Surprise! A 10th Wedding Anniversary Party

Peter & Wendy have been married for 10 years... and Peter wanted to surprise Wendy with a party to celebrate their anniversary ....

"Celli's Osteria", a fabulous Italian restaurant in downtown Burlington has a lower level restaurant called "Big Tomato", and we were able to rent out this space for this special private party.

The atmosphere is very "Italian"... with walls and tables and decor done in various autumnal shades ... industrial piping along the ceiling with hanging crystal chandeliers... bookcases along the walls displaying various vases and bottles and artifacts... the room is a pleasing eclectic mix of visuals and a great location for a private party!

Guests were invited to attend this great evening... and about 40 friends arrived between 7 & 7:30 pm, enjoying drinks and antipasto platters.

At 7:30, Wendy & Peter arrived - and it was very evident by Wendy's shocked expression that she truly had no clue about this being a party for her - for them! After mingling and greeting guests for a bit, the dinner began and guests enjoyed a leisurely and delicious dinner. A scrumptious carrot slab cake was presented for the "bride & groom" to cut together before it was served to guests.

A dear friend, and the minister who had performed their wedding 10 years ago gave a speech in their honour.. and then a touching video was shown - a special work that Peter had made to honour Wendy. Following the video, Peter & Wendy enjoyed a "first dance" together with a song that he had over-taped with a personal message to her part-way through. The rest of the evening was filled with guests visiting together as well as dancing, with great music provided by DJ Ron of Perpetual Rhythms.

Congratulations on 10 years of marriage Peter & Wendy... and wishing you many more years together!

VENDORS:
Venue - Celli's Osteria www.cellis.ca/
DJ - Ron Finlay from Perpetual Ryhthms http://www.perpetualrhythms.com/
Video Production - Cole McFarlane http://500px.com/ColeMcFarlane

Sweet Cheeks Event - AND RIDE - a huge success

Better a late review than a forgotten review!!

Back in May, the Sweet Cheeks Bike Team for the Ride to Conquer Cancer held a wonderful fund-raiser dinner/auction/dance event. It was held at the Flamborough Golf & Country Club where a great meal was provided and a fun evening was enjoyed by all who attended.


Highlights of the evening included a video about the Ride, a jewellry raffle, a "Joker Poker" Draw and a big hit was the "Heads & SWEET CHEEKS" game. Many silent auction prizes were bid upon - and a special guest auctioneer arrived to sell of a few special "live auction" items. The center focus of the hall was the "Hope & Memory Tree".
Music was provided - free of charge to the event - by "Something Blue" (wedding)DJs... who did a great job in playing a variety of great music for us all evening.


The Ride to Conquer Cancer was then held on June 11-12 --- and the team successfully completed the 200km ride from Toronto to Niagara Falls. They, along with all the other riders, raised over $17 million for Cancer Research.

Way to go Team!! SUPER job!!

www.conquercancer.ca

Grindstone Church Volunteer Appreciation Evening

On Friday, Oct. 22, 2010, the staff of Grindstone Valley Bible Church honoured about 45 of the many volunteers (unfortunately they all couldn't come!)who give of their time to help run the many programs and areas of responsibility at the church.

The event was held in the hall of St. Luke's Parish in Burlingon - a beautiful facility! We decorated the tables with brown tablecloths, a taupe coloured placemat in the middle & then silk fall leaves & real pumpkins on that as the centerpieces, surrounded by 4 tealight candles. Other tables were set up for getting place cards, for beverages & then for decadent desserts.


A speaker came to address the group and challenged us to look after our inner selves so that we can better serve others.

It was a fun evening and I think the volunteers appreciated some recognition for the tireless services they provide to the church community.



VENDORS:
VENUE: St. Luke's Parish Hall www.stlukesburlington.ca

Stunning Wedding in Black, White & Fuschia

Last Saturday was a beautiful, sunny day as Denise & Blake became husband & wife at the Scottish Rite Club in Hamilton. The architecturally stunning mansion was a gorgeous backdrop for this fabulous wedding, which was decorated for the event in black & white with hits of fuschia - and lots of feathers!!

Denise was gorgeous - and her "wedding boots" were incredible - pointed toe, high heel and LACE to the knee boots!! (imported from Poland, ordered online!!) WOW!

A wedding party of 4 bridesmaids & ushers, a jr bridesmaid and a jr groomsmen and 4 flower girls & 3 ring bearers helped them celebrating this special event. Guests enjoyed the fun of a Photo Booth during the cocktail hour - taking serious & fun pictures - dressing up and having a great time - all to create a unique & memorable guest book for the bridal couple.

