Category: Create Weddings

Christina & David's Vancouver wedding

5/16/2018

Christina and David got married in November 2017 in downtown Vancouver. Christina first contacted me in October to hire me for my partial planning package. She had the majority of the vendors hired and planned out but she wanted some help with flowers and decor as well as day of coordination for their travel themed wedding. David lives in Australia and Christina was moving there just a few days after the wedding so she had enough on her plate already and giving up some of the smaller tasks to me in the last few weeks was a no-brainer.

The ceremony and reception were both held at the Shangri-La Vancouver downtown and I was excited to be able to work here. The guest list for this wedding was about 70 people and it was a perfect room for it. The original plan was to have the ceremony outside on the deck but Vancouver weather at the end of November is not exactly calm so the ceremony was moved into the library and it was really pretty. Even the Christmas trees that were already up matched the colors of the wedding and fit in perfectly!

The morning of the wedding, Mink Makeup and Hair came to the hotel, where Christina had also stayed the night before, and started getting her and the bridesmaids ready. When I came up to do a check in, the photographers were already there and everyone was having a great time.

The guys were getting ready as well and then Christina and David did a first look in the hotel lobby before the wedding party and some family members headed outside for some photos. I won't lie... it was pretty chilly that day but the rain held off for this part which was terrific and let them get some photos in the city.

Christina is from the US and David is from Australia so the majority of their guests were from out of town which really tied into the theme so well! The table numbers were all airports and the escort cards were boarding passes that Christina made and cut out with the help of her maid of honor. One of my favourite things about these cards were that they were also meal indicators for the plated meal that the servers could use to confirm who got which meal at the table. Rather than a traditional guest book, they used some photos of themselves and created post cards for guests to write on... or even keep and send them messages later on.

The florals and decor were both provided by Proline and they had some great things that fit with the gold, cream and green colour scheme. The gold sunburst charger plates were amazing but perhaps my favourite decor element were the frosted pillars that were lit from underneath with spot lights. We used them at the head of the aisle with flower arrangements on them during the ceremony and then moved them to the reception area to flank the sweetheart table. I loved the soft glow of lighting they gave.

DJ Moto Pri from Girl on Wax came in for the reception and MC'd as well but when the dancing started she had the floor packed. This was a fun crowd and the friends that flew halfway around the world were up for a party for sure! After dinner, there was a photobooth provided by Chic and Unique and then Thierry Chocolates delivered some of the most decadent desserts you could ever imagine. My mouth is still watering thinking about them six months later!

Overall, this was a really fun winter wedding with amazing food (Shangri-La can really knock it out of the park!) and fantastic guests.

As always, if you have any questions about this wedding or any of the vendors, or just questions in general about wedding planning, please comment or send me an email.

Happy planning,
Sara

Vendors:
Venue- Shangri-La Vancouver
Photographer- Karizma Photography
Videographer- Infinitum Weddings
DJ- DJ Moto Pri for Girl on Wax
Floral & Decor- Proline
Makeup & Hair- Mink Makeup and Hair
Desserts- Thierry Chocolates
Photobooth- Chic & Unique

3 Comments

Tania & Derrick's Burnaby Mountain wedding

5/1/2018

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T & D post ceremony with their officiant Lani from Young, Hip and Married and their dog, Duke!

I met Tania and Derrick at a wedding show in September 2016 and they hired me for day of coordination for their October 2017 wedding. Some couples just know well in advance that they want help in the weeks leading up to the wedding and on the day and Tania and Derrick were one of those couples. Tania was in the processing of moving across the country to be with Derrick while finishing university so she definitely had a lot of things going on in the months leading up their wedding!

The ceremony and reception were both held at the Diamond Alumni Centre up at Simon Fraser University and although I went to SFU for my degree, I had never been into this venue. It seems like a little hidden gem since you can't really see it from the road and once you are in there you have the most incredible view of the forest surroundings and to the Port Moody Inlet.

Tania and Derrick did a first look at Blue Mountain Park in the afternoon after getting ready at hotels in Coquitlam. The weather was a little iffy that day but thankfully it held off for the most part, and other than being cold, they were able to avoid the rain and get some great photos of themselves and their wedding party. Beautiful Life Studios did both photography and videography for the day and were so fun to work with and get to know!

