Purple Ribbon Gala

Doing a good deed always feels good.

The day before I was supposed to go decorate the Purple Ribbon Gala, my allergies were in high gear. My nose was runny, chapped and red. (Move over Rudolph, Santa has a new helper with a brighter nose.) My eyes were red and puffy. In summary, I felt like my face was going to fall off. Saturday morning, I woke up to find my nose looked perfect, my eyes looked clear, my skin looked flawless, and I even felt slimmer! I felt great and was ready to head off to the M Bar downtown to decorate for the event.

The Purple Ribbon Gala was organized by a six lady team named “Cougars in Training.” These ladies were: Angela Jackson, Judy Ng, Britt Gee, Britt Mahoney, Lindsay Harder, and Brianna Gee. All of the proceeds raised at this event benefited the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. When I got to the venue, I was so shocked by the amount of work that they put into the event. They had a silent auction room with over 50 items in there. (I am guessing, the room was packed, they probably had even more sponsored gifts in there.) They had purple balloons to celebrate the survivors and silver balloons in memory of those that lost their lives to Leukemia or Lymphoma. Pictures and inspirational stories of survivors were also placed throughout the venue. Of course, there were also lots of opportunities to make donations to the cause.

After the initial shock wore off, I started to think how my decorations and flowers can add to the already amazing space. When Britt Gee contacted me, she suggested decorating the front entrance table and possibly the auction table. Before decorating a venue, I usually get more information about the size of the tables and the type of décor that is desired. However, knowing that these girls were already really busy, I just packed up double the amount of décor that I thought I would need. In the end, I decorated the front entrance table, a special section of the auction room, two side tables, and the DJ table. I also put together nine simple floral arrangements for the event. For this event, I didn’t go over the top with the decorations because the fund raising aspect was the most important.

In addition to donating my services to this event, I also donated the rental of my cupcake stand, floral arrangements and a wedding planning gift basket for the silent auction. Here are some of my (absolutely) non-professional pictures. Despite breaking out some kung fu stances, I still struggled with the lighting at the venue.

Of note: Britt Gee called me after the event to let me know that they raised $7500. Congrats ladies!

Boxing Themed Wedding

My friends know how to get me excited when introducing a new store to me – they just have to put a wedding spin to it. The first time I was brought to Bass Pro Shops, I was told: “You can do research for when you do a hunting or fishing themed wedding.” Not one to argue right away, I did find a good range of fishing line to use for my wedding projects. When I was brought to Camper’s Village, I was told the same thing: “You can do research for when you do a camping themed wedding.” This time, feeling a little like I was being played, I spoke up “Are you kidding me?” My friend simply said: “Last year, you didn’t think you were going to do a boxing themed wedding either.” I really didn’t have anything to say to that cause I knew it was true. (By the way, Camper’s Village has an awesome area in the store with lots of stretchy fabric!)

The first time I met Rita and Steve at the Art Gallery of Calgary to design their wedding ceremony, the gallery had a different exhibition. Three months before their wedding, the gallery had changed their exhibition to “Mixed Signals: Artists Consider Masculinity in Sport.” In summary, the new exhibition was very masculine. As a result, I met up with Rita and Steve again to consider redesigning the wedding ceremony to inject some femininity in it.

For this wedding, I included a lovely purple aisle runner instead of a white one to add some color to the room. Because I absolutely adore the chairs at the Art Gallery of Calgary, I tied the chair sashes in a feminine way but didn’t cover too much of the chairs. I love figuring out new ways of tying chair sashes! This one came to me that day at the last hour. (Next time I need to think faster as the wedding party had started to arrive as I was finishing up.)

When designing a wedding for my clients, not only do I try to design a wedding that they want, I also consider the lasting impressions of my client’s wedding – which are their wedding pictures. For this particular wedding, I asked Rita and Steve if they wanted to create a backdrop at the front of the vow area to cover up a picture of a sweaty and half-naked boxer. I told them that if we didn’t, this boxer will be in all of their wedding vow pictures. Being the awesome clients that they were, they just laughed and said it will make the wedding that much more memorable.

Although Rita and Steve’s wedding was not really “boxing themed,” that is how I am going to remember their memorable wedding. I can’t wait to see their wedding pictures!

Humanity First Fundraiser

A couple of weeks ago, I got a Facebook invitation to attend a fundraiser to support the flood victims in Pakistan through the charity organization called Humanity First. My friend, Anila is one of the organizers of this fundraiser. Although I will not be able to attend the dinner, I have donated a wedding planning gift basket for the silent auction. I hope that my small contribution will add to the funds raised at this event.

The fundraiser will be held on September 19, 2010 (Sunday) from 6:30pm to 9:00pm at the Commonwealth Hall. The address is: 3961 – 52 Avenue NE. The program for the night includes: An Indian/Pakistani dinner, Humanity First awareness presentation, live and silent auction, and light entertainment. Tickets are $70/person or $490 for a table of eight.

If you too are interested in making a small (or large) contribution, purchasing tickets for the dinner, or donating a silent auction item, please contact Anila at anila.umar@gmail.com.

Remember every small contribution adds up to something great!

New Decorating Services

In hopes of assisting more couples with their wedding decorations within their wedding budget, we have expanded our services again! This time we are offering custom backdrops for clients. There are currently three different backdrops available: A backdrop with the client's name; A Chinese double happiness sign incorporated into the backdrop; and a custom backdrop in the client's wedding theme.

Check out our "Shop" page on our website, www.wishahmon.com for additional information!

Baby's Breath

I firmly believe that “baby’s breath” is going to make a huge comeback soon. It has been the loyal sidekick to roses for too long. Baby’s breath gets such a bad reputation. It is also often labeled as cheap and tacky. However, this is so untrue. It is inexpensive and can be unique and whimsical. Baby’s breath has a very airy feel to it and it can be trimmed to a perfect (almost) anything shape. You can’t do that with too many flowers.

Now, you might say that this blog sounds a little bit like a rant. However, I am just hoping to help brides open up to the many possibilities of the baby’s breath. I was able to convince one of my brides to use the baby’s breath as one of three centerpieces. I don’t usually “convince” my clients of a specific flower but I truly felt that the baby’s breath would work well with her laid back and simple wedding décor. Below is a picture of my bride’s centerpieces.