Avenue Magazine - Party Crashers

Last year, I volunteered at the Hope Gala for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. At the event, I noticed two individuals taking pictures of people. As a committee member of the gala, I went up to them to see if they were party crashers. The two gentlemen introduced themselves as the writer and photographer for Avenue Magazine's Party Crasher section. My jaw dropped and I felt my face turn beet red from embarrassment. (Honestly, it wasn't the wine.)

They were so nice. Not only did they not get annoyed with me, but they also took a picture of me and said it will be published in the magazine. I didn't think much of it until I saw my picture in the February edition of the magazine. WHAT?! Yes, it happened. I made it to the pages of Avenue Magazine, in the party crashers' section. (Picture #9, I'm the one on the left. The one on the right is my rock: Ivy.) So crazy excited I had to share with you all!

~Monica
Owner and Lead Designer @ Wishahmon

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.