Hello!

Well, since I’m sitting here on vacation, I’m playing catch up on all the weddings I haven’t had the chance to blog about yet… Lily and Alex came to me from New York City with the vision of a romantic wedding in an apple orchard. They also really wanted this orchard to be on Île d’Orléans, which was where Alex had taken Lily shortly after they had started dating.

So, after a first trip to the island to find the perfect orchard; another trip to the island to find the perfect spot on the perfect orchard; a trip to New York where Lily and I got very decently drunk; and a wedding day setup that began at dawn and left me covered in dust and bugs… Here are my fave pics of the day!

Photography: Irene Suchocki

Venue: Domaine de la Source Marguerite

Decor design and coordination: Unity Weddings

Hey hey!

In my line of work, I get all sorts of clients. Some brides are lovely, some are a little less. Some are very picky, and some are very easy-going. Some are creative and some have no clue when it comes to what they like. And then, there are brides like Annalie. Let me tell you, this girl has got it going on!

I first met Annalie when she was opening her own wedding photography studio {Annalie Young Photography}. We hit it off right away over Starbucks lattes, and she’s been regularly photographing my weddings ever since. And then, on a day like any other, she called and asked if I would be her wedding planner. What kind of question was that, I asked? Of course I would! This lovely lady is not only a talented photographer, she is also gorgeous inside and out, and has since become a very dear friend of mine. Oh, and of course the world being as small as it is, it turned out her fiancé and I had gone to high school together…

Annalie and Haig wanted a ceremony and reception that would be uniquely them. From the ceremony performed by one of their friends, to the cocktail format of the reception, every piece of this intimate affair had to be a perfect representation of who they are as a couple. Despite some hurdles along the way, Annalie and I happily shopped away for the perfect antique plates while the groom-to-be {an engineer} designed and built the hanging-mason-jar-filled-frame for their ceremony backdrop.

And when the day finally rolled around, it was candlelit and romantic, and filled to the brim with tears, emotion, and ridiculous amounts of love. Photographed by their good friends Davina+Daniel, here are my favorite snapshots of the day.

Photography: Davina+Daniel

Venue: La Vieille Brasserie

Linens: Celebrations

Makeup: Jessica Cohen

xoxo

Hello!

This past September, I had the incredible privilege of designing and coordinating the wedding of a pretty challenging couple. Don’t get me wrong, this bride and groom were absolutely adorable and a pleasure to work with, but they also knew their stuff, knew what they wanted, and most importantly knew that the stuff they wanted was a tad different, very thought-through, and very them.

This lovely couple has requested that all vendors involved respect their privacy, which I very much admire given the intimate nature of a wedding. So, without giving them or any of their guests away, here are my very favorite detail shots from this affair.

And the incredibly talented lineup of peeps for this wedding was…

Venue: Parisian Laundry

Photography: Tim Chin Photography

Huppah: The Canopy Company

Furniture: Sofa To Go

Lighting: Kloda

Flowers: Alain Simon Fleurs

Food: Chez L’Epicier

Cakes: Luisa Galuppo Cakes

Cake pops: Sophie Sucrée

Artwork on display graciously loaned by Parisian Laundry, by Rick Leong

Canvas menu and stationary by Unity Weddings

xoxo

Feeling all sorts of bohemian today…

Have a great Friday!

xoxo

Hello!

Here is my inspiration of the day… It’s all about greige!

xoxo

Hello, hello!

So, my hands are kinda shaky as I’m typing this up, because I’m about to share something oh-so-exciting. As most of you know by now, Azar from Principal Planner and I are good friends. We spend so much time {and coffee} gabbing entire nights away -obviously about weddings, and decor, and flowers- that we finally decided “hey, why don’t we design something together?”

Not a lot of people are as lucky as we are. Being creative in life and actually being able to make a living out of it is a blessing of its own, but getting to collaborate with someone you think is genius? Now that’s just perfection.

So, after a particularly caffeinated night, and with the help of some paper and coloring crayons, here’s what we came up with! Oh, and before you get to ogle the beautiful pictures, a huge thank you to everyone who participated in the shoot! Photos by Davina+Daniel, venue by the Loft Hotel, rentals by Celebrations, flowers by Alain Simon Fleurs, cakes and sugar flowers by Sophie Sucrée, and macaroons by Dolci Piu.

Oh, and obviously, creative design and concept by Principal Planner and Unity Weddings.

Hello!

Here’s a random fact for you about me: Way before I even knew what wedding planning was, I wanted to be a ballerina. Seriously. I went through nearly 15 years of classical ballet training before being told I was too short and not open enough at the knees to pursue a professional career.

Still, I haven’t lost my love for all things ballet, so today’s mood board is inspired by just that!

xoxo

Hello!

I was making myself dinner tonight, when I realized I was cutting up sweet orange peppers on a bright turquoise cutting board… And boom! I thought this would make an amazing palette for a colorful wedding.

Here is my inspiration board.

Have a wonderful weekend!

xoxo

Hello,

I recently inherited a beautiful Ikea Ung Drill frame from my brother. Which is awesome. But I already had one, and I live/work in the tiniest of lofts. Which means that wherever you look, you can see both at the same time {and they weren’t hanging side by side like common sense would dictate}. So I came home late last night from a creative brainstorming session, and decided to do something about it.

The idea was very simple. I often encourage my brides to display their seating cards in a way that has more oomph than regular {i.e. boring} tent cards. One of the many ways of doing so creatively is by pinning the cards into something mounted into a board {fabric, chicken wire, cork board…}. So I scoured my closest, and lo and behold! I found some burlap.

So… here’s my little midnight diy project! Totally easy, painless, and pretty!

xoxo

Hello!