The ceremony was set up downstairs at the Diamond Alumni Centre with an wooden arch that Tania's brother made from drift wood found near their family home. Her mom and aunts then decorated it with flowers and greenery. The wedding party all arrived and waited for the guests to be seated and then Lani from Young, Hip and Married began one of my favourite ceremonies of all that I have witnessed! Seriously, if you are looking for a heartwarming and funny personalized ceremony check out Young, Hip and Married and all the great officiants they have available. One of the most anticipated members of the wedding party was Duke, Tania and Derrick's rescue dog (as seen above) and he looked so adorable in his little tux... and was quite photogenic that day!

After the ceremony, guests made their way upstairs for cocktail hour while family photos happened downstairs. Table runners, chair covers, head table decor and ceiling swag were all provided and set up by Absolute Decor Rental and DJ services were by Absolute DJ's. Dinner was made onsite by the in house catering team and was so good. The amount of options were amazing so you know that any guest will be able to find something they like!

They had a great cake made and delivered by Le Gateau and decorated with some fresh flowers. After dinner, the cake was cut and then the party started! I loved that they rented some lounge furniture from Bespoke Decor Rentals and set it up in front of the great stone fireplace in the venue. It was on the opposite side from the dance floor which is great for those who want to sit and visit (or play some competitive rounds of Jenga!).

Wink Photography was brought in to set up their portrait station. It's basically an open air photobooth but the photos are taken by a photographer with an actual camera and it's lit and you get direction from the photographer. The photos are then available for download online afterwards but they are great photos and provide fantastic memories for your guests.

At the end of the night, City Limousine arrived with one of their buses and provided transportation for guests back down to the two hotels. They did a few runs which was great because they had quite a few guests from out of town and didn't have their own vehicles.

Overall, it was such a great day with these two and their friends and families. Tania's bridesmaids were so much fun and awesome to get to know and it was so obvious how they feel about her.

If you have any questions regarding this or any of the vendors please comment or send me an email!

Happy Planning,
Sara

Vendors:
Photography & Videography- Beautiful Life Studios
Venue- Diamond Alumni Centre
Officiant- Lani from Young, Hip and Married
Decor- Absolute Event Rentals
DJ- Absolute DJ's
Cake- Le Gateau Bake Shop
Limo- City Limousine
Portrait station- Wink Photograhy
Hair & Makeup-  East Vanity Parlour
Furniture Rentals- Bespoke Decor

6 Comments

Sara & Jason's Vancouver, BC wedding

2/16/2018

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Bride and groom sunset portrait at The View on Lonsdale

Photo by Paul Behm Photography

This wedding is definitely out of order from my previous blog posts and older than any I've posted about before... but it's MY wedding! When I wrote my 'About Me' post in early January I mentioned that I should write about mine because I had grand aspirations while planning my wedding in 2015 and 2016 to blog about it along the way. Well, that didn't happen as much as I had intended and there was no final post. 2017 ended up being the year that I finally started blogging on a regular basis so I've decided to go back and recap this one too.

I have been planning weddings since 2011, got engaged at the end of 2013 and then finally started planning my own wedding in 2015 and planned the date for 2016. From the beginning of my wedding planning career to when I finally started planning my own, my vision changed soooo much! The colors, the theme, the patterns... everything. This isn't super shocking of course and trends and tastes change but planning and coordinating weddings for five years before certainly gave me the best insight to what I didn't want.

One thing that was important to me was to make sure this wedding really felt like mine and not like one that I had planned before. Step one was choosing a venue that I hadn't worked in before. The other two stipulations we wanted were an awesome view and a place that we could bring in our own alcohol. We knew we wanted to offer a hosted bar for our guests but we also had a budget that we wanted to stick to. Honestly, I didn't have high hopes that we would go three for three on that checklist but then one day I was scrolling through Instagram and saw one of the accounts I follow post a photo and had the location tagged. I had never heard of the venue before so I started a search and wow.... it was like angels were singing! I was pretty sure it was perfect but I just needed to take Jason and go look. So what is this venue you ask? Well, it's The View On Lonsdale in North Vancouver. It's actually the top floor of the school board building and has AMAZING views of downtown Vancouver, the Lions Gate bridge and the ocean beyond. We also were able to bring in our own alcohol so check, check and check! Jason liked it as well and it was available in the time frame we were looking for.

