Zahra & Don, Take Two

This is the story of a boy and girl who fell in love, got engaged, planned their wedding and then abruptly called it off, three weeks before the big day. 

Rather than their tale ending right there and then (as I believe, statistically, most do), I'm happy to report that they went away, worked on their relationship and made everything right. And 11 months later, we all picked up where we left off and had the most glorious day. Here's the recap; almost two-and-a-half years in the making...

The importance of having great chemistry between a couple goes without saying; but it's equally important to have it with your wedding planner too. It was true love between the three of us from our very first meeting and we quickly discovered that we shared the same zany sense of humour. So when we were discussing what to do with the invitations the second-time-round, Zahra lamented that "her first invitations were so perfect, she couldn't think of a thing she could improve," That's when I suggested that we do the exact same invitation, only with the old date crossed off and the new one 'written' in. We howled at the idea and then decided it was the perfect solution and, with the help of Christine Flynn from Love the Design, we did just that! Letter pressed and all!

So now, the big (new) day was upon us and everything was how it should be: an amazing couple was finally prepared to proclaim to their friends, family and themselves that they were ready for the next part of their adventure. We gathered at the Royal Conservatory of Music and started it off with one of the most memorable and meaningful wedding ceremonies I have ever witnessed.

When we originally toured the venue together, Don mentioned that he had spent 10 years of his youth taking piano lessons there -- that's when I stopped, looked at them and said, "You need to play her down the aisle." And that's just what he did. He went home, dusted off the old piano and started practicing again. For over two years, we didn't tell ANYONE of our plans -- Zahra says that, to this day, it was the hardest secret she's ever kept. 

It was so top secret that the day before the wedding, we held two rehearsals! The first was the real one with just Z&D, their officiant, the photographer and videographer in attendance. To any future brides out there reading this, trust me: you'll always get the best coverage when your photographer and videographer know what's coming. Anyway, I digress. The other reason for the real rehearsal was for me to get the timing right: Don chose to play Bruno Mars' "Just the Way you Are" for Zahra and he wanted her to arrive at the top of the aisle at the exact moment where the lyrics say "And when I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change..." I had to send Zahra on her way so that she could be AT the right place in the room, IN the right place in the song for Don to look up and see her face for the first time on their wedding day.  

Are you getting shivers yet?

So then we held the fake rehearsal, where we were joined by the wedding party and the families. I was surprised that only one person asked if the piano was going to stay in the room for the next day, to which I replied that "I wasn't able to get it out of the room (partially the truth), so we're just using it as a prop, since we're in the Royal Conservatory!" And he accepted this answer... 

So on the big day, the ceremony started, everyone came out as planned, to a cello and ukelele. The parents, the groomsmen, Don, the bridesmaids, the flower girls and then, only when they were all in place, did Don walk over to the piano, sit down, lift the lid and slowly start to play.  

We sent Zahra on her way and she surprised me by doing something she hadn't done the day before in our rehearsal: she kept her head down all the way to the top of the aisle until the exact moment in the song where Don was to look up -- only today, they BOTH looked up at that time and the reaction was crazy! Everyone started crying -- and I mean everyone -- grown men, elegant women, crusty grandmothers, all doing the full-on Ugly Cry. If it hadn't been so darned moving, I probably would have been laughing my head off at the room full of bawling guests!

When Zahra reached the piano, she stood behind Don and placed her hand on his shoulder while he finished the song. As it got closer to the end, she joined him on the bench and then he smiled at her, the signal for her to reach down play the last, single note. It was monumental.

So this brings me to my take away lesson from this wedding: as the spectacle and production values associated with weddings these days seem to be spiraling out of control, I think this is the perfect illustration of how the simplest and most honest experiences often resonate the loudest. Now, don't be fooled into thinking this was any kind of low-budget, DIY wedding, because it certainly wasn't... but even though the decor was stunning and the food was delicious, what part of this wedding do you think every single guest will remember forever? 

Yup. That processional... and the best part? 

It didn't cost a thing.

Alas, I'll stop now before you get even more emotionally invested in this tale, as this was a SpectacularSpectacular, after all, and there are still many more great things to share from Zahra and Don's wedding with you all... albeit not quite as sentimentally charged as what I just described above!

Design-wise, Lidia Tacconelli and I were thrilled when Zahra told us she loved yellow... it's such a happy, joyous colour and I think it's a shame that more people don't use it. Anyway, Lidia seemingly purchased every single yellow garden rose in the province to pull of this simple but effective design; the consistent and graphic repetition of black, white and hits of yellow worked beautifully in the stark, modern room at the Conservatory. Some of the roses were so big, people thought they were peonies!

