Radiant Bride at radius restaurant

Terri and Matt are an adorable couple who like unique and casual things and doing things "out of the box". And that even included their choice of wedding venue! With their theme of rustic Trees... bringing the outdoors in... they found the decor of radius quite suitable for their wedding.

Matt installed strings of lights on the restaurant's rooftop patio, adding unique ambiance for their early evening wedding ceremony. The patio was set up with white folding chairs and the "altar" backdrop was antique doors hinged together. The aisle was lined with tree stumps as bases for assorted candle lanterns.

After the ceremony, guests enjoyed cocktails in the dining room while the couple had some great photos done outside and on the city street.

Matt, being a talented woodworker, made a beautiful wooden bench that was on display as the "guest book" for their guests to sign. Guests were given small tree saplings as take-away gifts.

Instead of a wedding cake, a table made of an old door on top of two large wine barrels held assorted pastries and sweets. To display these desserts, assorted tree stumps in various sizes and heights were set on the table and then the desserts set on top of each stump.

This was a very creative display and kept perfectly within their theme.

This couple was all about close family and friends - and this was a wonderful wedding to celebrate the things that meant the most to them.

Congratulations Matt & Terri!



VENDORS:
Venue: radius restaurant www.radius.ca
Pastries: Cake & Loaf Bakery www.cakeandloaf.ca
Flowers: Edna Millar Flowers www.ednamillerflowers.com

Photographer: Stad Creative www.stadcreative.com
Rentals: My Key Event Rentals www.mykeyevent.com
DJ: Precious jp1987@hotmail.com
Favours: H Richardson Farms www.Johnhrichardsonfarms.com

Winter Wonderland 25th Wedding Anniversary

Cindy & Ken celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary last evening surrounded by about 80 friends & family. According to family members, this couple has weathered storms and difficulties and stayed true and committed to their marriage despite the challenges lift has thrown at them.

The party was the wedding reception they never had 25 years ago. With a "winter wonderland" theme, the room sparkled with snowflakes and stars hung from the ceiling and along the head table backdrop.

White, Silver and turquoise blue were the cool colours with lots of sparkling accents, mini lights, led lighting and candles.

Cindy wore a beautiful burgundy gown with a silver shawl... and she and Ken shared their "first look" moment, captured on camera by their photographer, followed by lots of family photos. Once the reception began, the couple shared a first dance... and later a second dance... with Cindy's neice singing two of their favourite songs for them. The head table was a celebration of their immediate family as they were surrounded by their 3 adult children and their partners/friends.

Guests enjoyed a delicious buffet with a wide assortment of cold and hot selections, served by the wonderful staff at the Holiday Inn. After dinner, a slide show highlighted the past 25 years of their life, a couple of family speeches paid tribute to them and then they enjoyed the rest of the night dancing and socializing with family who don't have the opportunity to get together too often.

It was truly a celebration of their marriage... and here's wishing Cindy & Ken another 25 years together!

VENDORS:
Cake - Cakes for All Occasions http://www.cakesforalloccasions.ca/
Venue - Holiday Inn, Cambridge http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/cambridge/ycmca/hoteldetail
DJ, MC, Photographer, Musician - all friends or family members

Weddingstar Warehouse - WOW!

During the first week of January, I was out in Medicine Hat, Alberta visiting family - and I found out that Medicine Hat is the headquarters for one of my favourite wedding catalogues - Weddingstar.   And - my brother in law knows the owner/president!   Before I realized it - I found myself meeting the President, Mr. Rick Brink and enjoying a fantastic tour of their 90,000 sq foot warehouse! 

I knew that Weddingstar provided thousands of great wedding products - but I had no idea they distribute over 3000 products and that they ship to brides in 70 countries around the world!  This company is truly committed to making every bride's dream of a unique, personal and special wedding a reality.    Quality control is very important to this company and they have excellent processes in place to ensure that every order they receive is filled exactly as expected.

Weddingstar is one of the world’s leading designers, manufactures and retailers of wedding accessories and they are celebrating 30 years in business this year.  They specialize in personalized accessories... everything from candles to stationary, glassware to favours, stickers to ribbons, napkins to cake toppers (and more!) can be personalized.

Recently, Weddingstar has formed a fantastic partnership with prestigeous wedding and event planner, Preston Bailey.  Preston has planned weddings for celebrities, dignitaries, CEO's, sports stars and royalty.  He will be launching his "Preston Bailey Tabletop Collection" with Weddingstar early in 2013, offering brides unique tabletop accessories for their weddings. 

It was an eye-opening experience to tour the Weddingstar facility and to learn all about the great services that they provide to their customers. 
It was truly a highlight of my visit to Medicine Hat.

For amazing ideas, great tips and excellent products, be sure to check out their website - or pick up their catalogue at your local bookstore (magazine section).
www.weddingstar.com

And of course, for more information about the creative Mr Bailey - check out his site as well....
www.prestonbailey.com.

Community Christmas Dinner

On Sunday, December 16th, the real meaning of "community" was experienced and demonstrated at Forest View Church in Oakville, as a traditional Christmas dinner was served to almost 400 guests - serving people who were from lower-income, new-to-Canada and marginalized sectors of the Halton region.  

The church sanctuary was transformed into an elegant banquet dining room - with 22 tables set up, all decorated with fine linens and china and silverware, centerpieces and candles.  Christmas trees decorated with mini lights and silver and purple ornaments graced the foyer space.  Gifts for the children of the families who attended the meal were provided. 

The whole event was run by various teams of volunteers.   One team stayed after church services in order to rearrange the sanctuary and set it up the dining room and do all the decorating.  At 4:00, for the first sitting - several people volunteered to drive guests who neeed rides.  A couple dozen volunteers arrived - some bringing hot cooked food and others who came to serve the food and wait on and clear tables.  One team of people worked the toy room, wrapping the gifts that guests selected for their children.  Other volunteers were table hosts, there to make guests feel welcome.  Then, after the first sitting, all new teams of volunteers arrived to do the whole thing over again at 6:30... and after that, a whole clean up crews came to tidy up and re-set the sanctuary back to a church setting.  All told probably close to 100 volunteers were involved to provide a delicious meal and great experience for over 400 guests.

It was a wonderful event to be a part of... to see the joy on the faces of people as they walked into a candle lit room.  To see them enjoy the children of the church who performed some Christmas songs during the first sitting... and to hear the musical treat of a jazz trio during the second sitting.   To meet families who were new to Canada and eating their first ever turkey dinner.   To hear the laugher and the chatter of people from various cultures, sitting together, interacting, and sharing in the joy of the meal and evening.   To hear guests express their gratitude for the gift of a nice evening out with a delicious meal as well.   To watch the volunteers scurrying around the dining room... taking care of needs and requests, serving guests with humility and graciousness.  To see the excited faces of children carrying their wrapped presents home with them at the end of the night.  It was truly an event that warmed my heart and brought joy to my soul... and one I look forward to helping with again next year!

Merry Christmas!


THANKS TO:
Paul Millar - Event Coordinator
Special Events Rentals
All the Volunteers from Forest View Church
and of course... the guests!!