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

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!

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!

The pictures from this wedding have been sitting on my desktop for a couple of weeks now, and I figured that if I didn’t write something about it today, I’d probably never get to it.

Ken and Catarina contacted me last winter, for a small intimate wedding in Montreal. They were from Macao; it was a same-sex wedding; needless to say, I was on board.

Since the couple lived so far away, we never got to actually meet until the very few last days before their wedding. But oh, were they worth the wait! Ken and Catarina had met in elementary school, and had been on and off sweethearts ever since. They were so young, but their love was so strong and sweet, they just had to travel halfway across the globe to have the marriage made official {for those of you who don’t know, Macao is under Chinese rule and same-sex marriage is not recognized over there}.

Because of the difficulty to obtain travel visas, they were only able to take one of their friends with them. So I stepped in as their second witness. This was a wedding with no hooplas. We spent the day sipping wine, then celebrated the small ceremony in a garden in Old Montreal. They were kind and generous, and insisted that the photographer and I join them at their table for dinner. Then I took them out dancing.

I plan so many different weddings every year, and most of them involve more or less elaborate decor, extensive guest lists, and tons of drama. I love those. But Ken and Catarina took on intense family disapproval, government blindness, and a 36-hr flight because they love each other so much. And isn’t that what marriage is all about?

Oh, and obviously, I cried like a baby when Catarina walked down the aisle to Elvis Presley’s “Fools Rush In”. Like the song goes: Old men say, only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you.

Photos graciously provided by Annalie Young

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 everybody!

I’ve managed to go m.i.a. again… I guess November is the new July because I am swamped with work!I recently received these pictures from Isabelle Paille, and I am head over heels in love with Marie-Eve and Benoit all over again. This couple was the most amazing to work with, and needless to say, this was one wedding where I cried quite a bit {as you already know, I’m the crying kind of wedding planner}. I hope you enjoy the photos!

xoxo

tables and tabletops by Celebrations

cake by Jessica Berard Cakes

venue: The Hillsdale Golf Club

Hello!

It’s been a little while since I wrote {again}. I don’t seem to be so good at keeping this a regular thing. I had a pretty awful week {last week}, and wasn’t feeling so chatty. But then today I received the photos from two weddings I had the pleasure of planning over the past summer, and my heart is smiling again. I usually do this in my featured section, but I thought this wedding deserved a little post of its own.

I feel terrible saying this, as all of my brides and grooms are completely adorable, but some weddings just stick with me more than others. Karen and Guillaume’s was one of those. It wasn’t that the decor was the most elaborate, or that she wore the biggest, most extravagant dress. It was in the small things. Their kindness; their great mood on the big day; their spontaneous decision to have guests donate money to the Canadian Cancer Society instead of clinking their glasses for them to kiss. This couple totally stole my heart, and had me crying like a child throughout their wedding day.

So here are a few of my fave shots, graciously shared with me by George Mavitzis from Candlewax Studio:

Congrats to these two again!

xoxo

Hello everyone!

Today is a very exciting day. I am building the coolest, most over the top, most expensive wedding I’ve ever laid my hands on. The story goes like this: I met D&D about a year and a half ago, and the first thing out of their mouth was “we want spectacular!”

I was obviously thrilled, as it’s not every day that, as a planner, I get a client pushing me to go bigger and brighter. But this big golden nugget wasn’t without its challenges. The groom wanted waterfalls, and a bridge, and giant mythical animals… Well, you get the point.

Now, I know that not all of you are dreaming up an extravagant wedding. And trust me, I love a small intimate affair as much as any other. But what I wanted to show you today goes beyond the size and budget of your wedding. I wanted to show you what happens when the imaginary becomes reality. How an empty room can turn into a magical reception.

The pictures below are all taken with my computer, during the setup and reception, so please forgive their not-so-great quality. Hopefully they will give you a good understanding of the process between an empty room, a floor plan, and an all-dressed reception. Enjoy!

xoxo

This past Saturday I had the great pleasure of coordinating Jennifer and Matt’s wedding. This was my favorite kind of adventure, as the happy couple had eloped in December to Mexico, and was planning a trendy, late-night, Valentine’s Day-themed lofty reception. No sit-down dinner, no speeches, none of the traditional hoopla. Just fun, yummy finger food, booze, and close friends and family. I will be posting these to the gallery section, but this 2010 wedding season kickoff was so great, it deserved a post of its own.

Jennifer and Matt wanted a fun, non-stuffy mood that would encourage their guests to mingle. So instead of having chairs and tables, we opted for lounge-y furniture, low sofas mixed with high tables and stools, and tons of red and pink lighting.

We also used frames as details throughout the room, and setup an oversize projection of their Mexico wedding pictures.

We had also planned for a monster of a sweet table, complete with a giant cupcake wedding cake, smarties, and tweezers. I spent a lot of time shopping for the perfect vases and jars, and here is the result:

The party was a hit with all the guests. The food was delicious, the alcohol was flowing…

But most of all, I think this was due to Jennifer and Matt’s generous hearts (they made charitable donations in their guests’ names in lieu of favors), incredible sense of fun, and the decision to spend the evening surrounded by all those they truly love.

PS: And yes, that’s me (at work) with the bride (I’m wearing the sailor hat)

xoxo

Photography by Davina + Daniel

Rentals by Sofa to Go

Lights by Showdesign

Venue: Entrepots Dominion

Cake and cupcakes by Jessica Berard Cakes

Food by Apollo Globe Traiteur

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