Summer is not over yet :)

Yes, it definitely isn't - at least not in Montreal, with +30C and cloudless blue skies to keep us company and prolong the eternal vacation mood among most of us. Well, at least for everyone outside the wedding industry, you see - for us it's a definite marathon, and the professional urge to satisfy all of our wonderful clients all at the same time does pose an occasional challenge. So we would like to sincerely apologize, from ourselves and on behalf of everyone else involved in making your wedding dream come true, if our response these days is slower then usual. But enough about us, and on to some fabulous wedding finds we came across in the last few weeks:

If you just got engaged and have no clue (why should you?) about how to plan a wedding, invest your dear 12$ and purchase a wonderful book called the Bridal Bargains: Secrets to Throwing a Fantastic Wedding on a Realistic Budget, written by consumer advocates Denise and Alan Fields. Like the book boasts, it will save you 100s, perhaps 1000s on your wedding bill. No spoilers here, just buy it - you won't regret it.

Ebay - yes, it is scary to buy your wedding dress from China, but where do you think your average (affordable, sort of) retail bridal store gets their merchandise from? Just make sure to use ebay.com and not ebay.ca (it has a lot LESS options to choose from). Silk petals in cream/gold/turquoise/moka/etc, veils of all shapes and sizes, gloves and yes, even and especially wedding dresses can be yours for a fraction of the price you would pay for similar products that have been MARKED-UP by the retailers. Just make sure you pick a good ebay vendor with a nice track record and a lot of previous sales to prove it.

Your friends and relatives that got recently hitched: they will no doubt have plenty to talk about which local vendors they loved or hated (and their opinions will be fresh), what they WISH they knew when they were planning their wedding (and they should give that advise to you now :P), and maybe even give you any left-over wedding-related merchandise they accumulated but never used. It is guaranteed to be a hit party if you invite them all over to vent to share their adventures in planning the perfect wedding. 

Sounds like fun? Yes, it really should be. Don't be a martyr and try to do everything yourself. Even if you LIKE to be in control and DIY as much as possible, please spare your nervous system and enlist some helpers. Plus, it really is a situation where the more the merrier actually applies :) 

And to finish the post on some colorful notes, here are a few of the wedding highlights we had the pleasure to be part of in the last couple of weeks. Enjoy :)

Peonies, Roses, Lilacs and Love :)

Dear all, I'm sorry for a rather late update - time flies so fast these days, I can't believe we are already in the middle of August! But before summarizing our last weekend excursions,  I would like to say a few words about a fun wedding of Bianka and Corey, a young couple who said their I-do-s on July 31 this year in Hudson, QC. The ceremony took place in a very nice old chapel on the shore, amidst awesome weather and a town fair in full swing, complete with a live band and homemade jam and cookies.

Accompanied by loud cheers and applause from their guests, tears of joy were sparkling on Bianka's face as her and Corey exchanged wedding vows and were pronounced husband and wife. The celebration didn't end until the early hours of the morning (after all, most guests were their age and it felt a lot like a fairytale end of a prom) and we have learned a few crucial little details to keep in mind as a possible advice for young couples everywhere:

1. If you have supplied your own linen for the big day (yes, some brides opt for that to save $$$) and your guests are known to party like it's 1999, don't be surprised to see your crisp white linen transform overnight into an abstract new age painting complete with hard to explain splatters of crimson (we are hoping it's a mix of beer and rose-flavored red pot potpourri....)

2. Any cake mishaps can be fixed with a few well placed flowers (real or artificial) or extra matching decor on hand. While it's very scary to see the cake resemble the tower of Pisa upon arrival, prompt cover-up or removal of damaged base can make it look fabulous once more.

and,
3. Garters can be a choking hazard (!) So please don't leave that inebriated lucky guy with his prized possession in the bathroom alone...
But overall, it was a fantastic wedding and a lot of people wondered how everything matched together so well. The trick? The right hand has to know what the left hand is doing and the rest is pure luck. In Corey & Bianka's case, coordinating was easy, because not only did we do their reception & church decor, we also created all their personal flowers (bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres made with lush peonies and crystal accents) and supplied a few of crucial wedding accessories as well (cake set, box for envelopes and a picture frame). The lucky part was that the cake matched perfectly with our decor even though we had no idea what it was supposed to look like and the cake lady had no idea as to what our decor was going to be either. Lucky indeed :)

Finally, if you haven't visited Hudson/Oka yet, plan an outing this weekend, you won't regret it. It is the most charming and cozy little neighborhood of a town we have seen in the Montreal surrounding area and it's only about 30min away by 40 West.
Now, moving on to the wedding of Kevin and Abigail in Montreal this past weekend. Our heartfelt wishes to the newlyweds and their family & friends, who all worked so hard to make this fabulous wedding take place.
Here's a few teaser pics from their lavender & lilac butterfly fantasy:

 

 And oh boy was that cake delicious!!! In fact, it was the most original-tasting wedding cake we have ever tried - a rich and very flavorful fruit cake made with a myriad of various spices leaving your tastebuds wondering and wanting more :P

May your summer be just as delicious, until next update everyone!

Hugs & kisses,

Tania

A Quicky Recap of Bollywood Charm and Lakeshore Delights

Hello everyone! The weather is gorgeous outside (we'll just ignore the promise of rain to come!), Montreal is full of life and the celebration of love by its inhabitants is (as always) in full swing. Congratulations from the bottom of our hearts go to our dear friend Zinea and her sweet husband Masoom, as well as to charming Johanne and Robert, who promised to love and honor each other to the end of time. And we KNOW that both of these couples will cherish and treasure each other for as long as they breathe, we saw it in their eyes :) But most of you reading are probably curious as to the way these lovebirds chose to express their love via the wedding decor, right? Well, without further ado, we'll start with Johanne and Robert, whose shared passion for refined elegance and wine dictated the setting for their wedding style and colors, calling for luxurious burgundy satin as the main decor element, with lush peonies and plenty of candles to soften its regal presence and passion and create a more subtle and romantic look.
 

