Meet The Coordinators
Since 2006, The Invisible Hostess has evolved into a team that is passionate about dependable service, quality work, and positive relationships. We aren’t successful unless your wedding is successful. Get to know our Seattle wedding coordinator team here, then give us a call. We’ll show you why we’re Seattle’s best.
MARY BROWN
KRISTINE PARRA
JOCELYN LAWRENCE
SHEENA KALSO
NATASHA LARSEN
Mary Brown
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS: I’m an extroverted Gemini who loves to entertain and be in social situations. I don’t have hobbies because once I’ve accomplished one thing I’m ready to move on to the next.
GUILTY PLEASURE: Creating Pinterest boards for things that will never happen. For example, if I got married in Mexico, what would that look like? Or if I bought an English style cottage, how would I decorate it?
FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND A FREE WEEKEND: Showing my daughter new experiences, like the first time we took her to the zoo and she went “bananas” over the gorillas!
FAVORITE DESSERT: S’mores with a spread of creamy peanut butter.
FAVORITE APP: I made a decision to leave the Facebook realm and so Instagram is my only connection to the world out there. I obsessively check it, thus confirming why I am only allowed to have one social media account…
LOATHED CHORE: Grocery shopping! It’s so bad that my husband won’t let me go by myself anymore because I come home is such a wretched mood.
HUMAN OR FUR BABIES: Our daughters Gwenyth Eve and Juliette Thea.
FAVORITE LOCAL RESTAURANT: Pulcinella Pizzeria in the Rainier Beach area. We’ve gone to Italy, we’ve done Neapolitan pizza, this restaurant is LEGIT!
BEST “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED” WEDDING STORY: This is from my own wedding planning experience. As a group of us sat at the kitchen table packaging wedding invites I had forgotten who my Great Aunt Catherine was married to. Not wanting to devote any more time to an already tedious process I wrote “Catherine and Family” thinking she would know that meant her husband. I received back the RSVP and saw that she was intending to bring 22 people. She even listed every single name, tightly crammed, on the back of the card. When I called her about it, I told her I didn’t know any of these people, her response: “It’s time for a family reunion.” I explained how much every plate of food cost and that I couldn’t afford to feed that many people. Her response, “What are you serving?” I ran through our Italian style menu and when I got to the lasagna she quickly interjected with “That’s a casserole, right?” After much back and forth about my wedding not being a potluck, we compromised down to 7 people. It was 5 more than I had originally planned for but it felt like a win after the 22 she submitted. Lessons Learned: Take the time and do it right from the beginning and find pleasure in the little wins.
REYNOLDS OR GOSLING? Reynolds, because being able to laugh with someone is a very attractive quality.
GUILTY PLEASURE: Celebrity gossip blogs
FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND A FREE WEEKEND: A perfect mix of hiking and shopping.
FAVORITE DESSERT: Anything with marzipan or a traditional Filipino dessert, Ube.
FAVORITE APP: I like to keep it classic: Instagram
LOATHED CHORE: Replacing the salt and pepper shaker and the olive oil in the Misto.
HUMAN OR FUR BABIES: Our first rescue was Gizmo, Pekingese ring-bearer and hot-dog eater extraordinaire, who is now serving as doggie angel (RIP) to our family. Our new rescues are Cocker Spaniels Meegan & Howie. They may have their own Instagram, and I may have dubbed myself their social media mom-ager. 😉
FAVORITE LOCAL RESTAURANT: Un Bien. The hype is real.
BEST “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED” WEDDING STORY:
The bride left the rings in the taxi en route to the wedding venue. For two hours every taxi company was called, repeatedly, emails were sent, and luckily the cab driver finally got an email and rushed back from Tacoma.
REYNOLDS OR GOSLING? Was Reynolds, by a hair, but after the 2017 Golden Globes Gosling is back on top.
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS: I love being on a volleyball court playing or coaching, I love to scrapbook my obsession with pictures, I love watching and running a baseball team with my hubby.
GUILTY PLEASURE: The Bachelor, I know super cliché but secretly I have watched literally from day one!
FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND A FREE WEEKEND: During the summer months being by the water weather permitting or sitting in the bleachers at a Honkers baseball game! Winter time Netflix binging with the hubby!
FAVORITE DESSERT: Chocolate Ice Cream
FAVORITE APP: Photogrid—I am obsessed with pictures 🙂
LOATHED CHORE: Sweeping up all the dog hair in our house, literally everyday!
