Jubilee Event Engineers

12 states and counting for gay love!

Alex — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:47:43 +0000

What great joy to see yet ANOTHER state voting on the right side of history . . . congratulations, Minnesotan gay and lesbian couples, it’s time to get married! Bravo to everyone who has worked hard to win these votes and ensure that loving couples everywhere can be wedded with the blessing of their fellow citizens. We are so happy to see the bad old days of ‘outlaw’ gay weddings rapidly disappearing in the rearview mirror.

Another killer fundraiser for 826 Seattle

Alex — Wed, 01 May 2013 04:28:47 +0000

People Eating and Giving, a benefit for 826 Seattle at the Triple Door

Well, here is an event that’s almost a guilty pleasure. It’s so awfully fun to manage an event at Seattle’s Triple Door. Especially when this year’s People Eating and Giving cast included truly awesome talents like Stephen Tobolowsky, Domingo Martinez, SF band Le Vice, Rachel Flotard (of Visqueen fame) and a surprise guest appearance by Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie . . . and then Karen Finneyfrock put the pressure on the donors and reeled in our highest Paddle Raise totals EVER. Let’s just call it a win, shall we?

All that, PLUS amazing appearances by 826 Seattle’s young writers, including this handsome fellow . . . it’s really an honor to be part of a show that gives creative kids a chance to shine and be appreciated onstage.

We’ve been crashed by The Stranger’s The Wedding Crasher!

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 03:20:54 +0000

On Saturday, at Ben & Jeff’s Mount Baker Community Club wedding, the party was crashed by the latest escapade of The Stranger! Yup, sure enough, they’ve started a new column called The Wedding Crasher and we were the second stop on their journey. Lucky us!

Sarah, our crasher, dined on food and drink by Madres Kitchen, oohed and ahhed over les fleurs from Christopher Flowers and delighted in the decadence of The People’s Cake. Lucky her! And, she was privy to the couple’s early April Fool’s joke on their guests…B’s a member of The Seattle Men’s Chorus and enrolled J in an antic that still has me singing. Their “nice” first dance turned into a love song medley sung by them for their guests. I’m still singing–ooh whoo, nobody knows it, nobody knows. Right from the start I gave you my heart, oh ho, I gave you my heart! (My poor husband and children.)

Keep an eye out for crashers at your wedding and call us to help out with your antics. These sort of details tickle our fancy. Big time.

Recipe for Success:

Alex — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 23:52:05 +0000

Fill Fisher Pavilion at Seattle Center with joy, color, music and community. Repeat as necessary!

For our non-profit clients who want to host 500+ guests on a budget, Fisher Pavilion delivers year after year. In February and March 2013 we had a LOT of fun in this room — here’s 1 venue, 3 different ways for 3 very different projects. A good snapshot of why our lives as event planners are never boring!

The Conference: Ricki Mason dances with the crowd at Citizen University

Citizen University (also known around here as “the only conference Jubilee produces”) — National and local visionaries and artists came together under the direction of conference founder Eric Liu for a day-long forum to sculpt and refine visions of good, engaged, inspired citizenship. Sessions featured Tony Kushner, Howard Gardner, great debates about immigration and gun reform, and a conversation between a founder of MoveOn.org and a founder of the Tea Party Patriots . . . wow, America is fascinating!

The Auction: Artist Trust Annual Benefit Art Auction

This photo shows our proudest moment of the night, dozens of artists onstage to celebrate the “Fund the Artists” activity. Artist Trust’s Annual Benefit Art Auction was a blazing success (highest fundraising total EVER)! For 12 years and counting I have coordinated this beautiful event – so proud to support individual artists in all disciplines throughout Washington State.

The Luncheon: PEPS (Program for Early Parent Support) 30th Anniversary Luncheon

PEPS Annual Fundraising Luncheon – celebrating 30 years for this great local non profit! What a lovely (and successful!) fundraising event with a delightfully lighthearted birthday theme. We are so proud to raise funds that help create new PEPS Groups — Seattle’s favorite neighborhood-based peer-to-peer support for new parents.

Visit us at One Love: Sunday, March 24

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 20:18:39 +0000

Here at JEE headquarters, we’re gearing up for the One Love wedding show at The Hyatt Olive 8. We’ve partnered with some of our favorite vendors including the stellar decor of Celeste Cooning, the ever romantic blossoms of Botanique and the finishing touches from Pedersen’s. Come visit us, we’d love to talk with you!

She Blinded Me with Science

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 05:40:23 +0000

Some couples with whom I work, I wish would get married over and over again, so I could continue to work with them and get the pleasure of spending more time together. Lauren & Ryan fit this description to a T. So very much in love with each other, so kind and ready to laugh and thoughtful and so well loved by a great group of people, they are the kind of clients with whom I want to become BFFs.