I talked a bit about planning in previous posts (but if you want more information or have any questions about my wedding don't hesitate to leave a comment or send an email) so for this post I'm going to try and talk mainly about the actual day. The Saturday before our wedding POURED rain and the following few days weren't much better. We were hoping for an outdoor ceremony on the patio but could move it inside if necessary. The venue was available to us the afternoon before and our decorator, Valley Weddings, came in and did their set up and we brought the personal decor we had as well like the place cards, favors, and cake as well as the alcohol and mix. I also did "goody bags" to give to all my guests as they left so my bridesmaids, mom and I put those together. There were quite a few guests who I knew were staying in hotels in the area or driving an hour or so home so I wanted to provide them all with some snacks for the late night. Each bag had some bottled water (or juice boxes for the guests with kids) some cookies, a bag of chips and some candy. I anticipated most people taking full advantage of the open bar and figured some food and water would come in handy! But back to my decorators... Shyla and her mom Eunice, run Valley Weddings in Abbotsford and I have worked with them multiple times with other clients. I can be slightly picky and they listened to everything I wanted and boy did they deliver. One thing I always knew is that I didn't want white table linens. My colors for the wedding were navy, gold and blush pink with a bit of cream. We went with navy table linens, gold chargers and cream napkins and because we chose to do long family style tables they provided cylinder vases for all of the pillar candles I had purchased and ran them down the middle of the tables. The next day, our florist, Budget Blooms, filled in spots with peonies in bud vases. Jane also provided our gorgeous bouquets and two stunning arrangements that we used for our ceremony and then moved inside.

The day of the wedding, the sun was shining and it was gorgeous outside. Myst Makeup came to the location where we were getting ready and did makeup for myself and the bridesmaids and my cousin did our hair. Paul Behm, our photographer, arrived and started with the detail shots of the dress and rings and of me getting ready. I also made sure to have one of our invitations, done by Cornwall Stationery, so that we could include those in the detail photos as well. I loved what Hesha created so much so I definitely wanted them to be a part of our professional photos. On top of our invitations, she also made our seating chart, place cards, table numbers and other signage.

Meanwhile, at the venue, my day of coordinator, Alicia McDonald, was taking care of the final details there. BU Letters delivered and set up the marquee letters and Vancouver Chiavari Chairs brought the chairs which we used for the ceremony and then moved inside to the dinner tables. We had picked up the cake from Hello, Sunshine Cake Studio the day before so it was put out and the bar set up.

The bridesmaids and I arrived at the venue followed by Jason and the groomsmen to start our first look and wedding party photos. Our ceremony was at 4:00 and I wanted to go directly into cocktail hour and then dinner without a long gap so we did the majority of our photos before guests arrived. We also had hired Capture Productions to do videography so they were there as well. We finished with plenty of time so I got to go upstairs and check everything out in advance. It was so great to see the finished set up before anything was out of place and it gave Paul and Capture Productions the ability to get photos and video. I spent a lot of time planning and I wanted evidence of all of it!

The ceremony started right on time (I wouldn't have it any other way!) and once it was finished we took a few minutes to ourselves and then came back into the cocktail hour and took family photos. It was also important to me that I get at least one photo together with each guest or family group and we used this time to get a lot of that completed.

Johnny, from Man About Town Entertainment, was our DJ for the night and he played for the ceremony, cocktail hour, dinner and reception. We were introduced into the reception to the Michael Buble version of 'Me and Mrs. Jones'... a nod to our last name... but we just played a portion of it since the song itself is about an affair! For first dances, etc. make sure you pay attention to the lyrics! Some songs sound romantic or about true love because of the name but that's not always so.

Dinner began and it was catered by Forage, who are the exclusive caterer to the venue. I did write a post about our menu tasting experience and now I can confirm that the product the night of the wedding was just as amazing. I only heard good things and I loved that they use fresh and local products whenever possible.

