A Night at The Museum

Another oldie but goodie -- it's beyond high time for me to share some of the glorious details from Shelby and Graeme's wedding, held at the Royal Ontario Museum (affectionately known as The ROM) one beautiful day in June...

Regrettably, this tends to be a habit with me: we are so busy planning and executing events all the time that sometimes it requires real focus to go back in time and write about previous events. It's kind of like: "been there, done that." However, in the case of a wedding like this one, it's a crime for me not to have shared some of these photos before now and for that, dear readers, I apologize profusely.

I remember that we did things a little differently at this wedding and held cocktail hour BEFORE the ceremony. The problem with getting old is that I can't recall why we did it -- in that there were practical and logistical reasons -- but as I write this, it's not coming to me!! 

There's the stunning orchid arrangement in the middle of the Rotunda, that you will be able to get a better sense of the scale of it in the next photo. It literally towered above everyone's heads.

I love, love LOVE this photo -- it shows just how massive this arrangement was. And in a room that is this majestic, you really need something with true presence to even begin to compete with the spectacular setting.

Now we move chronologically with guests upstairs to the Bronfman Gallery, where the all-white ceremony took place in this clean, loft-like space. The aisle was lined with poufs of white hydrangea, as were the windowsills above. All leading down to the stunning chuppah in the centre of the room...

The four legs were pavéed with perfect, cream roses and finished with garlands of white dendrobium orchids. The canopy is something that deserves to have it's moment in the spotlight: Shelby's father had it made when her older sister got married and so far, only the two girls have their names and dates embroidered on a side each. There are two blank sides left, just waiting for Shelby's other sister and brother to join them up there when they each get married one day...

One other thing to mention is that, while it might not look like it, the chuppah was actually in the middle of the room and there was a whole other set of chairs mirroring what you can see in this photo. We had to maximize every inch of space in order to accommodate the 250 guests.

A close up of one of the legs of the chuppah. Each one of those roses was chosen for it's consistent size, condition and colouration, treated and then glued into place by members of the FIORI team. It took hours to complete. Each leg had four sides, and multiply that by 4 legs... I think you get my drift: there were a lot of roses!

So now, the ceremony is done. Shelby and Graeme are happily married and it's time to go back downstairs to the Currelly Gallery, where dinner and dancing await... In this photo, you can see the beautiful drapes we had custom made for the occasion: instead of typical, sheer fabric, these were sewn from 2 colours of gorgeous peau de soie. I doubt many guests noticed the quality of the fabric enveloping them in the room, but it was simply another small detail that went a long way to 'finishing' the environment.

Here's a close up of the head table. The regal gold cutlery sat aside beaded gold chargers and votive candles that the team at FIORI had gold-leafed by hand because we couldn't find anything we liked better! Even the menus were printed with raised, gold thermography lettering.

This is a rather abstract shot, looking head-on at the front of the head table. You can see the phaleonopsis orchids spilling over the front (casting such wonderful, animated shadows), the roses and the hydrangea behind them and then the custom-built wall in the background, behind the table.

And a cleaner view of said wall...

This wedding was the first time event designers Bill Fulghum of William Fulghum Design Associates and Lidia Tacconelli of FIORI had ever collaborated. When the original florist dropped out for personal reasons, Bill and I looked at each other and knew that there was only ONE person who had the team, infrastructure and organizational abilities to handle this job, and that was Lidia. The main reason is the museum itself: it is a fully-functioning MUSEUM! That means that we don't even have access to the rooms before 3:00 on the day of any given event. Now that you know this, go back, look at the pictures above (with the exception of the ceremony area, which admittedly we had more time in), and realize that all that set up was done in three hours.  Yes, three short hours. 

And yes, we were pretty proud of ourselves. THAT much I  do remember...

If this wedding looks familiar to you, it should! It was featured in the Winter/Spring 2012 edition of WedLuxe magazine. Click here for a link to the story and the photos.

Thank you to our friend Storey Wilkins for being on hand and doing what you do best: taking beautiful and meaningful photos of days that go by so quickly. Months and months of planning and then --poof-- it's over in a matter of hours. We are very reliant on our photographers to capture and immortalize these days for us. And Storey is one of the very best at doing that...

Runway Bride

We had the best time planning this fashion-themed wedding shower for our 'Runway Bride' last year. The bride's mother, sister and Lidia Tacconelli and I schemed, planned and executed the most decadent party -- a fashion- themed brunch on a cold and grey Sunday last November at Malaparte.

Given that our bride loves all-things-fashion, we divided the guests up into 4 long tables, each with their very own designer look...