A big hit of the reception was the Candy Buffet - all in black, white & pink of course! The adults enjoyed this as much (if not more) than the kids did! Amazing how candy brings out the kid in people!!


Denise & Blake - what a good-looking couple! I wish you all the best as you begin your this new stage of your journey together as husband & wife!!


VENDORS:
Ceremony & Reception Venue & organist: Scottish Rite Club www.scottishriteclub.ca
Officant: Hans Hamer, Police Chaplain
Steel Pan Player: Steve Perez stepoo@sympatico.ca
Photographer: Photos by Alex www.photosbyalex.ca
DJ: Trevor Parnell djgreedybeats@yahoo.ca
Limo: Hamilton Limo www.hamiltonlimo.com
Decorator: Kathy Taylor www.taylormadememories.ca
Florist: Sarah Moir of Crazy Daisy www.crazydaisy.org
PhotoBooth: Fun Photos www.funphotos.ca

Fall SPECIAL!!

This is a special announcement to all brides & grooms planning their future wedding!

I am offering a FALL BOOKING SPECIAL - but the offer is quickly coming to an end!

Call to book an appointment before OCTOBER 31st, 2010 and you will qualify to book your Wedding Day Coordination package at the 2010 package rates!

This is a great deal for you - no matter if your wedding is in the last couple months of 2010 or anytime in 2011 or even later!

CALL: 905-220-9239
EMAIL: mgayla@cogeco.ca
WEBSITE: www.LeaveTheDetailsToMe.ca

Save money by reserving YOUR wedding date with me now - and avoid the rate increases that are coming November 1st!

Looking forward to hearing from YOU!!

Pre-Wedding PANIC ATTACKS!

This week, I've had three separate brides contact me and each one was having their own little "panic attacks" as they were working on their wedding plans...

* guests I didn't know we'd invited just RSVP'd and I don't know where to seat them - help!
* well-meaning people are trying to re-design my decor plans - augh!
* the limo driver is giving me attitude - what should I do?
* I have a list wedding-related things to buy and I hate spending money on things I'll never use again - I need some creative & cheap alternative ideas!
* my dress needs to be altered & my seamstress won't return my calls - how do I find someone else reliable & trustworthy?
* I have wedding stuff all over my dining room table and I thought I had it all under control - but I'm freaking out - I can't do this!

Yup - wedding stress is very real, very common and very challenging to deal with! And every bride will face it at some point in the planning process - especially as the time ticks down closer to the big day! It can become very overwhelming.

SO - HOW can you deal with this stress? Here's a few ideas for you...

FIRST.... BREATHE! Deep, slow breaths to calm you down. None of the plans are worth hyperventilating over! Take a break from wedding plans for a night - go for a walk, sit on your deck & read a book, sit at a coffee shop & just people-watch, go to a good & funny movie. You have a life outside of wedding plans - don't forget to LIVE it!

SECOND... KEEP LISTS & KEEP ORGANIZED! Get a notebook that you keep with you always. Write down anything & everything you think of so you won't forget it or keep worrying about it. Then as you accomplish a task, black it out or better yet, use white-out tape & make it disappear! Its done & over with, so get it out of your line of vision and watch your list get smaller.

THIRD...PRIORITIZE! Look at your lists and decide what you MUST do first - and then do those things first. Take care of the big things as soon as you can & then you'll have the head-space to think about the little things. Take a serious look at the items on your list and decide what things you can let go of if you have to. Remember that while most of your ideas will be good idea, if trying to get them all done breaks you, then they are no longer good ideas! Its just not worth falling apart over some things.

FOURTH...DELEGATE! Anything you can delegate to your mom, your fiance, your Maid of Honour or bridesmaids, your family members... DO SO! If someone volunteers to help you - take them up on their offer! YOU don't have to do it all by yourself! Give them a task and then TRUST THEM to do it.

FINALLY... or really, this should have been FIRST OF ALL THESE SUGGESTIONS... hire a wedding DAY coordinator to help you with all of these things. Every single bride I have worked with in the past and that I am working with this year tells me how glad they are they've hired me - how my referrals saved them money - how my attention to details to things they wouldn't have even considered have helped the plans to flow smoothly - how the way I listen and am there for them really does calm them down & helps them to keep things in perspective.


As a wedding coordinator, besides handling all the myriad of details that needs to come together for a wedding day - I also pride myself in being a "calming influence" and the "voice of reason" that can help to reduce the panic attacks & relieve the stress that brides face during those last busy months of planning.