Overall, the wedding day was everything I could have hoped for and I send our most heartfelt thank you's to each vendor that helped us and our friends and family for being there to celebrate!

Make sure to check out Paul Behm Photography for more photos!

Again, if you have any questions about any of the planning or vendors please send me a message!

Happy planning,
Sara

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Christine and Alex's Vancouver wedding

1/15/2018

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Photo by Kaho Photography

Christine and Alex got married on a sunny, October day (those actually exist in Vancouver!). Their ceremony and reception were both held at Shaughnessy Restaurant at VanDusen Gardens. The ceremony space was covered so other than maybe being a bit cold, if it were to rain, everyone would still be dry. However, with access to the gardens we still had our fingers crossed for decent weather for outdoor photos. Christine had a really great outlook though and wasn't hoping for anything in particular. She knew that you can never count on the weather and was just a laid back bride in general... ready to go with the flow. Roy, from KAHO Photography, really took advantage of the sun though and got some stunning sunset shots as evidenced above.

The day arrived, and as I said, it was gorgeous. We had access to the restaurant after their brunch service and we began the setup. Flowers from Southland Farm Market were delivered and they were beautiful! The fall colours stood out against Christine's white dress and the white linens on the tables.

Alex, the groom, had one request when it came to decor. He wanted jelly beans as the table runners and boy were they a HIT! The guests loved them and the bonus was one less thing to clean up at the end of the night! Also, pretty cost efficient.

Christine is a pastry chef and made the cake (also decorated with flowers from Southland) and the guest favours. For these, she made chocolates and WOW!!!! They were amazing. There were two flavours... sour cherry with coconut and caramel with coffee ganache. If you know me, you know how much I love both caramel and coffee so this was a perfect combo for me... I could have eaten multiples!

I've worked in both other reception locations at Van Dusen (the Great Hall inside and the Floral Hall which is a separate building) but this was my first time at Shaughnessy Restaurant. Christine and I went for a site visit earlier on and both the service and food was great that day so I knew we were in good hands. Alex's side of the family is Russian so he and Christine chose a menu of Russian food options, including borscht and Beef Stroganoff. It was a plated menu and being that it was at a restaurant, the bonus was the guests didn't need to pre-order. Servers came around during cocktail hour and started taking orders then. Such an amazing stress reliever for the bride and groom when they don't have to be chasing guests for their food choices in the weeks before the wedding.

After dinner, guests were able to dance the night away with music by Mat the DJ. We have worked together multiple times over the past year and a half and always have a great time together. The weddings we have done have always had very diverse crowds and he never has a problem playing for everyone.

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions about any of the vendors or what was planned please feel free to contact me.

Happy planning!

Sara

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Traci and Andrew's Squamish wedding

12/15/2017

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After Kaitlin and Dane's wedding at Cheakamus Centre in June, I was really excited to go back and coordinate Traci and Andrew's wedding. In fact, Traci and Andrew contacted me through a referral from Kaitlin (thanks again for that!). I can't stress how important referrals are to me, not just for business reasons, but also because it means that the clients are really appreciating the job that I am doing for them.

Unlike the first time I was at Cheakamus Centre though, this wedding day ended up having some rain which unfortunately meant that we had to move the ceremony spot to the back up plan. It keeps everything and everyone covered and dry but at least it is outside to still get the west coast feel. I have to say that the sound of the rain on the trees was pretty amazing. Traci and Andrew did a first look earlier in the day and even though they needed to use umbrellas, they were troopers and the professional photos from Melissa Baker of Bake Photography are amazing. Thankfully, after the ceremony the rain stopped (in fact right about dinner time there was blue sky... of course!) and they could do their family photos outside to take advantage of the natural backdrop that the venue provides.

The couple, along with their family, took advantage of being able to rent out the venue on the Friday night and did all of the decor set up that night. On Saturday, the only thing that needed to be put out were the flowers from Billies Flower House and the cutting cake and cupcakes from Sweet Jeanie's Cake Co. As you can see from above, the flowers were gorgeous although that's not surprising from Alanna and her team at Billies. They completely transformed the ceremony arch with their arrangements (which we then used for the head table during the reception) and some blush pink fabric provided by Traci's mom. I was so in love with the look I didn't want to take it down!