First up: Chanel with the classic 'tweed' runner (printed digitally, of course, by our friends over at Emerson Design), adorned with the pouffiest, whitest hydrangeas I've seen in a long time.

Next: Missoni. It's hard to tell from this angle, but Lidia arranged the carnations in the famous zig-zag pattern all down the troughs as well.

Dolce & Gabbana had their signature leopard print and red, red roses...

And finally, the Marc Jacobs table, in honour of our bride's favourite perfume: Daisy. To keep the look consistent, every table had the same core elements: black ghost chairs from Contemporary Furniture Rentals, black linens from Around the Table and black lucite troughs from FIORI.

When guests arrived, they were treated to passed 'breakfast' hors d'oeuvre: this photo shows the  yummy, mini-french toast on skewers, complete with real maple syrup in the bottom of the cups.

And look at these little lovelies: Mini lobster and quail-egg benedicts. The chefs at Malaparte got pretty creative with some wonderful breakfast finger foods. And everything tasted even better than it looked.

When the guests sat down, each place had a 'Vogue' magazine that doubled as a place card holder (the mailing label on the bottom right corner had each guest's name printed out) and opened up to reveal the menu that was to be served, all designed like a magazine layout.

Each course was created with the four designers in mind: Marc Jacobs? New York Pretzels & Lox... Dolce & Gabbana? Truffled Gnocchi... Chanel? Crèpes, bien sûr! And finally, our Missoni-themed dessert: Sweet melon and burrata.

We set up a lounge area, complete with Pucci pillows where we laid out the take away gifts: beautiful coffee table books and movies, all with fashion titles.

Finally, as with any wedding shower in a good, Italian family, many of the guests brought home-baked goodies. We had to keep making the table bigger and bigger as people arrived with more and more treats. It got to the point where I couldn't add any more tables to the space to accommodate all the desserts... Yes, people baked that much stuff for our guest of honour.

We did up boxes for the ladies to take bounty from the sweet table home with them, again with our copyright-infringement (eek!) take on the Bergdorf Goodman logo. I like to think of it as free advertising for that wonderful store... yeah, that's it...

Finally, a glimpse of the paper, tissue and ribbon we wrapped the flowers up with at the end of the party. The ladies literally left with armfuls of flowers, books and sweets!

Thank you, as always, to Anthony Manieri from 5ive15ifteen Photo Company and a special shout out to all the Oliver & Bonaccini staff at Malaparte. You all helped us create an experience that few will forget anytime soon...

PS: WedLuxe Magazine featured this shower on their blog last month. Click here for more pics and even more details!

Spring Has Sprung!

Ahhh... the Prima Vera of Spring! There's nothing quite like it, is there? A season of renewal, hope and happy thoughts of warmer days ahead. We did a rehearsal dinner this past week at Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner Museum that felt so fresh and spring-y, I just had to post about it; even if all I have at this point are my less-than-perfect iPhone photos.

I've always wanted to do a party with ferns -- yes, all and only ferns -- and was so happy when our client enthusiastically agreed. Lidia Tacconelli of FIORI did up long, woven metal baskets, filled with 3 different kinds of ferns and interspersed a few mushrooms within to surprise guests as they sat and ate their yummy meal. The result was unexpected, fun and whimiscal... just like the bride herself.

This is a closeup of the cheery wallpaper Lidia sourced to run up and down the tables. It added a real pop to the overall effect, plus it introduced several shades of green for us to incorporate throughout the design.

This photo is fun because you can see virtually every shade of green that we played with: the front and back of the place cards, the menus tucked into the napkins, the wallpaper, the planters of ferns, the votives and, finally, the linens underneath. We always design parties so that the different layers of the experience get revealed to guests at different points of the evening. And we always add many interesting things to look at in case the person seated next to you turns out to be a dud!

Chef Kennedy even incorporated my fern theme into the menu by putting fiddleheads into the salad course!  A small detail that probably few noticed, but thrilled me to no end. I love to have little touches like that interspersed through our parties.

The overall effect was so happy and joyous; everything a party in springtime should represent. Plus it was the perfect kickoff to a busy weekend of All-Things-Wedding... if this was the rehearsal dinner, can you imagine how great the wedding itself was?

Before...

I always think it's fun to show how our events come to life -- and this was a biggie, perched high up on a very steep hillside above beautiful Lake Muskoka. The amazing Dennis Large and his crew from Advanced Tent built a level floor that was flush on one end and over 8-feet off the ground on the other... The first 3 photos were taken by our excited clients, who documented every step of the massive structure going up...

