Calgary Chamber of Commerce Wedding

Melissa and David was another out of province couple that I had the opportunity to work with. During our consultation meeting, Melissa and David made numerous references to weddings that they been to. Not wanting to design a "copy cat" wedding, I had to dig deeper and ask them both what they envision their wedding to be. They both said they wanted a wedding that is clean, elegant, and not "too wedding like." The only color they wanted was in their red centerpieces. Fresh green ivy was also used throughout the decor to give the wedding some life and to coordinate the green drapes in the reception room. A personal touch that we did for Melissa and David's wedding were handwritten placecards on river rocks.

This wedding was fairly stressful for me because of two incidents. Prior to the wedding, Melissa had provided me the centerpiece vases in boxes. As I was moving the boxes the day before the wedding, I dropped one of the boxes....down a flight of stairs. Lucky for me, these vases did not break. At that moment, I felt like I had lost a couple of months of my life. On the day of the wedding, we had a beautiful 6x6x6ft chuppah decorated with chiffon, flowers, and ivy. As I was ready to pack up and leave, David came up to me to ask if the chuppah was off centered from the aisle. I ran into the ceremony room and gasped! The chuppah was off centered! After my mini heart attack, I smiled at David and said I will take care of it. I quickly gathered some strong (looking) guests to help me move the chuppah. This was a definite group effort as we moved the chuppah with no problems.

I don't think Melissa and David knew about my stress. I feel it is my job never to show stress on my face. Although, I may not be able to get back the months of my life I may have lost (from the box and stair incident), it was well worth it seeing how happy Melissa and David was at the end of the night.

Noteworthy Designs

Often when I get invited to a wedding, I only know either the bride or groom very well. Sometimes I haven't even met their significant other yet. So, when I get an invitation I have a ton of questions running through my mind. Questions such as: I wonder what her future husband looks like? How did they met? What does she like most about him? Why haven't I met him yet? Sometimes the invitation includes the couple's picture, but this only answers one of my questions. (After receiving an invitation, I usually call up my friend right away to congratulate her and to set up a coffee date to meet her significant other. I can't wait till the wedding day!)

Laura Hit of Noteworthy Designs made these wonderful custom wedding invitation that are similar to mini scrapbooks. These invitations/books included pages and photos about the couple, how they met, the wedding, and important people in their life. I would love to receive one of these invitations, they are so personalized and allows me to learn about the couple right away. (I would still call up my friend afterwards though.) Laura is a fellow Certified Wedding Planner with the Wedding Planners Institute of Canada. Check out these "mini scrapbook of memories" on Laura's blog.

Floral Bouquet Challenge

Maggie, the bride from the last blog post presented me with a challenge before her wedding. She asked me if I could make her wedding bouquet, bridesmaid's bouquet, and corsages for the moms and grandmas. I was hesitant to take on this challenge because it would be my first floral "work order" after receiving my Certificate in Floral Design. Initially, I declined Maggie's request because I was so nervous! As laid back as Maggie is, she responded to my email saying "No worries! I was going to do it myself but thought I'd ask you first." I responded to Maggie's email within three seconds saying that I will do it and thanking her for the opportunity.

When I was finally able to track Maggie and Aaron down for a meeting, Maggie and I also talked about what she would like her wedding bouquet to look like. She said she wanted a yellow bouquet in a semi circle; brown ribbon around the stems; no greenery; and two inches of the stems exposed. She said she hated yellow roses and chrysanthemums.

Based on what Maggie told me, I suggested yellow calla lilies as the main flower, white roses as the secondary flower, and yellow fressias as an accent flower. The bridesmaid's bouquets had white roses as the primary flower and yellow calla lilies as the secondary flower. The day before Maggie's wedding, I picked up 50 stems of white roses, 25 stems of yellow calla lilies, and 20 stems of yellow fressias. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of making the bouquets because my office smelled like wonderful from all the flowers.

I forgot to take pictures of my bouquets but was able to get pictures from a friend that attended Maggie's wedding. Lucky me! Now I have pictures for my "Wishahmon - Florals" portfolio!