The ceremony music was provided by a string quartet from V & G Entertainment and the ceremony was officiated by Michele Davidson from Modern Celebrant. If you are looking for a fun, meaningful ceremony that celebrates who you are as a couple and gets the guests involved please check out a celebrant. It means that you have some (or maybe quite a bit) of work to do beforehand in regards to providing the information the celebrant needs to write the ceremony but to me the end result is always worth it. It is so meaningful and I guarantee that your family and friends will most likely even learn something new about you both. And, isn't the entire wedding about celebrating your story anyway?

One very important thing to remember after choosing your wedding date is to check out if there are any major celebrations or events (other than your wedding :) of course) happening in the area that could affect traffic and your guests or vendors from arriving on time. In this case, the Gran Fondo, a bike race from downtown Vancouver to Whistler was happening on this date and it shuts down all lanes of the Sea to Sky Highway northbound for varying parts of the day. When your venue is along this route it can cause a few problems but Traci and Andrew made sure to inform all of their guests well in advance and the vendors took a lot of precautions as well. Whenever I'm doing a wedding in Squamish I'm lucky enough to get to stay with my parents so I left their house that day as soon as the highway had some partial openings. I knew I would arrive much earlier than needed but I'd much rather be safe than sorry... plus, I got the opportunity to do some Instagram stories and respond to emails. Neither of those things do I typically get to do on a wedding day!

The guests all made it in time for the ceremony and the weather even started cooperating for family photo time. The guests enjoyed cocktail hour with passed hors d'ouevres, more music from V & G and games rented from Bespoke Decor. Guests then moved into the main reception area where Man About Town played the night away.

If you have any questions about the vendors involved or want some more information feel free to contact me!

Happy planning,
Sara

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Linda and Alex's Vancouver wedding

12/1/2017

6 Comments

I met Linda and Alex in January 2016 after they found me through one of the local wedding Facebook pages. They were looking to get married in the summer of 2017 and we we were going to plan it all together.

The first order of business was finding a venue that fit the guest count and of course the budget. I'll have an upcoming blog post on the importance of this so watch for it! We went for a few site visits and they ended up deciding upon Marine Drive Golf Club. Alex's uncle is a member there so they were able to get a member discount (this is not something available at all venues but it's a great perk... doesn't hurt to ask if any of your friends and family are members anywhere!). This venue also had the option to have the ceremony and reception in one place and an indoor option for the ceremony in case of bad weather. The date was in late July so rain isn't something you want to think about and we ended up having such a beautiful summer in Vancouver.. until we got to July 22nd! After weeks of sunshine, I arrived at the venue at noon and it was raining. The staff quickly pulled the chairs undercover so we could keep things dry and see what happened over the next few hours until we had to make the ultimate decision. Thankfully, the rain went away, the patio quickly dried and the decorator was able to set up.

The first look was a bit of a different story. It was happening at VanDusen Gardens during the time that it was raining. Holy smokes though... make sure to check out Joanna Moss Photography to see the amazing photos they were able to get. It included ducking in and out of cover but the way Linda and Alex were looking at each other you would have no clue that the weather was slightly less than ideal. Rather than the rain, all I heard about when they were back was how much fun they had with Joanna as well as their videographers from Capture Productions.

The decorator, Wanda, is a friend of Linda's and owns Decor Haus Events and provided both decor and flowers. She also arranged for the personalized dance floor vinyl wrap which really finished the room off.

BU Letters provided the five foot LOVE marquee letters which were such a hit throughout the night. They were great ceremony decor but then as it started to get darker they were the perfect backdrop for photos. Inside, Dang Good Booths provided another great backdrop and fun props with their photobooth and prints for guests to take home.

This was such a fun wedding to plan. In the middle of it, Linda and Alex added a new baby girl to their family to go along with her older sister. Who can say no to a meeting with an adorable baby involved?! The day of the wedding was just as great as we imagined (we didn't let that rain get us down... plus check out the clouds in the photo above... they were so cool!) and I got to hang with some really great vendors. We had so much fun during the day and at dinner and I can't tell you how awesome it is to have a job where you get to spend your time laughing and smiling the whole time.

