Canon Theatre Transformation

When the lovely, talented and funny Bruce Patterson of Cloud Nine Creative suggested doing a time lapse for a wedding we did together back in March, I got so excited. We do a lot of 'transforming' of spaces at SpectacularSpectacular and I have always wanted to film the process, because our clients tend to turn up when it's all ready to go and have no idea what has gone into making the magic happen. Plus (I have to admit) having a time lapse is a really cool memento for us too.

When Bruce sent me the finished product, it was even better than I ever could have imagined. Click below, make it full screen and enjoy! You can also read about this wedding in the new issue of WedLuxe Magazine, available on newsstands now.

Canon Theatre Timelapse V2 from Cloud Nine Creative on Vimeo.

Tulip Fever

So, you may wonder why the title has 'tulip' in it, but the photos don't? That's because, as any person in the event industry will tell you, working with mother nature can be a very stressful thing...

We were given the task of designing a party for a highly sophisticated, highly attuned and self-proclaimed Design Snob. 800 tulips had been ordered (for a sit down dinner for 28 -- yes, it was a bit excessive, even for us!) in two shades of red, to try and tie the bluey-red of the feature wall and the orangey-red of the Philippe Starck chairs together. When I got the call from florist Marijke Engel the day before telling me the tulips had arrived in PINK and ORANGE, we had a brief moment of panic and then had to change tacks quickly.

Knowing that pink and orange would never do for our Tom Ford-loving birthday boy, Marijke had to scramble to get any flowers at all on such short notice. She had the great idea of using the simple, elegant phaleonopsis orchid, en masse, to save the day. With the regal flowers in quickly-borrowed containers, black croc candles going down the length of the tables and the odd red chair randomly thrown in to the mix, the combination ended up looking sensational -- and not one guest knew that the party had had a totally different 'look,' less than 24-hours before. Crisis diverted, but not without a new grey hair or two.

Über-chef Arpi Magyar from Couture Cuisine was given free-reign to design an unusual and amazing menu. Given that it was such a small group, we served -gasp- Berkshire pork as the main course! It was a topic of much discussion throughout the night, with people wondering why more people don't offer it, more often. The meal was a work of art and complemented the tulip-free environment to perfection.



Thank you to Jackson at Ikonica for recording such a special night so beautifully with your photos.

Table For 100

Once upon a time, we had a very unusual bride and groom who came to us with a most unique vision: "We want a single table for all of our guests to dine at and we want it to look like something out of a old Flemish painting; dripping over with oysters, pearls, candles and ripe fruit and flowers." We worked closely with Bill Fulghum, who at the time still owned Church Street Flowers, to execute this very particular request; here are some detailed shots of what the guests got to experience that night.

Mushrooms, garlic, oyster shells and quail eggs were strewn down the length of the table, with spanish moss scattered throughout.

Tall stands covered in bulrushes and moss with candles hanging off gave the table the height it needed to balance the soaring ceiling in the tent.

I loved this detail Bill came up with: rusted treasure boxes filled with orchids... you can just make out the pattern on the box. The pattern on the petals perfectly mirrored the leopard print seats on the chiavari chairs that the groom's grandmother (and two of her friends) just happen to own... how funny is that? We've never had clients with their own stash of chairs before.

Artichoke blossoms, red roses with the texture of velvet and shamrock chrysanthemums gave the table the necessary burst of colour.

I always remind clients that their wedding should be a direct reflection of who they are as a couple and I cannot think of a better example than what we achieved here. The drama of the single, long table, the hundreds of small details going down the length, the nerve to serve lamb (!) as the main course made for a most memorable evening. When I heard a guest exclaim "Oh my God, this is so them," I knew we had hit the nail right on the head.

We have photographer Storey Wilkins to thank for the smorgasbord of beautiful pictures.

A Very Fashionable Bash

We recently had the honour of helping to throw a very big birthday party for a truly special lady whose love of fashion comes second only to her love of family. We took this obsession with All Things Fashion and carried it through the evening...

The first hint of things to come was the invite. Caren Thomas of Bus Stop Design and I came up with the idea of a paper doll of our birthday girl and hired an illustrator, not only to draw the Guest of Honour, but to come up with outfits and combinations she would actually wear. Chanel, Pucci, Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Sonia Rykiel can all be found in the spot-on renderings.

The celebration was held at the Four Seasons Hotel and when Bill Fulghum (who designed the party as well as the florals) came back from Europe and said everything was purple that season, we knew what our main colour had to be. Peter Somers from Contemporary Furniture Rentals had sofas covered in purple upholstery just for the occasion and we all got a little carried away. I even bought ridiculously uncomfortable (but oh-so-chic) purple stilettos. Needless to say, it was a very purple night!