Throughout the planning process, we worked hard to craft a wedding that truly reflected their love and their history together. They met at the junior high school where Lauren is a counselor and Ryan is a science teacher. They love the outdoors and awesome food and small batch beer. They have a soft spot for disc golf and want to “party like it’s 1999.” Their wedding was an elegant mash-up on the grounds of Farm Kitchen: A Ceremonious Chemistry Experiment, Disc Golf and Lawn Games Cocktail Hour, a scrumptious family style meal by Ravishing Radish (yum!), Pie! and all out dancing and partying that continued onto the busses that returned them to their hotel. The wondrous Chantal Andrea captured the day with grace and style.

And now for more NEWS!

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 06:55:06 +0000

Matthew & Jon were one of my very favorite couples from 2012. In the spring of 2012, we were on Public Matters with CR Douglas (we appear at 34:00 and 38:00) just after marriage equality passed in Olympia. In September, I produced their wedding at Fort Worden in Port Townsend after 13 months of working together. It rocked! In the first few minutes of Sunday, December 9th, the first day they could legally wed, Matthew & Jon tied the knot in Olympia (their home town). National press was there to catch it check it out in Time Magazine! to see the AP story that ran in newspapers across the country. Congratulations M&J, we’re proud of you for being frontrunners during this momentous time!

Also, around the passing of R74, we did a number of interviews with the press and/or passed along some clients for them to have their own moments in the limelight. Ben & Jeff, a very kind couple whose wedding I will coordinate in March, got a bit of press themselves. Check this out to catch them on KIRO with Rachel Belle.

And, for those of you traveling to the Methow Valley (land of my wedding), look for us in the Methow Valley News as I just did an interview with them.

Oh yeah, while we’re at it, I recently discovered we were featured as favorite Gay Friendly vendor in Huffington Post in November.

When it rains…

Getting ready for ye olde wedding show

Alex — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 05:47:41 +0000

It’s not often that Kristen and I build something just to our own specifications (we’re usually too busy figuring out how to make our clients’ dreams come true). So it’s a real joy to retreat to the Jubilee workshop this month . . . we are having a ton of fun hammering out all the details for our vintage-vaudeville-deluxe booth in preparation for our debut appearance at the Seattle Wedding Show. Watch out, world, you may never have seen a wedding show booth *quite* as zany as this one!

Most exciting of all, we’re getting ready to schedule FREE Flash Planning Sessions for wedding couples in our booth during the show. If you are planning to attend the Seattle Wedding Show on January 12/13, make a date for a free, private consultation with us! Here’s the link to request an appointment.

See you in January!

Making history, with style

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 07:52:29 +0000

Sunday, December 9th at 9:30 am. Met at A&F’s house in the rain for mimosas and treats from the Columbia City Bakery then walked over to the nearby light rail station. All 10 of us boarded the train, many of us wearing our handmade 10 year old wedding regalia from A&F’s original commitment ceremony. (Yes, my business partner Alex did make her own and her sweetie’s bridal gowns and all eight! of their bridesmaids’ dresses. I told you she’s a passionate and talented one, didn’t I?)

The scene at City Hall was so, so very classy. It takes a lot to get me to get excited in the events world and I’m quite impressed and moved by the way the region rose to the occasion. City Hall was transformed by Celeste Cooning‘s installations. (I do love your work, Celeste. Keep doing what you love!) Watching A&F exchange vows brought tears to my eyes. And, watching the crowd of hundreds cheer as they were announced to the world as newlyweds and process down the grande staircase gave me mega-goose bumps. Still warms my insides. So, so many folks threw flowers and cheered wildly and held up signs of love and support. Gives me goose bumps just to remember it. Hurray for loving LOVE!

Thank you to City Hall staff and all the amazing volunteers who supported the shebang. Special credit to Kelly of Botanique flowers, who made those amazing bridal bouquets, and huge thanks to our pal Dani Weiss who captured photos of the ceremony and our tribe. (And, what a coincidence that of all the couples she would randomly get assigned to that day would be the JEE gang!)

Onward humans! We’re making history.

“Outlaw” marriage is over. Marriage equality for Washington!

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 06:17:17 +0000

Over here at Jubilee Event Engineers HQ, we are in full celebration mode! Thanks to the success of Referendum 74, everyone who wants to is getting legally married in Washington state!!! Finally.

the outlaws get married in 2003

We’ll be at Seattle City Hall this Sunday to celebrate the legal marriage of Jubilee’s own Alex Martin and her partner Freya after 10 years of their “outlaw” marriage. Last night, Alex & Freya were number eight in the line to get their marriage certificates in downtown Seattle. How’s that for on top of it??!!

We have five weddings for gay couples in the books for next year and a few more pending. We’ve been serving all couples since we started our business in 2002 and are thrilled to be a part of history in the making.

Hurray for Washington voters, may we inspire the rest of the country and beyond!