SO - are YOU feeling stressed & panicky as your wedding draws closer?! If so - give me a call & let me take care of the details - so you don't have to!!


PHOTO by: Heidi Ram Photography www.heidiramphotography.com

Two Unique Wedding Vendor Networking Events this week!

I had the privilege of attending two unique networking opportunities this week.

On Monday evening, "Let Them Eat Cakes" had an open house/cake tasting event that brides were invited to - and several other vendors were on hand to meet & greet brides & offer their unique services to them.
At the event were:
Let Them Eat Cakes www.letthemeatcakes.com
From Me To You (cookie creations) frommetoyou@bell.net
Picture Perfect Cake Art www.pictureperfectcakeart.com
She's So Beautiful Consignment & Bridal Boutique www.shessobeautiful.ca
Social Notes Custom Invitations www.socialnotes.ca
These vendors were very friendly and offered wonderful services to the brides who came. And the cake-tasting - OH MY -talk about delicious cakes with some very unique & unusual (but yummy) cake flavours!


This evening, Jason Matos of Jason Matos Photography, and I attended a Wedding Industy Vendor Networking event at the Courtyard Inn in Mississauga. There were quite a few different vendors on hand - enjoying complimentary cocktails & appetizers while chatting, meeting and exchanging business cards with each other. It was a great opportunity for Jason to promote his newly updated website with special pages dedicated to weddings, couples & families! As a vendor, its always a good business practice to get out & meet others who work in the industry! Both of us came away with some great new contacts. (by the way - check out Jason's site at: www.jasonmatosphotography.com )

SWEET CHEEKS: Yellow & Black Dinner/Silent Auction Fund Raiser

Saturday April 24th was the date of a great fundraiser event that I had the privilege of assisting at in Burlington. SWEET CHEEKS is the name of a local bicycling team of 19 riders who are training hard and fundraising hard in order to participate in "The Ride to Conquer Cancer" for the Princess Margaret Hospital. Most of these riders are not long-distance riders - in fact, at least one didn't even own a bike - and yet they are all committed to riding the 200km from Toronto to Niagara Falls on June 12-13. Each rider is required to raise a minimum of $2500 in order to participate in the ride. That's a LOT of cash!!




And so, to help the team raise funds, they held a dinner/silent auction event. Approximately 125 people attended the event at St. Luke's beautiful church hall, which was all decked out in black & yellow, the colours of the ride. Gorgeous floral centerpieces were designed by Tracy of Lux Living.
There were well over 100 items donated for the silent auction and several great items were sold off through a fun live. Rick James, local musician & DJ, provided great musical entertainment throughout the whole evening. A delicious meal was provided by Gator Ted's Restaurant. An adorable cake was provided by Linda Jenner and delicious brownies from Jitterbug Java Cafe.

There were two unique features at this event. One was that all the riders brought their bikes to have on display - and attached to the handlebars was the rider's photo and a brief bio about why they are doing the ride. The other feature that was a focal point during the evening was a "tree of hope & memory". It was a white branch tree, lit by a spot light - and people filled out tags to hang on the tree. Yellow tags were for the names of people who have cancer or who have survived cancer. Black tags were for names of people who have passed on from this disease. It was a very visual and impactful image.

The event cleared just over $8000 for the riders - Congratulations Krista & team members for a job well done! And all the best in raising the rest of the funds needed to do the ride.

For more information about the ride, how to donate or how to be a volunteer, check their website: http://to10.conquercancer.ca/site/PageServer?pagename=to10_homepage

Brides - - -
You are invited to an amazing event on Sunday, April 11th
from 12 - 6 pm at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, Toronto...

WEDDING BLISS BRIDAL GOWN SALE and Bridal Show
www.weddingblisssale.com

This very special sale will feature brand new, beautiful, designer wedding dresses at huge discounts (ie - $800 - $4000 dresses on sale for $99 - $350!!!)
There will also be other vendors on site to help you with your various wedding planning needs.

But the really wonderful part about this sale/event is that ALL proceeds support a great charity called New Beginnings. The goal of this charity is to help improve the lives of women and children "in need" by providing specialized support and training -empowering women to become confident, self-sufficient, career-oriented and employable, thus improving their lives & the lives of their children.....

So not only will you help yourself by finding your dream dress at a great price - but you will be helping to support women & children in need!
How amazing is that?!!

Tickets for this great event are being offered at a very special rate of only $10 each ($25 at the door!) Brides can purchase tickets at this drastically reduced rate by going online to the Wedding Bliss website and entering the promo code "VENDOR".


