Wishahmon + Forbidden City Restaurant Combine Forces!

Last year I was contacted by Forbidden City Restaurant to help them design a wedding theme to offer to their newly engaged customers. I was so excited after speaking to them because I feel they are one of the most forward thinking Chinese restuarants in Calgary. Not only do they create new dishes constantly but they are always thinking about how to provide more services to their customers.

 

The current promotion is: Clients that book ten tables at Forbidden City can contact Wishahmon - Wedding Creations for a custom decorating package at 20% off. If you are having your wedding at Forbidden City and you would like to set up a consultation meeting, please email us at: weddings@wishahmon.com to discuss. We can't wait to hear from you!

 

~Monica

Owner and lead designer @ Wishahmon

 

 

Here is the wedding package we created exclusively for Forbidden City Restaurant!  

 

 

 



Just Married Banners and Signs

In movies, you always see a "Just Married" sign at the back of the couple's car as they drive away at the end of their wedding reception. I don't think a lot of attention is paid to decorating the bridal car anymore. Maybe it is because the bride and groom are no longer the first ones to leave their wedding?

If you would like to bring back the Just Married sign, you can consider having it at your wedding reception. If you think about it, after your wedding ceremony, you are already married! Yea and Congrats!!

~Monica
Owner and Lead Designer @Wishahmon













Photo Credits: 1) Colin Cowie 2) Etsy – Victorian Station  3) Jodi Miller Photography 4) Martha Stewart Weddings & Swoon Events 5) Wedding Chicks 6) Green Wedding Shoes

Wedding Reception Place Settings

If you think about it, your guests will be spending a lot of time at their table during your wedding reception. Sure, the focus will be on you and the groom, but they will also be looking at their table quite a bit. (Especially, when they have their heads down and eating a great meal.)

Having great table decor really transforms the reception venue. It is the element of the room that gets multipled. Imagine one great table design times 20. It makes for a stunning reception room. I often hear from guests that they didn't even notice the chairs they were sitting on or the color of the table cloth. I always answer that it was probably nothing exciting. If it was, you would remember.

Table decor consists of many elements: table linen, napkins, centerpieces, candles, glassware, tableware, cutlery, table numbers, place cards, and menu cards. You ask where can you possibly start when decorating your guest tables, I just did. Just follow the elements in the order that I had outlined. Start building your table decor and just have fun with it. It will look great! Don't be afraid to mix colors and textures too! (Oh! maybe that can be my next blog post!)

~Monica
Owner and Lead Designer @Wishahmon
















Photo Credits: 1) Colin Cowie Weddings 2) The Caketress 3) The Bridal Detective 4) Stellarsky 5) Karen Tran Florals 6) , 7) Style Me Pretty 8) Preston Bailey

Celebrity Wedding: Guo Jingjing and Kenneth Fok

As stated earlier, I "pretend" to read Chinese gossip websites to practice my Chinese. In reality, I am seeing who got married over the weekend, what they wore, and what their wedding looked like. After going through a couple of websites, I learned that China’s Olympic “Diving Queen” Guo Jingjing and Kenneth Fok , grandson of the late Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok, tied the knot in a lavish ceremony at the Fok’s residence in Hong Kong last week, after eight years of dating.

This was a multi-day, multi-city wedding celebration that is rumored to cost upwards of $300 million Hong Kong dollars. About 100 guests were in attendance, the ceremony began with the flower girls walking down the aisle followed by the 4 bridesmaids. Jingjing, wore a strapless, trump style , low back wedding gown with lots of vertical beading. Her veil was unique as it looked like small flower petals framing her face. Stunning! I also love the wedding decor that they had, full floral arrangements with some vertical hanging flowers. It looks like they used all the flowers available to them in Hong Kong! Totally worth it and totally jealous!

~Monica
Owner and Lead Designer @Wishahmon

Photo Credits: China Daily USA

Riverbend Community Hall Wedding

Kayla and Stephen contacted me after receiving a Wishahmon gift basket which included a consultation meeting and wedding emergency kit. This gift basket was donated into the silent auction at the Rays of Hope fundraiser concert for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. 

One of the first things that Kayla asked me was: "Have you heard of Etsy?" I said yes. I also told her that I try not to go on Etsy very often because after a while I realize that I just lost chunks of my time going through all the cool handmade items. Kayla said she had to agree! She also loved Etsy and had hoped her wedding had a lot of handmade elements. I told her that I would love to help her with that. Kayla also wanted a romantic and vintage look to the wedding. She decided the wedding colors was going to be white, black, and pink.

Based on the information she provided (and agreement from Stephen), we had black pin tuck linens on all the tables, white chair covers and pink sashes. Behind the head table was a white lace backdrop, the words "Happily Ever After", and different colors of bunting/flags. The bunting/flags was carried over to the front of the head table and cake table.

I had a great time working with Kayla and Stephen. I wish them both a lifetime of happiness together!
~Monica
Owner and Lead Designer @Wishahmon

DIY Wedding Ideas with Wallpaper!!

