Pretty in Pink: Behind-the Scenes

Being a planner means I can't leave anything to chance... and to that end, the night before the event, Lisa Phillips and I carted all the loot to the RCM to do a dry run. Here are some of those photos:

We started playing with what should go where on the ugly, linen-less tables. Dubble Bubble, Pop Rocks and White & Pink Gumballs are at the forefront of this one.

We couldn't figure out how to use the tall Pixy Stix; they just weren't working anywhere on the table, till I came up with the solution: using them as dividers between the platters!

What a charming Candy Striper! This is Kristin Campbell, Facilities Rental Manager at the RCM, wheeling all the candy to her office to lock away until it was needed for the event the next day.

Lastly, here is the 'map' of the Sweet Table that I went home and drew out for the next day, just in case I was called away and couldn't supervise the set up...

Steam(whistle)ing from a Hot Oven

Written by Gabi Slaninova

We recently did a wedding at Steam Whistle Brewery. A new venue for us, it inspired us to think outside the box a little. Throughout the planning process, our focus was to create an organic and natural feeling in the space using real linen, ferns, large white dahlia, herbs, moss and anything that reminded us of a beautiful walk in the forested country side of British Columbia where our bride grew up.

I have always been a big believer in the fact that food at a party should be part and parcel of the overall feeling you're trying to evoke. Deirdre Anderson of L'Eat Catering came up with the most amazing idea to complement the vision for this wedding. I have never seen this done before and I almost died when I first tasted her idea come to life at the menu tasting: mini home made pies. Lattice-topped, perfectly sweet and totally scrumptious! Really, it’s so obvious when you think about it. What feels more like ‘home’ than a fresh, homemade pie? A cart carrying warm blueberry, peach and apple pies emerged from the kitchen shortly after the dancing began and a smell reminiscent of grandma’s house wafted behind it. It soon drew a crowd and it was all we could do to photograph it in time before the pies began disappearing.

Presentation is everything in our business. L-Eat literally set out to transform the pie cart into a work of art! Deirdre used the charming antique cart (belonging to Steam Whistle), brought matching wood to create levels, put the signs for the pies under covered glass cake plates, added amber candlelight and even brought bushels of freshly picked apples to complete the look!

Miss Missoni

Talk about a timely party! When we came up with a "Missoni Theme" for a birthday luncheon my client was throwing, it was long before we heard that the famous Italian fashion house had teamed up with Target to do a line of housewares and fashion! But. We are nothing if not festive girls (client included) and five days before the party, my client asked her daughter-in-law to head to Buffalo to pick up some things for our shin-dig... and you might say she got a little carried away! And thank goodness for that, because it TOTALLY added to the overall experience for the guests...

We did custom (digitally printed) place mats for each of the invitées, all based on famous Missoni fabrics. We had fun mixing it up with 5 different patterns and then contrasting menus. The daughter-in-law also picked up platters, mugs, tiered cake trays and even cosmetic bags & scarves, which we used for favours.

We went all out with the Italian fashionista theme, serving prosecco in colourful champagne flutes from Chair-man Mills while shmaltzy Italian music played in the background. Think 'O Solo Mio,' 'Volare,' 'That's Amore' and the like...

The dessert was probably my favourite thing that day: Tina Nyguen over at Noble Culinary made me a Missoni Bombe to serve to all the ladies (who don't eat much to begin with)... Veritable Missoni stripes of Mango, Blueberry, Blackcurrant, Lemon and Strawberry sorbet! Each layer had to be made and then left to sit and freeze in the mold before the next layer could be added. Bellissima!

Finally a shot of the whole table, complete with the customized place mats and flower arrangements in the mugs from Target! There were three different patterns on the mugs, so Lidia Tacconelli of FIORI did three colour versions to complement them. The original plan was to give the mugs away but then my client decided she liked them so much that she couldn't bear to part with them!