If you have any questions about any of the vendors or want some more information please feel free to contact me.

Happy planning,
Sara

6 Comments

Jo and Kirsty's Sea to Sky Gondola wedding

11/15/2017

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Jo and Kirsty are actually from England and planned their Sea to Sky Gondola wedding completely online and through email. They arrived a few days before their Wednesday wedding with 28 guests in tow, most from England. I finally got a chance to meet them the day before the wedding when we went up to check out the ceremony and reception areas. We went over the plans for their brunch, ceremony and lunch and how to set up the reception area. With the natural view and coming from England, they didn't have a lot of personal decor but they did make sure that the guest favors were all Canadian. Purdy's chocolates and Canadian tins of mints for everyone. I'm sure Purdy's has some new overseas fans.

The next day was just as beautiful and I headed up the gondola to meet up with their other vendors and get the reception area set up. Reuben from The Phonix came up to coordinate the music for the day and Sweet Jeanie's Cake Co. provided a lovely little cake for them.

The brides arrived via gondola and then it was time to for the ceremony. The suspension bridge offers a pretty original aisle to walk down and Will Pursell Photography and The Parks (videography) were able to get some stunning photos and footage.

After the ceremony, a caricature artist, Sarah Draws a Crowd, came to provide the guests with some entertainment and then they had an axe throwing contest which they had a trophy to give to the winner.

This is such a gorgeous venue and I was so pleased to be part of this wedding. I love seeing these come together when the couples have to plan from far away.

If you have any questions or want to know more please send me an email.

Happy planning!
Sara

2 Comments

Kaitlin and Dane's Cheakamus Centre wedding

11/1/2017

9 Comments

Kaitlin and Dane hired me for take down services of their wedding decor at the end of the night and then added on day of coordination services after some more thought. Obviously, I'm a little biased but I think that at least having a coordinator for your wedding day can really put your mind at ease (and not just a venue coordinator... but I'll get into that in another post one day! I've worked both positions so I really see the difference now).

This wedding was up in Squamish at the Cheakamus Centre. I've spent a lot of time in Squamish but this was my first time at this venue. It's so gorgeous. It feels like you are in the middle of nowhere (but with all of the amenities!) but you are only about ten minutes from Squamish. Guests can spend the night in Squamish or they can drive back to the city if they would like so the Sea to Sky is a fantastic option to look for a wedding venue. Anyway, back to this one... this is another venue that has multiple options for the ceremony that once again is such a relief when you don't have to worry about weather and whether you should or shouldn't rent a tent. In this case, a tent was not needed and the ceremony was in the Plan A location. It was a hot, sunny day in the end and the cooler of water bottles I hid in among the trees came in handy once the wedding party went for photos. The surrounding area provides an unreal backdrop for pictures.

The reception was inside the Centre which is built up and seems like a tree house. Kaitlin and Dane provided all of their decor, including the centerpieces, which Kaitlin's dad made. This is a couple who love the outdoors and going on hikes and their decor really brought the outside in. Lots of greenery, moss and ivy. The place cards were rocks that they had handwritten all the guests names on and the seating chart was painted by the bride to indicate all of their favorite hiking routes.

Billies Flower House provided the bouquets, arrangements and other flowers. Their work is always fantastic but they really knocked it out of the park with Kaitlin's bouquet. Dane's family is from South Africa so Kaitlin asked to have a protea (the national flower of South Africa) in her bouquet. It was so stunning and thumbs up to Billies for being able to get it.

The Flour Pot from Pemberton provided the cake. It was so good and devoured by the guests... good thing too because I was the one to cut and plate the entire thing (I'm very all-purpose!). DJ Aimee Hawker kept this crowd dancing all night and boy did they dance. One of my favorite group of guests... they went all in!

John Yoo did the professional photography and I've since seen the final result... wow! I had seen a few from their engagement session so I knew what the result would probably be but he really took some incredible shots. I highly recommend checking them out.

If you have any questions or want some more information please send me an email.

Happy planning,
Sara

9 Comments

Danica and Duane's Vancouver wedding

10/18/2017

6 Comments

Danica & Duane hired me for full wedding planning in November as they were looking to get married in the spring of the following year. That can seem like a daunting task but I was up to it and so were they!

