A Beautiful Day for a Great Couple!

Jason & Melanie have been planning their wedding day for over a year and a half, with Jason counting down the days, hours & minutes on Facebook for much of that time!! Finally, this past Saturday, they became husband & wife!

Community Church in Waterdown was the venue for both the ceremony and reception ... and all the decor was done in both blue & green, the bride's favourite colours. :

Melanie is also a big "DIY"er - and so many of the decor elements were made by her... tissue balls of all sizes, seating chart, lettering for bulletin boards, posters of family photos, table name cards, etc. The tables were all named after wedding movies... Father of the Bride, The Wedding Singer, Meet the Parents, The Wedding Planner, etc.

The ceremony included personally written vows, a hand ceremony and a sand ceremony - as well as a special song sung by one of the bridesmaids. After the ceremony, the bridal party had photos taken in the yard behind the church and guests enjoyed appetizers on the patio while the cermeony room was "flipped" and turned into the reception hall.

After a buffet dinner, speeches and a couple of fun games, the couple danced their first dance to a song sung and played on guitar by the father of the groom & his friend. The guests enjoyed dancing as well as playing fooseball, air hockey, pingpong & basketball in an adjacent games room! It was an intimate and fun evening.

Congratulations Jason & Melanie - thanks for letting me be such an intimate part of your wedding day!

VENDORS
Venue - Community Church - www.communitychurch.ca
Officiant - Matt Pamplin, pastor of Grindstone Church mpamplin@grindstonechurch.com
Musician & Makeup Artist - Christie Latta christielatta@gmail.com
Soloist - Catherine Wickett - catwickett@gmail.com
DJ - Aaron White - www.djaaronwhite.com
Caterers - Maitre 'd Catering - http://www.goldbook.ca/burlington-on/caterers/maitre-d-catering-5201/
Decorators - Marian Van Geest & Jan Stevens of Van Geest Special Occasions - www.vangeestspecialoccasions.com/
Florist - Samantha Forrest of Pocket of Posies - www.pocketofposies.ca
Cake Decorator - Grant Brierly of Grant's Custom Cakes - grantbrierley_@hotmail.com
Linen Rentals - Josie Gibson of With All My Heart Wedding Decor - www.withallmyheartweddingdecor.ca/
Videographer - Jason Matos Photography -
http://www.jasonmatosphoto.com/
Photographer - Heather Braaten (friend of family)
Assistant Wedding Coordinator - Susan Zuk of Elegant Details www.elegantdetails.ca
Volunteers who helped with various elements of wedding: Karen Hayes, Mary Montini, Jolaine Montgomery, Lois Montgomery, Sonya Cuttriss, Pauline, Jo-Anne & Marc Rudy, Shantelle Matos, Liz Walmsley,

Ancaster Wedding Show A Big Success

KUDOS to Tiffany Walsh & Team members for putting on a great 1st ever Ancaster Wedding Show! Most vendors entering the show were a big uncertain as to what to expect - with this being the first show by this organizer in this location in this month!! But personally, I thought it was a great show.

The morning started off with a huge influx of brides along with their moms, future mother-in-laws, bridal parties, friends, family members - and even quite a few grooms! The afternoon was slower, but in my experience this fairly typical.

Brides were treated to some new vendors (including Jason Matos of Jason Matos Photography - yup, he's my son!), some vendors who are "regulars" at local shows, and of course, lots of great ideas, inspiration, samples and handouts!
To check out what vendors were at the show, go to: www.ancasterweddingshow.com
Congratulations to all the brides (& grooms) who attended - we hope that you went home with MANY great ideas for your upcoming wedding and that you found the perfect vendors to meet your wedding needs!

Don't forget Brides.... "Leave the Details to Me..." is offering a WEDDING SHOW SPECIAL - book by Oct 31, 2010 for your future wedding and lock in at 2010 rates!! (This offer is available to ANY brides - whether you attended the show or not!)

Thanks Tiffany for a "show well done!"

ANCASTER WEDDING SHOW

Brides-to-be.... THIS SUNDAY - August 22, 2010 - plan to come out to the all NEW Ancaster Wedding Show!

Great venue at the brand new Ancaster Fairgrounds - new vendors & some familiar faces - new looks - special features - great give-aways.... truly a wedding planning event you don't want to miss!

ADDRESS: 630 Trinity Rd, Jerseyville

TIMES: 10:00 am to 5:00 pm!
COST: $8.00 online in advance, $10 cash at the door


Check out all the exciting details at:

www.ancasterweddingshow.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 )

Perfect Day for Lexi & Travis!

Lexi & Travis tied the knot yesterday in the midst of 100 family & friends. The ceremony was held at Redeemer University College in Ancaster in an intimate room decorated with an arbour, shimmery fabric swagging along the aisle chairs, accented with red & black chiffon ribbons & bows. Wall sconces held tall vases with taper candles & more chiffon ribbons & bows. Two candleabras completed the decor. It was a beautiful, intimate ceremony setting.


After enjoying some fun with their photographer, Jason Matos Photography, on the Redeemer property, the bridal party arrived in style in an SUV limo to the Royal Canadian Legion in Hamilton for their reception.
Great family speeches, the cutting of a creative Red & Black wedding cake
& special first dance & family dances -and the party was on!


Congratulations on your wonderful day!

Photographer: Jason Matos Photography www.jasonmatosphoto.com
Decorator: Josie - With All My Heart Wedding Decor www.withallmyheartweddingdecor.ca
Flowers: Josie's Flowers, Hamilton Market 905-304-0682
Officiant: Rev. Dr. Kurt Richardson, Ryerson United Church, Ancaster
Ceremony Venue: Redeemer University College, Ancaster www.redeemer.ca
Pianist: Christie Latta, clatta@cogeco.ca
Limo Service: Guy - Happy Day Limosines www.ahappydaylimousine.com
Reception Venue: Royal Canadian Legion #163 www.legion.ca
DJ: Shaun Davidson, korned_69@hotmail.com
Cake: Maggie's Sweets maggiessweets.ca

But We Will Stand Tall - Photo Art Show

On December 3rd, a young photographer held his first public art show in Hamilton at The Freeway Cafe & I had the privilege of working with him to set up and decorate the venue and to help him organize all the planning details.

Jason Matos (yup - he would be my son!)has been working on series of photos for a few months now. They are all photos of people who attend our church, Grindstone Valley Bible Church in Waterdown. What makes these photos unique is that they all tell a story about the person - depicting in photos a struggle or difficult time they went through in their life - and then photos depicting how they are now stronger and stand taller today because of how they grew and learned and matured through that hard situation.

Jason photographed 12 people - some with just one photo, others with two, a few with 3 or 4 photos - and each person wrote out their "story", which was printed and mounted by their photos.


The Freeway Cafe was set up with lots of candles on tables as people came in to enjoy a cup of free-trade coffee or tea or specialty beverage, some great snacks and then sat around small tables or on comfortable leather sofas and enjoyed the acoustic music of 4 different musical sets. And throughout the evening, people mingled around the photos, reading the stories and often being moved to tears.


About 180 people came through the Cafe during the 3 hour show - and it was a resounding success for Jason.
Congratulations Jason on an excellent photo art show!