Wallpaper is not what it was before. I remember ripping off the horrible stuff when I got the ok to decorate my own room. It was a lot of work. For about 15 years I didn't think twice about wallpaper again. Then, all of a sudden, wallpaper was IN. It was featured in all of my home decor magazines, usually as an accent wall. Loving this look, I planned my new home with wallpaper in mind. I was determined to create an accent wall in my living room. And then, I realized the price of wallpaper had gone up and it was no longer the 1980's (or the prices in the 80's to be more accurate.) Totally bummed, I put this decor idea out of my mind.

Then suddenly one day, I learned from Martha (Stewart) that you can decorate your wedding with wallpaper. In a value sense - the price of wallpaper is now a great deal considering how much you get and how expensive wedding "stuff" is. In a creative sense - wait, what? wallpaper? genius idea!!

Here are some ideas that Martha had on DIY wedding projects using wallpaper! I am totally stoked and can't wait to find a gorgeous roll of wallpaper to decorate a wedding. Any takers? Email me!

~Monica

Vow Decor

Wedding Stationary

Reception Wraps

Picture Areas

Photo Credits: Martha Stewart Weddings

Long Rectangular Reception Tables

I was totally flattered when I met a bride that pulled inspiration from my blog  to design her wedding. (Honestly still very surprised that people other than my family read my blog!) I thought everything she said was familiar but I didn't really realize it until she said: "I got these ideas from your blog!"

She had pulled together a lot of the decor elements beautifully and had a nack for DIY. (I totally want her on my team after her wedding!) The only thing she struggled with was how to put her guest tables together. All the weddings she attended had round tables of eight guests. Her venue has long rectangular tables and she was at a lost as to how she can fill the tables with centerpieces. She couldn't quite figure it out but felt one centerpiece per 12 foot table is a little odd.

I gave her some ideas including using several smaller centerpieces at different heights and a long table runner to pull all the centerpieces together for a cohesive look. Knowing that she is very visual and now knowing she reads my blog, I dedicate the inspirations in this blog post to her. Good luck K!

~Monica















Photo Credits: 1), 6) Style Me Pretty 2), 7) Wed Lux 3), 5) Karen Tran 4)  Destination I Do

Coast Plaza Hotel - Jayne and Darren



Jayne and Darren saw my event design work first hand when they attended Darren's brother, Steve and Huong's wedding in 2010. One year later, they too got engaged and Jayne contacted me. Jayne knew what she wanted: Purple, pretty, unique, and amazing. The first two wants were easier to accomplish. The last two took at little bit more probing. I had to understand what Jayne felt was unique and amazing. As it turns out, Jayne and I are quite alike in our thought processes. Darren would often have to pull us both back into reality. (Call me Jayne whenever you want to go to lala land with me.)

The planning process was a little bumpy but these two were amazing to work with! (Years from now, we will all be able to laugh about what happened. We stuck together and made everything work out!) I absolutely adore Jayne and Darren! I wish them both all the best in their future as husband and wife. They make a wonderful team! Hugs!

~Monica

I also have to do a shout out to my team members. Thank you Donna, Jessie, Yan, Lisa, Jenny, and Rita! They had a huge role in the set up of this wedding because I had broken my foot and was in a cast. I wasn't able to get up on a ladder to decorate or really put any weight on my foot. I was also really frazzled when I dropped my Iphone in water! I couldn't have pulled this off in record time without all of  your help! Thank you!

Of course a blog post always needs lots of pretty pictures. Here they are!

This was the photo backdrop set up near the entrance. I love this custom backdrop we designed. It is so cute!

Canyon Meadows Community Hall Wedding

 I met Cikiena through one of my former brides and current friend. Cikiena called me one night and said: "Monica! I am getting married! I need your help!" I was so excited for her and Iain. They are absolutely the cutest computer geek couple I know! Cikiena then told me that her wedding is in three months at the Canyon Meadows Community Hall. I think I did a pretty good job of hiding the panic in my voice!

With an arts and graphic design background, Cikiena already had her color scheme picked out. She wanted white, turquoise, silver, and red accents. She also loved one of my previous centerpieces decorated with keyboard keys and wanted to incorporate that centerpiece design into her own. Seven centerpieces were made in total and all of them were different heights and slightly different! Each centerpiece had a different message, such as "5201314." When these numbers are said in Mandarin, it means "I love you for a lifetime."

I truly had a blast designing this wedding for Cikiena and Iain. I wish them both all the best in the future as Mr. and Mrs.

~Monica

We had two different centerpieces to add a little bit of whimsy to the wedding. The succulent plants were very important to Cikiena because it reminded her of wonderful memories she had with her grandma. So sweet!

This was the head table centerpiece.  I hope "Iain Luvz Her" forever  and "Cikiena Luvz Him" forever!

Photo backdrop perfect for two computer geeks! Towards the end of the night, guests got pretty creative and took pictures with the "c" covered. Yup, you guessed it, there were plenty of pictures where the signed turned into "we licked."

This cute 8 bit flower vase was the inspiration of this wedding! So cute that I gave it to the bride and groom as a keepsake!

Here is the overall look of the venue! I think we transformed it perfectly!