In a case like this, the biggest challenge is finding a venue in a short amount of time. The venue itself can obviously be one of the biggest expenses in your wedding budget depending on what it includes. It also can set the tone for the feeling of the wedding. When looking for a venue, keep your decor and/or theme in mind so that you aren't fighting what's already there. If you want light and airy feeling, it might not be best to choose a dark ballroom with no windows (unless you want to drape the entire room in white).

We looked at a few venues that had availability and they ended up booking at Diamond Ballroom in Vancouver. It has an amazing view and includes catering and some very budget friendly amenities packages to allow for an open bar and linens and chair covers that you can choose from Chair Decor. Now, full disclosure, I was working at Diamond Ballroom as well at the time but at our first meeting as Danica and Duane described what they were looking for in a venue, I knew I had to include it on my list of places to check out. It also just happened that we had one Saturday night available in the time frame they were looking at.

They had their ceremony at St. Augustine's, a beautiful Catholic church that is over 100 years old. Another bonus is that it was only a few minutes away from the reception location.

They chose gold, blush and ivory as their colors and were able to get beautiful linen options from Chair Decor. Jane, from Budget Blooms designed their centerpieces, bouquets and other floral arrangements for the church which we were then able to re-purpose at the reception (this is one of my favorite budget hacks... reuse, reuse, reuse!).

Joconde Patisserie made a gorgeous cake which went so well with the other decor. The lace detailing and sugar flowers were just what Danica and Duane were looking for.

Danica's mom was born and raised in Colombia and family, including Danica's aunts and grandmother, were able to make it for the wedding. To celebrate this side of her family, they hired a mariachi band to perform after dinner once dancing started. Los Dorodos were an absolute hit and it was not just the Colombians dancing the night away! After the mariachi band left, Mat the DJ took over and kept everyone going the rest of the night.

Check out Glitter Films who did the official photography and videography.

If you have any questions about any of these vendors or want some more information please feel free to contact me.

Happy planning!

Sara

6 Comments

Natasha and Joey's Riverway Clubhouse wedding

6/26/2017

1 Comment

Natasha and Joey got married at Riverway Clubhouse in Burnaby at the end of this past April. It was my first time at this venue but I had heard good things and it didn't disappoint. One of my favourite things about it were the number of options for the ceremony locations. We had Plan A, Plan B and Plan C and anyone that is familiar with Vancouver weather knows how important this is! While the week leading up to the wedding, including the Thursday night rehearsal, had us excited for Plan A, the day of the wedding didn't cooperate as hoped and we had to move to Plan B. The bonus was that the ceremony still got to be outside and everyone was covered from the rain without the added cost of having to rent a tent but thankfully Natasha did pick up some fleece blankets last minute which were all used by the guests for some extra warmth.

One of the best parts about the reception area is that you basically get the entire building to yourselves and there is a lot of room for guests to move around. There are high ceilings with wooden beams and a ton of windows and natural light. A very west coast feel. And, a HUGE bonus... the chairs are actually nice so no need for chair covers (money saving alert!). They even had comfy leather chairs to use at the head table for some added elegance.

I've said it before, and I'll say it many more times... I'm a sucker for the details and Natasha and Joey did NOT disappoint! One of the easiest ways to do this, in my opinion, is to have elements from your invitations incorporated into the stationery at the wedding such as place cards and menus. Not only did they do this with their custom designed stationery from Stationery Bike Designs but they went one step further when they had Dalana from The Cake and the Giraffe include the same monogram on their four tier cake. The gorgeousness was mind blowing not to mention the sugar flowers that were on it as well. It was an absolute piece of art.

Niche Event Stylists did a gorgeous job of both decor and flowers that paired so well with the decor that Natasha and Joey provided themselves, including some homemade table numbers and an amazing distressed wooden door used as a seating chart.

Please check out Hayley Rae Photography for all the professional shots. She was a pleasure to work with, her work is beautiful and she was able to take a less than perfect weather day and make it work.

If you have any questions about these vendors or want some more information on them please let me know!

Happy planning,
Sara

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