We staged a fashion show with clothing exclusively from Holt Renfrew. The lovely Erika Larva and Pauline Brown from Monarch Events Group produced the show and the hilarious Paul Venoit was our MC. The clothing was magnificent -- there were 8 segments to the show and Pauline spent a full week at Holt's pulling the clothes that were showcased. We had to hire round-the-clock security to guard the wares after the party until they could be returned to the store the next day. The furs, the purses, the accessories, the clothes were every girl's (or shopaholic's) fantasy. Sigh.

I had two favourite moments that evening: The first was at the beginning of the fashion show when Tom, the Doorman from Holt's, came out with two male models, laden with dozens and dozens of the store's eponymous hot pink shopping bags. He then proceeded to greet each model as she came on stage and take a shopping bag from her -- just as he does to every customer who enters the store. The crowd cracked up! My second favourite moment came when our birthday girl first spotted her own granddaughter (one of three who were part of the show) when she first appeared amongst the professional models. She squeeled out loud, rushed the stage and announced to the crowd that that was her granddaughter. It was a classic moment -- just one of many at a party that was so much fun to plan and so, so memorable for all that were there to celebrate the joy of family, friends and yes, fashion!
Photo credits: Leigh Tynan, Tynan Studio

Celebrating Sixty in Miami

Last October we planned a 50th wedding anniversary party here in Toronto (you can read the post in the 2009 section below) -- I thought being married to the same person for 50 years seemed like an amazing feat. Well, we managed to top that with a 60th anniversary bash we threw last month in not-so-balmy Miami. Even more remarkably, there was another couple in the crowd who were celebrating 64 years of marriage!

Alas, we were there to celebrate this milestone for a truly extraordinary couple, blessed with good health, the most wonderful family and, above all, a marriage still filled with spark and passion. My "bride" wanted a mass of orange orchids -- and ultimately we were able to give her what she wanted. There were close to 3500 mokara orchids scattered around the octagonally-shaped room and the bar. It was sensational.

Once I get photos from the professional photographer, I will post those, but in the meantime, enjoy these ones, courtesy of my trusty iPhone. The linens, banquettes, chairs and borne came from Nuage Designs and the wonderful Linda Goldman of Blake Roses did the flowers. I'm sure she doesn't want to see another orange orchid for awhile...

Must. Have. That's. All.

This isn't even a possibility where I live right now, but dammit, one day I really what has to be the Ultimate Wine Fridge in my own kitchen. These photos were emailed to me, so I can't even give the person who came up with this ingenious idea the credit they so deserve -- I am duly impressed and completely envious, all at once!

And a Cherry on Top!

The Question: How to compete with the show-stopping cheese "cake" that Chef Mark McEwan created for our bride's sister's wedding, 18 months before.

The Challenge: Our bride is diabetic, so a fancy, traditional wedding cake was out of the question. Plus, we were at the same venue (the family farm) with many of the same guests in attendance -- we had a lot to live up to!

The Solution: A custom-designed, lucite cake stand to hold all the autumn bounty from the farm and a teeny, sugar-free cake for the bride and groom to cut into. North 44 Executive Chef Sash Simpson literally hand-picked each plum, pear, peach & apple and placed them with care onto the stand. And yes, please note, for the final touch: the cherry on top!
Photo Credits: The fabulous Storey Wilkins beautifully documented both weddings. You can watch Mark McEwan in action with the first farm wedding on season two of his show: 'The Heat' on the Food Network.

Peacock, Chartreuse and Coral at the RCM

Nothing can influence the mood of a party like a burst of cheery colours as guests first enter a space. That was exactly the case for an engagement party we did at the Royal Conservatory of Music: it was a cold, typically grey November day in Toronto and the bright and unusual pairing of peacock & chartreuse greens with a hit of coral set the tone of what was yet to come...

Whimsical chartreuse vases & candelabras from Contemporary Furniture Rentals filled with Japanese tree peonies were the first thing people saw when they entered the event space.

This is a cool shot of the building; you can see how the architects at KPMB incorporated the old Royal Conservatory building within the new structure. We had musicians playing the bongos and maracas in the juliette balconies as guests walked past, into the event space where the sounds of a DJ greeted them...

I've been accused of not showing enough photos of people enjoying the parties we plan, so this last photo is to satisfy the critics! Guests were treated to a feast from North 44, amazing wines and rockin' DJ we brought in from Montreal. If an engagement party can look this beautiful, you can only imagine what we're going to do with the wedding itself... check back in March to see what we create when it's time for the Main Event...

Thank you to Storey Wilkins for the photographs.