Bobbette and Belle made the cake and incorporated our flowers into the design -- look at that sugar flower! I would have sworn Lidia had plucked it right off one of the tables...

Finally, I'll leave you with one of my absolute favourite design features: we arranged the chairs at the tables like the keys on a piano, as an homage to Don and his performance earlier in the day... I don't think one single guest noticed this small detail, but I can tell you that it delighted Zahra, Don and myself to no end! Partners in crime, from beginning to a sort-of-end, to back in cahoots and then, finally, to happily ever after. It was an honour to share every up and down (but mostly up) moment with you both...

What was it I was saying about chemistry? Just look at these two...

Special thanks to our friend Jackson -- you were there to document our entire journey together: from the engagement session, to the disappointment, the eventual perfect day, the trash-the-dress session, and now, little baby Story's portraits. Thank you!

Putting the Fun Back into FUNdraising

Back in November, we planned a cocktail reception for the Lung Cancer Canada annual gala at The Arcadian Loft. Our mandate was to design an evening that was as far-away-as-possible from the typical sit down dinner/rubber chicken affairs that too many gala-goers have to endure. We were also asked to come up with something novel to replace the omnipresent Silent Auction... And to that end, we incorporated a "game" into an otherwise elegant and on-point evening. 

I can't take credit for the idea: my mother used to do this at my birthday parties when I was but a young 'un. Everyone would sit in a circle and pass a present (wrapped in multiple layers of paper) around, while some random song played on my 45RPM record player. When the music stopped, the person holding it would unwrap a layer and so it would go until the final layer revealed the prize inside. We thought it might be fun to try this on a larger scale -- because, really, who doesn't love to open presents? -- all while raising funds for lung cancer research. I'll show you the pics from the game, but first, a little background:

The Lung Cancer Canada logo is a pair of green leaves, attached to look like a set of lungs. The symbolism of the leaf was a big part of our mandate that evening. This photo is of the pins that were given out to guests when they registered that evening.

Decor was kept simple, both for financial and esthetic reasons:  vases, filled with salal leaves and green votive candles everywhere.

A big, (wo)man-made tree stood in the centre of the room, representing The Grove, a memorial area in Sunnybrook Park where trees are planted in memory of people who have lost their battles with lung cancer. You can see some of the leaves that we 'sold' that evening to play our game dangling from the branches.

The next photo lists the prizes to be won and the costs associated to join the fun. This is something we stressed very heavily to the committee: we didn't need a lot of prizes, but we needed really, really great ones. There was nothing on that list that was worth less than $500; the Grand Prize was a diamond necklace worth $2200! Talk about a good return on a $20 leaf!

So here's the promised explanation of the gist of the game: there were 11 presents, all wrapped in different shades of green on the table. Guests needed to 'buy' leaves from volunteers wandering the room; and could, in turn, redeem each leaf to unwrap ONE layer of paper on the present of their choice. What people didn't know was how many layers of paper there were on any given box... some had as many as 47 (and yes, Gabi and I had the pleasure of wrapping each and everyone one of those!) and some had as few as 10. An important rule was that people couldn't touch the parcel before taking off a layer, because you could feel which ones had a lot of padding... And that would be cheating...

And so, once the speeches were done, our little corner of fun opened up and it was so exciting for Gabi and I to see the great response to our idea. Not to mention the gratification for the seemingly endless hours we spent wrapping... Here are a few of shots of the first people to partake:

Here's a picture of the very first winner, who won a $500 gift certificate to William Ashley! Look at the smiles on their faces -- one of the best parts of this game was how people reverted to their childlike selves:

Next I'm going to show you an uninterrupted series of pictures of a woman who THOUGHT she'd won, only to discover that we'd tricked her. Here's the reason: some of the wrapping was getting so thick (and you could visually tell there were a lot of layers on there), that we started putting boxes inside boxes, so that we could start with a clean slate, wrapping wise. Watch the progression of her experience:

What a fun part of the night it was -- people LOVED it and it created excitement all 'round. We sold out of leaves sooner than we ever could have imagined; the response was that enthusiastic. Gabi and I looked at each other at the end of the evening and said, "Could you imagine how much more we could've raised if we'd had more prizes and more people to help us wrap these damn boxes?!!" Alas... It's good to set goals and now we have something to work towards for NEXT year!