The reception took place at a hall on Marie-Victorin in St Catherine called Des Ecluses, and we must give them an A+ for the condition of their rooms (4 in total, all clean and modern looking with decor elements paying tribute to each of the 4 seasons the rooms are named after), the courtesy of their staff, original menu and great customer service. If you didn't pick your reception venue yet and your guest list won't go over 200, consider this wonderful and charming place, you may fall in love! And Eric, one of the owners of Des Ecluses, is simply too delicious of an eye candy a very nice and generous guy :P

If you plan on inviting a bit more people, say around 500 in total, we have a few nice words to say about another hall called the Palace in Laval. The staff are very attentive and helpful, the food is delicious and in very generous portions, the linen is clean and the managers are genuinely interested in you having the time of your life. Apparently there is also no time limit to the partying so you can literally dance the night away :)
Here's a few teaser pics of their Santorini hall decorated by us for free as a wedding gift for Zinea & Masoom:

 The only suggestion we can think of for the Palace admins is to revamp their website, because their halls look a lot nicer in reality then they do on the pictures from their website.
And here a few brief notes on our chosen decor for Zineea (she implicitly trusted us from the go to come up with a suitable theme for her wedding, since (obviously) she had a million other  things to do).We tried to show the crowd of 500 what Zineea herself is all about - a very cute and pretty girl that is full of life, wonder and compassion, with an incredibly contagious smile and energy of an Energizer bunny :) Zineea, don't ever change we are sooooo in love with you!!! So we chose a daring and happy mix of pink and orange organza as the main color theme and added tropical flowers (mostly orchids) in a merry mix of pink, yellow, orange and white to transform the hall into a pretty sorbet of a summer paradise. Some of her early-bird guests were actually taking pictures of the set-up even before the hall filled up to use as references for their own future weddings..Actually, we would like to thank all of Zineea's friends who helped us tie the chair sashes, you guys are awesome and we couldn't have done it without you! Thank you again, you all rock :) And here's a little glimpse of that unforgettable summer night filled with dancing, laughter, fireworks and of course romance.

And as much as we'd love to talk about our new accessory projects, it will have to wait until the next update - we are due in St Lazare soon to set-up for another wonderful fairytale ending beginning :P

Highlights of last week :)

Summer is definitely in full swing, and the wedding season is SIZZLING! So we sincerely apologize to everyone for skipping an update or two on this blog, we don't even have time for lunch sometimes lol Anyways, it's ok since we love what we do :) And without further ado, here's some of the juicy wedding tidbits that we had the pleasure to orchestrate: first up, congrats again to Ivy & Francis, who tied the knot this past Saturday on the lake shore in Lasalle. It was such a GORGEOUS day that the newlyweds threw caution and time schedule to the wind and indulged in quite a substantial photo shoot next to St Laurent, its yachts, blue skies and summer breeze.

And while the bride and groom frolicked in the sun, final preparations were being done in the reception hall. Once our work was done, we decided to spare newlyweds the mess and distribute all the dishes, glasses, napkins and eating utensils on the tables, thus avoiding huge lineups at the buffet table. A note to frugal birdes out there: yes, disposable dishes can look classy as long as they are styrofoam (not plastic) and to add a bit more chic, you can splurge on realistic looking knives/forkes and spoons (found at Dollarama or ebay) and supply REAL plates on the honor table. Plus, for a more coordinated look, go with napkins in two colors that complement your theme (white and fuchsia napkins are a perfect match for lush peony arrangements in pink, burgundy and white)

The cake topper was unfortunately forgotten by the couple at home, so we used, you guessed it, more peonies!):

 And that cake not only looked gorgeous, but was also incredibly delicious (we got to taste it too thanks to our lovely newlyweds!). Of course we expected nothing short of extraordinarily, after all, the cake was made by wonderful bakers at Dolci Piu. Definitely recommended, I got them for my own wedding :P

As for the reception hall look, the best part was when the guest arrived and wondered if they were at the right location: once confirmed they kept going ooooh and ahhhh and we learned (the hard way!) to bring more business cards next time.

  And the kids were pretty happy too - we set-up a twister mat and put some coloring books and jump-rope, which made for an oasis of fun in an otherwise serious and classy affair. The night ended with a very soulful speech and a prayer, it has been a while since we heard such an honest and sweet expression of joy. All the best to the newlyweds again and a huge than you to everyone who made that day go harmoniously all the way to its grand finale.
Now moving on to some of the projects we had fun making in the last couple of days: we got an exciting opportunity to design an accessories set for Karine, a fabulous bride-to-be with old Hollywood wedding theme in black, white and black berry.  Since most of Karine's decor featured black & white damask pattern, we decided to incorporate this motif in her guestbook and picked white & black crystal flowers to accent hert accessories.

  Thank you Karine for giving us such a glamorous task :)

And then here are a few ring pillows in burgundy we made for another lovely bride Johanne to coordinate with her wedding theme of lush burgundy:

Finally for today, I just can't resist sharing with you a centerpiece we made for an Alladin-theme wedding next year for another happy couple:

Happy summer everyone and I promise to try and update this blog more regularly :)