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.

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...

More Fun with Coco

Here's the fantasy shot: Our male model, Michael, who we dubbed 'The Hotness" looking rather enticing in behind the place cards and in front of the fountain of pink champagne. The staircase banner was also printed by my friends at Emerson Design.

... and here's the reality shot: It wasn't pink champagne at all, but ginger ale with a few drops of red food colouring added to each bottle. Here's Lidia filling the glasses and balancing them rather precariously on top of one another. Not to worry, though: we all shared some of the real stuff at the end of the day -- you can see it here in the vintage champagne bucket, lent to us by the fabulous Peter Somers of Contemporary Furniture Rentals.

This is a shot that didn't make it into the final spread: our bride, standing ON the table, showing off the bouquet and the runner with the printed menu running across it. I love the single feather that fell off her dress, landing perfectly (and unplanned) onto the salad plate.

This is Toyo, the stylist from Judy Inc., adjusting our bride, Sarah. The shoes are by Valentino.

Finally, this is my dog, Miss Jinx LaRue, posing in pearls and diamonds with the gorgeous cake, designed by Roxanne Wickware of Roxycakes. Gillian from Ikonica took this photo to simply to humour me; I had no idea that Jinx would make it into the magazine... appearing twice, no less!

Art Basel Miami Inspiration

Every December, our annual trip to Art Basel in Miami is a highlight of my year. The city just comes alive during this contemporary art fair -- the creativity and artistic vision that is literally on every street corner is intoxicating, rejuvenating and plain old inspiring. After a hectic wedding season, those 5 days in Miami going from exhibit to exhibit are just what I need to get revved up for another year of parties and weddings. The creativity is literally everywhere -- these (admittedly bad iPhone photos) were taken when we saw more installations on the side of the road in the Wynwood District. In spite of the fact we were tired, hungry and on our way to dinner, we all jumped out of the car to experience yet another version of 'art' because you just can't seem to get enough of the colours and overall vibe in the city that week. The sun seems shinier and the drinks taste better when you're experiencing the power of the human imagination...