And now the fun begins... the decorative elements were unwrapped and put aside until we were ready for them. An elaborate metal grid was constructed (under the watchful supervision of Lidia Tacconelli of Fiori) from which the lanterns would be hung later. Guests only saw the pretty candles suspended from the ceiling -- no one would have known the work that went into ensuring that the structure could handle not only the weight of a) the metal grid, but also b) the thousands of pounds of lanterns and pillar candles suspended from it. Yes... it's true: wedding planners not only have to deal with hysterical brides and family politics, we have to understand engineering and physics too!!

While this shot isn't particularly pretty, you can see how all the chains were hung from the metal grid -- waiting to be adorned with dozens of pretty lanterns. It fell to the wonderful Alan Bisson (formerly of Visual FX) and his guys to cut holes in the draping to drop each of those chains through... hours and hours of painstaking work. And after that, the lanterns had to be hung. And after THAT, each of those lanterns had to be lit! I was pretty grateful that job didn't fall to me...

Finally, after months of planning and days of construction, the wedding day was finally here -- I awoke to the sounds of torrential rain and drove like a maniac at 6:30am to the site only to have my worst fears realized. The AV guys (working into the wee hours of the night before) hadn't closed up the sides of the tent. It may look like shadows under those tables, but, no -- that was rain. The carpet was completely soaked. The carpet, however, wasn't the worst part...

THIS was... this was the area that was due to be vinyled for the lounge and dance floor, just hours later. I'm sure you can imagine that adhering vinyl to a soaking wet floor is just about, well, impossible...

Luckily, our clients had some amazing property managers on hand who quickly ran to town and rented a ShopVac. It took one guy close to three hours to get all the moisture out from the floor and carpet. Happily, by the time the guests got to the tent that evening there wasn't a sign of the morning excitement, but it just goes to show: there's no such thing as a wedding without a little drama!

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

We did a blowout wedding last summer in cottage country at a beautiful, lakefront property. Our bride and groom got married on the boathouse deck and as the ceremony was drawing to a close, the massive Wenonah II pulled up at the dock below to whisk all the guests off for a 2-hour cocktail cruise around the lake.

We brainstormed to come up with a fun and creative way to tie this cruise into the rest of the wedding and -voilà- little floating boats became our escort cards for the night. Poor Barb at Fiori had the tedious task of folding close to 150 of these little charmers, but it was worth the effort to see the look of delight on guests' faces as they fished around to find their own names.

Finally, here's a little snippet of video that the wonderful Luis Moreira of Images Film and Video shot for us. It makes me laugh every time I see it:

Thank you to Storey, as always, for the great pictures, Lidia for the amazing decor and Luis for documenting the festivities so fabulously.

Coco Chanel in WedLuxe Magazine

By now, many of you will have seen the spread we were asked to produce back in the fall for WedLuxe magazine's Designer Issue. Photographer Jackson Huang of Ikonica, Florist Extraordinaire Lidia Tacconelli of Fiori Floral Designs and I were given Coco Chanel as our muse and inspiration for our assignment. What an honour.

I snapped behind-the-scenes photos that day with my trusty iPhone which I'm attaching below, along with some of the professional photos taken by Jackson and Gillian Williamson at the Ikonica studio that day. You can see the real deal in the magazine or by clicking here for the online version.

This is the beautiful double-page spread that opens our feature. We imagined an intimate wedding, more sexy dinner party than grand affair; one that might have taken place in Coco's own apartment in Paris... The gorgeous 3-seater sofa is part of the new "En Provence" collection available to rent from Contemporary Furniture Rentals.

... And this is the scene on the other side of the table: Lidia had sewn a beautiful black fringe on the front of the tablecloth -- the trouble was it was so heavy that it kept pulling everything forward. We ran around the Ikonica studio looking for things that would weigh it down to stop the pull of gravity. Paint cans, tool boxes; just about anything with heft was put into not-so-glamorous service!

This shot is of our bridesmaid, Audrey, sitting at the table. This photo is particularly special for me because she is wearing a vintage dress that once belonged to my grandmother. The weirder thing is that I found it, along with some other extraordinary gowns, in an old trunk just days after Angela from WedLuxe asked me to produce this feature... I had totally forgotten they even existed.

This is Jackson, working out the lighting and the layout of the shot you see above.

Lastly, this is Yumiko laying the black and white "marble" floor. In reality, this was printed on vinyl, complete with the natural striations normally found in marble by our friends at Emerson Design. They also printed the banners in the background and the fabric runner going down the centre of the table that the menu was featured on. Because it's all printed digitally, the process is remarkably cost-effective and the possibilities that you can create are almost limitless...