Very sincere thanks to our friend T.H. Jackson Huang from IKONICA for donating his time and talent to take photos for us. And to DJ Michael Coombs for spinning the tunes and giving the space a great atmosphere from the moment it kicked off. And to Gisele Sterling from Sterling Kjargaard for tying all those ribbons on the leaves, making our tree and for working so tirelessly, even with such a small budget. Go team!

Erin & Robert in WedLuxe Magazine

The latest issue of WedLuxe Magazine has just hit the newsstands and we are so thrilled to finally be able to share this spectacular wedding with the world. Guests were treated to three individually-designed areas in the family's backyard: the all-white ceremony space where we covered the pool in lucite, followed by the serene cocktail tent, all done in shades of soft grey and white. Finally, guests entered the pièce de résistance: the lavender and white dinner tent with the jaw-dropping 12 x 60 foot canopy of  trailing wisteria over the dance floor. I know we've done a great job when I wish I was a guest at a party!

Click here to read the online version -- there are even more delicious photographs here than what appeared in the print version. All the images you will see were expertly captured by our friend T.H. Jackson Huang at Ikonica.

Pretty in Pink: Part 2

Here's a photo of the whole table -- it was so long it was almost impossible to get the whole thing in a single frame! You can get a sense of the length of it if I tell you the Pink Rice Krispies Square-Cake (which you can see at the top of the shot) was only half-way down...

A close up of the hand-made marshmallow kisses. They were ooey, gooey, soft and chewy (and had the most delicious, peppermint-y taste). The kids went nuts for these.



Pink Kettle Corn in gorgeous white lacquer trays that Exclusive Affair Rentals bought just for the occasion...

Little Mini Donuts were made in the Daniel et Daniel kitchen and tasted even better than they looked...

I can still barely look at this photo! It was taken literally 30 seconds after the Sweet Table opened. All those hours of work and planning were destroyed in a nanosecond after the kids descended on it. Instant chaos + destruction = heartbreak! The worst part? I don't even think the kids noticed how freaking awesome it was -- they were too busy grabbing as much as they could!!! Le sigh...

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...

Daniela and Marco in WedLuxe Magazine

We are especially proud to have the wedding of Daniela and Marco appear in the pages of WedLuxe Magazine because this particular couple came to us when they fell in love with another wedding we'd organized in that very same magazine! T.H. Jackson Huang of Ikonica, Lidia Tacconelli from Fiori Floral Designs and Julie and Christian from Pantry Press were part of the same team on that original wedding... it was such fun to work with these amazing professionals on something that was rooted in the same colour scheme, but executed in a totally different and modern way.

This time around, the venue was the sophomoric Royal Conservatory of Music. The light, the windows and architecture all work together for guests to experience a place like no other in Toronto.

A small glimpse at the menu that Pantry Press designed, based on Chef Arpi Magyar's culinary offerings. Each menu also worked as a place card, with each guest's name featured at the top.

We custom-designed creamy white lucite containers to hold the floral and candle components for this event. We tried to get the colouring as close as possible to the white Victoria chairs from Contemporary Furniture Rentals!

Finally, a beautiful photo of our fantastically fun couple. Thank you for one of the most entertaining and laughter-filled planning experiences we have ever had. We look forward to years of friendship between us ahead. And, yes, Marco, everyone thought you looked Ridiculously Good Looking on your wedding day...

Daniela and Marco: Some Fun Details

Now that you've seen some of the beautiful room shots, we thought you might enjoy seeing some of the details that didn't make it into the magazine... Because this wedding reception was being held at the Royal Conservatory of Music, we thought we should embrace some of the elements that could be found within the hallowed halls of what is arguably Canada's finest music school.

During cocktail hour, all the hors d'oeuvre were passed by waiters on cymbals. This particular photo shows Couture Cuisine's mouth-watering crispy fried shrimp with a kadaifi crust. Oh my...

This photo cracks me up: it was taken long before the guests arrived... Kristin Campbell, the Facilities Rental Manager snapped this photo of the cymbals going through the dishwasher at the RCM on her iPhone!

Escort cards were slotted in between the strings of three beautiful, ornate harps. The harps were handily situated at the top of the stairs, so they were the first thing the guests saw as they entered the Atrium where the dinner took place.

Finally, a detail that was a small, inside joke for our bride and groom. Pantry Press did up these cheeky signs to go on the back of Daniela and Marco's chairs. The original artwork from the letterpressed invitations was carried through the entire day; from the escort cards, to the menus and beyond...
Ikonica's T.H. Jackson Huang was the natural choice to photograph this wedding. Not only is he a gifted photographer, he spent years of his youth studying and practicing violin at the Royal Conservatory! Thank you, to Jackson and his team for capturing this magical day so beautifully.