Come on out to the Wedding Bliss Sale....
Buy the dress of your dreams....
and support New Beginnings charity!!

The Wedding Bliss is being organized by Weddings Jubilee and it is my pleasure to be working for Weddings Jubilee at this event.

"Added Value" Wedding Coordinator!

I recently got an email from a bride I'm working for this summer - and her comments really made my day! She thanked me for being "an added value wedding coordinator". I think that phrase really encapsulates what I try to provide in my services to bridal couples.

While I advertise that my area of specialty is in "day of" coordination, the packages I offer are in fact more "month of" coordination as I work hard for a bridal couple pulling all the details for their wedding together during the last month of their plans.

However, I really do more than that for my brides. Once they've booked my services, I tend to make myself available to them by email or phone to help them in many other different ways. If they need someone to research ideas or products for them, I'm happy to do that. For example - recently, I've done research for my upcoming brides for the following items: ice sculptures, wild edible hibiscus flowers, etched glass cake toppers, chuppahs, tropical trees, calligraphers, ceremony musicians, vases, submersible LED lights, etc. At weddings with children in the bridal party, I've been known to provide gift bags of "quiet" treats for them to keep them occupied during the ceremony. At the bridal party photo shoot, I provide a cooler of water & a few snacks for the bridal party. When I'm hired for the whole wedding day, I provide toiletry baskets for the washrooms at the reception hall. Umbrellas are always on hand as well to keep bridal party, photographers, guests dry in case of rain. And of course I bring my well-stocked "emergency kit" as you never know when you might need it! These are all examples of some of the "added value" services that I like to provide my clients.

So.... if you're looking for "Day of" or "Month of" wedding coordination services - why not hire a coordinator who will give you all that - - PLUS "added value"!!
Give me a call if you want to know more about how I will serve you so that YOUR wedding day be a wonderful success!

Going FULL TIME in the business!

I LOVE weddings!
And I LOVE planning events!

Over this past year, I have truly discovered my passion - and that is serving others through planning special events for them, and in helping them get through those events with "flying colours"!

(photo by Bassem Photography)

And so, in light of this newly-discovered passion, I have made the bitter-sweet decision to leave my part-time job so that I can dedicate myself fully to the event-planning business!

My primary focus will continue be to continue offering my "Day-Of" coordination services to bridal couples. This is the best deal for those couples who want to make all their own plans for their wedding, but who want someone on hand for the day of their wedding to ensure that all their plans happen as they expect them to. This service allows couples to just show up & enjoy their day!

However, there are many engaged couples who don't want to have to do all the leg-work and research involved in planning a wedding, or who just don't have time to invest in it (they say it takes about 250 hours to plan a wedding!!). These couples need more comprehensive planning assistance. So, for them, I will be offering full & partial planning services.

Throughout this coming year, I also plan to expand my business into the world of corporate, community, social, and other family events as well. Corporations & business often need help planning team meetings and staff Christmas parties. Community and social groups host banquets, dances, galas, assorted parties, fund-raisers, etc. And families always have causes for celebrations - baby & bridal showers, engagement parties, stag & does, anniversaries, birthdays, graduations... the list goes on! Any event being planned is something I'd love to help organize & direct!

So, while this change is a big step for me, I am jumping in with both feet & am VERY excited about this new direction!

If you have an event that needs to be planned - please let me know!! I'm here to help in any way I can.

Hamilton Bridal Show - January 2010

The Hamilton Bridal Show was another success this year! Thanks to all the brides & grooms & friends who came to check out the vendors available to them - and who went home laden down with brochures, flyers and business cards!

The show seemed different this year for me. This year, I felt much more confident as I spoke with brides & their fiances, moms & bridal parties, having a great season last summer under my belt. It was also interesting this year to observe that many brides I spoke with were familiar with what a "wedding day coordinator" is! I recall that at last year's show, I spent a lot of time "educating" people on the difference between a full planner and a "day-of" coordinator. This year - more brides knew the difference and more seem to be looking for help just for the last month of their planning & then especially on their wedding day. Good news for me for sure!

I also had a positive response to the 5 large gift baskets that I held a draw for. Five lucky brides won some great goodies in the Romance Basket, Spa Basket, Coffee Break Basket, Travel Basket & Stationery Basket.


To those of you who I've had the pleasure of connecting with post-show, thanks for your time as we've met to talk! I hope to have the chance to meet many more of you in the days ahead!

Don't forget - if you want to be able to just show up and enjoy your wedding day without the stress & worries of all that needs to be taken care of - then give me a call! "We take care of your wedding day details so you don't have to!"