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!

Lindsay + Jamie: Before and After

We had such great response to our previous 'Before and After' post that I thought we should do it again, this time with the wedding of Lindsay and Jamie that was so beautifully captured by Anthony Manieri of 5ive15ifteen Photo Company and gorgeously featured in the Winter/Spring edition of WedLuxe magazine. I've started this post with an 'after' shot first (because it just looks better as the first image!), but from here on in, we'll go to 'before' pictures first...

 

Here's the view, looking in the same direction, taken the day before, just as they were starting to rig the ceiling with all the AV equipment. This is the order in which a tent wedding comes to life: 1. Floor, 2: Tent, 3. AV/electrical and chandeliers, if required, 4. Draping, 5. Carpet, 6. Furniture, 7. Floral/decor and finally, 8. People!

Now we move to the big day itself... You can see that the ceiling is draped, the carpet and tables are laid and Gisele and Co. are starting to load the floral in. Way off in the distance, you can see the chairs are already in place for the ceremony later that afternoon...

This shot shows how everything came together on the tables... our 'Garden Inside a Tent' concept come to life... I always say that once clients have planned a wedding, they'll never attend another one in quite the same way! After you've spent months and months on every little detail, down to which rose will sit in which way on which linen napkin, you notice things you never would before planning your own...

The Money Shot: Gabi kept the vinyl tent sides on to keep guests out until Anthony had finished taking photos. This picture shows the massive floral pieces hanging over the dance floor; they were covered with hydrangea, roses and phalaenopsis orchids and the actual structures mimicked the boxes on the tables that held the topiaries.

And finally, our charming couple, twirling around the dance floor for their First Dance... To read their wedding story as it appeared in the pages of WedLuxe Magazine, click here.

The View from Grand Cru

Written by Gabi Slaninova

In October, we helped coordinate an event for the Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival. The concept for Grand Cru is a fantastic one: to unite esteemed chefs with sought-after wine producers, philanthropists, business leaders and scientists for an unforgettable evening of fine wines and glorious cuisine... all to raise money for the University Health Network. This year, there were 27 separate dinner parties going on on the same night around Toronto, all held and hosted in private homes. We were lucky enough to be a part of the party that showcased the talent of Chef Michael White (of Marea in New York City fame) and the wines from the 600-year old Antinori family vineyards. This particular post is about those amazing wines that night...

As we were setting up for the event, the bartender brought me a crate of wine and asked if I had a crowbar to open it. He wasn't kidding! There were 7 separate wines that night and each one came with its own challenging packaging. Check out the layers of protection on this bottle of Pian delle Vigne Brunello di Montalcino 2004:

First, the outer cardboard packaging, with layers of branded Antinori tape. Once you cut through that, you got to 2 wooden boxes, each with a lovely gold latch.

Once you got that open, you were finally presented with the wine. However, we weren't home free yet, as there was a collar- like device that slid into the grooves of the box to prevent any movement whatsoever.

Once we got through all the bottles of Brunello, we got to the pièce-de résistance -- the 2004 Tignanello. We looked around for the handy golden latch, but no luck. Each box was fully nailed down and this time, we really did need that crowbar!

At a loss, I went to the kitchen to ask to borrow a sharp knife, but Chef White's right-hand-man, Chef PJ Calapa, showed me a whole new trick: he came out and slowly pried the box open with a kitchen spoon! Who knew??? But, thanks to PJ, the guests were able to enjoy the Tignanello that was expertly paired later that night with Chef White's scrumptious bolognese. And I'll know to add a kitchen spoon to my Emergency Kit for all future Grand Cru parties!

Thank you to Kelly Fischstein for the first and last photos. What an amazing evening to have met and worked with you for the first time!

The View From Here

Well you can tell when our busy season hits -- the blog posts come to a screeching halt. It's a good thing to be busy, but I always feel a tinge of guilt when I'm ignoring She Said Spectacular! To that end, I'm going to try a new series entitled, "The View from Here," filled with short glimpses and quick snippets of the parties we do in (almost) real time, snapped with entirely unprofessional, iPhone photos.

"The View from Here" is the perfect description for the first entry in the series... these were taken last weekend at Malaparte at the TIFF Bell Lightbox; otherwise known as the new, permanent home of the Toronto International Film Festival. Perched high above the street is the most stunning terrace where the guests feel like they are partying in the sky. These pictures were taken mid-afternoon, but once the sun began to set and the lights in the surrounding buildings started twinkling on, the effect was truly magical.

The occasion was an engagement party for 225 guests -- people gasped as they came up the stairs and saw the view. (As a professional aside, there are 64 steps leading up above... let's just say the poor Malaparte serving staff got a very good workout that night)...

Not to mention the poor installation guys from Contemporary Furniture Rentals; ALL this furniture was schelpped up those same 64 stairs and then back down again at 2:00am... I think it'll be quite a while before they forgive me for this one!

I love how the happy sunflowers pop against the grey skyline in the background. Once we get the professional photos from the photographer we will share them -- it was such a glorious evening up in the clouds; I can't wait to see the pictures myself.

Med School Reunion, 1.0

We were recently asked to help organize a 10th Reunion for the University of Toronto Med School Class of 2000. The dramatic Fermenting Cellar in the Distillery District was chosen to host this very glamourous party... The colour scheme came from the time of year (Fall) and how well orange plays off the linens we chose, a cheeky take on doctors' scrubs...

Orange is my favourite colour and because most brides don't tend to share that sentiment, I love to use it in corporate or other social gatherings whenever I'm allowed. It's such a warm, wonderful hue -- and , most importantly, it flatters all skin types in photographs!

Lidia Tacconelli of Fiori Floral Designs shares my love of the colour and went to town with every orange flower she could get her hands on. The arrangements were bold, bountiful and bursting with personality. At the end of the evening, we arranged to have all the flowers delivered to Princess Margaret Hospital so that even more people got to enjoy the riot of orange.

This is a fun shot down one of the tables... the two metal structures at the end of the table (that those of us in the industry have dubbed The Boobs) were once used in the liquor-making process, right there in that very room, in it's past life as the Fermenting Room for the Gooderham and Worts Company.

Over 100 graduates and their guests gathered for what they referred to as a very "In Style" party. When I heard that, I knew we had done what the Class Organizer had asked of us. In our initial meeting, he requested a truly Spectacular party... one that inspired so much talk, it would ensure all the people who didn't come to this reunion would surely be there for the next!