverage

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• For Grand Sierra Pointe, please use FHL address
Details of Coverage
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• Heart Package: 48 hour coverage
Cancellation
Title of Policy: Cancellation/Postponement (recommended) Details of Coverage
• Coverage is enacted in budget plateaus in order to cover entire wedding cost. This can include multiple vendors as well as deposits. 

Memorial Tables

There are always those people who touch are lives forever. They may have been you superhero of a father, a teacher of a grandmother, friend who made you sparkle or maybe a sibling. Whoever they are, I would like to think that "If Heaven Weren't So Far AWay" they would be here.

One special way to honor them during your wedding is through a Memorial Table. I love this Memorial table because the DIY book picture frames can easily be brought home and incorporated into your daily life.










Will you be honoring your passed love ones at your wedding? How will you do so?