HUMAN OR FUR BABIES: Two fur babies, Cami and Snowflake
FAVORITE LOCAL RESTAURANT: I love me some Pho so I am going to have to go with Hot Pho in a small little strip mall near my house!
BEST “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED” WEDDING STORY: The Father of the Groom giving the Bride and Groom permission to start that evening for grand babies in his toast!
REYNOLDS OR GOSLING? This might be the toughest competition there is out there but I have to go with Gosling!
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS: I like my church family and singing on the worship team. I nerd out on audio books like freakonomics and Essentialism and The Art of Habit. Anything that writes about human behavior interests me. I faithfully work out to the BeachBody programs, which still cracks me up because I don’t identify myself as a work-out person, yet I’m totally committed.. I also love Christopher Guest comedies, doodling cartoons and watercoloring them, taking care of my yard and hosting un-stuffy dinner parties.
GUILTY PLEASURE: Online Shopping. I love that literally everything can be delivered to my doorstep.
FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND A FREE WEEKEND: Having friends over for dinner.
FAVORITE DESSERT: Essential Baking Whoopie Pies
FAVORITE APP: It’s a tie between Neighborly, which basically is like personal assistance and household chores for reasonable rates and Audible because I listen to audio books like it’s my job.
LOATHED CHORE: I hate unloading the dishwasher. I also hate grating cheese. These things annoy me.
HUMAN OR FUR BABIES: Human babies all the way! I have two, Daphne and Lincoln, and they’re my joy (and also my insanity).
FAVORITE LOCAL RESTAURANT: I’ve never had a bad meal or night at Terra Plata on Capitol Hill.
BEST “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED” WEDDING STORY: About 15 minutes before a wedding started, the best man discovered he lost the wedding rings! We didn’t want the groom or bride to know just yet, so we all tried to play it cool. Every vendor and bridal party member started searching. We straight up missing-person-style combed the venue looking at the ground. I went up to the loft where the couple were hanging out and started poking around the room to see if the rings were tucked in furniture. The groom didn’t miss a beat and said, “He lost the rings didn’t he?” The jig was up. What is incredibly fortunate about the groom finding out is that he saw his best man empty his pockets on a counter, so we went to look through that pile and crumpled up inside a used napkin were the wedding rings. If I had gone up to that loft five minutes earlier to tidy up like I had planned, those rings would have been in the trash and possibly lost forever! Barf.
REYNOLDS OR GOSLING? It’s a real Sophie’s choice, but I’m going to go with Gosling.
Learn about Sheena as The Wedding Mentor | Sheena’s Complete Bio
HOBBIES AND INTERESTS: Shopping for furniture and home decor (see Guilty Pleasure), purging my home and garage (see Guilty Pleasure), running, discovering new music, reading, plants.
GUILTY PLEASURE: Buying furniture and home decor
FAVORITE WAY TO SPEND A FREE WEEKEND: Adventuring with Madeline on one of the PNW islands followed in the evening with a babysitter for Madeline then dinner and drinks out with friends. Lazy Sunday morning with coffee and magazines in bed.
FAVORITE DESSERT: Soft-serve vanilla ice cream (SO plain, I know).
FAVORITE APP: My Fitness Pal
LOATHED CHORE: Putting folded laundry away
HUMAN OR FUR BABIES: Both! Madeline—my amazing mini-me; my French Bulldog-Boston Terrier mix, Wilson; and two dog-like cats, Leroy and Wrigley. And plants—LOTS of plant babies
FAVORITE LOCAL RESTAURANT: Fonda La Catrina in Georgetown
BEST “OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED” WEDDING STORY: I was in the final prep for a wedding on one of the San Juan islands. The day before I headed out of town, I received a call from the caterer. One of the key elements of the food for the wedding was a roasted pig. The caterer was calling because the farm from which the pig was arriving was being raided by the FDA (as we were speaking) and we wouldn’t be able to get the pig, and not from any other farm on the island. The moment I got onto the island, we worked with the couple and the caterer for an alternate solution and were able to come up with a modified option that ended up being fantastic. Guests had no idea about the original pig plan and the couple embraced the story and talked about it during their speech. When the FDA is involved in your wedding, you have an awesome story to tell.
REYNOLDS OR GOSLING? Gosling—hands down.