This past weekend I had the great pleasure of signing on a de-lovely bride from New York. And I have a confession to make: Five years into this business, I am still a hopeless romantic when it comes not only to weddings and planning them, but also and mostly when it comes to my brides. While the rest of the world goes on with the knits and grits of a 9-5 job {and the mean bosses, annoying clients, and nosy coworkers that come with}, I get to roll out of bed in the morning, pour myself coffee, and spend my days chatting away with the loveliest of ladies {and gents}.

This one particular bride has her eyes set on an outdoor (weather permitting} rustic-meets-elegant affair for her closest friends and family. Oh, and did I mention? We’re talking about the region of Quebec City, somewhere along the scenic landscapes of the St-Lawrence river.

We’ve just started planning this baby, and although the venue is not picked yet, my head is already a-buzz with decor ideas. Her colors of choice so far? Pink and gray. I am in heaven.

xoxo

Hello!

One of the trickiest part of my work as a wedding planner/designer is often explaining my vision to a client. A bride will come to me saying she wants a warm, intimate wedding in an industrial kind of space, and a light bulb will immediately go off in my head. But when I take this bride, her fiancé, and their parents to the space I think is perfect for them, how do you explain that a cold, empty industrial space can actually become elegant, warm and inviting?

Words and gestures are not always enough to explain what goes on in my head. Today’s bride has access to so many resources and pictures of beautifully set-up weddings, it can sometimes be a bit of a shock for her to see an empty room that’s anything but set.

So, in the spirit of showing you a bit of what goes on behind the scenes, I’d like to share with you a recent experience. Pictures from this recent wedding are available here, but here is what it took for me to convince this bride that the space would be perfect for her ceremony:

The simulation:

And here is what it actually looked like on the wedding day:

I hope this inspires you to see beyond a naked space!

xoxo

{all photos for this post graciously provided by Phototerra}

Hello!

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been slowly but surely catching up on some shows and movies I’ve been meaning to watch. In the spirit of all things pretty, I got to feast my eyes on Coco and Igor. Have you seen it? If not, I beg you, drop whatever you’re doing right now and go rent /Netflix it.

I’ve always had a soft spot for mixed patterns in matching colors, and the set of this movie oh-so-satisfied this said spot.

Here is a snapshot from one of the movie’s scenes:

And here is what I’d like to do for a wedding, if I had my way:

xoxo

Hello!

Somewhere in the midst of re-designing my website, planning weddings, and life’s turbulence, I suddenly realized it’s been soo long since I blogged… All my apologies, I am back and will do my best to stick around.

I recently had a night off {which seems like nothing but is actually a godsend in my busy little life}, and I took the opportunity to catch up on some shows I’d been meaning to watch. Among others, Cashmere Mafia. I know, I know, it’s ancient history, but you know what they say? Better late than never.

And boy am I sad that it only ran for one season. Besides all the entertainment and fashion and hoopla, it actually did something very important for me: it made me fall in love with purple all over again. Can’t see the connection? Watch the show again. Almost every scene has some sort of purple in it, from a wall to a piece of furniture to a gorgeous sweater or earring.

Purple was ridiculously popular for weddings a couple of years ago, and as such, I got pretty sick of it. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. But I just couldn’t handle another purple-and-lime/apple-green wedding. Too much of a good thing is inevitably a bad thing.

But now…! Oh, how I want to paint my walls purple! I am falling head over heals for lushious magentas, deep purples mixed with warm chocolate or cool pewter, and all shades of violet.

Sweet dreams!

xoxo

Hello!

Those of you who have been following me on Facebook and Twitter already know that I had my first wedding of 2011 this past Friday. What most of you don’t know, however, is that this very lovely couple had just short of 6 weeks to plan the entire affair.

Mary-Lou and Peter were initially set to marry in Mexico, but due to an unfortunate accident at their resort in November, they decided to re-organize their entire plans and move their wedding to Montreal. So when they called me in mid-November, you can imagine how excited I was to pick up the challenge!

The future mr and mrs began by telling me that they wanted an intimate wedding, hosting for about 60 of their closest friends and family. When they mentioned that they also wanted a non-traditional venue with an industrial feel, I knew I had just the perfect space for them.

You see, I’ve been dreaming of doing a wedding at the Opus Hotel’s Suco Lounge ever since I first stepped there. The decor is industrial meets organic, with concrete floors and columns, and wood and bamboo paneling on the walls. There is also a private terrace, and floor to ceiling windows on that side of the room. Better yet, there is a small mezzanine, which I thought would be perfect for an intimate ceremony.

Although Mary-Lou and Peter were initially excited when I proposed this venue, it was a bit of a hard sell. I knew that I could turn this lounge {slash} hip-hop nightclub into a warm wedding space, but with a limited amount of photos to show for it, it was difficult to convey. To give you a better idea, here is one of the photos I first showed them:

The couple thought it looked nice as a club, but had a hard time imagining it turned into a white and gray wedding. So, I went to Suco, whipped out my camera, and then worked some really-not-professional magic on Photoshop to show them what I had in mind. The two following images are the simulations I created for them; I beg you to disregard the very poor quality, I am in no way, shape, or form trained to remaster photos.

Curious to know how it all turned out? In one word, it was awesome. Here are some pictures I managed to snap on my Blackberry on the wedding day {professional shots will be available in a couple of weeks}:

Mary-Lou and Peter, thank you so much for placing your trust in me! What an amazing wedding it was, and what an incredible way to kick-start 2011!

xoxo

Hello,

Last week I posted a golden inspiration board. I’m still feeling the metallics, but since I am a few weeks away from a gray and ivory winter wedding, and since we are pretty much covered in a thick blanket of snow, I’m feeling silver today.

Hope you’re inspired!

xoxo